Plenty of similarities, actually. Istredd is drawn to people unlike him. His surrogate son is unsurprisingly on that list, although he thinks they have some qualities in common too. He's told Lucifer before that shared qualities are not the same thing as being identical. That has more to do with his issues surrounding Yennefer though.

"I suppose you are right. Whatever I'm feeling is just natural. Maybe having nothing to compare it to is a good thing." The comparison to Stregobor is flimsy at best. He doesn't want to mirror it here. It means Istredd has no real expectations of this. He's dealing with it as he goes.

His eyebrows furrow at that. "So? You practice until you get better or you choose a different discipline. Not everyone is good at everything. Magic takes patience." Istredd is very experienced in magical training, he went through a ruthless experience. This is very logical to him. They had to learn enough of all magic to get by, but there is a reason some found a leaning like he did.

"Look at how compassionate and supportive you've been to me tonight. How you protected the others as best as you could while escaping. Magic is something you can do, it's not who you are."