As they walked to the inn where her sister and uncle were staying, her spirits started questioning her on what exactly she did, and how she was currently feeling.

  “I just used Harmony’s concept on Miss Mu’s technique like we talked about.” Willow sent to both of them.

  “We gathered as much, child. We are just making sure that it is not adversely affecting you.” Harmony explained, clearly worried. “This is an unfamiliar application of my concept, and I dislike not knowing the potential ramifications of what you just did.”

  Willow felt fine, and the amount her friends were worrying about her felt disproportionate.

  “You’re not a drooling vegetable, at least.” Chimed in Change. “So the absolute worst case hasn’t come to pass. Should’ve been more careful when applying the energy, mind stuff requires a finesse that you were not demonstrating when you overwrote that woman’s technique.”

  “I wasn’t really thinking when I was doing it. There was too much in my head at the time.” She defended herself with minimal feeling. There wasn’t any reason to get upset after all.

  “Hmm, you’re certainly less lively than usual.” Observed Change. “Though that could just be an after effect of you getting overwhelmed like you did? What do you think, sister?”

  “No, my concept is the more likely culprit. Willow, can you please dismiss the technique for a few moments? That way we shall have a more complete view of things.”

  She didn’t want to stop the technique. That meant going back to drowning in a sea of others emotions. The girl shuddered at the idea.

  It was so much better now.

  Right?

  Why was there a small part of her mind that seemed to feel differently?

  Maybe her friends were right and she should stop the technique for a little bit, just to see if they had a point?

  But she didn’t want to stop feeling like this.

  It was so nice.

  Her teacher interrupted her internal debate with a poke to the forehead, making her look up at the wide-hatted woman.

  “You doin’ alright, girlie? Been awfully quiet since you took that tumble.”

  “I’m fine.” Was her monotonous reply.

  Why did people keep asking that?

  “So you said, but every other settlement we went through you’d gawk at every other thing we came across, even when you weren’t feelin’ your best. Here you seem to be content to stare at the ground and shuffle on. It’s not like you.”

  That seemed like a waste of time, though?

  “Was talking with Change and Harmony.” Was what she decided to reply with instead.

  “I suppose that might explain it.” She said with a draw on her pipe. “Guessin’ they’re berating you for modifying my technique?”

  Slight surprise appeared and quickly vanished.

  “You knew I did that?”

  A cloud of smoke exhaled and some of the passerbys flickered with annoyance.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Didn’t know for sure until you said so, but I had a hunch when you got up and started acting funny.”

  Willow supposed that made sense. Though she really didn’t feel like she was acting all that different. Maybe she needed to smile more.

  She painted a smile back on.

  “I feel fine. There’s no need to worry.” She tried to put a bit more emotion into her words. Though she was unsure how successful she was.

  From the note of concern now flickering in her mentor she had a feeling she failed.

  “Yeah that’s more than a little creepy, girl.” Mu continued to stare at her apprentice for a few moments, before nodding.

  “All right, I’m takin’ you out of the city and making you stop this.” Before Willow could argue she was picked up and held under her mentor’s arm. Which she halfheartedly struggled against, but ultimately didn’t care too much about.

  Mu called to Rowan, who was currently directing Bough through the wide main street they were currently on. “Oi, beardy. The crowd’s messin’ with the girl more than we thought. I’m taking her out of the city until she’s herself again.”

  He nodded his assent, though his face was lined with concern.

  Mu then began pushing her way through the crowd, no longer having a big spirit beast to clear a path for her.

  Eventually they made it back to the gates, though it was now late enough for them to start closing up the city for the night. Which caused the wanderer woman to mutter an expletive under her breath.

  “Hold up, boys!” She called out to the two gate guards from earlier.

  The two men begrudgingly stopped their efforts to close the large wooden gate.

  “What is it, Miss Mu?” The older guard asked her, briefly glancing at the child dangling from one of her arms.

  “I need to head out for a trainin’ exercise with my new apprentice, so hold the gate for just a moment.”

  “You know you won’t be let back in until the morning if you head out now, right?” The gruff older man asked with a raised brow.

  “Yes, yes, I’m well aware, so let me through.”

  That meant she wouldn’t see her sister until tomorrow. Some sadness burst through for a moment before it settled back down into homogony.

  Maybe she wasn’t fine.

  Mentor and apprentice went through the gates before they closed behind them with a dull boom.

  The chorus was so much quieter out here. It was mostly just her and her teacher now.

  And the roots of the great tree beneath them, of course, but she’d been feeling their presence for a while now.

  Mu dropped her bundle gently to the ground.

  “Alright now, dismiss the technique. Shouldn’t have any issues with it, right?”

  Willow acquiesced with minimal further fuss.

  It took a few moments for the technique to run out of steam when she stopped supplying it with qi, but as it did the girl quickly began to feel her full range of emotions again. Which wasn’t a happy experience as a flood of delayed emotional responses to various recent events briefly threatened to overwhelm her again until she got it under control.

  “Yeah, that didn’t work right.” Willow was able to say with some confidence now that the aftereffects subsided.

  “So what all was goin’ on from your perspective?” Mu asked, her curiosity bright.

  Willow idly scratched at her cheek as she tried to put it into words.

  “Everybody was feeling too much and it was too difficult for me to understand it all. The technique made me stop trying to understand things, and instead made me feel… everything?” She tilted her head at that, because it wasn’t quite right. “But also nothing?”

  She shook her head since she couldn’t quite explain it.

  Instead she moved on to another oddity from the experience. “There was also a nice feeling underneath what everyone else was feeling that got bigger the longer things went on.”

  The girl looked up at the great oak in the center of the city.

  “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think it was coming from the tree?”

  Mu winced and looked around for a moment.

  “Keep that last bit to yourself for now.” She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I’ll tell you more after we go and secure lodgings for the night.”

  Willow heard her mentor grumble to herself a bit as the two made their way through the darkness in search of shelter.

  She would have to go another day without seeing her sister, much as it pained her.