“It is you!" the man exclaimed. "We thought you weren't coming for another week!""Ashe," Sarene mumbled, "who is this lunatic and what does he want with me?”

“Oh, blessed Domi!" the Aon exclaimed, approaching quickly."Ashe!" she said, wiping her eyes with a quivering hand, numbed by shock. "You never use the Lord's name!""If He has brought me to you, then He has His first Seon convert," Ashe said, pulsing excitedly.”

“You're getting better, my lady.""Don't patronize me.""No, really, Your Highness. When you started painting five years ago, I could never tell what it was you were trying to depict.""And this is a painting of . ."Ashe paused. "A bowl of fruit?" he asked hopefully.Sarene sighed in frustration._______________________________"Beautifully—which is more than I can say for the painting." He paused for a moment. "It's a horse, right?"Sarene scowled."A house?" he asked."It is not a bowl of fruit either, my lord," Ashe said. "I already tried that." "Well, she said it was one of the paintings in this room," Lukel said. "All we have to do is keep guessing until we find the right one.""Brilliant deduction, Master Lukel." Ashe said.”

“I'm Teoish," Sarene said, successfully spearing something that looked like a marinated piece of shrimp. "We're all this tall.""Father's Teoish too, Kaise," Daorn said. "And you know how tall he is.""But father's fat," Kaise pointed out. "Why aren't you fat too, Sarene?”

“Sarene finally released him, wiping her eyes, disappointed in herself for crying again. Kiin simply placed a large hand on her shoulder and led her into the dining room, where the rest of the family sat around the table, even Adien.Lukel had been talking animatedly, but he cut off as he saw Sarene. "Speak the name of the lion," he said, quoting a Jindoeese proverb, "and he will come to feast.”

“I consider myself to be a man of principle. But, what man does not? Even the cutthroat, I have noticed, considers his actions "moral" after a fashion.Perhaps another person, reading of my life, would name me a religious tyrant. He could call me arrogant. What is to make that man's opinion any less valid than my own?I guess it all comes down to one fact: In the end, I'm the one with the armies.”

“A man is what he has passion about,” Breeze said. “I’ve found that if you give up what you want most for what you think you should want more, you’ll just end up miserable.”