“Vin snorted, kneeling in the low tent as she pulled her belt tight; then she crawled over to him. "I don't know how you read while riding," she said. "Oh, it's quite easy - if you aren't afraid of horses." "I'm not afraid of them," Vin said. "They just don't like me. They know I can outrun them, and that makes them surly.”

“All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them.When the ride was over she got off her horse and came over to me. "You ride once, too, this time," she said."No, I'll just watch ya. I think I'll just watch," I said.”

“It's going to storm," she said."You've been in Alabama for twenty-four hours and you think you canread the weather?""Then why is it so dark?""It's going to storm."She wanted to hit him. "Then I'd appreciate getting to my car before ithits. I don't like thunderstorms. ""No, I imagine you don't," he said softly. "That's just something elseyou're afraid of. Sex, men, thunderstorms, being poor. Me. Anything else?"Yeah," she said. "I'm afraid of alligators and poisonous snakes, orotherwise I wouldn't be here in this hearse with you.”

“I don't know that she is as amusing as she was when she was a child, but she makes me love her and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble in making myself love them.”

“and I said, 'That is why you don't climb mountains, Gwen.' But now I wonder. You aren't afraid of heights.""No", she said. "Not particularly.""Only missteps."She paused midstroke. Did he mean to imply this had been a misstep? "I was afraid," she said carefully. "For a very long time. But no longer." "So was I," he said, and lifted her chin and kissed her.”

“You know,” OreSeur muttered quietly, obviously counting on her tin to let Vin hear him, “it seems that these meetings would be more productive if someone forgot to invite those two.”Vin smiled. “They’re not that bad,” she whispered.OreSeur raised an eyebrow.“Okay,” Vin said. “They do distract us a little bit.”“I could always eat on of them, if you wish,” OreSeur said. “That might speed things up.”Vin paused.OreSeur, however had a strange little smile on his lips. “Kandra humor, Mistress. I apologize. We can be a bit grim.”Vin smiled. “They probably wouldn’t taste very good anyway. Ham’s far too stringy, and you don’t want to know the kinds of things that Breeze spends his time eating….”“I’m not sure,” OreSeur said. “One is, after all, named ‘Ham.’ As for the other…” He nodded to the cup of wine in Breeze’s hand. “He does seem quite fond of marinating himself.”