How could she not notice him? Her gaze finds him unerringly in the strangers arrayed against them as she hops down from the train, taking in the familiar blindfold, the flinch-- this is her daozhang, not the happier man from the past. This is the man who told her to leave. Suddenly, unaccountably nervous at facing him again, she hangs back in the chaos of the platform. She needs time to think, time to observe him, and panic a little, and feel Wester's matching curiosity in her chest. Breathing through all of that takes the ten minutes they're stuck outside the train.

By the time the doors hiss shut, she's been shadowing him enough that she's in the perfect position to slip past the other stragglers and wrap both of her hands into the fabric of his hoodie. His behaviour has given her the determination she needs to approach, she can't not do it.

"It's a-Qing," she gets out, as quickly as she can. "Daozhang, let me help you."