"Well, I mean, words are words. But if there's anything the word 'magic' means that isn't just 'the Skills that are also spells' then that's what it is."

"Hmm. Seems a bit... philosophical."

"I am a mage," Vallyn says, wryly. "Prospective."

"Speaking of, Mr. Mage, you should go back to exploding porings, you're distracting me and worse you're distracting Annika."

"Isn't."

"You mistimed three punches over the past two minutes."

She stops to stare at him. "How did you—"

"Situational awareness. It's a gift."

She huffs and goes back to practising and definitely tunes other people out this time.

Sure, he'll go explode some porings.

Later at lunch Pierre is picking at his food, still looking dejected, sitting at a table where a few other people wearing robes are also eating. Most of them look substantially less upset than he does.

Oh is that the mages' table? Sure, he'll sit with them.

"Oh if it isn't Mr. Prodigy," sneers one of them when Vallynn sits down.

"—I'm sorry?"

"Bjorn told us about you," she says. "Teekay without a Skill, and then learning Lightning Bolt over two hours. Are you sure you're not too good to sit with us mere mortals?"

...he really hadn't realised all of that was that exceptional. Like, sure, he's not bad by any means, but.

"I had already studied it," he says, which is kind of true but only in the most technical of senses. "So it's not all that."

"Uh huh."

"Anyway! I'm Vallynn. It's nice to meet you."

    "We'll see about that," she says.

"I'm Magnhild," says another mage. "And these are Georgina," the girl who was talking before, "Pierre, Natalya, Inga, Astrid, and you've met Bjorn."

        "Hey," says Bjorn.

            "Hiya," says Astrid.

"Pierre, you look kind of down."

He mumbles something too low to be heard and continues to pick at his food.

"Come again?"

"Must you rub it in?" he repeats, more loudly, and sighs.

"Rub what in?"

    "Are you this daft on purpose or does it just kind of happen?" wonders Georgina.

"Georgy, don't be such a bitch to the new guy," says Magnhild.

    "Well he shouldn't be a bitch to Pierre, then!"

        "It's fine," says Pierre. "He's not being a bitch."