Olezhka was a surprisingly rigorous instructor. Our study followed the same pattern. We would decide on an effect to try and create, I would inevitably fail at producing it, and Olezhka would give me the same lecture.
"How you generate it does not matter," he rumbled. "Magic is energy and you are channeling it into the intention and effect you desire. Imagine it succeeding, and figure out what motion and words you might have done to make it so."
"That is deeply unhelpful." I said.
He laughed.
Then we would practice. I would swing the bat around wildly, then try meditating with it, or tapping it on random objects in different ways. Sometimes I would shout my own made up incantations. Words that didn't exist but I thought maybe the magic wanted them to? It was a mess of guesswork.
Our f
