"As my mother and Kamo-sensei understood it, their magics were of a different nature," Seimei answers. "As I understood it, each of them knew certain spells that the other did not. The truth is that they both experienced and practiced magic in very different ways, even though the magic itself came from the same source."

This was a concept that Seimei instinctively grasped for centuries before he learned how to put it into words.

"Unlike the magic Kamo-sensei taught me, my mother's magic involved no incantations, implements, or components. It was just something she did. She taught me how to change shape, how to create glamours and illusions, how to perceive spirits and magic that most humans don't notice."