Bakura’s stay in Arri had been kept on a low profile for the most part; the young demon had been in the city for years and yet raised no suspicion. Mainly because he wasn’t the sort to cause any trouble and had kept to himself and his studies for gods knew how long. As exotic and beautiful as the place was, it was actually its academy that attracted him the most from it. He was a scholar at heart, an eager mind that yearn to have its fill of the alchemical arts that the school specialized in. There was hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience and literature housed there and for a long while now, he had been both a student and more so in the recent century or two, a teacher in his own right.

Dark olive eyes scanned through the latest of books he planned to add to his conquest in the library. His teaching was over with for the day and those that required his presence would easily find him there most of the time. He was known to be an enigmatic professor that wasn’t very easy to approach and carried an air about him, as if intimidation reeked from his body with ease. In truth, he was more so not the sort to be bothered unless there was good reason. It wasn’t that he hated people, but he loathed wasting time on small talk. Flipping through the next few pages with ease, he was starting to feel as though he might have read this one before- a lot of the proposed ideas were sounding away too familiar to his liking. He brushed aside ebony strains of hair that got in the way of his vision before snapped the book shut with disappointment before getting up to search through the sea of bookshelves again for a fresh book.

Bakura navigated through the maze-like arrangement of bookshelves like clockwork. Which would make sense for him since he had spent so much time here it was like a second home. His finger combed through the book stems with ease, gliding across them until he found one that stirred his interest and pulled it out. Taking a few moments to skip through a few pages to make sure, he was satisfied and started to head back to the table he had been at, already filled with plenty of opened books and parchments awaiting for his return.

Taimi walked through the halls of the Auzial Academy. She had a group of students that she led into the large library. This was primarily a tour for new students. “As you can see our collection of books rivals that of Iria’s academy but nowhere near the Keeper’s collection that he now shares with us.” Her voice wasn’t too hushed but enough that the group of students could all hear her.

“Our books range in healing practices for beginners to the advanced alchemical achievements of those who passed through these halls.” Taimi was a gorgeously tall professor with long red hair and gold eyes. Glasses sat on the edge of her nose as she pushed them up. She was dressed in her professor robes. A beautiful blue with a silver lining as it were. She was a rather tall woman around the five foot eight mark. She was lithe but showing signs of being curvaceous under the loose robes. Just like her mother actually as they walked over past the portraits of successful people of the college.

“Professor Taimi?” A student put his arm up.

“Yes?” She turned on his heel and looked at him with some interest. It was the first time that one of the students hadn’t been intimidated by the rather intoxicating aura the professor had. That overwhelming sense of confidence that poured off of her.

“The red-headed lady, she is the Mother, right? You look a lot like her…”

“Well, I would. I am one of her eldest children after all. I followed in her footsteps but I will never be as great as she was or rather is. Angela Rose graduated this academy at age thirteen and by the time she was fifteen she was part of research and development for Sularia… By the time she was sixteen she created the Varaz and Emiria barriers… Just after her success at becoming the legendary healer of Parvpora, she ascended to godhood for her efforts. My mother is one of the most talented people to walk out of this academy. If we are lucky she will teach a class here in the academy. I’ve been asking her to do it for some time now.”

The students all ooo’d at the thought of a goddess teaching them. For the first time, she saw life in the students. “That’s all for today. We’ll begin classes on beginner alchemy studies tomorrow… First light. An alchemist has to learn when to get up early. Often our studies make us stay up all day and all night. So we’re going to live like we’re on the brink of a new discovery.” She shooed the students away as they all whispered to each other.

“Is that the only way you can get them interested?” The librarian looked up after she left.

“Two-thirds of this group will flunk out half way through,” Taimi frowned a bit. “You have to have a passion for something to do this. Most of these damn kids just come here because their parents think they're special.”

“That’s why your mother was here. I remember when I signed out her first book,” the librarian chuckled towards Taimi.

