[However little of the old trouble Simon was actually present for, he remembers it well enough to know that she's right. He quiets when he's told, and listens when he's told, and sets his jaw with seething but obedient discontent.]

And the rest of us can keep our mouths shut and be perfect models of chivalry, for what little good it does. All right. I'll try to keep him calm where I can.

[He has not historically been the best at doing that with Cade, for all his promises to be watchful. They're not friends, and he knows all too well what Cade tends to think of him, and it's only for his own peace in their shared quarters that Simon's lately stopped needling him on purpose just for fun. But nobody's life was ever at stake before.]

They talk about him like he's a rabid dog. We'd be better off if he was. Maybe then Reed would take our part.