"No, nothing like that." She gestures gracefully to the painting. "Please, don't let me stop you.

"I wanted to be a writer, when I was a girl." She half-smiles with the memory. "There weren't many career paths for writers in my country, though, especially for ones who wanted to write stories along the lines of the banned tales." Her smile turns wider, if more quietly rueful. "And when I showed an aptitude toward sorcery, well, that was that."