Sliva looked clearly confused by presence, which was fair. Ber did not make a habit of speaking to her - and had no plans of changing that - but today, he would make an exception. She took a bite of her food as he nodded. “Okay,” He said, pausing for a moment before asking, “The night of the ball. When Wulfbrand turned into the werewolf, what was the first thing you did to try to stop him?”

She cast an incantation. He’d suspected that was the case, because if he was suddenly faced with fighting a powerful opponent, he would also fall back on his most powerful weapon at hand. At the ball, he’d tried - he’d had the idea of flinging the cup in his hand - but the werewolf had been too fast. Witches, however, were never unarmed: they had their magic.

Mind wandering down that path, Ber had nodded when Sliva answered his question, but when she changed the subject and asked about him, he blinked and looked at her. “What?” He’d been out of the infirmary and back on the training grounds for a little while now. “Oh. Yeah, it’s fine.” The words were dismissive. He wasn’t here to talk about him.

“So, at the ball,” He prompted her, refocusing. “You cast an incantation because… that’s what they tell you to do in combat? Use your magic?” Despite the assumption, his words were still more question than statement. Ber was not a witch; he had never paid much attention to how witches were trained.

Again, Ber nodded his understanding. He took a moment to see if he could think of anything else to ask, but Sliva had summarily confirmed what he’d suspected. There was no reason for him to hang around. Slapping the table lightly with one hand, he made to get up, then paused, half out of his seat, to look back down at the witch as another question struck him: “Oh. Apart from not having enough time, there’s nothing else that would stop you from being able to use your magic?”

The ability to speak and a sacrifice if summoning something. He remembered learning that now, but hadn’t been sure if there was anything else. Ber nodded again. “Okay,” He said, finishing the movement to rise fully. Unless Sliva stopped him, he would turn and, finally, leave the mess hall.