“You're competent enough on the trail."Don't slay me with admiration.”

“Only someone you know is going to assume you know them by saying 'it's me.' It's strangers who use names, since they know you don't know who they are."I'm terrified to think that that almost made sense.”

“Wildcat fights for den or prey;Watch for tracks and stay away.Bollusk trample, charge, and kick;Climb a sturdy tree or cliff."She broke off as Payne leaned over and said in a stage whisper to one of the girls, "I don't think she's remembering it right. The real verse is, 'Bollusk charge and like to trample; climb, or be a flat soil sample.”

“Hells, Nori-girl, if the Ell called me on it in council, I'd have to swear by the second moon that you couldn't tell a man from a mudsucker.”

“Badgers swarm out of the sand;Talk and walk, don't run or stand.Pritaries bite and bite again;Kick and shout and run like wind."Payne checked the small clock again. "Aye," he cut in. "Black Wolf never did get that last verse right. What she should have said was, 'Pritaries like to bite your ass; best to run away real fast.”

“I apologize for my sister, Hafell," he said quickly. "She is overwrought from events of the past few days." Nori kicked his foot, but he didn't turn a hair as he finished smoothly, "I believe she meant to say that she was a stubborn, shortsighted, small-minded, Randonnen mountain rat.”

“If you don't care, don't ask me how I am. Chances are, I don't care how you are, either. And it's not because I don't respect you or think you're loser. I just don't know you well enough to care yet. So, let's pass each other in silence and go on with our lives.”