He was in the class ahead of mine. [ Way back, before he decided to go off in pursuit of the finer things in life. Except he never found them. ] I don't exactly get along with any of them. The way that world is set up, if you leave your village, you may as well slap a target on your back and a price tag on your head.

[ Not entirely true, since people marry outside their villages and move to others all the time, but most people also don't run off and end up committing crimes to land themselves on the wanted list.

He understands the idea of putting things behind him, though, so he won't argue that. ] You could've just left the room if you wanted to get away from them that badly. Though, I doubt they could come down from their mountings to chase you.