[ Nash shrugs. ] They aren't cold, sick or starving anymore. Soldiers without a battlefield will usually make one.
[ He watches her clench her jaw and realizes a distance between them: this fight is personal, for her. Something had happened, maybe before he turned up, that made her really want the Cetagandans dead. Or maybe she was simply incapable of fighting by half-measures, of not giving all of her valor to each of her causes. The night hangs silent around them both— they're pretty far from the tent by now. He has to think for a moment, of what to say next. ]
My father used to tell me that the quickest way to make a person trustworthy is to trust them. [ Of course, Nash's father was poisoned to death by his future son-in-law, so, maybe he wasn't the best person to listen to. ] But I think it's more true in the reverse: the easiest way to make sure someone isn't trustworthy is to not trust them, and let them know it. [ She's right: armies fall to such divisions, and they could too. ]
no subject
[ He watches her clench her jaw and realizes a distance between them: this fight is personal, for her. Something had happened, maybe before he turned up, that made her really want the Cetagandans dead. Or maybe she was simply incapable of fighting by half-measures, of not giving all of her valor to each of her causes. The night hangs silent around them both— they're pretty far from the tent by now. He has to think for a moment, of what to say next. ]
My father used to tell me that the quickest way to make a person trustworthy is to trust them. [ Of course, Nash's father was poisoned to death by his future son-in-law, so, maybe he wasn't the best person to listen to. ] But I think it's more true in the reverse: the easiest way to make sure someone isn't trustworthy is to not trust them, and let them know it. [ She's right: armies fall to such divisions, and they could too. ]