[He considers her words at length, and for a few beats, he is silent, leading her through the first few steps of an easy waltz. He notes, with interest, that her edges are not quite so sharp in these moments, here in the garden with the music drifting on the breeze. Though she claims not to indulge, there is no question that she was once taught how to dance quite properly.]

I would not go so far as to call what either of our roles have offered us absent, no.

[For here, he is no Lord, even less so than when he had stepped away from the position in Menancia, but those years have still shaped him— those behaviors, those values, as surely as her time as a general defines a great deal of who she is.

Still, not all, of that he is certain.]

I have no doubt that it will always be a part of you, as my former role's impact on me will never fade entirely— but we are not defined solely by what titles we have held, or the parts we have played. You were Beatrix before you were ever General, were you not?