Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Alisa, the instructor

"Hello!" I gleamed with joy, hiding my tired self within.

Her eyes furrowed at my barbaric greeting. At least, that's what I understood from the face she made. 

'Did I do anything wrong?' I tilted in confusion as her gaze evaluated me from top to bottom.

"A lot of work ahead," ruthless words left her lips, making me shriek internally.

Still, I didn't allow myself to be beaten, not before it even began! "I'll do my best!"

"A pleasant disposition. Let's hope you also learn fast," she clapped twice, similarly to the way Afonso had done, it seemed to be a habit of those who instructed in this place.

"Tag along now," I followed her as fast as I could, despite not having the greatest of paces. My legs trembled, but at the same time, I didn't want to bother her with my problems. Especially after being complimented for my attitude. She looked like an old teacher, a woman so experienced that her wrinkles speak for themselves. Despite her age, possibly above the fifties, there was no fatness. If anything, she looked fitter than me. The chances were that she continued to dance to this very day.

"From this day onwards, the first thing you'll do in the morning is to have dance lessons under my instruction," once she stopped talking her feet halted, and she glanced at me over her left shoulder, "I'm Alisa, a dancer."

"Nice to meet you, teacher. I'm Yuki. I intend to become a proper sword dancer."

She smiled very briefly at my first words and then resumed her pace whilst listening to the rest.

"Peculiar choice."

"Is it?"

"I've never heard of such a calling before. But to be fair, there are countless."

"Right..."

"Just so you know, I don't teach swordsmanship," I noticed her chin rise, she gazed to the ceiling of the large room we found ourselves in, "not swordsmanship at least," she added with the tenor of a weak yet melodic mutter.

 Despite being confused with this person, there was something interesting about her. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it could be, but so far, I liked her.

"There are those who believe callings to require proficient naming, such as adding words like master, genius, the very best something..." her body spun, facing me.

My eyes widened at the smoothness of her movement.

"But I believe simple is best, thus dancer was the calling I went for. Straightforward, isn't it?"

"It sure it!" I found myself commending her for her choice for whatever reason.

"Show me what you already know."

"Ahm... about that..." I placed a finger on my left cheek, scratching it softly, averting my eyes from her.

"A fresh start," she crossed her arms. 

"That's not so bad."

"It isn't?" 

"Not at all. It becomes easier to mold you. Different teachers origin diverse habits."

"Is that so?" 

She pointed a finger at me, "of course!"

I took a half step back surprised, "a-alright!"

We stared at each other seriously for a bit, alluring some tension to befall on me. As if analyzing something, she began encircling me like a vulture does after finding a dying prey.

Once she was behind me, her hands got hold of my tail, making a chill pass through my body, remembering Sofia's older sister. But unlike her aggressiveness, there was no such behaviour from Alisa.

"The ears were looking like a problem, but this big tail of yours..." her ideas flowed through the room, a lot of muttering as she thought on the lessons she had prepared for others and how they could apply to me.

"I suppose you can't control your tail to do your bidding?"

"Hum..." Till this moment, it hadn't been something I paid much attention to. It had been part of me, attached perfectly, and it had worked in its own peculiar ways. 

I closed my eyes and began thinking about her words, attempting to transform them into the action of controlling it. 

Slowly it moved, but not quite the way I wanted it to. Like an extra arm, or a third leg, but it was hard to get a grasp on the movement, on its existence, something innate to us like moving our ears without using our fingers. Even going as far as to use one eyebrow at a time. To go from lifting one all the way to the other, and make it look like they're dancing.  Peculiar talents that few of my old classmates managed to do. But I was not one of them, at the very least, I could manage to twitch the tip of my nose, and to me that already felt exceptional enough.

"It doesn't quite listen to me," I opened my eyes and Alisa was now in front of me, holding a book in her hands.

"I'm not knowledgeable about your kin. They're not a group that goes out of their way to communicate with humans, so I can't quite help with it."

I lowered my head at the disappoint in her words, burrowing my ears amidst my hair trails. 

"However, I'll teach you a bit more than just the hidden language of the body."

"Please do," my orange eyes pleaded for knowledge and improvement, for my entire self to be able to move further, to make this new life and body truly mine. My mind looked to assess whether it would be possible to have a more peaceful loop this time around, one where I could have a normal life and gain something from it. 

I hid the sorrow camouflaged in my two little sunsets, motivating myself whenever possible, grasping for optimism and persistence while keeping myself sane and serene.

She placed the book on the top of my head, adjusting softly my ears and hair, to build a little nest for it to not slip easily.

"Walk without letting it fall, and your hands shall remain in your back," she turned my body around so that I could go through the long way across the room. My hands were held captive momentarily as she adjusted their position, similarly to how cops bind criminals with handcuffs.

