If he had not been Gathran, the mage's apprentice probably would have been pushed backwards towards and into the small  elevation that separated the loosely paved walkway around the pond from the plants that made up the rest of the little garden. His enormity saved him from having to endure this fate and Gathran was able to stabilize in time. Things were a bit different for whom could only be considered a [i]very[/i] unexpected newcomer. He had barely enough time to realize that he appeared to be a she in fact and a quite human one before her impact onto his torso. Bulked up arms were able to intercept her from below before her hitting the hard ground, but didn't manage to nullify her momentum in time completely.

The female in front of him asked one thing, however Gathran's mind was so filled with others that not even his lips did separate in preparation for an answer. Quite frankly spoken he didn't knew it anway -- he'd just be very glad if he did. Something must have really gone totally wrong and in a way that had been unimaginable for him before. Of course he had no idea about any details and was reduced to a phenomenological point of view in his considerations.

It was only a very noticeable number of seconds later that the man standing in front of her came out of his astonishment. His eyes were widened and stared at her face straightforwardly. "I... I don't know..." was all he was able to mutter at this point, instinctively stepping away from her by a yard or so. One could see that Gathran was shrinking internally to almost nothing -- and that's not only in comparison to his quite huge outside appearance. He was so screwed up. [i]How[/i] could he even try to fix this in time before his master's return ? And what if... there wasn't any fix ?

"Who... who are you ? And... where do you come from ?" He wasn't really expecting a useful answer, but maybe he was wrong and there was a chance that she was a mage. A better mage than he was.