Xander would not get into the religious aspects associated with the stigma against unsanctioned mages, and how much the Empire sucked with regards to the rights of anyone that was not noble born. That did not make for good date conversation.

"Well enough." He said with a shrug. "I made a few friends — but school was always a competition, and there were so few who desired to study medicine, that said competition was even more intense. I was too caught up in my books either way to do much... socializing beyond what was mandatory." But it seemed like it might have been better than what Viktor went through? At least from what he could parse in that vision. "I was young and spry, then. Shame we did not meet when we were younger."