Zenshin would be the last to ride from his quarters as all the worrying and overthinking from the day before seemed to take its toll on the young lad. Despite the beds not being all that comfortable you would think the young valeforian was sleeping on clouds the way he was fast asleep.

“The squadron is heading to the mess hall. Meet us there when you are ready”

“Ehh???” Zen said with one eye open, the boy rubbed his eyes and groaned as slumpt back into a brief light sleep only to be woken up by Kai. Startled, Zen shot up only to hit his head on the roof of his sleeping quarters.

“Owwwww” he whined, rubbing his head as water welled up in his eyes. Zenshin groaned once more knowing that it was going to be a long and strenuous day but nonetheless simply inhaled and prepared himself. As the boy emerged from his cabinet he would come to find that the sun had yet to peak its head. At that moment he wondered whether or not his family would be wondering about his whereabouts or even missing him.

Maybe I should write a letter to let them know I am okay

From storage he grabbed his cadet uniform and examined it closely. It seemed a bit big for Zenshin’s frame but hopefully he would grow into it. Zen donned the uniform nonetheless, patting down his uniform to his body to make it appear more form fitting before exiting the room and entering the common room. He felt a bit nervous and embarrassed being the last one to wake up but at the same time proud to be a part of this squad, they all looked pretty badass in uniform and it was pretty empowering to have a sense of belonging with the knights of Grayle.

Zenshin bowed his head towards the prince, “Good Morning you captainess” the boy then turned to both vice captains and greeted them as well. “Good morning Vice- captain Nathaniel and Vice-captain Kai.” And lastly his squad mates of same ranking. “Goodmorning Signar, Julian, Dot, and Elon” he said with a friendly smile. “Shall we start our first day together as squad 13 gentlemen?” Zenshin said with a bit of confidence.

---

Julian had scarce sat herself down when she heard movement from the neighboring rooms, noting with surprise that despite how early she herself had awakened, it seemed she'd only barely been first out of her room. Emerging in ones and twos, the rest of the squad awoke in various states of preparation. First to arrive were Dot and Elon -- the taciturn Valeforian boy in the middle of what appeared to be some sort of dispute, and the shorter, raven-haired Dot merely nodding along and awkwardly trying to put whatever the argument was behind him. It didn't seem to be too serious -- at least, not compared to the little discussion she'd had with her own roommate -- but she nonetheless gave Dot in particular an understanding, wry smile as she waved silently in greeting to the two of them.

Just a few moments later, a by-now fairly familiar shadow fell over her where she was lounging on the couch, and she craned her neck back to look up at the towering young man who cast it. "Ah! Good morning!" She shot up a cheerful grin while wracking her brain to remember his name. She'd never really been good at that sort of thing -- or, rather, she could never really remember the names of characters in books particularly well, at least. She wasn't sure about people, since aside from Emma, she'd never really --

A sour taste rose up in her mouth, and she shook her head slightly as she sat herself up, as if that would help her forcefully dislodge the uncomfortable memories that threatened to take root there. As if the dreams weren't bad enough, she couldn't stop thinking back even when she was awake... Despite that, though, she merely shrugged at Signar -- right, that was his name! -- Signar's question.

"Eh, as well as ever. Those bunks are pretty tiny, though." She gave another one of her usual nervous chuckles while slightly rubbing her forehead, which must have knocked up against the wall at least three times as she tossed and turned during the night. "How about you? That bed they rolled in for you must be at least a little comfier."

Around this time, another door opened -- not that of any of the individual rooms, but rather, the front door of their suite, and in strode their illustrious royal commander, his pale locks still dripping with moisture. He must have gotten up even sooner than her to bathe -- a deduction that was made quite easy by the fact that she hadn't seen him go, and on account of the flowery scent that had wafted in the moment he entered the room. That, coupled with his somewhat dangerous appearance, almost made her forget that it was proper manners for a soldier to stand up and greet her commander even if said commander wasn't a royal. Those languid eyes, that silky hair, still shimmering with the faintest hint of moisture... Seriously, he might have been a prince, but wasn't this level of sparkliness just unfair? She could hardly look directly at him even as she jumped to her feet and gave a hasty salute.

