Untangling his fingers, Adrien slowly closed his eyes and followed Valerion's instructions. His more extreme expressions of anxiety seemed to be subsiding, but a baseline level of nervousness was still there, Adrien noted with disappointment. More than anything, he was displeased at the fact that any of this had happened. He should have been better than that, he told himself. If he couldn't even calm down, how could he ever succeed in casting spells? Maybe he had been right and this really had been a huge mistake, he thought as his throat clenched.

"Is something the matter?".

Adrien opened his eyes wide; he found Valerion staring back at him with a concerned expression on his face. He must have noticed, Adrien thought - which made him even more disappointed at himself than before. He didn't know how to answer his question, either; it seemed too much to explain, whichever way he saw it.

"Do you really think I can do it?", he blurted out.