"No, no." He shook his head. "The opposite, actually. You've done better than anyone else they've sent me and probably better than many of those who issue the commands would do." This was frank, and it was said without hesitation or delay.

"As to what else is there... knowledge. Knowing the minds of the enemy and, even more, knowing the minds of your... friends." The word didn't sit right. Not here, and that was surprising, because his friends, his comrades, where here.

But he didn't know another way to explain it.

"Knowing you, I would know... what strengths to help develop. Which exercises can be discarded and how to proceed."

The worst part was that he was aware of the ambiguity in his own words, but he couldn't express either what he was saying or what he was grasping at, inside his mind, any more clearly.

Knowing. Recon. Knowing. Being... close to?