[ And Trahearne is also really trying not to get carried away here. But regardless, there's still a brightness to his expression, the kind he only ever gets when he speaks of his commander. ]

He is. [ And he can't help but chuckle here, in lieu of a stupid grin. ] I don't know how he did it, but he always found the energy to laugh and press onward in situations where I would have folded to my hopelessness. Even now I look to him for inspiration. I always felt like I could do--be better...for him.

[ Beat has opened the floodgates, and now he rambles. ]