Oliver was staring blankly at the centaur professor. Was he supposed to have understood any of those words? Because he didn't. Swift as a coursing river, that was what the centaur had said to him and it was about the only thing that made sense. Did centaurs watch Mulan?

Centaurmachowhatever meant fighting? They had to FIGHT a centaur? Olly did not think that would be a good idea. He did not want to have to fight a centaur. Plus, this one was so tall that he would probably only be able to land a punch on the horse part. Which probably wouldn't do much damage. Plus, he had big horse hooves that could kick and that would really hurt.

Oh, no fighting? Talking about wood? This centaur jumped subjects too often for Olly to keep up. But he was much more comfortable with the topic of wand woods than with fighting. So he raised his hand. "My wand is made from walnut wood." Was that helpful?