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Nathaniel remained quiet as he joined his companions in heading down for breakfast. Thoughts raced through his mind as he watched his compatriots continue their conversations and jests to each other. A wiser man would have recognized the awkward lonliness that hung over him. Instead, Nathaniel's thoughts dwelled on what was to come from the first day of training. The future knights of Grayle had a lot of learning to do, and some in the squad had more than others. He had a rough idea of what he could expect from some members of his squadron. But as Nathaniel's eyes dwelled on Zenshin, he stared for a moment. Rarely did Nathaniel have nothing really to think of or on his mind, but in this instance he had so very little information there wasn't much to think at all. Zenshin seemed a little quiet, and any display during the sparring matches demonstrated little to go off of. He seemed to be from Valefor, from what he had picked up. Signar seemed engaged with the Prince at the moment, but Nathaniel's eyes lingered on Elon for a moment as well. Antskelia was a name that Nathaniel vaguely recognized, placing heritage among a prominent family. But Zenshin seemed like a wildcard. Of course the Ferros name [i]seemed[/i] to indicate some manner of prominence in its own regard. Nathaniel just seemed a bit removed from Valefor politics to recognize Zenshin's familial name.

Nathaniel had fetched his food, doing his best to maximize protein intake after glancing at Signar and Kai while waiting in line. As much as strategy was key to winning a fight, Nathaniel wasn't quite in the same optimized shape as they were. It would be best to even the playing field in that regard if Nathaniel wanted to set a good example. He saddled up near Zenshin to settle in for breakfast. Nathaniel ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth for a moment in contemplation. He didn't know anything about him, and that wasn't going to change unless Nathaniel bothered to probe for information.

[color=Ed1c24]"So, Zenshin... what brings you here to Grayle to become a knight of the realm? Train anywhere notable in preparation? Or are you self-taught?"[/color] 

Of course, Nathaniel couldn't help but hide a pointed question. Zenshin's grip with a sword and stance were clearly untrained in the opening spars. Nathaniel knew that the Ferros boy must not have trained with a tutor or at a school. What he truly wanted to pry into was how Zenshin had gotten here. Nathaniel had seen plenty of spoiled snobs whose parents had practically bought their skill with a sword, destined to attend the academy without any real zeal or passion. But Nathaniel recognized that if Zenshin was not particularly gifted with a blade, there was something driving him to be here. Passion could be a tool for training. And if there's one thing Nathaniel could understand about some of his fellow cadets, it was passion.

[@pkken]