Was it negligence or a failing that I did not press the value of such skills, nor urge you to take up these practices?

( That flatness applied to analysis of their past is likely strange. Herian has learned that sometimes applying a smile to things said does not have the effect of putting people at each so much as disconcerts them further, and she spares Cosima the affectation. )

I knew the threat of conflict and combat; do you feel that neglected your advancement, or failed you in that regard?