Provenance (Imperial Radch)

by Ann Leckie

Seeing the bright house-front, Ingray felt its utter familiarity, and a yearning to be finally inside and at home. At the same time she had a disconcerting sense of strangeness, as though the house she’d grown up in had become something foreign to her. Or something she was foreign to.

“Sorry won’t unbreak the cup,” said Lak.

Once, when she had been small, and the Aughskolds were on their way to a public reception, Nuncle Lak had taken her hand and leaned down to tell her that if she was afraid, she should look around and take notice of all the people and things that were frightening, and then of all the ones that might help her.