'What kinds of magic has everyone heard of?'

'Fireball!'

'Mist creation.'

'Accelerated healing.'

'Erm... making someone fall in love with you?'

The whole class turns to look at a previously quiet boy, who then promptly turns beet red and clams up.

Silence reigns for the next thirty seconds, while he opens his bag and buries his face in it.

----------------------------------------

'The good news is that most of you do have a grasp of what magic can do, but the bad news is that the examples you have cited are some of the least common uses of magic. Heads.'

Gwyn flings a coin up near to the ceiling and lets it fall on the desk. Tap.

'Every action has several possible results, which have different chances of happening. Heads.' Tap.

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'When we make decisions, we usually care about the most likely result. Heads.' Tap.

'Sometimes in adventuring, we try to aim for decisions that have the least bad unlikely result, regardless of how unlikely it is. Heads.' Tap.

'In gambling, people sometimes instead aim for decisions that have the best unlikely result, regardless of how unlikely it is. Heads.' Tap.

A small clamor rises from the front of the class. I can't see what's going on though.

'What magic really does is to ignore probabilities, and fix into reality a particular version that the caster wants to happen. Heads.' Tap.

'The more likely a result is, the less effort it takes to confirm it, and extremely unlikely events sometimes requires multiple people to work together to fix into reality. Heads.' Tap.

'Fixing a version of reality is exhausting work, and will make you pass out as surely as if you had swung an axe for hours. Heads.' Tap.

'Some things are so unlikely that only a few people in this world are capable of ensuring they happen. Heads.' Tap.

'And nobody can make something that is impossible happen. Heads.' Tap.

'So for the case of making someone you like fall in love with you, it is only possible if she -or he, I won't judge- already was likely to do so in the first place, and I think you'll find it much less tiring to make it happen without using magic. Heads.' Tap.

'So, what is the probability of what I just made happen, and why am I still talking to you?'

On the desk was eleven coins in a disorderly arrangement, all facing heads-up.