After Lee spent some time picking up the frogs and taking them far away from the old man's house he came back for the books. Being given the thick heavy books from the old man he went home, ate his dinner and read them by candle light until he fell asleep.

The next day Lee continued the same routine of chores, playing and training with his friend and then going to the old man's house to remove more of the frogs. The old man passively watched the boy and went about his day wondering when he would finally give up on all of this.

Once Lee River finally got all of the frogs away from the old man's house he knocked on the door. When the old man answered the Lee River said “I have finished getting rid of all the frogs. I will not be back again until I have memorized the book”.

The old man asked “do you think you'll really be able to memorize that book? Give it up dear boy. How about you just return the book to me tomorrow and I will make you some frog stew and we go our separate ways?”

Lee River with a determined look on his face said “I will memorize your book in less than a month! Just make sure to have the 2nd book ready by the time I'm back!” As he turned to walk away the old man firmly believe he would not see the boy again or that the next time he did the boy will have finally admitted defeat.

For the next month the boy continues his training and playing with Al. He was starting to show good results after training for nearly a month now. He was able to execute a number of grappling holds fairly well but what he was particularly proud of was his striking. While it is true he was still unable to land a clean shot on Al he was getting closer and closer.

After that he would always go straight home to read from the book for 5 and sometimes 6 hours a night taking breaks only to eat clean and go to the bathroom. Whenever he came across a word he didn't understand he would check the dictionary the old man gave him. For the things he still couldn't understand he made sure to write down a series of question to asked to old man when he saw him.

By the time the month had ended Lee River had read the book's approximate 600 page over 10 times . It was the next day he decided to go back to the old man's house to speak to him. As he knocked on the door the old man answered a bit surprised to see the boy. He had thought for sure by now he would have given up.

Lee River handed the book back and said “I have memorized this book as you've asked. I do have a few questions though”.

The old man couldn't help himself. He had to admit he was curious what questions the boy could have. “So what are your questions?”. Lee took out a piece of paper and read them off. The old man answered them all mostly just out of habit and thinking he may as well reward the boy for actually reading the book.

He couldn't help but think these were pretty good questions too. The old man believed sometimes a student's ability to ask the right questions revealed just how good the student was. Not that he would ever take this boy on to be his student of course. He was coming to hope that someone would do just that though. It would be a shame to waste such a sharp mind and strong will to learn after all.

The old man then took the book back and stared at the boy “I now I have a few questions for you. If you get any of them wrong then it will have shown me you are not serious about learning magic and you will agree to leave me alone from now on. Do you agree?”

Lee River agreed, confident he would answer anything the old man asked him correctly. The old man gave out page numbers and paragraphs in the book and asked the boy to tell him what the book said.

He also asked a number of questions which the book contained the answer to. To his surprise the boy was able to answer every question correctly. His quotes were not exactly word for word but so close he felt he couldn't object.

The old man said “you will need to read many other books besides this one. It will only get harder from here and take more time. It's okay to admit it's too much young boy,

River said to the old man “My name is Lee River by the way. What's your name?”

The old man said “Well, I never said I would tell you my name did I young River?”

River said “I'll take the next book. If you want to save time you can just give me all of them right now. I'm not going to stop no matter what you say.”

The old man now in a grumpy mood brought the first book back inside his house and gave Lee River the 2nd book. He said “This one will be harder than the last one. It will probably take you over two months to fully memorize. Why not just give up now?”

Lee said “I'll be back by the end of this month!” and left the old man not saying another word.

The old man closed his own door frustrated this was not going to stop. At least he would have 2 months of peace and quiet he thought. Giving this boy a book now and then to keep him happy was a small price to pay.

By the end of the month the boy was back claiming to have memorized the 2nd book. The old man said “There's no way you learned everything in that book in a single month! It's 300 pages longer and much more complex!”

He quizzed the boy and found the boy was able to answer all his questions. The boy again had a few questions for the old man which the old man answered. This time though he found himself more talkative. Its been a while since he had anyone to talk with magic about and he found only now he had been missing it a little. Still he would not take on a student ever again. He swore to himself he wouldn't after all.

The 3rd and 4th books where just as long as the 2nd book and had even more complex concepts of magic. Again the boy finished both in one month each and was able to answer every question the old man asked. It was then the old man realized if he kept giving him book after book this boy would just keep reading them and coming back. He would need to try something else to be rid of the boy.

The old man said “well young River if you think reading books is all there is to magic then you are very mistaken! Come to the backyard and I'll show you the other hardships a wizard must face”.

River simply smiled and said “no matter what I shall be a wizard!”

The old man lead River to his backyard and stopped by a large rock on his property. He turned to river and pointed with right hand “Do you see that large tree right standing by itself?” River nodded that he did “I want you to run to that tree and then run back to this rock right here”. River did so without complaint. It took him about 30 seconds to get back.

The old man said “well done young River. You have no doubt read about the fundamentals of mana being linked to the body's energy in the first book I gave you. That’s how a wizard is able to use more power. They must increase their energy and stamina. Now to show you are serious about being a wizard I wish for you to run back and forth 1000 times. Or you can just quit and give up if you wish”.

River for the first time protest “1000 times? There is no way I can run this 1000 times?”

The old man said “any great wizard would be able to run this 1000 times. If I'm to teach I will only teach a great wizard”.

