"I'm not saying it to credit him," Nerith said. "I'm saying it because it's data."
"People who make calculations that they're not going to follow through on don't do that..."
"People who say they'll act for the group and don't mean it don't take an arrow for someone who wasn't their immediate concern." She paused. "I know what he is..."
"I've read the deep signal in the canyon stone, and I know what kind of presence registers down there and how it registers."
"Rex doesn't read like a threat to the things that matter to me, but... he reads like something that has a place in the larger structure of things." She finally looked up. "I'm aware that's a strange thing to say."
"But still... I'm saying it anyway because it's true, and I'd rather you heard it from me directly than form an impression from what I don't say."
Rex looked at her for a moment. "Thank you," he said.
'How fucking ironic... she almost got a rape treatment from me, and yet she got a reason to defend me.'
