[ He catches that surprise, but doesn't explain the comment. It'd been born of nostalgia, a wistful memory of the kind of training that chews people up and spits them out and what it takes to survive that. Maybe it isn't a good thing that she'd have been one of them.

She might not say what she's thinking, but the look on her face is enough for him to get it all the same, even as he gives a soft chuckle at her not-quite joke.

He stretches as she takes a drink from the water, rolling his shoulders out before he drops down to sit on the mat. ]

Making yourself stronger physically is a hell of a lot easier than making yourself stronger mentally, you know. All you gotta do for the first one is never quit - the second one, you gotta learn what kind of strength will break under pressure, and what kind will bend. It's not enough to just keep pushing yourself, you gotta be able to recognize the cracks when they start forming and figure out if you can patch them up or you need to try something new.