The Long Game (The Far Reaches, #4)

by Ann Leckie

I mean, once you decide to find out why people die and how to stop it—really truly seriously decide—you can’t let little things like some pain stop you. Otherwise you might just as well have stayed home and died.

“When you’re small,” said Nish, after a moment’s silence, “you survive by being patient, and clever. You can’t make big things happen all at once, so you do what little things you can.