Willow felt she’d gotten somewhat used to sleeping in unfamiliar spaces in her time travelling with Mu, but the night before her first lessons with Madame Park she tossed and turned and had a lot of trouble staying asleep.

  She eventually resorted to tiring herself out by playing with her friends as much as she could without disturbing her mentor sleeping in the same room. She wasn’t too sure on how much it helped, but it definitely soothed some of her worries.

  Harmony and Change were confused about the necessity of etiquette lessons at this time, but Willow was willing to trust Mu about their importance when she eventually started doing stuff on her own.

  She couldn’t see how fancy versions of politeness could help her overmuch but she’d try to have a more open mind going into the lessons themselves.

  The following day had a sleepy eyed Willow get up at dawn, trying in vain to get her mentor up and ready in a timely fashion. Most days she didn’t understand why her mentor wasn’t a morning person, but currently she empathised with her teacher more than usual. When you lacked energy it made you incapable of celebrating a new day dawning.

  She even snuck some of her mentor’s nasty tea to wake herself up a little more. She wanted to be at her best for the coming lessons after all.

  The two of them made their way to the Madame’s teahouse and were let inside by the disgruntled Manager Kim. Though he was nothing but pleasant to them superficially Willow could tell that the man was upset to see them, or at least upset to see Miss Mu.

  It was sometimes hard to gauge the nuances in how people felt.

  Instead of the office they met in yesterday Willow and Mu were led to a small room in the back that looked like a simple study complete with a wall of scrolls and booklets arranged neatly on shelves. Willow’s eyes widened, she’d never seen so many books in one place before! She doubted these were filled with stories, but it still sparked a curiosity to see what they all contained.

  Madame Park was seated on a cushion at the central table with a small stack of books in front of her. Her hair was done up in a completely different elaborate style and Willow sensed the woman’s spirit lurking in one of the top corners of the room, still invisible to the naked eye.

  The fact Willow’s gaze immediately went to and briefly lingered on that spot didn’t go unnoticed by the Madame.

  “So you really can sense her. I thought it best to check after Mister Kim’s report and your odd behaviour yesterday. Interesting.” The invisible spirit then moved back to her place wrapped around the old woman like a shroud.

  Mu snorted, not in the mood to be dealing with the older woman’s brand of nonsense this early in the morning. “Told ya, didn’t I? Willow’s got impressive sensory capabilities, and I’m not just talkin’ about for their age.”

  The Madame gave her a polite smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You should know it’s always better to independently verify such things, Mu. Of course I also have to wonder if there are any downsides to such an impressive sensory range. From my understanding such things rarely come without a cost.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Willow decided to be the one to explain here. She was a little tired of the two adults talking about her like she wasn’t even here. Plus their constant bickering was getting on her nerves. Besides, Mu had told her that part of why she chose the Madame as a teacher was that she might be able to help with the crowd problem.

  “I can’t shorten the range I sense stuff. And if there are too many people I get… overwhelmed.” She fidgeted a bit and her eyes roamed the room as she grew uncomfortable thinking about the last time she almost drowned in a sea of others emotions.

  Madame Park raised a single perfectly sculpted brow. “That must be difficult to deal with. Also for my first lesson to you, when speaking to someone it’s best to look them in the eye while you do so. It helps establish that the person in front of you is your current priority.”

  Willow tried her best to look into the steel haired woman’s eye. It was surprisingly difficult to maintain eye contact, something she’d never really noticed since few people had brought it up before.

  Madame Park smirked. “You are still allowed to blink, you know. But that’s something we’ll work on over time. Has your teacher taught you any mental techniques to help keep yourself composed in crowds, or is that beyond her?”

  Mu crossed her arms and fought from scowling. “It’s not my specialty and the only mental technique I know is for helpin’ me focus and retain information. Plus we only have a knowledge concept to work with, so gettin’ her fit to travel in crowds off of that was trickier than it seems.”

  Madame Park covered her mouth as she let out a quick chuckle. “Trying to brute force a mental technique by using a concept, how barbaric.”

  Mu notably bristled, but didn’t rise to the bait.

  The Madame seemed almost disappointed that the wanderer didn’t have a comeback. She then gave a considering look to Willow.

  “I should be able to whip something up that should help, but mental techniques require a level of precision that I’m unsure a child your age has.”

  Mu snorted indelicately. “No need to worry about that, she’s plenty precise.”

  “But I can’t just take your word for it. I’ll be assessing them as we go, and when I feel they’re ready I’ll craft the technique for them, not a moment before. Now, unless you want to sit through a long overdue lesson on etiquette, I believe your presence is no longer required. Feel free to pay for some tea before you go, I’m sure it’ll be better than that swill I saw you drink the last time you were here.”

  Mu turned away, but left with a parting remark. “I’ll have you know that I improved it a ton in the years since, even saw the girlie drink some this morning!”

  Willow tried to keep her face as blank as she could so she didn’t reveal how much she still disliked the taste of her mentor’s tea. She also wished that Mu had stayed a bit longer for the start of the lessons even if she’d already made it clear that if at any point things grew to be too much she could leave.

  She was still being left alone with someone who was basically a complete stranger to her.

  Madame Park cleared her throat, snapping Willow out of her thoughts.

  “So first I find it best to set expectations with my students ahead of time. I am not your mother, and I’m not your friend. You will refer to me as either Madame Park or ma’am, no other forms of address will be tolerated, understood?”

  Well this wasn’t an auspicious start.

  “Yes ma’am.” Was all she said though. She didn’t want to get on her new teacher’s nerves on the very first day.

  “Very good. Let the lessons begin.”