Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)

by Brandon Sanderson

You had to keep moving, otherwise people started to know who you were, and then they started to expect things from you.

“Pity can be a powerful tool. Anytime you can make someone else feel something, you’ve got power over them.”

She hated dreams. They either showed her a life she couldn’t have, or a life that terrified her. What was the good of either one?

“Storms!” Lift said, flopping backward on the carpet. “Storming Mother of the World and Father of Storms above! He about made me die of fright.” “I know!” Wyndle said. “Did you hear me not-whimpering?” “No.” “I was too frightened to even make a sound!”

“But…who am I to say? I am mad. Then again, I think that the Herald is too. It makes me agree that the minds of men cannot be trusted. That we need something greater to follow, to guide. But not my stone… What good is seeking a greater law, when that law can be the whims of a man either stupid or ruthless?”

“I figure,” she said, “that nobody knows what they’re doin’ in life, right? So Gawx and the dusty viziers, they need me.” She tapped her head. “I got it figured out.” “You’ve got what figured out?” “Nothing at all,” Lift said, with the utmost confidence. But I will listen to those who are ignored, she thought. Even people like Darkness, whom I’d rather never have heard. Maybe that will help.