“Yeah… I tend not to tell people that part,” she chuckled a bit with her. “Classes will be interesting though. The lot is talented but they lack the passion that we look for…”

“Speaking of which… I was told by the headmistress to introduce someone to you.” The librarian crossed over and took Taimi with her. “Professor Bakura?” Taimi tilted her head as she didn’t much try to cause a stir either in her free time. “This is Professor Taimi. You’ll be working with her together this semester for the Advanced Alchemy studies group.”

Suddenly it clicked and Taimi made a face. “I meant to ask about that. I knew I was teaching it with someone. I got caught up in the newcomers this year… My apologies Professor Bakura.”

It was rather a difficult task to disturb Bakura from his research and it took a special person to rip him literally away from it. One of those people just happened to be the librarian, the very one that approached him with the redhead lady that he was sure he passed by in the halls once or twice beforehand. Lifting his gaze up from the book he plucked from the shelves, his sights went to the librarian and then to the other professor, giving her a swift study to recollect where he had heard that name of hers before.

“Ah, my apologizes. I was aware that the headmistress had mentioned that I would be lecturing with another professor. Taimi, is it?” Again, that itch within his mind came back as he thought long and hard about where else he had heard that name.

While Bakura would have went back to his studying, it didn’t take much to figure out that they would have to discuss things right now and not right before the classes would occur. Not to mention that his work was all over the table for view- the incomplete recipes, half done sketches of alchemical symbols and the rows of books that were either closed or remained open. In other words, it was a cluster. Although it wasn’t like he had his best foot forward himself- his raven locks were in a mess, his own robes were disheveled a bit from being worn since yesterday (due to him not going home and continuing with his research) and the ring around his eyes showed that slept was more of a luxury that he forsakened.

“Don’t fret about that, young minds like theirs need to be nurtured as soon as possible. Of course it will be no easy task for us, just like it won’t be easy for them to pass. I remember when I was in their shoes so long ago…” That was around two hundred or so years ago, although he felt as though he had been a professor for much longer.

Of course, in comparison to what he was researching, the work for the students would be absolutely child’s play. He didn’t speak it though, he had much more modesty than most of his family in that regard. If anything, he simply wanted to learn it for the sake of it. He looked to Taimi, eyes narrowing as if he was on the verge of guessing why she seemed familiar to him.

“Wait, you wouldn’t happen to be related to Angela Rose, would you?” Their appearances looked dangerously close, only that he was sure that s portrait of the greatest student that succeeded here needed to be updated.

Taimi gave a smile and nodded. She could tell that he was deep into his research. It was the type of passion that most professors needed. That most students needed. It was nice to see someone else with her level of passion for their field. There were days when she looks just as tired as he did.

Nodding she chuckled. “The younger the better. When it comes to learning I find that the youngest students take in the information better and grow around it. Making it a part of themselves where the oldest ones adapt to it.” There was a truth to the words she said and a difference between the two. Younger students tended to get the material faster than older ones. “That makes two of us for it being so long ago.” She chuckled a bit though she couldn’t tell who was older. That was a common case in Sularia though.

Once he brought up her mother she began to chuckle a bit. “Yes, well the portrait of my mother is from her graduation… She was a child after all. I’m one of her eldest daughters as it would be. Most of my schooling was done through her out on the field rather than in a classroom. My mother had this thing about her knowledge being absolute and kills the drive of the student mind. I’m trying to get her to teach at least one class for our advanced alchemy but she has been hesitant on killing student drives.” Taimi gave him a smile and looked down at his work.

“May I?” Once she got permission she shifted through the papers and stopped once she got to a particular set. “The formula will work if you add a bit of worm salt. An absolute pinch of it will activate the formula list you have.” She gave him a smile. “Mother said that when in doubt always try the pinch of worm salt if you are stumped. The worst it can do is backfire.” She chuckled a bit. “It’s never really steered me wrong in all the time I’ve been practicing. It’s something about the minerals in the worm salt.”

The librarian left the two of them alone and she shifted through the papers some more. "I have a bit of a list for materials for the students already… so if you want to take a look and we can combine what we both have the most benefit to the students."

