"Something happened," Lea said. "The whole story is really long and complicated, but the short version is that my friend and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time and wound up running afoul of of a creep with a giant magical key. This resulted in our hearts- as in 'the ability to feel and connect with others', not the literal kind that pumps blood- being ripped out and certain powers being pretty much shocked out of us. I've gotten mine back since, but the powers stuck."

"And no, it's not very common," he said. "Magic itself is fairly common, but most people who want to work with it have to do something like what they do here, learning spells and things. It's a lot of hassle, so most people don't bother beyond learning a few basic things, if they bother to learn any at all, or else they learn really specialized magic that has to do with a particular job or trade, like my dad did."