Once everything was settled in the way she so desired, her hand did a light pat on the center of my back and I began walking.

My spaghetti legs and the little time I had to get adjusted to a new body, allowed the book to fall of my head after two steps.

"You're out of balance," she approached me, placing the book once more, rectifying my column, straightening my shoulders and lining them one to the other.

"Again." 

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I did my best, even going as far as to hold my breath while walking. 

Three steps and it was once again on the floor.

"Your legs are shaking, why?" 

"I ran till I couldn't move anymore," I finally confessed my deeds, causing her to mutter a sound.

"Sit."

She told me with an unhappy tone, and to avoid getting on her bad side, I did it without asking the reason why.

Her hand pulled my feet, extending my legs, and her finger and voice indicated me to stretch my fingers to my toes. She placed her hands on the top of my back, pushing it softly forward whenever possible. To figure out my limits.

"It is important to do this before and after running, otherwise, it'll leave your body sore."

I remembered my physical education teacher making us do a couple exercises, but I hadn't ask what they were meant for. 

Once she was satisfied, she placed a rectangular wooden piece on the ground. It looked like a box of sorts. 

"Get up." 

Once I found myself standing still, she showed me how to swing with my leg.

"This is also a type of exercise we do before dancing, it helps warming the muscles up."

She stood on my side as my leg went back and forth, hearing her pointing out that my hips needed to remain aligned with one another. Ten swings each leg before switching to the other. It was not as tiring as running, and in a way, it felt like of good and light.

"Very good, now stand on this box."

"Yes ma'am!" Despite tired, I remained energetic, if only mentally.

"Now lift one of the knees to your belly and hold it." 

I did my best, feeling her open palm in the middle of my back, slightly above my tail. 

"Yes, now fix your position, straighten that back. Ladies to not walk around curved." A giggle echoed through the room, it was neither mine or Alisa's. It came from the entrance of the room, but I had my back to it.

"I'm removing my hand now, focus on your equilibrium."

I felt her finger tips leaving my skin, allowing a thin gap of air to form between me and my shirt.

"Balance is key."

"Shouldn't you be resting, milady?"

"Even I get tired from being in my room the entire day," unlike Alisa's voice, Astal's wife one was far to delicate and charming. It sounded sweet like the singing of a nightingale. 

If there was something that didn't age easily, was people's voices. 

"I understand. Do let me know if there's anything you need."

"Hmm..." she looked at me and my struggles, "whose this... girl?"

A brief pause, one that indicates concern in her tone. The cautiousness of having a beast in her house.

"Keru's, I believe," her palm returned to my back, adjusting my center once more.

"A bit young, but a ripped fruit nonetheless."

My ears tingled at her comment, 'I'm in this room too!' I yelled at her, in my mind. I knew that my body was superior to what it once had been, but to hear it from another's perspective, only contributed to my embarassment.

In no time at all, she appeared in front of me. She was far more than what I had imagined. Far too much sand for my truck, an old saying used in my country, meaning that she was too good for me and anyone else really. Age had done nothing but refine her beauty, the traces of the sisters were all imprinted on her face. If Sofia would grow to become this much of a beauty, it would make it even harder for me to resist her enchanting self.

"Who are you?" She pointed her closed fan at me.

"Greetings milady, I'm Yuki, currently fifteen years old and one of the fox kin," I told her everything I could as smoothly as possible. This person was not someone I could take light, as she likely stood above the young lord.

"A fox..." she encircled me slowly, inciting doubt in my ears. Even with my heightened senses, I hadn't hear a single step this woman had made. And now that she was this close, I still failed to hear a thing.

'This is a mysterious world,' I thought to myself, smiling from cheek to cheek, feeling something unusual crawling through my skin.

"Orange..." she whispered close to my ear. "There is meaning in a fox color," her voice bewitched my curiosity.

"Really?" My excitement made my tail wave, causing me to lose balance.

"Shouldn't you know about it?" Her fan did a tiny opening sound as she passed in front of me, analysing my physical traits.

"I have no memories, lost them recently, before I Keru saved me."

At my response, her gaze grew colder, and her eyes dimmed. 

"What a shame," just as she had appeared mysteriously, she was now gone, out of my sight, out of the room.

I looked everywhere within this space, and not only did I not find her, I didn't hear any steps either.

"Don't worry about it. Milady loses her interest in people fast. They are just not like her."

"Like her?" As I was about to face her, I felt her palm pressuring my back.

"Time to resume your training."

"Y-yes!" I fixed my position, realising she had dodged my question on purpose. Another thing to my list. The sick mother whose eldest daughter was out there alone in the world looking for a cure. Though, she didn't look sick at all.

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