Well, there was one thing that they could agree on- which was the welfare and the benefit of the students that came to learn from the minds of professors like them. While he could appear heartless and cold, Bakura was simply one that preferred to busy himself with studies but he didn’t mind giving a helping hand. It was one of the things he had to accept when he was offered the position he was in- it was a great benefit to him as he could make usage of the resources here, and to teach what he had learned was a small price to pay in comparison in his mind.

“Indeed, it easier to teach the youth, but I find given the right motivation, anyone can be a willing participate. Well most of the time.” When she confirmed his suspicions about her heritage, he nodded and watched her more closely. What did bring some shock to him was how Taimi had learned through her mother and it wasn’t in a classroom, but in actual practice. It was a potentially dangerous thing to partake in that, but it was Angela rose after all. She knew what she was doing though he wasn’t as brave as she was on that front.

“I see. If she does come, I will have to pay much attention to what she has to offer. Perhaps she may have a word or two about my own studies.” He allowed the other professor with a gesture of his hand to look through his findings, watching with close intent until she brought something up. “If I may”, he said before taking the certain list that she peeking through and gave it some thought. It was to one of his works towards a brand new potion but the problem laid in that there was an ingredient missing that made the progress go into a grinding halt. “Worm salt, eh?” Bakura gave it some honest thought and started to calculate its properties and potential before slowly nodding and adding it to his list. “Not one to leave things to chance, but I think you may have something there.”

He hardly paid attention when the librarian left them to their own devices; instead he went back to reading his book and had just flipped to the next page when he heard Taimi again and looked up. “…Certainly.” A curious thought acrossed his mind; now small talk wasn’t his thing, but they were discussing the matters of their profession and if they had to work together, sooner or later he’d have to learn more about her. “So what is your take on how to teach the students? Do you take your mother’s approach or do you have one of your own?”

Taimi nodded and smirked up at him. “Worm salt varies from region to region depending on the soil. I do believe I have the right mixture of it in my office if you want a sample of it to test it out.” Once it moved onto her heritage she saw the look in his eye and chuckled. “She rarely let me and my siblings out of her sights. So we were always in the medic tents with her. After a while, I picked up on what she was doing… So she pulled me with her and I began to learn almost everything she knew. Mother prefers doing things herself so she doesn’t use her god abilities unless she has to. An infinite amount of power and she prefers doing it the hard way… a woman after my own heart I dare say.” There was a chuckle from her lips now.

Thinking about how she would teach the students she began to think hard. “I do prefer that they learn in the field but since we don’t have that opportunity I do think that we should set up areas for them to try the alchemy we give them. The best way to learn is to do. Failure is only a stepping stone for the success you will have in the future. Very rarely are people capable of no mistakes at all.”

She paused for a moment. “Maybe it is best if I show you the outlines for the lectures that I have. I always try to be one step ahead and I was hoping to have a sensible partner who could fill in the gaps that I’ve missed.” She helped him pack up his things before they headed to her office.

Her office was on the third floor of the building. There were plants everywhere. There were obvious signs of her snipping pieces off for experiments. She even had planters of cave mushrooms that glowed with a brilliant light in a dark corner of the room. There were bookshelves with runes that protected them from the humidity of the rainforest like atmosphere the room had for the plants. Each of the plants had a different set of runes for a temperature. She had basically created miniature biomes in her office. Even having a small snow planter far from the window. “Sorry for the mess.”

She moved mounds of paperwork from the first years off her desk and pulled out a rather large stack of detailed, extremely detailed, paperwork for the advanced. “This is all I have… This is just the first week of material. Detailed but I do think the more information we have the less likely there will be an explosion. Last year Professor Nome blew up the research division because he left stuff out. That’s why we’re taking over this year for the advanced alchemy.”

