A warm smile blossomed on Ember's face.

"ABSOLUTELY dahling!" he cooed.

"When confronted with obstacles like this, it is important to understand that the [i]INTENT[/i] is what really matters, not the mechanics of the method."

he pulled out his wand, and gently swished it.

"For instance, I can do that bit of magic without any words at all--- Consider for instance, what the words [i]MEAN[/i] dahling. 'Lux' is just some old stuffy word for 'to shine', and 'Solis' is simmilarly old and stuffy, and just means 'Sun', or 'like the sun'.  Taken together, the incantation literally is just saying "shine like the sun". It is an announcement of [i]intent[/i] dahling. The announcement is just a medium-- a conduit through which to direct the magic, and the words spoken, are just a reflection of the conscious intent.  So, if you can properly feel the magic, and guide it, even just a little-- all on your own? All you need to do, is infuse it with that intent, and---"

with a slight flick, the room became filled with an ambient level of lighting as if they were sitting in the full sun up on deck.

"--The whole world's your oyster, dear.."

Ember put the wand away up his long sleeve, then continued.

"Now then-- In terms of the incantation itself-- Many students consider the words themselves to hold significance, above and beyond the superficial. This can twist and alter the magic they are trying to use, and often lends a unique kind of.. Oh, I dont know... "signature?" to it. In terms of actual merit though dahling, the language you use is immaterial.  If you have problems with the the pronunciation, just use a different language! The intent is the same either way!  Personally, I like my way better."

He leaned in with a coy smile.

"However, those stuffy old buzzards at the university are sticklers.  So hung-up on their sentimentalities they refuse to recognize these simple truths some times. I think it's because some of them were around when people still used that stuffy old language dahling."

he chirped with a giggle.

Ember was quite pleased with himself. He held in the more elaborate, complicated, and difficult explanation-- that magic had a kind of panache of its own, when it came to that intent. This was precisely the reason why magic that granted wishes, almost always soured those wishes. For simple things, like producing light, or making fires start, it was hard for that intent to get perverted-- but for more complicated things, the intent had to be focused much more precisely-- very exact processes had to be envisioned, initiated, and guided. This became especially true, the more sophisticated the magic became.  But for this young girl, this early lesson in magic would be of great use, and the more complete answer, would only be a stumbling block that would cause her to second-guess herself.

He found himself wanting the trip to last longer, so he could help her through on her journey to these realizations herself, but he knew it was not to be. He would be at his destination in just under a week, and that was hardly enough time for this kind of thing.  Still, these helpful little explanations could do a world of wonders when one is just starting to learn.  Hell, even just having somebody who seems to actually [i]CARE[/i] could do that too.

He intended to do both.  It would bring him a great deal of pleasure to see her skills and confidence improve during this trip.

"Now-- You might be asking yourself-- 'If the intent is what REALLY matters-- why does the spell fail when I misspeak it?' The answer dahling-- is just as simple, and perfectly in line with the explanation-- You KNOW you misspoke it, and thus, the magic fails!"