“Fine. I’m here to learn. I’ll do my best, but stop yelling at me!” Though I am annoyed at myself for not having thought of the tree. Plants are my thing.

“I’m not yelling; I’m speaking passionately.”

“Please reduce your passion.”

“I am a passionate person.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He grins but moves on without missing a beat. “Let’s start with static.”

He demonstrates, rubbing his socked foot against the rug, then, lifting his leg bent at the knee, he—exhibiting a distracting level of dexterity—passes his hand in shiin below his foot. A flame sparks into existence and then is quickly extinguished as Rafe claps it between his hands.

It’s awesome. But I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of saying so. “Can you do that again?” I ask.

Rafe rubs his toe on the rug. I move to watch more closely, and this time the flame he sparks swooshes into a large blaze, igniting a lock of my hair.

Rafe’s surprised expression makes it clear this wasn’t supposed to happen.

I instinctively slap at the flames, screeching, my face heating as the fire licks its way up my hair.

Rafe quickly flicks opens a mod on his spoon that immediately stifles the flames.

The room is acrid with the scent of burning hair. “What just happened?” I ask.

“I’m not quite sure. That wasn’t a normal response. I didn’t use that much Ha’i. It’s almost as if…” He trails off, looking at me curiously, but he doesn’t complete the thought.

“As if what?”

He ignores my question. “You should practice this on your own until you get the hang of it.”

“I’m not sure I should; it doesn’t seem very safe.” I take stock of my hair, but there’s so much of it that the locks lost to the fire are hardly noticeable.

“You should be fine. That was an unusual circumstance. Just make sure to have your snuffer mod on hand.” He brandishes the mod he used to extinguish the flame.

“Uh, I don’t have one of those.”

“I have an extra I can lend you.”

“Thanks.”

Rafe has me create static with my own foot and try to set it alight, but he seems distracted, and I’m scared of another fire. While I can make a spark, I can’t seem to make a flame. Eventually, with a huff, Rafe says, “I think that’s enough for now. Let’s call it a night.”

I nod, a bit disappointed. We didn’t cover much ground.

“Walk back to my room with me,” Rafe says. “I can get you that snuffer.”

I nod again.