[The compliment delights her, and she grins.] I qualified more quickly than most people. My captain did say that I had a lot of potential. [It's wrong to brag, she feels, but there's no harm in reporting what someone else said.] We have a test, when we first join the Tradelines, to see what work we're suited to. My captain said he'd never seen a score so high as mine. [Also true, but Ari was a Cardalek genetic project who had been intended for a scientific career, not the military. She adds, somewhat more modestly,] I do hope that I'm doing some good. I work hard.

[Oichi sounds somewhat unreliable to Ari, from that description, but she doesn't think Nobunaga would appreciate that thought.] Sometimes in a conflict it's necessary to make a sacrifice, but nobody should ever seek it out. Nobody should be living for others, instead of pursuing their own dreams. [She frowns a little.] Were you her commander, as well as her brother? Someone who rushes in without thought is letting their emotions get the better of them, even if it's for the most noble reasons. You wouldn't want her on the front line, I can see that, but if the conflict's planetside, you don't need your strategists to be there. [Ari, in other words, would have found a safe place for Oichi that didn't involve terrible things like forcing her into contract. But she's made that criticism, and she won't press it further.]

I don't think that conflict will ever disappear. I think it's part of our nature. But there hasn't been a full-scale war in my sector since Breakaway. [A century, in other words.]