"Good morning, Captain! Er, I mean, Your Highness!" She stammered out with... well, at least it was an attempt at discipline. "...Wait, which is it?" Trailing off into muttering as she pondered which role took precedence in this situation, she thankfully didn't have time to make a fool of herself since their squad's Third Seat at that moment decided to do that instead. Bursting out of his room like a blue tornado just as her own stonefaced roommate went to wake him -- and nearly running the jerk over in the process, heh -- the doglike boy Kaiser began to dash around the room making a tremendous racket before darting past the prince and out the door, evidently making a beeline for the mess hall. Well... she couldn't exactly fault him for that. The food last night might have been nothing special to all these spoiled nobles, but by her (extremely low and half-starved) standards, it had been a veritable feast, and as it would happen, she was still pretty hungry herself.

The third Valeforian -- Zen-something or other -- stumbled out of his own quarters a moment later, evidently still pretty rattled by the unexpected noise a moment earlier. The blonde gave him a small wave and a grin. "Mornin'! Seems like we'd better hurry up or our Third Seat's gonna get all the food." Ordinarily, that'd be a pretty stupid joke -- but seeing how he'd managed to snarf down his portion on the prior evening even faster than her, and she'd been quite literally famished at the time, the threat of Kai devouring their breakfasts before they had even arrived somehow seemed a lot more believable.

So... seeing as one of their officers had already run off, and the Prince himself had already said he was leaving... that meant it was fine for her to go too, right? So, she slipped past Rossweine in the confusion and out into the hall, peeking back through the doorway and calling back one final time before darting off in the wake of the little blue bolt of destruction that had departed a moment prior.

"I'll save you a spot in line, Sig!"

One good turn deserved another, after all -- and since he'd been so welcoming to her the day before, she could find the magnanimity within her to repay him with a small favor or two. Who wouldn't be happy getting food a little sooner? Nobody, obviously. So, with a broad grin, she merrily trotted her way down the stairs and along the corridor to the neighboring building, where a delectable meal no doubt awaited...

---

Sitting in the common room, surrounded by the growing number of people as her other squad mates rose from their sleep and prepared for breakfast, Dot found herself smiling. Despite the awkward friction with Elon, and Rossweine’s presence—was he damp?—she couldn’t help it. This was the most company she’d ever kept, not simply all at once, but maybe even at all. And yet she didn’t feel nervous, she felt…warm. It was almost intoxicating, was it supposed to be?

The goodwill emanating from Signar and Zenshin, the energy—and impressive acrobatics—from Kai, the odd yet undeniable solidarity in Julian’s greeting. Even Elon’s sourness suddenly seemed less abrasive and more like another flavor in the mix.

As two of their number bolted out the door, Dot found herself rising as well, and turning to her roommate. It would have been easy to just say nothing and go ahead, and hope they spent the next weeks or months or however long never speaking to each other or interacting or acknowledging each other’s existences. Days ago, maybe even just minutes ago, she might have wanted that, but now she didn’t.

If she meant to close herself off from everyone she would have done better staying in Alexandria.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, smiling to Zenshin and heading for the door. “Better be quick, too. Wouldn’t want to start our first day on an empty stomach, right?”

On her way out she saluted Nathaniel, as that seemed to be good form, and bowed her head to the Prince in lieu of risking a meeting of eyes. Start small, right? Start small.

“Captain is fine, Julian,” Rossweine said.

With all fortune, the Baker boy would have caught that. Maybe he should have made his preferences clearer during the first dinner. Maybe they were all too busy eating to have heard back then. Maybe he would write it down.

Maybe he’d just stop bothering with corrections, if it fundamentally remained the same.

