"You tried -- " Dimitri's attempt to wrestle his voice under control isn't about courtesy or decorum, so much as keeping the ability to speak at all -- "a-and that is more than anyone has ever done for me. You looked him in the eye and told him I'm better than him."

Dimitri sniffs, and swallows around the knot in his throat. "Ossie, I've never fought him before. But I did, because -- " His voice hardens. His head twitches, and he projects louder, as if speaking over something -- "because he does not get to speak about you that way. And it was you who showed me I could. I ... I only wish I'd done it when it mattered."