"If I'm - seriously considering going to a magic college - I'd better go see the neighborhood and campus. Right, mom? Dad?"

They nod, dad anxiously and mom eagerly. "We have to see what this is about. There's still a month and a bit before the deadline for class signups at that engineering school so we can see what... Magic... Is like before then."

Stephen nods. "I will help. It's doable under that timeline, though they might have suggestions for better places if they are sufficiently impressed with you."

"What kinds of skills are useful for doing magic? Rituals are a kind of engineering, are gifts more like - what are gifts like, how do you get them? Do electronics work fine in Elan?"

"Some wards interact badly with electronics, but I think they have been mostly fixing that. Though all communications networks are more limited there. Gifts are mostly gotten through meditation that moves your lifeforce around until the gift grows in a way analogous to how one builds up muscular mass. The most important skill to do any sort of ritual magic, or magic in general is being attentive, double-checking your work and being diligently careful every step of the way. Which is true even if you don't plan to invent anything."

"More than that depends on your field, but if you plan to invent things... well, inteligent problem solve, I suppose would be the skill? Being able to make the different pieces of magic fit into something that does what you want to." He shrugs. "With yet another heaping of being careful, because you don't want to find out you forgot a component the hard way. There are other fields? People that explore ancient ruins learn history on top of practical spells. People that do magical medicine still need to learn about the body for a long time."

"Okay... I think I would like to borrow an introductory textbook and arrange a campus visit. I promise not to try anything but I want to read the book."

"Sure. I wouldn't even default to forbidding you from practicing small things, but I would like to give you a safety lecture first. Or maybe you grandmother could give it to you."

"I'm decades out of practice, good sir."

"Y-Yes, safety lectures sound important. Wear your labcoats and goggles and all."

"Fair enough," He tells Krisana. "Don't drink and drive the forces of arcane power off a cliff." He says with a nod.

"Do you have more questions? Or do you want your safety lecture?"

"I have approximately all the questions and no way to put them in a sensible order."

"Fair."

"Anyway, safety lecture? It might be a good idea for your parents to hear it as well."

"Let's wait until we're done eating for that," his father suggests.

His mother interjects brightly, "I think it might be nice to hear about your home!"

Tactical change of subject. Stephen can do that. "I would love to. Our home is quite nice if I can say so myself. I live with five of my six boys and a distance cousin of ours. The property has been in our family for generations and it's quite big..."