He laughs. "Because I pestered him incessantly and never met a rule of Gusu Lan's I did not try to break. He drew his sword on me within five minutes of meeting. I cannot count how many times he called me 'obnoxious' and 'boring' when I was at lectures. I think by the time he had known me a year or two, I had climbed in his esteem to 'tolerable, but only just.'"

And then, as the years continued on... well.