"There is trismegistus, Lor-ersian..." Fernanda recites quite a few, "they mostly diverge in things like how easily you can develop a spell for a given thing or how much it costs to cast. The rules are arbitrary, but people didn't know that until recently and the new schools influenced by the older schools, so you end up with a lot of weird rules."

"If the rules are arbitrary, why do I need to pick a school?"

"They are arbitrary in the sense that they are built in. And you can't mix schools to cast spells, it isn't safe."

"Okay. Is there a book I should read, or will you have to explain everything to me?"

Fernanda leads him inside, there are several books, this is the sorcery-equivalent of a dictionary (or rather a rulebook?), explaining what each action is supposed to do in a magical context. Once Scott read and remembers enough of those, here is a simple ritual for him to cast, which will give him a few minutes of telekinesis.

He tries the ritual after about ten minutes of reading, keeping the book close at hand for reference.

And soon Scott will have telekinesis, it feels vaguely like an extra limb, he just need to focus on an object and it lifts up, with about his straight. Fernada points him at a chair that he can easily float around.

He floats it around!

"So how does this fit with the schools? And lifeforce, am I using a lot?"

"You're a not using a lot even by regular human standards, likely less so for werewolf ones. And the thing works by..." she is explains the various elements of the ritual, how this has the function of drawing his lifeforce, this bit prevents him from spending too much, this complex system over here is the "blueprint" of the telekinesis power and each element contributes with something, finally, these various runes over here are meant to redirect lifeforce that would've otherwise been wasted.

Scott is a good listener! He wants to know more about safeties- how does the magic stop him from using too much?

Fernanda appreciates the good listening! There is a group of runes with the specific purpose to evaluate lifeforce levels and how close they are to the total, this one activates the contingencies depending on the power level.

Scott seems quite pleased with safety standards and contingencies.

Is there any beginner-level healing magic?

There is beginner-level healing magic! Transfering lifeforce itself is a good all-purpose form of healing but doesn't do all the fiddly work without some level of skill and can therefore end up cost more lifeforce. Fernanda shows him some spells for various more specific healing. This one does health transfer for people haven't picked it up as a skill. This one can break fever. This one is good to disinfect both injuries and medical tools...

"Does magic usually take a lot of practice?"

Fernanda makes a so-so gesture. "Mostly it requires you to understand it well enough so you can be efficient. Using example of the telekinesis spell. If all I wanted to do was lift it up and transport a chair to a specific location I could've written something that does that specifically and that would've taken less lifeforce than the generic telekinetic effect."

"Do specific things usually take less lifeforce than general ones? What are some other rules of thumb?" 

"It all depends on spell construction. General rule of thumb is the more you can specify, the less it will cost and more restricted the spell effect will be."

"Okay. So I should have specific healing spells, some for burns, some for cuts, some for diseases?"

"Depends what exactly planning to do."

"I guess if I'm a secret I can't just go healing everyone I meet. Any ideas?"

"Well, it might depend on what do you mean with everyone or how you go about doing it. People might not comment or might not pay enough attention to think the numbers are too high."

"I can be subtle, I promise."

She smiles widely at him. "And I can help you with that."

So Scott learns as much as he can about sorcery, with a particular eye to healing magic.

He doesn't phase, and doesn't think about phasing, because that makes the holes at the edge of his mind feel much wider, deeper, more impossible to avoid falling into. So he thinks about Fernanda, and about what he can do with this magic. 

Fernanda is happy to teach him sorcery and distract him from his inner demons.