Everybody was mingling, the food was great and everyone was happy. Sabine noticed Henrik was still a bit nervous, however. She was watching him closer once she realized the nature of her observation. It took a little while but she realized he was mostly nervous when he looked at Paige. She started paying attention to Paige to see if it was something going on with her he was keying in on, or if it was something with Henrik.
After the jambalaya, which everyone said was amazing, and before they had made room for dessert, everyone was sitting around the fire talking. This was when Paige broached a subject some of them had been curious about for some time.
“So, Silas, not that we mind and aren’t appreciative at the honor of being selected as your ‘four musketeers’ but, why us?”
All other conversation stopped and everyone looked at Paige then Silas.
“Well, there are a bunch of factors. I had read a bunch of your background, Paige, and Sabine’s background as part of the selection process for you to get the jobs here. In my research, because I don’t just go with what’s on the official record, I found out you two were loyal to a fault,” at this statement Paige smiled and Sabine got a momentary pained look on her face she hoped no one noticed. Silas continued. “And once I had the character references to build on, I watched you both once you arrived. Paige, once I met you and saw the resemblance to my own little slice of evil incarnate,” he gestured towards Violet, who stuck out her tongue like a five year old at him. “I watched you closer, almost out of habit. Once the incident happened with you, I was able to observe all four of you under pressure. The events were similar to working with you in combat. The stress brought out your natures. You and Sabine trusted Henrik and Andrea, so your trust bought my trust of them. Most of the other people on base I haven’t deployed with nor observed in such situations. I went with my gut after expert consultation.” He smiled.
Sabine had to ask. She had learned to be cautious of others talking about her.
“What expert consultation?”
Silas pointed a thumb at his wife, Amber.
“Her. I trust her judgement above all others when it comes to reading people.”
“Spousal trust is great, but…” Sabine started, then tapered off as Silas continued.
“I understand your reservations, Sabine, but it is also a professional opinion. It’s her fault. She did an unofficial psych eval for me. Otherwise, what’s the advantage of having a professional shrink for a wife? Something has to offset the fact I can never win an argument.”
Paige, Sabine, Henrik and Andrea looked over at Amber. She was smiling and looked a bit sheepish before she spoke.
“It’s not like I threw you guys down on a couch. He asked me my opinion about if we could trust you and would you be able to go along with these two’s” she pointed at Silas and Ivar. “hare-brained plan to pillage and protecting the troops vs filling official blocks.”
Sabine was instantly on guard. She had dealt with enough psychiatrists working for the prosecution and the defense that her distrust of how they can manipulate anything and everything said to a preconceived outcome was her personal baseline. She found herself trying to replay every word and gesture she had done within Amber’s presence. It took her a moment before she realized Amber was still talking.
“So, it’s just I have a lot of time hearing other people’s stories and get a decent feel of what they are like . I’ve always been a decent judge of character.” Amber turned while she was talking and caught the pointed look in Sabine’s stare. She wasn’t sure what that was about.