This is probably karma for taking so long to really apply himself to magic. Belabored sigh!! Young Avan, your confidence... Popp's really going to have to talk up how strong his future self is, clearly that's the problem? Avan is honestly a lot to live up to, he gets it!

Popp knows who the warrior in Avan's party was, because the other people he knows who knew Roka are less insanely tightlipped about their pasts. It's kinda weird hearing about him from this fresh perspective where he's not dead... Oh, this is something else he can't talk about, absolutely not it would be so bad, he has to keep talking!! About something related!! Related-

"Aw, Maam's always giving me a hard time, too. Everyone a hard time. She yelled at one of Hadlar's generals for a whole day and he quit being evil."

This is a gross simplification of events in which a number of people played important parts but it's talking about Maam hours now.

"I'm honestly kind of scared of when she finishes up her training and comes back with her old man's full set of muscles to go with her personality."

He doesn't sound scared at all, he just likes making fun of her. It'd be smart to break that habit before she gets strong enough to punch him into the atmosphere but it's fine, Popp works great under pressure!