The man had suffered in every waking moment, and somehow, he had pulled himself together enough to smile. Is that a wisdom Oliver could say that he had adhered to? He didn't think so. He suffered in silence, and thought that to be bravery. He had a hint of pride that he was able to conceal his suffering so well. But he was not Dominus. All the little things that Dominus had taught Oliver, he had not gone all that way yet.
He wondered if that was the weakness that Blackwell and Karstly had seen in him – the weakness of heart, preventing him from going any further in Command, or as a strategist. He wondered if they realized it was something more fundamentally wrong with him.
The only teaching he had absorbed well and truly from Dominus were his teachings of the sword. Oliver had focused on those alone, as if they were a kind of salvation. He had contented himself with the fact that, as he progressed, and he grew stronger, he would be keeping more of Dominus with him.
