The Sunspire snake eater

Veteran looked up to Germanicus reverently, seeing the man as everything he hoped he would someday be himself. A soldier. A leader.

"I was weaned early too." He had not known that this could be a point of pride, until he realized it was something he shared in common with Germanicus. "My mom had to go away on a scouting trip after I was born, and she couldn't take me." The early weaning was abrupt certainly, but Veteran had gotten over it pretty quickly, whereas Wayfarer, his sister, still nursed a grudge about it.

Veteran nodded thoughtfully at Germanicus's praise. "Mom says balance is important," he voiced, perhaps a little skeptically. He was only a young boy after all, and young boys do not, as a rule, gravitate toward balanced lifestyles. Veteran didn't just want to be an okay soldier. He wanted to be the best soldier, or he didn't want to be one at all.

"But I want to be better. I want to be the best." Ensio must be working harder than him. That's why he was getting so much better, so much faster. Maybe Issorartuyok would agree to more frequent training sessions..? But then again, that seemed unlikely, what with how hard they would all have to work to get their pack re-established somewhere new. Veteran sighed. Relocation would be one more distraction. One more roadblock in achieving his destiny.