“That’s the way it is with Appian; things that appear ridiculous on average just might have happened, so they cannot be entirely dismissed.”

“There’s the way things should be, and then there’s the way things are. Things will never be the way they should be as long as people keep saying that’s just the way things are. If everyone got together and ensured that things were the way they should be, then eventually the way things are would be the way they should be. Of course, that will never happen. That’s just the way things are.”

“I can see,’ Miss Emily said, ‘that it might look as though you were simply pawns in a game. It can certainly be looked at like that. But think of it. You were lucky pawns. There was a certain climate and now it’s gone. You have to accept that sometimes that’s how things happen in the world. People’s opinions, their feelings, they go one way, then the other. It just so happens you grew up at a certain point in this process.’‘It might be just some trend that came and went,’ I said. ‘But for us, it’s our life.”

“Repetition is sometimes the best way to deal with the Luidaeg: just keep saying the same thing over and over until she gets fed up and gives you what you want. All preschoolers have an instinctive grasp of this concept, but most don’t practice it on immortal water demons. That’s probably why there are so few disembowelments in your average preschool.”

“But as I have noticed on more than one occaision, life itself is unfair, and there is no complaint department, so we might as well accept things the way they happen, clean up the mess, and move on.”

“Emerald green eyes studied usfrom a face that could have been sculpted by one of theclassical artists I so admired. Shocked, I dismissed thecomparison as soon as it popped into my head. This was avampire, after all. It was ridiculous to admire him the way Iwould some hot human guy.”