Rex looked at her.
"She asked us why," Diana said. "Not why we thought you were capable."
"She's seen enough of your capability to assess that herself."
"She asked why we trusted you the way we do." She was looking at Rex with the steady directness she used for things she had already thought through completely and was now simply delivering. "So we told her."
"And what did you tell her?" Rex said.
Diana was quiet for a moment.
"The truth," she said. "The parts of it that were ours to tell."
Lily leaned forward slightly with the posture she used when she wanted to say something and was finding the right shape for it.
"I told her that you don't perform," she said. "That you are just... there when you're with someone, and that most people don't know how rare that is until they've experienced the difference."
She looked at Rex with the openness she reserved for moments when she had decided that directness was more useful than management. "I also told her about the spice shelf."
