Istredd smiles faintly. "I burned my classmate's hair off by accident. Almost all of it. I wasn't good at controlling air and blew it right into him. I wasn't able to control the fire at all then. Luckily the hair is the only thing that he lost, and it grew back. Very slowly." He has a dozen stories, at least one or two of every type of magic, that had to be failed at before mastering.
Harder stories too, than that one, but it's a light one on purpose. It's so Wilhelm understands this is all a stepping stone to where he'll get some day if he wants to. No one is just born good at this. Istredd maintains the fire and watches as Wilhelm works on the fire, determined and consistent, and he is genuinely impressed. It is a shift you can feel, when someone starts to excel at it.
Istredd pulls the fire back in, going from a wall down and down until he snuffs out the entire thing himself. He can do it faster, but he is intentionally doing it the way he showed Wilhelm, so he can see it work.
"That was impressive, Wilhelm. I want you to take a minute and really think about what you just accomplished. And then I want you to create the flame yourself and do the same thing with it."
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Harder stories too, than that one, but it's a light one on purpose. It's so Wilhelm understands this is all a stepping stone to where he'll get some day if he wants to. No one is just born good at this. Istredd maintains the fire and watches as Wilhelm works on the fire, determined and consistent, and he is genuinely impressed. It is a shift you can feel, when someone starts to excel at it.
Istredd pulls the fire back in, going from a wall down and down until he snuffs out the entire thing himself. He can do it faster, but he is intentionally doing it the way he showed Wilhelm, so he can see it work.
"That was impressive, Wilhelm. I want you to take a minute and really think about what you just accomplished. And then I want you to create the flame yourself and do the same thing with it."