Her accent sounds more like his than any of the other strange ones he's heard here, and that alone is enough to pique his interest even before the glow of her shard catches his eye. Her clothes don't look any stranger to him than anyone else's, it's true, but his hopeful thinking would have pegged her as a fellow anchor even if she did have her anchor hidden.

"Nothing in particular except a grounding in the basics you've mentioned. Where did you learn them?" It certainly gives him some hope, if there are other rifters who know what they're talking about.