"Something like that." In response to experience, that is, and purposefully aloof in what's more of a deliberate omission of the full truth for what ears may be around listening besides who he's speaking to. One more look over his shoulder into the camp might offer a clue there's more to it than mere wartime alone, but before sharing he'll have to consider how to phrase it to not end up in this military. Something he'd rather avoid, despite the cooperation on taking on this trip.

"As for the desert - yes, some of it. I grew up in and around deserts, so much of where we've traveled feels oddly familiar to me though nothing else about here particularly does. Later on I moved into a port city which was a completely different experience, and though Cadens lacks the sea part of that the markets remind me of ones I used to walk through."

A breeze rustles what dry grasses are nearby as it blows in some of the night chill, and Claude turns his gaze to the sky above next. Tonight's sky has some clouds but fortunately nothing that indicates poor weather on the way. It takes a few more seconds but he does end up locating some of the constellations he's learned, and that process is as centering as always.

"In that war - I was a commander," he says after some time passes, voice much lower to avoid it carrying as he looks back out to the land once more. "In between planning strategies, I often stayed awake to keep watch to let others rest. Old habits die hard by being here, I suppose."