"It does." She says encouragingly. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

He shakes his head. "Uh-uh. Never had the-" He makes a small hand gesture that seems to amount to 'opportunity'. "You?"

"I tried to learn some, and they tried to teach me some, but in the orphanage I grew up I just would end up working on other stuff."

"-Did you like the other stuff?"

"It varied? It was good being able to contribute and it made the caretakers like me more. And they recommended me and my brother to work here, which is a huge honor, you know."

"It's nice to be able to help."

She nods. Oh, she doesn't remember his name.

That's awkward.

Okay, okay, you can just ask Ima.

"Uh... what is your name, again?"

"Oh. Uh. Parafi." Beat. "I- don't think I know your name?"

"That's an interesting name..." She blinks, "wait a moment, are you the Efrossian sorcerer?"

She actually knows what Parafi is code for, she is not consciously realizing it because an Efrossian is a more interesting fact.

"Uh, I am Ima."

"Uh- I'm- trying? to be? I guess? I'm... only just starting to learn?"

"That's okay! We all are doing our best, we are just at different stages of learning how to get it right." She is definitely the kind of person that says that sort of proverb completely seriously.

-Parafi might not be the type to say proverbs like that completely seriously, but he can actually appreciate it when Ima says them. He smiles shyly. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

More pupils come in.

"Uh, do you want to pair up?"

He looks around, then nods quickly. "I- yes. Please."

"Great." Ima is so relieved that she won't have to go through the awkwardness of finding a partner.

Speaking of which, does Inara want a partner?

Inara would be delighted by a partner! -Provided he does anything that involves chopping. Inara's actually got a scar from her last attempt at chopping things.

Ouch. He will chop things, his hands are even warded against cuts and burns.

That would've been smart! But she hadn't thought of that! Hindsight!

Anyway, Aaren is calling the class to something resembling order and starting to talk them through the recipe.

To be fair the ward feels like wearing thick gloves, so he can't blame her. And time for the class to start.

Ima is laser focused on paying attention on Aaren.

(She sometimes gets distracted by the triplets, but it isn't much.)

Aaren is a pretty good teacher, and definitely enthusiastic about cooking!

Parafi will gently pull Ima's attention back to what they're supposed to be doing.

She is a bit embarrassed but grateful. She doubles her focus on the recipe.