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Under normal circumstances, Amalirahc was happy to listen to his friend, but in this case he was the one with experience and he would not go along with her so easily.

"If we leave, it is just as much a victory for him as if we paid his price," he told her, shaking his head. "He has no right to demand twice what they're worth. Trust me, Miyuki, it's not going to be any better at any of the other shops. If we leave without buying something, we'll end the day without anything too. You can't tell me what to do."

He shrugged out from her grip and turned and headed towards the baker once again, determined to get what he had come for.

Earendil put one hand on Miyuki's shoulder to calm her. He knew she was just trying to help.

Amalirahc put his hands meekly behind his back once more as he approached the baker.

"Sir," he said politely, "how long would we have to wait for them to be not so fresh?"

The baker eyed Amalirahc. "I've already given yesterday's scraps to our own dogs," he told him flatly.

At that, Earendil felt anger flowing through him. His grip tightened unintentionally on Miyuki's shoulder - just a bit - but he stayed back. He would let Amalirahc take care of this if he could.

Amalirahc just blinked at the man. "Oh ... well, I suppose I'll just have to tell the people outside that your prices have doubled. I'm sure they'll want to know before they come, they'll need to bring more money with them!"

The baker just about choked. "You wouldn't ..."

"Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" Amalirahc asked innocently. "Unless of course it's not and it's really just one penny per bun, like it used to be ..."

The baker cursed under his breath, a string of words that Kaito hadn't bothered teaching the children, but he grabbed a bag and stuffed several buns into it.

Amalirahc silently counted the buns as they went into the bag, and he nodded to himself when he saw that there were five of them, just as Miyuki had requested. He counted out five of his bronze coins, and he made sure the bag was safely in his hand before he handed them over to the baker.

"Thank you," he said politely, his expression neutral as he turned back to the rest of the group.

Earendil had to admit, he was impressed. Amalirahc might be a child, but he had obviously been well raised. He nudged the others towards the door. It was time to leave. Before something else happened.

The group all left the shop together, and River especially made sure to stay close to Lin and Earendil.

Once outside, Amalirahc opened the bag, licking his lips. His mouth was really watering now, he was so hungry and the buns smelled so good ...

"Here," he grinned, handing them out to the others.

"Huh-uh." Amalirahc shook his head. "No, my treat. You can get me something else later, if you want."

"That's very kind of you," River smiled at her friend.

Earendil chuckled. "I must say, I was quite impressed by how you handled that, Amalirahc," he grinned. "You've been in such a situation before?"

"Every time we're in a human town," Amalirahc replied, holding a bun up to Lin. "They really don't like me and Papa. They treat Mama all right, but ..."

Amalirahc looked evenly at Lin. "We're different," he said simply.

He finished passing out the buns, then started eating his own.

"Are all the people like that here?" River asked, her eyes wide.

Amalirahc shrugged one shoulder. "Usually," he replied around a cheekful of bun. "Sometimes worse. Sometimes it's not so bad, though, and then it can even be very pleasant. But whatever their faults, I do like their food. Especially their baking."

Amalirahc tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment, giving it some thought. "Um ... some of them are good at painting and stuff, but there's not really a point to buying their artwork, since we don't have a home. We can't put it up anywhere. There's one guy that's not too bad at carving too, not as good as Ulrich but still pretty good."

"What about their clothes?" River asked, looking around a bit. There were some people starting to emerge from their homes, and they were dressed well enough. "They look nice."