Such were small worries though, compared to the trial up ahead. The first day of training was inbound, and so too would the first day of his assignment. Observation of improvement for Kai and Nathaniel. Appeasement for the Light-Blessed. And for the others? Well, he’ll still have to cut perfect enough of a figure that when he stopped showing up, they’d assume it was out of overcompetence, rather than out of slothfulness. So he nodded his greetings towards those who came after him, and he watched Julian chase after Kai, Dot shadowing them. Took another few moments to revise, to feel the meager heat seep into his bones, and let out a breath.

“Signar,” Rossweine spoke, “Walk with me.”

And with that, the captain made for the mess hall at a leisurely pace. This early in the morning, the only lineup would be that of Squad 13 and perhaps a few other early birds, after all. It was only to be expected, considering the crop that the House had harvested.

---

He glanced between the two of them with a raised eyebrow, but Signar followed along with Dot's lack of reaction towards Elon's remark. "Could be comfier," he muttered as he craned his neck before grunting in satisfaction at the crack that followed. "It'll just take some getting used to."

He returned the captain's greeting with a polite enough, "Morning," of his own before a rather noisy commotion drew his attention to one of the rooms. Standing by the window meant he had little to worry about being bowled over like Nathaniel practically had been by the ball of energy that was their squad's third seat. "He probably won't even get sick if he does," Signar chimed in with a sigh as he wondered how the smallest of their bunch managed to pack away some of the most food.

"Same to you Zen. And thanks, Julian. Be right there!" Calling out after the blonde after he replied to his roommate's greeting, Signar closed the window behind him before he tugged on his uniform to smooth it out. About to follow the rest of his squad out, he paused and turned his attention to Rossweine before he shrugged and fell in step with the royal. "Is something the matter?"

---

Sure enough, the mess hall was still mostly empty. Long benches sat neatly arranged around a series of long and narrow tables, with a single path between them leading up to the counter, where a few of the other cadets, together with some of the palace servants, seemed to be hard at work preparing the day's breakfast. It seemed they planned on weaning the artistocrats among them slowly from their more delicate tastes, as the meal consisted not only of a variety of freshly baked biscuits, but also real sausages, and gravy made from the same. Granted, by noble standards, it was already a poor man's meal -- but for somebody like Julian who had been living on scraps for the past several weeks, it was a feast fit for a king. And so, lured in by the delicious sights and smells at the counter, she approached without a care for the fact that Kai had already arrived first.

Once alongside him, however, it struck her that she really didn't have the slightest idea what to say to the bluette. Their only conversation had been on the prior night, and hadn't exactly been under the best of circumstances. She was pretty sure she had managed to assuage his concerns about her... but something about him still just put her on edge, and she couldn't quite place why. It wasn't as if he was terribly imposing, or had a particularly scary face -- his expression was vacant and a little sleepy, like the look of a contented sheepdog. She probably even could have called him cute, if it weren't for the way those bronze-red eyes of his seemed to suddenly fixate on things without any warning.

...But now she was the one who was staring, and cute or not, that was still rude. So, she struck up a nervous grin, and, giving a slight chuckle and a wave, greeted her squadmate.

"Good morning, sir. You're, uh... pretty energetic this morning, huh? Ehehehe..."

---

"Good morning, sir. You're, uh... pretty energetic this morning, huh? Ehehehe..."

Kai paused in the middle of biting into three sausages at one time, having speared the morsels on a single fork like some kind of tri-shiskebab. He looked at Julian with a tilt of his head, and blinked twice. His braid flipped over one shoulder as if "peeking" at the shorter blonde.

"I am?" He broke into a grin. "That's good, then!" So saying, he resumed tearing into the pile of food on his plate--he at least seemed to know how to use his utensils, although considering the speed they moved at it was hard to tell if he was holding them "properly."

"What about you, Julian?" he asked through chomps and gulps. He tilted his head in the opposite direction as before as those bronze-red eyes fixed on the other cadet. "Are you energetic this morning?"

