The instruction to eat now and worry about the news later came swiftly. Had it been anyone else, Kengo may very well have found that in itself to be suspicious. But this was not just anyone. This was his instructor, his foster father. So of course his word and judgement could always be trusted. As such, he obeyed the instruction and spoke no more of the matter, now paying his plate of breakfast more attention than before, as he was now fully eating it rather than just picking at it. But then...

[i]"What kind of news cannot be shared with the public?"[/i]

It was Matilda, one of Kengo's fellow apprentices. She was seated nearby and obviously had also heard the conversation. She had asked, what was in Kengo's mind, the true million munny question. The very word "news", was supposed to be described as an update to current events, and was usually inseparable from the concept of "announcements", the sharing of said news with the general public. So what kind of news could [i]not[/i] be defined as such? Naturally, only the most interesting sort of news, or the most suspicious, depending on how one looked at it. In fact, this whole thing could very well be some kind of scheme, a ploy to get the master alone for any number of reasons ranging from blackmail to assassination. Of course, that was the absolute worst case scenario, and the least likely one at that. With these thoughts, the young man just sighed with the realization that he was over-thinking this a bit, and went back to focusing on breakfast.

[i]"I was just wondering...when will we be taking our Mark of Mastery exam?"[/i]

Kengo's eyebrow instinctively rose with intrigue at the sound of this question. The source, Iris, was seated nearby, seemingly oblivious to the previous topic of discussion. Kengo knew all too well what lay in store when the exam in question did eventually come. He'd read what they were like for previous Bearers, and from that he was able to surmise that it would be no easy task to complete, as some past Bearers needed to take it multiple times before finally passing and receiving the coveted mark in question. While he was rather confident in his own ability, even Kengo still admitted that there was still plenty of progress to be had yet, "What's wrong, Iris? You don't trust our Master to know when the time is right?" he asked in a teasing tone, now finding his plate to be empty and standing in order to take it to be washed later by whomever was assigned kitchen duty that day.

All the while, he still couldn't get these alleged wise men and their news out of his mind. What could possibly be so important or urgent that it needed to be kept secret? Or better yet, if it truly was so urgent as they claim, then why refuse to come to breakfast where the news could be shared at the earliest possibility, rather than waiting several hours? What if peoples' lives were in jeopardy? Then those few hours could mean the difference between their survival and their tragic death! Again, he realized he was over-thinking things again, now noticing that he was pinching the bridge of his nose in a stressed fashion. He immediately stopped upon this realization, and changed the subject to get his mind off of it, "So aside from the "important news", what else is on the agenda, today?"