"That went well," Mokko said dryly when Marron explained what had happened.

"That went terribly," Marron corrected. She was pacing her apartment, unable to settle. "I showed up at dawn asking to handle her knife. Of course she was suspicious. I would have been suspicious."

"You told her the truth," Mokko pointed out. "Mostly."

"I told her a carefully edited version of the truth that probably sounded completely insane," Marron said. "Magic knives that teach you precision. Pre-cataclysm tools that partner with users. She probably thinks I'm either delusional or running some kind of con."

"But she asked you to come back," Mokko said. "That means something. She's curious, at least."

"Or she wants time to figure out how to get rid of me permanently," Marron muttered.

Lucy burbled something that might have been reassurance and formed a worried heart in her jar.

"I should have been more careful," Marron said. "Should have built rapport first, established trust, approached this like a negotiation instead of like a desperate collector asking to see her most valuable possession."

"You approached it like someone who was excited and nervous," Mokko said. "Which you were. Are."

"Excitement and nervousness don't excuse poor strategy." Marron finally stopped pacing, sat down heavily on her bed. "What if she says no? What if she won't even talk to me tomorrow?"

"Then you respect that and move on," Mokko said. "You've said it yourself—you won't take tools from people who deserve them. If Petra won't even engage in conversation, that's her right."

He was right. Marron knew he was right. But the knife was right there, in Lumeria, being used but not fully understood. And Marron had potentially ruined any chance of partnering with it by being too eager, too direct, too strange.

"I'm going to Jenny's cart," Marron announced. "For that haircut. And to distract myself from catastrophizing."

"Good plan," Mokko said. "Go let your Earth friend cut your hair and tell you everything will work out."

"Will it work out?"

"Probably. One way or another."

"That's not comforting."

"It's realistic," Mokko said with a smile.

Jenny took one look at Marron's face when she arrived at the cart and said, "Sit. You look like you've had a terrible morning."

"I found another Legendary Tool," Marron said, slumping onto the stool Jenny had set up behind the cart. "A knife. The owner has it, and she's suspicious of me, and I probably ruined any chance of even talking to her properly by showing up at dawn like an obsessive weirdo asking to handle her blade."

"Okay, that does sound rough." Jenny circled Marron, examining her self-inflicted haircut. "Also, what did you do to yourself? This is... creative."

"I cut my own hair yesterday morning because I was tired of looking invisible."

"Noble goal, terrible execution." Jenny pulled out professional shears. "Hold still. I'm going to fix this while you tell me about the knife situation."

Marron explained while Jenny worked—finding the knife at the blacksmith's forge, going to The Silver Cleaver at dawn, Petra's wariness and her own terrible approach to the conversation.

"So she thinks you're either crazy or dangerous," Jenny summarized, evening out the choppy layers Marron had created. "But she also asked you to come back tomorrow."

"Which means what? That she's curious? That she wants time to prepare defenses? That she's going to call the city guard?"

"That she's thinking about it," Jenny said pragmatically. "Look, if she really thought you were dangerous, she would have thrown you out immediately. The fact that she's giving you another chance means something intrigued her. Probably the part where you described her knife better than she could describe it herself."

"Or she thinks I'm stalking her."

"Possible," Jenny admitted. She worked on the face-framing layers now, making them more deliberate. "But Marron, here's the thing—you can't control what Petra thinks or decides. You can only control how you approach the next conversation. So tomorrow, when you go back, what are you going to do differently?"

"Not show up at dawn?" Marron suggested.

"Good start. What else?"

Marron thought about it. "Let her talk more. Ask questions instead of making statements. Build trust before making reveals about Legendary Tools."

"Better," Jenny said. "And maybe—just maybe—accept that you can't have every tool. That some of them are meant to stay with their current users. That your collection doesn't have to be complete to be valuable."

That hit harder than Marron expected. "You think I'm being too obsessive about this."

"I think you're excited and driven and those are good things," Jenny said. "But I also think you need to remember why you started looking for these tools. Not to complete a collection. Not to be the first person with all seven. But to learn from them. To understand what they teach." She finished cutting, stepped back to examine her work. "If this knife teaches Petra what she needs to learn, then that's the right outcome. Even if it means you don't get to carry it."

"That's very wise," Marron said.

"I'm old," Jenny said with a grin. "Well, older than you anyway. Twelve years in this world teaches perspective." She handed Marron a small mirror. "Check out the hair."

Marron looked. The wolf cut was actually correct now—choppy layers that fell with intention, shorter in back, longer pieces framing her face. It looked like someone who'd made a choice instead of someone who'd had a panic-fueled scissors incident.

"This is perfect," Marron said.

"That's because I know what I'm doing, unlike some people who attack their own hair at seven in the morning." Jenny started putting away her scissors. "Now go do something distracting for the rest of the day. Don't sit around obsessing about tomorrow. The knife situation will work out how it works out, and you spiraling won't help."

"You're very bossy for someone I've known less than a week."

"Earth people stick together," Jenny said. "Now go. I have customers waiting for magic drinks."

She did—a line was already forming at the cart, people eager for Jenny's flavored magic water.

Marron left with her properly-cut hair and Jenny's advice echoing in her mind. Let Petra talk more. Build trust before revealing too much. Accept that not every tool was meant for her collection.

Tomorrow she'd try again. Better this time. More careful. More respectful of Petra's completely justified wariness.

And if Petra said no? If the knife chose to stay with its current user?

Then Marron would accept that with grace and move on to finding the next tool, the next lesson, the next piece of understanding.

At least, that's what she told herself as she tried to distract herself for the rest of the long, anxious day.

[Quest Update: The Perfect Cut]

[Status: Complicated]

[Petra is wary and suspicious—your approach was too direct]

[She's asked you to return tomorrow—this is a second chance]

[Suggested Strategy: Build trust before revealing full truth]

[Note: Sometimes acquiring a Legendary Tool depends on your approach.]

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