“The elements of life and the makings of our world, they have intent. Fire burns, sure, but is it a cozy campfire or a roaring inferno eating away at a forest? Water flows, but is it the gentle brook or a drowning tidal wave?”

“You see, the old time wizards, they thought they had everything figured out. They thought, oh ho, we’re so smart and clever, what if we strip away that intent? We can just have, you know, the essence of fire, and then we imbue it with our will. Presto, a fireball!”

“We shapers know better. You don’t hobble the element by stripping it of something. You empower it, by giving it more.”

“You know how, when you hold two water droplets in your palm, and you slide them together, they just - glide together, make a new and bigger droplet?”

“You know how you breed a strong animal and a fast animal, you get one that’s not quite as strong, not quite as fast, but still has both?”

“The alchemists might tell you that ‘like seeks like’ and ‘like attracts like’. No. Compatible seeks compatible. Two jigsaw puzzle pieces can look nothing alike and still fit together perfectly.”

“This is none of those things, but something akin to all of them.”

“You think of flight as a spell. What kind of flight? Remember intent! Start with the flight of a predator - a hunting hawk, as it dives toward its prey. Meld it with fire, the burning end of a torch or the heat of the forge as the hammer smites steel to make swords. The forge and the hawk - together, their essence makes a fireball that not only flies in a certain direction. It actively hunts.”

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