Signs of civilisation grew more and more frequent as they travelled closer to the seat of Clan Darach’s power.

  As they passed through the various small settlements in their path it became increasingly clear that Scholar Mu was a known quantity in the region. Though how the villagers reacted to her passage through the town were a mixed bag overall.

  Some cheered her as their group went past and even gave some gifts to the group when they heard they were relocating. Apparently it wasn’t the first time the wanderers had helped a remote village do so, and there were many alive who remembered the kindness shown to them when they were undergoing a similar hardship that they felt the need to pass it on, even if none of them went so far as to offer a home for the group.

  However, as they grew closer to the city, the villagers grew less and less friendly and respectful to the wanderer and her charges. It never grew to outright hostility, but the gifts and praise were notable in their absence, and feelings of suspicion were growing more commonplace.

  Something that Willow couldn’t help but notice as her spiritual sense was constantly taking in the maelstrom of emotions from the growing crowds of people around her. Initially she tried to retreat to the inner spaces of her friends and try to ignore the issue, but she quickly realized that this was a problem that was only going to get worse as the settlements they passed grew in size. Meaning she needed to find a solution to this growing problem sooner rather than later.

  Intellectually the girl had known that towns, villages, and cities had infinitely more people than she had met in her life up to this point, but actually experiencing crowds for the first time, even on snakeback, was overwhelming for her.

  So many strangers, so much qi of differing types swirling and bubbling and roiling within them.

  It was different from the trees, plants, and spirits that had surrounded her all her life, it was different from the people she knew as family.

  Meeting new people was equal parts exciting and terrifying for the child, but now the excitement was being overshadowed by the sensory overload that she was experiencing.

  Something that didn’t go unnoticed by her teacher.

  “You alright, girlie?” She remarked as they entered the largest village yet, apparently just a halfdays travel away from Darabaile.

  “Too many people…” Willow mumbled with her eyes shut tight.

  “Right, I imagine you wouldn’t be used to all this if you grew up out in the sticks.” She puffed away on her pipe, the swirl of her emotions a small comfort amidst the chaos as the constant curiosity flavoring it was at least familiar.

  Mu paused, another thought occurring to her as she gazed at her obviously distressed apprentice. “Though it’s a bit more than bein’ unused to crowds isn’t it? You can’t tune them out.”

  At Willow’s nod, she clicked her tongue, and gently placed her gloved hands on the girl’s shoulders.

  “Tsk. You should’ve said somethin’ before you got all green in the gills over it. I know your sensitivity and range is higher than normal, but you should instinctively be able to retract it if it’s causing you problems.”

  “I can’t,” She mumbled. “been trying.”

  Which was true. She could extend the range of her spiritual sense if she focused, but trying to retract or condense it didn’t seem to work no matter how hard she tried. She’d even attempted to get help from her spirits in trying to figure out a method to make travel through crowded areas more bearable, but they hadn’t been able to help her either.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Mu’s brow furrowed, and her curiosity intensified as she started muttering to herself. “That shouldn’t be the case, unless…? Infinite Hells, girl. Your retracted range is still covering all these people?”

  Willow nodded once more.

  The scholar looked out at the small crowd gathering around them as Rotter traveled down the main road of the village they were in. There were at least a couple hundred of them, and the idea of getting sensory information from even half that number made the wanderer woman queasy.

  Though it did leave her with an idea she was hesitant to put into practice after the previous incident.

  “So if I’m understandin’ you right, you’re having trouble processing all the information you’re getting?”

  “Yeah…” The girl looked up at her teacher with pleading eyes. “Please help.”

  Mu sighed, a cloud of smoke escaping her lips. “All right, this might be a tad uncomfortable, but switch to your wood form. Gonna need your wood qi for this.”

  Willow did so, and she vaguely noticed some shocked reactions from people in the crowd, likely mistaking her for a humanoid spirit, but that wasn’t her concern right now.

  Her teacher placed her hands on the top of the girl’s leafy head, and began to explain what her plan was.

  “This likely won’t be a complete fix for your problem, but it’ll lessen the time you’ll need to adjust to all the information flowing into you. I’m gonna try and implant a technique in your mind, it’s one I use myself whenever I need to get some proper thinkin’ done, but I haven’t used it on someone else before. So if things start to get uncomfortable, let me know immediately and I’ll stop.”

  A small nod was the girl’s only acknowledgement of the danger.

  “I’ll be supplying the needed concept to get the ball rolling, but it should be sustainable with only basic wood qi. Try to keep it going as long as you comfortably can, and hopefully you’ll adapt quickly.”

  A yellow green energy covered the scholar's hands, and Willow felt the now familiar concept of knowledge begin to settle in the pathways of her head, flowing in certain patterns until her thoughts began to focus and quicken in a way that felt distinctly unnatural to her. It didn’t really lessen the discomfort of all the emotions she was sensing from the nearby crowd, but it allowed her to more easily redirect her focus away from the constant noise.

  If before it felt like someone screaming directly in her ear at full volume, now it was someone yelling from across the room, distracting but manageable.

  Once the pattern of energy was stable in the girl’s head, Mu moved her hands away, and Willow began sending her own qi to sustain it, with it taking surprisingly little to maintain. Not that she wanted to keep it up for long if at all possible.

  “How’s that?” Her teacher asked, intently observing her student for any signs of discomfort.

  “Better, but it feels weird.” Willow looked around at the watching crowd as they continued to slowly advance through it. She started picking out random people in the crowd, took note of their emotional state, and moved on. When it wasn’t so loud, it was fascinating to experience. Yet it still felt discordant to her.

  All these jumbled energies lacked harmony to her mind, or her mind lacked the harmony to take them in without issue.

  The child blinked, there was a thought.

  She asked both her friend and her teacher a question.

  “Can I use Harmony’s concept instead of Huey’s?”

  “I am not familiar with the technique being used, child. It could react in an unexpected way, and the mind is a delicate thing that should not be messed with without reason or care.” Her spirit spoke from her place in Willow’s crown.

  Her teacher, meanwhile, was deep in thought and considering the girl’s question. From Willow’s senses she could tell that the woman was fighting a losing battle with her curiosity at the same time.

  Eventually all she said was. “We’ll keep tryin’ with the current method. If it doesn’t change, or gets worse, we’ll try it your way.”

  So Willow spent the remainder of their time passing through the settlement trying to coax her mind into adapting to the flood of information she was receiving each moment.

  She worried it wouldn’t be enough.