Someone else might have been fishing for interest, but Julian was rather blunt more often than not - it was possible Felix had already told Marco the story since he seemed so taken with Marco, hence the asking.

"He snuck in," Julian said, and there was a brief moment when it seemed like that would be all he said before he shook his head, the corner of a rueful smile on his mouth. "There's a minimum age requirement, he was two years away from it. He lied and slipped in with the rank and file. It was three weeks before anyone noticed. He kept his head down and did the grunt work without complaint."

"And when I got shoved with the other nobility once I was caught, they complained twice as much as any dock orphan looking for a change of pace and regular work did at the lower ranks - while being asked to do less than half the work," Felix clarified, hearing the tail end of Julian's story as he came back in. He paused at the door, switching out his boots for the socks yet again then jogging the rest of the way to the table to sit between the two of them.