He made a dismissive gesture with one blistered hand. He didn’t have to say the rest; Pita could see the envy in his eyes. And that made her pause. Maybe—just maybe—she really did have a unique and powerful talent. If she really had driven away the spirit—something Aziz himself, with all of his knowledge of the magical arts, hadn’t been able to do—she had an edge. Something that made her special—something she could use to survive. Something that made her a better magician, in terms of her natural abilities, than the hermetic mage sitting across from her.