“I suppose that’s why I never considered that thought. The thought of worm salt eluded me for some time now.” He didn’t have much of a problem admitting that he was wrong or if he’d made a mistake- such prideful haughtiness was beneath him. The greatest scholars and alchemists had to learn faults so that they could avoid such things themselves, but if they encountered it, he believed that they should continue where they went wrong and march forward. Quitting wasn’t an option in the least. “Sure, I can drop by there at some point.” He listened well to how Professor Taimi had started her humble beginning into this art. Angela was a respectable woman and a capable person of many fields without the need of her divinity. That much had showed in her accomplishments long before she reigned as an immortal. As a student here, Bakura had heard many times of her feats and yet he wasn’t jealous or envious of her. Of course he respected her and her accomplishments but he also yearned to etch his own path. So far, he had half done recipes and even more ideas to show for it. Yet he was determined to continue on with his work.

Admittingly Taimi sharing his views on the previous matter which impressed him, though he kept a seldom look on his face. “It’s better for them to learn from their mistakes than to achieve a first time success. Will make them overconfident and may undo them if they aren’t careful.” She was perfectly correct in her words and it was something he strived to keep for himself at all times, even when he succeeded.

It seemed like he had to put his current work on hold as she suggested for his help in getting her notes done for the lectures up for future classes. At least she helped him pack up his notes and other parchments while the librarian took care of the books he hadn’t checked out. He did feel slightly off when he thought about going to her office- he hadn’t really got involved with another professor or a peer for that matter. He was a lone wolf for the most part but they would have work together, he would have to constantly remind himself. The climb to her office took no time at all and he was brought into her own realm it seemed. It was like she had created such with how vastly diverse it was with the biomes she had scattered about it. “Mess? This is wonderful”, he muttered, “This had to have taken a long time to cultivate all of these to their current states.” Bakura moved over to her desk and quickly scanned through her notes and such. “To be fair, Nome wasn’t the most responsible and reliable with his ingredients. Never had been from when I was learning from him. And then he wondered why such things happen.”

“Would be good for them to know about glow dust. Heaven knows that they just learn about it and not have to hunt down will-o-wisps for it. Quite a pain to do so.” He pointed out some more things that were left off the list, which was done excellently aside from that. But to be fair, most of what he list off and written down for later were vastly difficult ingredients.

“To be honest, it’s so I don’t have to overly socialize with people while I work. I find people to be distracting.” There was a chuckle from her lips. “This isn’t even half of it. I hate socialization so much so… that present from my mother are these,” she spoke as she got up and went over to a cabinet. When the cabinet opened up there were hundreds of jars with bows and ribbons. All of them were different types of alchemy ingredients. All of them were meticulously labeled and sorted by what looked like color and name. “I have more at home. This is just for when I’m at the academy working. Small price to pay.” She kicked a blanket and pillow under the desk though. Showing she too had a habit of not really going on like she should.

“I would say the worst for me was the snow biome. I had to go into the snow lands and collect all the samples by myself. The blue flowers are among my favorite. I fought a lamia den over them.” She smirked towards Bakura and shook her head. “I’ve only heard stories of Nome. Apparently, he is old enough that my mother remembers being on assignments with him. Not many pleasant things to say about it.”

She nodded as she wrote down the ingredients he went on about. He had a good plan. “This is a good idea…”

–

Their first week was interesting together. They ended up spending a lot of time together for lesson plans and grading assignments. “HA!” Taimi yelled from across her desk. She looked up at him and started to laugh. “I win the bet.” She threw two tests at him and crossed her arms. “Told you he was cheating off Mia. I switched questions three and four for his test and he was too dumb to realize it. You owe me dinner.”

She was dressed down in a light shirt and skirt. Her red hair was messy put up. “I did tell you.” She pushed some food towards him. “Here, I made this for dinner but I think I made too much. We’re going to need to at least eat lunch to get through these papers. Most of them are a mess. It’s a roast that I cooked. Promise that I am a rather good cook.”