River hesitated only a moment more and then said “very well. I'll run this 1000 times and make you recognize me as your student!” River ran towards the tree and then back to the rock where the old man was standing.

As he was at the rock the old man said “don't try to do less than 1000. If you do I'll know!” The old man of course would have no idea. Having magic didn't mean you could be everywhere at once. But boy didn't know this the old man knew. After that the old man went inside expecting the River to keep this up for maybe an hour before finally giving up.

As day started to turn the dusk the old man went back to his backyard expecting to find the boy either sitting down lazily or gone having not completed to training. To his shock he saw the boy still going back and forth between the tree and the rock. He did it much slower than before and with a fairly obvious limp but he didn't stop. Had he really kept going all these hours?

The old man yelled at the boy “just what the hell do you think you're doing? Are you trying to hurt yourself?”

River said between deep quick breaths “I can't... run anymore... but I am.... very close.... to 800..”.

The old man cussed himself and then said “stop boy, stop! Now you just sit right down there. Take off your shoes and let me see your feet”.

The boy nearly collapsed as he sat down and took off his shoes. Just as the old man suspected the boy's feet were covered in blisters. The old men shook his head in exasperation and began to heal the boy's feet.

As he healed his feet the old man let out a sigh and said “don't you think you should just give this up already? Is learning magic really so important to you? If you really want to learn I will see what I can do to find you someone else. I'm simply not interested in teaching anyone”.

River paused for a moment and said “I used to want to be a wizard so I could protect myself and provide for my family. I know there are other ways to do that. Maybe I could apprentice for a blacksmith or become a cobbler. I doubt anyone would take me on. Even if someone did I wouldn't be much better off than a farmer and I wouldn't be able to properly pay my parents back for everything they did for me”.

He turned his face towards the ground “Besides, no one really listens to what a blacksmith or farmer or inn keeper has to say. I see the things that go on in this world. I see the boys who pick on me and I see the knights and wizards who take and pick on the poor. I know what that feels like. I felt it day after day and I think it probably feels even worse when you're older.”

He started to cry “More than anything though I hate myself. I spent days just doing enough to get by and wasting time and running away from everything. I want to change. I want to be the kind of person I can look up to like that old wizard in the story who fought off those demons”. The old man stopped healing his feet and looked at him.

River continued “I want to never have to run away or be saved again. I finally feel like I'm started to change. If I don't become a wizard it would be like giving up and it will just be me doing the same thing I've always done. If I give up now I feel like it will just be easier to give up the next time and the time after that”.

The old man said “it's important to remember even the people we look up to in stories and build up to be great heroes... in the end they are just people. People who make mistakes and run and quit sometimes too when things get hard. If you try to chase some unattainable ideal you will never reach it no matter how long you try”.

River said “but that wizard did great things!”

The old man said “Yes... yes he did do great things. He also had great failures. Do you remember the story about how he couldn't even see through the evil in a student he had? A student he no doubt saw day after day. Isn't that a failure? Doesn't that go to show he made mistakes and isn't as great as you think he is?”

River said “But he fought off the demons and raised a bunch of other good students right?! I know things won't always go the way we hope but I think he wouldn't be the type to give up after a failure or two or he wouldn't have gotten so far! I won't give up either!”

The old man finished healing Lee's feet “He'd never give eh? Well who knows; in either case you should just worry about being the best you can be. It's nice to have someone to look up to but in the end you need to find your own path. One only you are capable of walking. Maybe that old wizard could do things you can't but you might find some things you can do better than him”.

River said now giving the old man a mad look “Are you just trying to make me give up on magic again? I'm not giving up, I told you that”

The old man laughed very loudly “you're like a parrot who says over and over 'I’m not giving up, I’m not giving up'. I guess there would be worse parrots to have...”

The old man stood up and said “your feet are fine but your legs are no doubt still tired. If you stay down too long they will start to cramp. Keep rubbing them and in 10 minutes walk home. Take it easy tomorrow. The day after tomorrow come back here and do 200 laps. 1000 was probably a bit much on the first day”.

The boy said “So you are going to start teaching me magic?”

The old man snapped back “I said no such thing! I simply don't want you injuring yourself. If you wish, you can come here to get some books or work on your stamina. If I', in the mood maybe I will give you a tip or 2. I'll look to find you a proper teacher in the mean time. Now I'm going back inside. It's getting too cold out here for me”.

The old man was now inside sitting on his chair. The old wizard laughed to himself “what an old little parrot he is. Well he has guts I suppose, I have to give him that.”

The old man took off his outer shirt with his right arm. He only wore such a shirt around the boy so he didn't scare him. Where the old wizard's his left arm should be was just empty air after the shoulder. He didn't really miss the arm anymore. Every time he saw the empty space he was reminded of his past foolishness.

“You old fool, how could you have not seen it coming? You're not fit to be a teacher to any student and you know it. It's your fault he died. It's your fault that barrier went up. It's all cause you're not fit to teach anyone”.

He took a look out the window and saw the boy still rubbing the numbness out of his legs and trying to keep them from cramping up “You promised yourself never to teach another student again”.

The old man realized now how much he missed talking about and teaching magic; and how lonely he had been all these years. He had actually began to look forward to the boy coming over. For all the hemming and hawing made; he really had started to look forward to it.

He would only teach the boy a little and then find a suitable teacher for him. There must be someone he could find. He would only teach him a little bit and that's all... that's all. He said it to himself over and over until he believed it again; mostly he believed it anyway.