The others soon filed in as well, and the bluette's gaze shifted momentarily before he refocused on the Baker boy. But, in that moment, he recognized Zenshin, who had called out to him when he was already mid-dash out of the room. That...would probably be considered rude, wouldn't it? That Dot person, on the other hand, gave the impression of not speaking to anyone either if it could be avoided. The way Dot seemed to trail behind others, it made Kai wonder if the dark-cloaked recruit had a habit of observing others like he did. Signar and the Prince were walking together, and the bluette wondered if they had already made friends.

...Had he made any friends yet? He had talked to Nathaniel, the Prince, and now Julian...but were they friends yet? What would that mean? Gramps had always told him he would need to make lots of friends, but there had been so much to learn before he applied to the academy, so until now he hadn't spent much time with anyone else...

The others had gone on ahead now, leaving Rossweine and Signar alone in the hallway, striding at a more leisurely pace. There was no particular reason to dwell on what words to use, and the Prince had no vested interest in keeping Signar from his breakfast either.

"Do you intend to continue your work as a smith? If so, I will arrange access to a forge for you."

That was all, really. Just confirmation, before any further investment was made.

---

"Yeah. I was waiting to see our workload, but free access to a forge as our schedule allows would make things simpler." The offer wasn't something to scoff at given his situation and lack of resources. He might have spoken with some of the smiths in the city, but those arrangements had their own conditions as well and they were certainly more cumbersome to deal with than relying on a prince's authority. Maybe less demanding in the long run, but he could do with the convenience.

"Did you have any specific terms in mind?"

---

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 seemed 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.

"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?"

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

After greeting everyone, Zenshin let out a sigh of relief that they were all pretty respectful back towards him. Not that he had expected them to be mean or anything. Kia had led the group towards the mess hall as by the time they had gotten there he was already sitting down with a plate stacked almost as tall as the boy himself. Zen chuckled a bit at the sight, the blue haired knight had also stacked his plate the night before, it must take a lot of nutrition to keep that guy going.

Zen would sit down with a comparatively more minimalist plate of eggs and sausages, prior to digging into his breakfast the young valeforian performed a small prayer before shoving a spoonful in his mouth. Shortly after, vice captain Lowthren took a seat next to him. A moment of silence passed between the two before Nathaniel raised his question.

"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?"

Zen finished chewing his food before letting out a nervous chuckle. “What brings me the Grayle…?” He said repeating Nathaniel as he poked his fork into another piece of sausage.

“Ive always been pretty interested in the legend of Grayle since I was a young kid, I aspire to walk in his footsteps. I wasn’t very good in my family profession of alchemy…so I decided to runaway on a whim once I heard Grayle was recruiting and tadaa.” The young Valeforian spoke a bit sheepishly. “As for if I’ve had any proper training, I don’t the other day was my first time picking up a sword so that should answer your question about training. I’m more magically inclined than physically, self taught on that end though” the boy said ending off with a bit of confidence. Before taking another bite he slipped in his own question as not to be rude.

“How about you Vice Captain? What made you want to become a knight if you don’t mind me asking?”

@webboysurf

"No."

It was enough to know that it was exterior reasons that caused a break from the profession of blacksmith to knight, rather than simply a desire by the Valeforan youth to pursue a path different from what he first set out to. And if Rossweine's family name was enough to allow Signar to use the full breadth of his talents, then that too, was fine.

The conversation ended just like that, and the prince strode in silence to join the others at the mess hall.

It was quiet compared to the feast last night, though that was simply owing to the fact that there were few present, and even the ever boisterous Underwall youth could not be loud enough to fill up a space as cavernous as this. Collecting his own plate of food, one much less substantial than his peers, Rossweine joined the table with the others, positioning himself directly opposite of Elon. He had a good enough read on most of his squadmates; only the newcomer had yet to present themselves in a meaningful enough manner yet.

"We've not yet been formally introduced," Rossweine spoke, his knife sliding over the unbroken yolk of his egg. "I am the captain of the 13th Squad, Rossweine Grayle, and I understand that you are of the Anteskelia lineage, Elon. It's a pleasure, that the draw of knighthood extends even so far as this."

---

...So the right answer when your superior asked you this sort of question... It was yes, right?

