The candlelight wavered revealing a slight draft in the room. Jozu couldn't be sure if he had any effect at all on the flame.
~Jozu, you can do this.~
"Yes, Proctor," he said to the empty room.
He concentrated again, trying to extinguish the flame. It didn't help that the floor was cold and he hadn't eaten much for dinner. Or that the Proctor kept mind-speaking to him. He remembered the Proctor's explanation for this exercise: "You must think of nothing but the candle flame. Tune out everything else. Be engrossed by the candle."
"How can you be engrossed by a candle?" Jozu wondered as he concentrated harder.
He filled his vision with the candle flame. Not so much concentrating, but absorbing every detail. He looked at the colors. The blue halo underneath. The emptiness where the candle's wick was. The bright flickering yellow above. Is there a red line on either side of the yellow? Sometimes a little black smoke from the top of the flame. The candle flame as a whole wavering and flickering. Is there orange? That draft again. The flame won't hold still. How does it keep going? The wick is burnt, but it's still there. What's burning then? He tried to think about steadying the flame. Holding it still. It seemed as if it was working. He though about pulling the flame from the wick. To raise it off of the candle. For a moment, it hovered above the wick.
And the flame went out.