Emily & Mei Ling's first meeting (Patreon)

As described in episode 4 of the audio series, "Facts".

Emily sheepishly entered the bookstore, somewhat enticed by its spellbinding name; “The Whispering Pages”, but more so the chance to learn something that might point her towards answering the questions of the last two months.

The antique ring of the shop's bell chimed out as she pushed the door open, unveiling a darkened shop floor thick with the smell of old paper and leather-bound books. 

“Hello”? She called out hesitantly.

A muffled reply made its way through the stacks of paper sat on old wooden shelves.

“Be right out!”

The smell of the shop began to play on Emily’s mind, who was brought back to memories of school trips to museums. 

Turning, Emily realised a woman was standing at the other end of the store assessing her olfactory experience. 

Dressed in a casual, flowing white dress of asian origin and sporting long, black hair, her dark eyes looked the young woman up and down, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. 

“Is… everything okay?” asked Emily, confused by the woman's lack of announcement. 

“Age.” the woman replied, smiling.

“Excuse me?” said Emily, now already totally lost by the cryptic welcome.

The woman stepped forward, slowly, gently running her fingers across a small stack of texts lining the route to the shop door.

“The smell. Some of these books are older than this building. Maybe, even this town.” continued the woman.

“Right.” replied Emily, dumbfounded.

The woman halted, then a moment later turned, beginning a seemingly previous task of returning several books to yet another shelf.

“What did you hope to find here?” she asked, curtly.

Emily, unable to remember the last time she had entered a bookstore, let alone an oddity such as this, stuttered her response.

“Find? Well, the lady at the library said that, well, this store might have some books on… um…”

She trailed off, unable to utter the word in her mind.

The woman in white paused her book duties and slightly turned her head towards the girl. Staring for a moment, she raised her eyebrows and leant in Emily’s direction ever so slightly. 

“Spit it out.” she bluntly commanded.

“Monsters.” Emily mumbled.

The woman uttered something in response. Not in any language Emily could understand, but certainly one she could at least recognise. 

“I’m sorry I don’t speak Chinese.” she said, shaking her head.

Without so much as a slight pause the woman rotated the rest of herself to completely face Emily.

“You’ll have to be more specific.” What “Monsters” are you looking for?”

Unabated, Emily’s awkwardness continued to grow, much to the amusement of the woman.

“I’m not looking for monsters per se. I mean, I wanted to learn about…”

Once more she trailed off, again self-aware of the absurdity of her request.

“You know what, it’s okay. Nevermind.”

Losing her nerve entirely, she spun around and pulled at the door handle, the bell again clanking out a slightly less than effective ring.

“Perhaps you’re looking for something inside?”

Pausing, Emily turned her head back to the woman, unsure why she had uttered something so peculiar. Then it dawned on her. Was the woman referring to a “something” inside herself? Or had this woman's short bursts merely disintegrated into semi-wild ramblings. 

Even more curious, Emily chose to dig a bit deeper.

“Inside?” she asked, perplexed. 

The woman, apparently as confused to Emily’s response as Emily was to hers, displayed a one sided frown.

“Inside the shop?”

Emily’s awkwardness had now completely transmuted into the notion that, through her distraction, she had simply misunderstood the woman's question. She leaned back into the store, letting go of the handle and allowing the door to slowly swing shut.

“You certainly aren’t likely to find anything useful out there. Not if you’re really looking to learn about “monsters”...” spoke the woman in a near theatrical tone.

Trying to find words to reply, Emily’s mouth simply hung slightly open, as she waited for her mind to re-engage.

The woman beckoned her over to where she stood.

“Come. Sit. I have some dusty old pages you might be interested in.” said the woman, swiping her finger forward and back.

Not entirely certain that she had just been given the strangest sales pitch in her recent experience, she found herself at least comfortable enough at this point to humour the woman. 

“Okay?” she said, making her way to a small stool to which the woman indicated...