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"On this floor there are orders you're expected to follow. That's different."

"It doesn't sound different."

"It is."

Her mouth flattened, and for a moment she didn't say anything else, just held the same guarded stillness from a moment ago while she decided whether arguing back was safe yet.

"Convenient distinction," she said, finally.

I nearly smiled, mostly because I'd rather she argued with me than closed down and quietly decided what I wanted. My hand had curled at my side again without my noticing, an old habit from years of holding a shield steady past the point my arm wanted to drop it, and I made myself uncurl it before she saw.

"If I tell you to hold a position, you hold it. If I tell you to move, you move, and if I tell you not to engage because I've seen a threat you haven't, I expect you to listen."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Tell me."

That stopped her more effectively than raising my voice would have. I folded my arms and continued before she could decide I'd misunderstood.

"If I give you an order based on information that doesn't apply, tell me. If you see something I've missed, tell me. If you're injured, exhausted, your ability is becoming unstable or you know something that changes the situation, tell me. You do not hide it because you think following an order matters more."

Her expression had gone very still. "And then?"

"Then I make another decision with better information."

"What if there isn't time to explain?"

"Say no."

Her eyebrows rose. "You'd let someone refuse your order?"

"I expect everyone in Nephrite to use their judgment. There's a difference between refusing because you dislike an order and stopping because you know something your commander doesn't. If we survive whatever is happening, we can argue about it afterward."

Jade studied me as though the missing condition had to be hidden somewhere in the sentence, and the fact she expected one irritated me all over again. I kept it out of my voice.

"And outside training?" she asked eventually. "If I want to use this hall?"

"Use it. Same with the rear yard, and your knives are your knives."

"What if I leave?"

I looked at her. "We covered that yesterday."

"I know."

"Then why are you asking again?"

Her chin lifted. "Because you told me I could go where I wanted, then Alex followed me."

Halver's eyebrows rose beside the wall. That was new information and something I intended to discuss with Alex later, although the more important question was whether Jade believed his explanation. "Did Alex say I sent him?"

"No."

"Did you believe him?"

A pause followed before she answered. "Eventually."

"Then Alex making questionable decisions doesn't change what I told you."