Lydia couldn't help it. She rolled her eyes. Not that she could ever actually forget after all these years, but sometimes the sudden reminder of how very much like Han he was became immediately exasperating.
Did he really need to ask her why?
She had long gotten accustomed to the way that her life and Leia's life with Matt and Han occasionally mirrored the other, even in some small way. Finding herself in the position of having to convince Matt that he was completely qualified for a job they both knew he deserved? Not so unfamiliar to either princess. The circumstances were different, both personally and professionally, but still the sentiment remained. All that was missing was a few good feet of snow and some Tauntauns nearby.
In other ways, Matt's reaction made even less sense to her. Han Solo had come to the rebel alliance a glorified smuggler, though Leia had seen his potential to be more and had told him so on more than one occasion what she thought of his more honorable qualities. Always selling himself short, from Captain to General. Leia had still believed in Han, and Lydia understood why. What she didn't understand was Matt's uncanny reluctance to refuse the things he'd worked for, and anything good with them.
Matt already had the qualifications. He'd come to Camelot a war hero, after his years in military service. He'd had combat experience, knew how to effectively lead others into the thick of it, and for all his bluster, he knew how to work under pressure. Of course, Lydia also suspected that Gabe had something to do with Matt keeping a cooler head under heavy fire, but it was also true that a general was only as good as the loyalty of those they served with. Regardless of what happened in their own relationship, Lydia could still look at the facts and everything he'd shown time and time again in his years fighting for Camelot.
Why would Camelot not want him to lead their combat department? There was quite simply no one else as qualified as he was for the job, and there hadn't been ever since he'd signed up with Camelot in the first place.
She could and probably should have just said that, but old habits died hard with Matt. She couldn't help but ease into the defensive.
"Why?" Scrunching up her face into that pained expression whenever she found herself having to explain something to Matt after he said something stupid, Lydia looked at him incredulously. "Why not?"
Almost relieved to be farther from the ever present danger of any subject that strayed too closely to their relationship, Lydia was also still just as uncomfortable entering into any subject where she would actually have to compliment him in earnest. That felt dangerously close to admitting to genuine feelings for him, and where her ex was concerned, that was one particular area that Lydia tried to avoid at all costs. Safer that way.
"Your record speaks for itself so I really shouldn't have to convince you of that." She meant it, even if in the moment she sounded more annoyed with him than sincere. After all of the missions he'd done for Camelot, did he really not know why they would want him to lead their entire combat department? Matt was a natural leader just as much as Han.
It also meant that as head of a department, he'd be in and around the castle significantly more than he had been the last two years, but Lydia wasn't prepared to confront the conflict in her feelings about that one.
"You make it so difficult sometimes," she sighed heavily, feeling self-conscious enough in where she stood for a moment that she shifted her weight and briefly chewed on the inside of her cheek as she attempted to make her case sound as impersonal as possible. "Matt, we need you."