I've been studying magic since I could read, but I didn't master the higher levels of arcane magic until I was ten. [Belthazar makes it sound like that was too long to wait.] And I didn't have the reagents for it until a few years ago...

[He sets the pork chops aside. Only now does he hesitate.]

The only thing I cannot do is chop onions without tears. There isn't a spell for that, and if I fly it too far away I lose control of the spell.

[He sucks in a breath and begins dicing up the onions anyway.]