A more genuine smile. "Hai, hai, thrown away in general, ok-desu."
"Back to being a fighter before he's healed more--healed enough to be a person through it," he explains. "I know he needs purpose. But if a strong purpose grabs him right away, while he's still this shattered..." he shrugs. "Might as well make a full General of him. And he might make you a good one, when his human life is over, if he chose, but here and now, I value the person that's in there behind the pain and hubris and shame and vanity. That's the person whose protection I've asked for."
He wraps his hand around the dagger unhesitatingly, squeezing it until the blood drips onto the autumn-damp ground. "For your wing in protection around me and mine, my shadows around yours, my hand turned to your interests when I'm free to give it, and when I'm not, notice."