"Uh... perhaps I should start with a few words of greeting."
"Just add 'hello' and 'I mean no harm'..." he murmured to the empty air, as though giving himself an excuse to back down.
As a former "Calamity Priest," he was used to assuming anything unknown was dangerous. This time, however, his curiosity outweighed his sheer vigilance.
"After all, I only want to find out the truth. I don't intend to make an enemy of him."
He picked up another coin and tossed it. He watched it spin to a stop on the desk, heads up. When his spiritual intuition gave no further warning, Lorne made up his mind. Picking up his pencil, he carefully wrote those sentences on the Paper Crane's wing.
"I'll come find you."
Then all he could do was wait.
One minute, two minutes, ten minutes passed...
Everything remained quiet. Nothing changed.
"Strange. Was I overthinking it...?" Lorne frowned, picking up the Paper Crane and examining it repeatedly in the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Could it really be... just an ordinary keepsake...?"
With a little regret and bewilderment, he put the Paper Crane back into his Portable Space.
Just then, Old Kohler's voice came from outside the door.
"Miss Xio and her friend, Miss Wall, are here to see you."
Xio and Fors? Lorne was a little surprised, but he still called out, "Please show them in."
The moment he finished speaking, Lorne felt an inexplicable twinge of unease.
He immediately activated Spirit Vision and scanned the entire office. Even after confirming that no one else was there, he remained uneasy. Lowering his voice, he asked the empty air, "Teacher Sharron, are you there?"
"Teacher Sharron?"
Neither the familiar black court dress nor those cold, impassive eyes appeared. For some reason, Lorne let out a