"It speaks nothing ill of you if that is the case. We are all of us a little out of practice." A lack of somewhere safe to teach, to learn- that would make such lessons and drills difficult. Combine that with the rifts and the war and the demons...

She sets it aside and turns to face him properly, snapping her fingers. Ice is what she knows best and uses the most, but any mage might summon a small flame. It hovers over her fingertips as though from the edge of a candle. "Create a barrier around the flame to snuff it out."