"I was with this group," Tidus starts to explain as they walk, a hand moving in conversational gesture as he does. "They were on a pilgrimage going from place to place, and two of them were magic users. One of them taught me--y'know, reluctantly at first," he chuckles. "But she wanted me to be useful, so I got the hang of some spells over time. But some of the others taught me too."

It was a mixed effort, and it was easy to appreciate it looking back on it now.

"It wasn't easy... I didn't get it at first, and learning a new spell's always tough. I had to do a lot of practising and fighting. Lucky for me, there's plenty of fiends in Spira to beat on."

Yeah, he's being sarcastic there. But it wasn't untrue.