At first, Sofia was timid like never before. She held out the wide-brimmed, floppy hat that Kaido had given her without uttering a single word or even looking people directly in the eye. She hoped that people would throw in money or other valuables without her having to open her mouth. She was afraid that with every word, with every gesture, she might give herself away. And though she didn't know what would happen then, Kaido and Mica's caution had instilled her with a sense of terror that only the unknown can spark.

She remembered Aunt Sybil's severe reaction to Orì, and the way her friend had acted towards her, deferential and distant, not at all like she usually was.

What was going on between her world and Nihon? Why was there an animosity that went so far that both sides all but ignored the existence of the other? The only thing that Sofia knew for sure was that she was not welcome in Nihon. If it came out that she was from the Other Side, as people referred to her world in Nihon, everything would change, and not for the better.

So, she was confused as to why Kaido seemed to have thrown caution to the wind and sent her out into the audience to interact with people.

"What a wonderful play, really, really wonderful," a man with a neck that was so short he didn't seem to have one, said to Sofia, and the others on his table agreed. He looked at her with a grin, and his friends laughed knowingly.

His neck elongated as if made from rubber. His head shot towards Sofia until he was almost nose to nose with her. His eyelids fluttered.

"You don't agree, hmm?"

Sofia stood stock-still with fright, and the table erupted in laughter.

The man bellowed, too. He turned to his friends, his neck snapping back to a normal length. "Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you?" he shouted, exceedingly pleased with his performance. Without giving Sofia another glance, he dropped a couple of coins into the hat, and when it became clear that nobody at the table returned their attention to her, she moved on.

At the next table, two women were engaged in deep conversation. One was moving her finger in expressive lines, and as Sofia came closer, she saw that there were animated images reflected on the smooth surface of the table. Figures were moving around, flat and two-dimensional, yet life-like, their mouths silently opening and closing like ventriloquist dolls. One of the figures had the exact likeness of the woman who was talking, and she was in the center of the picture.

The woman interrupted her account when Sofia approached. The picture froze on the table, and she looked up at Sofia with an expression of annoyance.

"Can't you see we are having a private conversation?"

Sofia kneaded the hat in her hands, hesitating.

"Uhm," she made.

"Go away," the other woman said, and Sofia quickly, and with relief, continued to the next table.

"Brutes," an elegant looking man with a tiny, neat grey moustache said. "This is a public place, and one should behave oneself accordingly. Publicly."

He opened his mouth as little as possible while speaking as if he was afraid that a fly would enter it. His gloved hands were lying on the table, one neatly crosse over the other. Without him moving in the slightest, the button on his breast pocket opened, the flap widened and a folded handkerchief came out as if pulled by an invisible string. It placed itself on the table, opened its four edges one after the other, and a perfectly round coin with the man's own face pressed onto it soared from the pile of others exactly like it. It transported itself into Sofia's hat, where it clinked as it touched the other pieces.

"You're welcome," the man said with a little crinkle of his nose and proceeded to fold the handkerchief back up. It placed itself into his breast pocket again, in the same way, even closing the button as if by an invisible hand.

"Thank you," Sofia said, astounded, but the man had already turned his attention back inwardly, onto himself and his perfect posture.

At the next table sat a couple with a boy about the same age as Sofia. For a moment, Sofia was more scared of him than the grown-ups on the other tables. She thought that he would unveil her as an outsider as if another child would recognize her otherness immediately, whereas the grown-ups were too far away from the idiosyncrasies of childhood to notice it.

The boy's eyes fixed on Sofia, looking her up and down. He glanced at his parents, who hadn't noticed her.

"A little thank you for the theater," Sofia muttered, "if you enjoyed the play."

She felt like her voice was betraying her, and part of her wanted to look out for Kaido, but she forced herself to stand still.

"A lovely play," the boy's mother said, though her expression was sad.

"Indeed," the father agreed. He patted down his vest as if he had forgotten where he had put the money. His wife's lips pursed disapprovingly.

The boy giggled a little, and just as Sofia became convinced that now he would say something that would out her because she recognized the mischief in his eyes, he stuck out his tongue at her.

His tongue was long and green and split in the front, like a serpent's. He made a small hissing sound and rolled it up like a yo-yo.

