Thank you so much! I'm very pleased that you enjoyed this story, and that my take on these characters worked for you.
I can so easily see Minerva being the kind of kid who got along better with her teachers than with her peers.
*nods*. That was exactly what I had in mind - that she naturally preferred the company of people who were a bit older and conversed about things that her peers did not.
I also have to note how good the structure and pacing are. Stories of this length can often feel either draggy (like it should have been a short story but got out of hand) or rushed (like it should have been a novel but the author ran out of time). But this one really hits that novella sweet spot. Excellent work.
Gosh, thank you :-) I must say that pacing and length are some of the areas I wasn't quite sure about, so I'm especially pleased to hear that the story felt balanced in this department!