"And give up everything we'd worked for? Never." He closed his eyes for a moment as he was touched. There wasn't any shame in losing, you had to learn from it and carry on.

But it was still a personal disappointment, and in this case, an embarrassment. This might be the only time he ever met Mitth'raw'nuruodo, and he was duty bound to be rude.

These were the sorts of challenges they didn't tell you about when you signed on as a spy.