After Vulcan was destroyed, I was prepared to leave Starfleet. I felt... a sense of obligation to assist in rebuilding what we could. It would have been the logical duty to follow.

[ To abandon the career he had worked for. To return to the very people who had treated him cruelly. There is little logic in holding onto childhood spite. ]

It was the Ambassador who had reminded me that I could now be in two places at once. He encouraged me to stay. I do not regret that I did. He was always careful not to dictate what my life should be, but the few times that he offered me advice--

[ He pauses, words catching in his throat. It had felt like the sort of advice he might have received from his mother. ]

I believe that he told me things I truly needed to hear.