"It's like I said, a year ago I hadn't heard of any sort of magic."

He sits back on the couch, tugging the hem of his tunic down over his thighs fastidiously, and shrugs.

"And from what I can tell, there's bloody loads of it that nobody's really bothered to understand. But I can't do it, in any case." His mouth twists ruefully. "The opposite, actually."