Apollo's expression changed in a way that indicated he had received an accurate assessment and was integrating it instead of defending against it.
He looked at his cup. He looked at the hallway.
"I've been so focused on what the ring did to the designation," he said quietly. "On getting it back to full function."
"On the expedition, on Kaelira's recovery, on the Legion investigation..."
"I've been prioritizing important matters over personal issues, thinking that the latter could wait."
"You know the problem with that," Rex said.
"That the personal things are important," Apollo said.
"That the personal things are the only things that actually require your presence," Rex said. "Everything else has a system."
"The people who love you don't run on a system."
'And here is the part where I give you genuinely good advice,' Rex thought, 'because genuinely good advice delivered at the right moment produces a specific kind of trust that nothing else can manufacture.'
