Her frank confession of not wanting to follow her mentor's career path gets a soft, surprised laugh out of him. "If I'm honest, that's why admiralship didn't agree with me either," he tells her. "Not that I owned anything, but I was never the sort to thrive piloting a desk. Admirals are important to the structure of Starfleet, as is the experienced teaching the young, but I was always at home among the stars, not stuck planetside where my only adventure was paperwork."

A faint smile lingers on his lips as he looks at her, considering, lightly tapping his fingers against the cover of his book. "My advice is to cherish it while you can. And find other things you love to do that can fill the gap once it's gone. A love of books," he adds, thumping the novel in his hand a little more solidly in demonstration, "or riding horses, something that can keep you busy. Remembering the good old days is important, but so is moving forward. It's easier to start now, instead of waiting until you don't know what to do with yourself anymore."