Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lin thought she was going to faint. Her professor, Professor Akakios, the man she was by right now, was a god.... he was a god! How had she not sensed that?! She knew he had so much power, but a god? He must not even try to access his strong powers all the time, or she would have sensed it around him. But then again, she was young, very young compared to other elves and to Professor Akakios himself. It was very understandable that she could miss something like this.

And he wasn't exactly a dragon. But yet, he kind of was. Dragons and serpents, as she understood since her people revered both so much, were very similar, had the same magical scales and were both very powerful. The only difference was that dragons had elemental powers while serpents had cosmic powers. Serpents were actually more mysterious to Lin, though she was mystified by both quite a bit.

"You are... You... are a god?"

But her professor was a god. She didn't want to be the type of girl who focused on something like this, something like power, but this was huge! And she had heard everything her professor had said, and she was so sorry that he had lost someone so close to him, but this was big.

Lin didn't know what to say. Her head was somewhat pulsing near the temples and there was a high pitched humming sound in her ears. She unclasped her hands and started to slowly move back toward counter behind her, but when she put her left hand down behind her for balance, it landed on the burner the potion cauldron was on instead of the counter.

It took a moment for the burning sensation to hit her, but as soon as it did, she hissed and pulled her hand toward her quickly. She held her injured hand with her good hand and looked down at it, her brown soft curls hanging around her face in a curtain. It was bright red, but luckily she had pulled it back before it could start to blister. But it hurt very badly.

Lin gasped as her burn went away completely, in just a matter of seconds! She had never seen him do that before, never knew he could do that.

She looked up with wide eyes full of wonder. Her words came out in a whisper. "I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know you could heal instantly. And I am sorry for my reactions right now. I just... I cannot help but being very surprised. Please don't regret telling me all that you do. Thank you for doing so."

Lin was caught by surprise when Ophiuchus hugged her. Like it was natural. But what did he mean that he didn't want her to think of him differently? How could she? He was still her professor and was teaching her so much about healing. Anything else she learned in the process was just icing on the cake. She was honored that he would share all of that information with her, especially since apparently, he didn't tell many people about his past.

She hugged him back lightly. "Thank you for sharing your past with me, Professor. I am truly honored. And of course I will keep this to myself, sir. And... I will try not to think differently of you, sir. It is not that I could think badly of you. Never that, Professor. I just am afraid I might be more in awe of you for awhile now. You're a god. I know you do not want to be treated that way, so I will try not to treat you that way."

Just then, Lin felt a light and quick tapping on the back of her head. She reached back with one of her hands to cover that spot. She laughed softly and turned around to see the potion spoon hanging in the air, the handle having just tapped her on the head to signal to her that the potion was done.

"I do wish you had not attached that part to the spell you taught me to enchant the spoon, sir."

She laughed softly again and then went over to the cauldron with a few small vials and an eye dropper. "It is time to put the potion in the vials now. How many do we need, again?"

Lin nodded and smiled as she started to put potion into vials with the eyedropper. She had brought 3 vials over and would go get 5 more in a moment.

"It is alright, sir. I made a larger batch because you said we would need a lot, and I wanted to leave some over for you for the future."

Lin was just about to put the first full vial aside when she saw her professor summon a vial holder over to them. She smiled gratefully at him and put the full vial inside of it. She reached for the next empty vial and repeated the process with the first vial.

"Well, Professor, I am amazed and honored that you shared your history with me. Obviously you guard that just as closely, if not more so, than my people do this recipe. So, I think it is an equal exchange. Even if you had not shared your past with me, though, sir, I would still be glad that I am sharing this potion with you. It will help you and many others, and that is what this potion was made for."

She smiled at her professor as she put the 2nd full vial in the holder.

Lin's eyes lit up with excitement again and the thought of learning alchemy. That would be wonderful!! And with this pocket dimension, she'd have time to study both it and healing equally! And she fully trusted Professor Akakios, so she knew he'd be able to teach her both very well.

But his last statement confused her. "An angry Headmaster? Will Headmaster Enlil be upset that you showed me your lab like this?"

She wouldn't think he would because it should be at Professor Akakios's discretion on who to let into his own lab, but why else would the Headmaster be angry?

Lin was quite surprised at her professor's description of the Headmaster. Her eyes were wide, but she was still filling the 3rd vial. She didn't really know what to say. She didn't want to insult the professor by not responding at all, but she also could not bring herself to laugh or agree with him. Headmaster Enlil was her headmaster and she couldn't disparage him. Professor Akakios was not only Headmaster Enlil's coworker but also his elder, so it was perfectly natural and fine for him to say what he wanted to.

"I see... Well, I am much younger than he is. It makes me worried what you must think of me and my enthusiasm. You probably see it as youthful immaturity."

She laughed nervously.

Lin breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her professor. She was on her 5th vial now. It was important to her that her professor looked at her in a positive light. And she had never thought about dragons in the way that Professor Akakios had just explained. They were these awe-inspiring, powerful creatures to her and her people. It made sense, however. They're so powerful that they probably couldn't take directions well. Why would they have to?

"Is that why he is the Headmaster and you are not, sir? You are older than he is and seem more like the type to be a Headmaster. Do you want him to learn how to take directions and be more responsible?"

She gasped then when she realized what she had just asked and put the half-full vial down in horror. "Oh Professor! I... I am so sorry. Please forgot what I asked. It was entirely rude and uncalled for."