"Same to you, admiral." I replied with a small smile, my calm tone standing to great juxtaposition against his own, as I gestured for him to rise and take a seat in front of me.
"What would you bid me do, sire? The eastern armada is ready at a moment's notice to set sail!" He excitedly said, as he sat down.
Amused, I replied "It seems this war has not managed to sate your hunger, admiral. The conflict has just ended, and you're already itching for the next."
He paused for moment at the sound of my words, his constant smile slightly receding, before he said in resolute conviction "Please don't misunderstand, my liege. I crave more battle not because I am blood crazed, but because I refuse to see my father's legacy be brought to irrelevance and mockery by the empire."
I grew quiet for a brief moment, his feelings of paternal, not only love, but almost worship and idealization, completely foreign to me, as I asked "Your father was a former captain of the eastern navy, was he not?"
