With the silver marks jingling faintly in a small leather pouch, the three witches stepped back into the market square. their hearts were pounding in their chests, not from fear, but from something far stranger. They looked at each other and then gulped at the money in their hands. It has been years since they have shopped freely among humans.
"Let's use it," one of them whispered.
"To test them more?" the youngest asked.
The oldest among them nodded. "To see how far this change dares to go."
They crossed the market slowly with their eyes scanning each booth. There, nestled between a sweets vendor and a pottery stand, was a cloth stall. It was draped in silks and cottons that fluttered like whispered spells in the breeze. The merchant was a short woman in her fifties with graying curls, and was rearranging folded fabric on the table.