“They can be”, he agreed. People could prove to be quite the distraction, though he didn’t so much hate them as much as he didn’t like being disturbed from his work. “Don’t have to worry much about interaction really myself. Most of the time, I’m in the library or in my study back home. Barely even talk to our colleagues in my time so far. Perhaps a little bit of discussion about lesson plans, but besides that I really held conversations with the librarian and the headmistress.” He turned to peek at the arrangement of jars in her cabinet. Dedication indeed. He did caught sight of her blanket and pillow and shrugged, “At least you get some sleep- better than I am.”

Bakura looked around until he reached the snow biome. It was intriguing how she was able to keep up with its upkeep despite their actual setting in the desert. “Must have been annoying, but worth it for the sight of this” His voice was showing some life behind the demon as he looked on like a child introduced to a brand new toy. “He likely is. Perhaps just as old as the academy itself. I do have to share your mother’s views on him, but he is gifted, in a manner of speaking." His suggestions seemed to be approved by Taimi and he didn’t mind helping her out since in the end, they both were equally responsible for their students and that she had helped him out on a personal level.

As time went by, he found himself meeting with her frequently to discuss plans, grading assignments and in general conversate about their own personal studies. Also he was getting more sleep so he was more refreshed in appearance and also better dressed. Wearing a green and white coat and pants, his eyes looked more rejuvenated and slightly brighter and his hair neatly combed. He hadn’t thought of why he was finally keeping up with that, but it felt refreshing. They were doing another round of grading when he lifted his gaze and frowned at Taimi. “No, there’s no way he did…” He didn’t want to believe that Tobias had indeed cheated but Taimi showed him his test as well as that of Mia’s and announced her deception. He groaned as his eyes shifted between the two tests and their identical answers, despite it being obvious that the questions were different. There had been suspicious but they had then turned it into a wage, which he had lost now.

“Fine, fine. I will make you dinner. Tomorrow night then? I have to get my ingredients for it ready”, he offered while he planned a note for Tobias requesting his presence. Someone was going to be pulling some extra tasks around the academy for a while now. He was pleasantly surprised by the offer of food. He lifted his plate to his nose and playfully sniffed at it. “You sure it’s safe”, he said, in a joking manner that was not typically coming from him. “Well, you get to be lucky in being my guinea pig for my dishes then. Is there a particular food that makes you sick? Don’t want to cause you any trouble, Tai…hmm, Professor Taimi.”

Taimi stopped for a minute. “It gets worse. The only reason why I was so suspicious is that it is his family paying for Mia’s attendance here. She is so brilliant and yet… I think they are forcing her to participate in this. His family is rather well known in Iria so I asked my stepfather about it. He managed to get me some insight. Evidently, Mia’s family has been in service to his for a while now. So she is probably here on their silver… and can only continue if she gets him through the academy.”

She put her chin on her propped up hands as she stared at Bakura. “I plan on asking my mother to fund Mia’s education. So we can punish him and save her… There’s the matter of her family but I’ve left it up to Adraejen on what to do if things get out of control. I was hoping I was wrong for the matter… I even bought the things to make dinner at home for you.” Her words were true as she stared into his more lifelike eyes. He was a completely different person almost.

She chuckled a bit at him and nodded. “Yes, tomorrow night. You still have to tell me where you live.” Taimi gave him a playful look at he played with her and she chuckled. “If it wasn’t safe I wouldn’t have given it to you. I would have given it to Professor Markus for staring at my ass the entire time we lectured. You know damn well it’s why he decides to pop in while we’re teaching. I have half a mind to put poison to make him go to the bathroom endlessly in his coffee.”

Hearing her name start to come out of his mouth she perked up and gave him an innocently smile. It was the first time they were almost sort of on a personal level at this point. “You can call me Taimi when we’re not at the academy.” She pushed her hair back in what appeared to be an innocent matter but it was closer to someone nervous. She didn’t understand her problem recently but she focused on the papers in front of her. “I can bring wine for tomorrow. My mother makes it herself so I have an entire stash for when things get out of control and I just need to relax. I wouldn’t mind sharing it with you tomorrow.”