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[@HereComesTheSnow]

[color=aa0808]"The dialect is somewhat familiar to me. Nothing I would call myself fluent in, but I remember how some of the names out of the northwest were rendered in the more common tongue. I guessed."[/color] Nicomede met the younger man's evaluating gaze with a frank, wry smile. Something was flickering at the back of his mind and he could guess what it was, not that he intended to explain. There was no reason that he couldn't. To conceal it was to his the depths of his failure, so within the Durant domain it had been trumpeted far and wide. If Gerard had passed that way he would have heard. But in its own way that made failing to acknowledge it its own rebellion; a small, symbolic defiance of his fate. [color=aa0808]"They used to come to the market."

"But I think it's most important to think in the face of the storm. Thinking gets a bad rap."[/color] The younger knight's form wasn't bad, but it certainly had its rough edges. Nothing lacking in diligence, nothing resulting from sloppy work, but imperfect as though learned a step removed. Taught by someone who had himself once seen someone else taught. Flaws had crept in through the repetition, and he compensated for them by being faster, stronger, and more violent than the other guy. [color=aa0808]"You always have time to think, even if it isn't a lot of time. If you don't think at all you can find yourself in a situation with no way out. Anything beyond a personal fight will always need a touch of strategy."

"Can I show you something?"[/color]