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Ten years ago, the Shaod would have made Raoden a god. Now, instead of making people into silver-skinned deities, it changed them into sickly monstrosities.
This is what I will become, Raoden thought. It has already begun. In a few weeks I will be nothing more than a dejected body, a corpse whimpering in the corner.
“Welcome to Elantris, sule. You’re dead—your body won’t repair itself like it should.”
“We could try burning him, assuming we could make a fire. Elantrian bodies seem to burn better than those of normal people, and some think that’s a fitting death for our kind.”
“Sule, you’re dead. Kolo?”
To many, an existence of agony is better than no existence at all.”
“This is Elantris, sule. There’s no such thing as help. Pain, insanity, and a whole lot of slime are the only things you’ll find here.”
If it happens that one member of the aforementioned couple is called home to Merciful Domi before the prearranged wedding time,’” Ashe said, “‘then the engagement will be considered equivalent to marriage in all legal and social respects.’”
A man of Raoden’s age and supposed vigor, she thought. Dead of the coughing shivers. It could happen—but it certainly doesn’t seem likely.
“There are three sections of Elantris, sule, and three gangs. The market section is ruled by Shaor; you met a few members of his court yesterday, though they were too busy licking the slime off your offerings to introduce themselves. In the palace section you’ll find Karata—she’s the one who so very politely relieved that woman of her food today. Last is Aanden. He spends most of his time in the university section.”
“You talk about hunger and pain as if they are forces that can’t be resisted. Anything is acceptable, as long as the hunger made you do it—remove our comforts, and we become animals.”
“I just never thought I’d see the day when you, of all women, gave in to a feminine stereotype—even if it was just an act.”
“The first step in taking control of a nation, Arteth, is the simplest. You find someone to hate.”
Svrakiss. The souls of the dead men who hated Jaddeth, the opponents to all that was holy.
You will find that hate can unify people more quickly and more fervently than devotion ever could.”
“There’s no such thing as a school of creative misdirection,” Kaise informed them. “There isn’t?” her father asked. “No. There’s the impressionist school, the neorepresentational school, the abstract derivational school, and the revivationist school. That’s it.”
it is human nature to believe that other places and other times are better than the here and now.
As was often the case, the most outspoken man was the least discerning.
Besides, it was beneficial to have a reputation for honesty, if only so that one could lie at crucial moments.
If we can restore even a tiny bit of hope to these people, then their lives will improve drastically.”
“Knowledge will bring strength,”
“Do not dash if you only have the strength to walk, and do not waste your time pushing on walls that will not give. More importantly, don’t shove where a pat would be sufficient.
Continue to practice and you will improve.”
It is possible that the city exists in a feral state, with the mighty living upon the weak.” “No society could endure like that.”
“One would never know this country is dancing on the edge of destruction,”
In the end, I am left to ponder how mankind managed to complicate such a simple concept.”
“It’s always a masterful stroke when you can turn someone’s guise to your advantage.”
“Remember what you used to be and try to hide your sins beneath the blanket of darkness. Tomorrow the sun will rise, and all will be revealed once again.”
Oh, what burdens we must accept in the service of Your empire, Lord Jaddeth,
What was one man’s conscience when compared with the glory of His rule? What was a little guilt when a nation was now unified beneath Jaddeth’s careful eye? Hrathen would ever bear the scars of what he had done, but it was better that one man suffer than an entire nation continue in heresy.
Pain lost its power when other things became more important. Kahar didn’t need a potion or an Aon to save him—he just needed something to do.
“You’d doubt the sun’s rising if you weren’t proven wrong each day,”
“Remember, the past need not become our future as well.”
“We call it ChayShan,” Shuden explained. “It’s a kind of warm-up—a way to focus your mind and body when preparing for a battle.”
All things must progress, and progression is not always a steady incline. Sometimes we must fall, sometimes we will rise—some must be hurt while others have fortune, for that is the only way we can learn to rely on one another. As one is blessed, it is his privilege to help those whose lives are not as easy. Unity often springs from strife, child.”
The truth of the matter is, no man wants an intelligent wife.”
“Truth can never be defeated, Sarene. Even if people do forget about it occasionally.”
So far he had been able to determine very little. It was becoming obvious that the Aons were only starting points—the most basic figures one could draw to produce an effect.
There must be some link between Elantrians and the Dor—it feeds our bodies, providing the energy we need to survive.”
“We can be strong in the face of kings and priests, my lady,” Ashe replied, “but to live is to have worries and uncertainties. Keep them inside, and they will destroy you for certain—leaving behind a person so callused that emotion can find no root in your heart.”
“Men protect things they find important.”
“Oh, my dear princess,” Raoden whispered. “You probably mean well, but handing these people food is the worst thing you could do to them.”
“The hunger is psychological. Our bodies don’t need food; the Dor sustains us.”
“We’re not dead, Galladon, and we’re not damned. We’re just unfinished.”
“Definitely not—you optimists just can’t understand that a depressed person doesn’t want you to try and cheer them up. It makes us sick.”
Could a man really have been depressed within these amazing walls? Who, capable of marvelous wonders, would be willing to trade them for the simple life of a farmer? It must have been beautiful back then, so beautiful.…
There, in the center of the cursed city, was finally a person who seemed willing to accept her.
She wished she could laugh at his clever remarks, agree with his observations, and share his concerns.
“How will it look, Iadon?” she whispered. “How will it feel to have the entire court know you are indebted to a woman? A foolish girl at that?
