"But teacher, your son didn't do anything,"
His words stung Sophia like a sharp knife but she only gave him a warm smile. Elias was a child, just like her own son. It was only obvious that he would have some doubts about August.
"Ah… it's none of your business," not Sophia but it was Shelly who had exasperatedly replied.
Elias made a face and only turned his gaze away.
"You cannot speak to Elias like that, it's impolite," Sophia gave Shelly a warmly cautious look. "... understood Shelly?"
Shelly lowered her head in apology.
"Good…" Sophia then turned to Elias and spoke in her usual soothing voice, "August isn't like the rest of you, child. He is …different. He doesn't have a core element so he couldn't even see the colorful lights of essence."
Elias cocked a brow, "does that mean he's beneath us …teacher?"
"Can't you just keep your mouth shut you idiot?" Shelly spoke again, now shouting at Elias.
"Why do you want to compare August with mages anyway? The teacher said, he's not like the rest of us didn't she? Then why can't your tiny brain comprehend this simple detail?"
"Am I talking to you, blockhead?" Elias snapped. "I asked the teacher, not you. Then why don't you mind your own business?"
"Enough!!" Sophia said calmly but it was enough to make both of them stop talking. She turned to Elias with her usual calm demeanor,
"No one is beneath anyone, child. We don't say things like that. You are an excellent mage of your own generation but obviously there would be problems in your spells too. To be a mage, means pointing out those mistakes and keep learning from them."
Elias listened to her carefully,
"Just like that," she continued.
"Every person has to face their own problems in their lives. So, we can't compare them with each other. It is not right. You have to learn from your own mistakes and the other person has to do the same from their own. That's how everyone is unique in their own aspects. And I know you are mature enough to understand that."
In the end Elias gave a nod and Sophia dismissed today's class.
Unbeknownst to all of this August was sitting in his room with the woman in the mist levitating in the air before him. He was trying to read a book with the woman's help. Occasionally she would also add some facts into his knowledge.
It has been quite a while since August started to talk to her without letting his parents know about it.
All they did was chat about usual things but August mainly asked her questions about whatever piqued his curiosity.
Right now he was reading a book about a prince of a neighbouring country. Normally he would never have picked something that wasn't related to the infamous fallen era at all.
But this story had something he was very curious to know about.
"Hmm… so Prince Laneor along with his dragon rebelled against his own kingdom in order to free a city." He read the story without any hint of interest in his voice. After some time he turned to the woman,
"Say, Lady mist?" he asked, "what does rebellion mean? And are dragons real?"
Like a child he was, he asked the two questions almost immediately.
"Hey, don't call me lady mist," the woman nodded,
"Rebellion means when you fight against your own king. As for dragons, yes they are real."
August didn't give a damn about what rebellion meant now, all he was interested in was the magical creatures called dragons.
"Really lady mist? Have you ever seen one?"
"Uh… not exactly," she replied while staring at the ceiling. "Then again, I don't mostly remember what the world outside of this forest looks like."
"Ah…" He rolled back his eyes, "so they don't exist after all."
"I didn't say that," the woman let out a frown. "I know for sure they exist. They had to be, somewhere out there in the world. I'm sure I've seen dragons …I keep having these memories of them."
"Memories?" August raised a brow. "Don't you specialize in memories?"
Because of the time he had spent with her till now—he got to know about her a lot. Like what kind of creature she was, how she sensed everything in the vicinity of the forest that too while staying with him all the time.
And how her elemental aspect was related to the mental concepts like memories.
"Answer me Lady mist," he asked, staring at her with a bored expression. "Have you been trying to force your mind to recall your past memories?"
"Uh… no I haven't," the woman's expression turned guilty. "...maybe a little."
"Figures," he let out an exasperated sigh. "No wonder you think the dragons are real."
With that he returned to his book reading which honestly wasn't that interesting to him. However, August had a unique way with resolve.
Hence, he was determined to complete the story even if it bores him.
On the other hand lady mist was left hanging, literally as he had indirectly questioned her mental state.
His words were so carefree that they really made her question herself. Was she really going insane?
She did want to get her past memories back that were forcefully taken from her by Valerius and Aurelion. Apart from the names and faces of culprits she didn't know anything more.
However, it didn't take her long to return to senses. Only realizing now that this little boy had made fun of her.
Gritting her teeth she charged at him and ….tried her best to annoy him by disturbing his reading.
"You foolish child, how dare you?"
August tried to act tough but in the end he couldn't suppress his annoyed expressions.
— — — — —