Solomon was a bit taken aback by Blythe's compliment, "O-of course I did well, excellence is the Lear tradition."  That last statement was something of a lie; his family had been among those that expected special treatment for being members of the founding race, so when that special treatment didn't come, they simply let go of themselves and slipped into obscurity, refusing to even try.  Solomon strove to turn that around and earn nobility for himself; he would make excellence the Lear tradition.  Solomon thought back to wha the had said previously, and decided to ask, "You have a lot of complaints about the Ascendancy.  I'm not questioning your loyalty or anything, but I'm assuming your parents, or however many generations your family's been here, came to the Ascendancy for a reason?"

"T-thanks," Israfil replied, glad that things had slightly simmered down.  "You really think I did ok?" he said, rubbing the back of his head, unused to praise.  "Of course, it's nothing like what you pulled off, there's more glory being in the front," israfil added with a slight mix of admiration and envy.  Though he intended to compliment, he was quite unaware of the potential to hurt that his statement had.