His mother sighed exasperatedly and slapped him on the shoulder which did nothing to diminish the proud look on his face. She turned to the father.

"That's on you, always encouraging him with your foolishness."

"Where else is he going to learn?" the father defended himself and winked at the boy who beamed under his father's attention.

"You call that learning?"

"He knows how to do something that he didn't know how to do before. That is learning."

"Try something useful next time, or you know where he'll end up," the mother hissed.

The boy had sunken down in his chair during the exchange. He seemed to know it by heart, no longer listening to the words, only waiting for their conclusion.

Sofia tried to catch his attention, but he was looking at his hands. She stretched her neck to see what he was doing. Gleaming spider nets had grown between his fingers, bulging out like pyramids. He twisted his fingers, and they disappeared.

He looked up at Sofia with a small smile.

"It is late," his mother said, pulling on his arm. "We need to go."

She cast a long look at Sofia, the first attention she had given her since she had been standing at their table. "You," she said, pointing her long finger at Sofia, though speaking for the benefit of her husband and her son. "You make something of yourself at least. Don't traipse around with the theater, or you'll see where you end up. Because they say that children don't need an education, but it isn't true. Their children get it. Of course, they do."

"Don't start, Mara-lin," the father said in a low and soothing voice, casting a furtive look around to make sure she had not been overheard. Nobody was looking their way, but conversations had died away around them. "I thought you liked the theater?"

He finally pulled out a flat piece of grey stone from his pocket that held such a faint sparkle, that Sofia wasn't sure if it wasn't just a mere rock. He looked at her apologetically as he dropped the disappointing piece into the hat.

"I love the theater," his wife said, softening. "I just don't like where all of this is going. Times are getting worse, and everybody acts as if they are becoming better. I just worry."

"I know," he sighed. "I know." He turned to the boy who was sulking again. "Let's go. Better to get home, now."

They got up to leave, the father nodding towards a few people, and the mother looking determinedly away, her expression haughty and desperate, as if she couldn't stop thinking the thoughts that had once again wormed their way into her mind.

As they went towards the exit, the boy turned back towards Sofia.

"I like your hair," he said shyly.

Sofia stared at him.

Then she said, as she thought Orì would have, "Pff," and shrugged her shoulders.

As he was gone, she broke into a smile that she couldn't hold back anymore, feeling proud. Just as she knew Orì would have.

"See? You can do it," Kaido said to Sofia as she carried back the hat to him, which was covered in stones and coins of different shapes and varieties. She wasn't at all sure of their worth and suspected that more than a few people had thrown in objects that would quickly lose their shimmer.

One woman had even lifted the hat, turned it around its axis like a leaf going round and round in a whirlwind until the hat had been flying near the ceiling. But she had done this more for the amusement of her friends than to spite Sofia and had returned it to her with a gracious gesture as if doing her a favor.

"It was easier than I thought," Sofia said, suddenly breathless with the realization of what she had achieved. Nobody had looked at her in a manner that had been in any way suspicious.

Kaido grinned.

"The thing you need to know about Nihon is that everybody is constantly trying to outdo the people around them. Be more whimsical, more daring, more eccentric. And as a result, they are so focused on themselves that they are only looking for their own reflection in your face. As long as you don't arouse their suspicion, you are safe. They will barely notice you."

He smiled in a way that was satisfied as well as sad. Then he sat down, placed his hands on his knees and looked seriously at Sofia.

"So, have you made your decision?"

Sofia was taken aback. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"What decision?"

"If you want to stay with Mica and me for a while, and let us teach you about Nihon. Because even considering what I just told you, this is a dangerous place, especially for children. Sometimes, the stories from the Talareduh seem so topical, they might as well be happening today. And whatever it is that you plan on doing here, you have a much better chance of achieving it if you know the rules. Because nowhere are rules more important and inescapable than in a place where there are no rules."

Sofia looked at him as if the answer might be written on his face. She hadn't thought about it like that, that it really was a decision for her to make, and not just floating along with the stream. She thought about it for a moment and realized that there were indeed other options.

She could leave. She could go home. She could ask around until she found somebody who would tell her the way to the School or even take her there. She could even ask people for Orì, maybe somebody knew her.

Or she could stay with Mica and Kaido.

Just for a little while.