Once again, Kai's demeanor proved impossible for the somewhat oblivious blonde to make sense of. He seemed unconcerned with such things, contented to go at his own pace, but then all of a sudden he hit her with the last response she could have expected. Was this some sort of a test? Truth be told, she was actually pretty nervous about what sort of training they'd be doing, and the scornful words of her unwanted roommate were still fresh in her mind. Excitement and energy should have been the farthest thing from her mind as she sat there, munching contemplatively upon a surprisingly-not-stale biscuit.

...But, well, living face to face with the prospect of reaching out and grabbing your childhood dream has a tendency to make it hard to maintain a soulful melancholy for very long. And so it was that she found Kai's question surprisingly easy to answer between mouthfuls as she finished the biscuit and followed up by inhaling a sausage.

"Who, me? I'm always energetic. Today especially! We're gonna finally start becoming knights, after all!"

---

@FeyblueKai watched the face Julian made as the other recruit chewed their food. He put his own biscuit into his mouth and sat there, mimicking the other student's rhythm. They gulped at the same time.

"Who, me? I'm always energetic. Today especially! We're gonna finally start becoming knights, after all!"

"Yeah!" Kai threw both of his fists up in the air with an excited grin. "I'm gonna do my best, and be a hero just like Gramps!" He did it! He had made a friend! Again, as the bluette finished was was on his plate, he looked around the room at the others. Zenshin was talking about his training, or the lack of it, with Nathaniel. Nathaniel didn't seem so angry anymore, but there was something...slightly unnerving about how quiet he had been. Normally, people yelled at Kai when he did things like burst through doors and knock them over. But Nathaniel seemed focused on other things...and the wildling had no idea what thoughts the other boy might be having. Given how intense he had been thus far, the shift was unexpected.

Most of the others, meanwhile, seemed a little subdued in their conversations--maybe they weren't really wide awake yet? Ah...they weren't "energetic" like he and Julian were? Was that...something that needed to be fixed? He looked back at Julian.

"What made you wanna be a knight, Julian?" he asked. "Do you have a Gramps too?"

---

"What made you want to become a knight, if you don't mind me asking?"

Nathaniel listened intently to Zenshin as he spoke, taking the opportunity to get a few large bites of his food in. He was unsurprised that the old legends were a motivation: besides fame, aspiring to the ancient legacy was perhaps the second most discussed motivation for joining the ancient order. In a way, perhaps it was one of Nathaniel's own motivations... but that would discount what truly drove the Vice Captain. The meat of Zenshin's reason for joining, however, perplexed him. Failing to live up to a familial legacy was a great nightmare was Nathaniel's nightmare.

Of course, Nathaniel kept his composure and nodded along diligently. Zenshin's reason was inconsequential when it came to becoming a knight. The determination was more admirable. The Vice Captain was almost giddy hearing Zenshin hadn't picked up a sword before: it was certainly better than having been trained by a poor teacher. No bad habits had to be drilled: Zenshin was more of a blank slate when it came to martial capabilities. Of course, equally interesting to Nathaniel was the magical prowess, especially when self-taught. Nathaniel understood that aspect well: there were few who could teach him how to hone his gift from their own experience. And due to the circumstances at be, the only one who could teach such a skill was far too above Nathaniel's own station for that to be possible.

Of course, dwelling on Zenshin's words almost caused Nathaniel to miss the question thrown at him. The Vice Captain finished chewing his last bite of food before giving a small smile. "I... I don't think choosing anything else was ever an option. I was taught from a young age how important the knights were, and that one day I would be one as well. And that it would be irresponsible for an aura user to turn from the knighthood."

As soon as the words left his lips, it almost felt as though a sour taste had been left on his tongue. His words were factually accurate, and a proper reflection of the things his father and his family had told him. But there was something about the way the words flowed that suddenly seemed... strange. But Nathaniel simply widened his smile to hide that feeling. His eyes glanced over his comrades, listening in briefly to the various conversations across the table. Everyone had a reason to be here at this table, but having a reason wasn't going to be enough to become a knight.

@pkken