“I like this one better,” said, of all people, Si-yu. “I don’t care for food that flatters,” said Sinh Loan coolly, but Si-yu shook her head. “And I don’t care about poetry. It’s nice, but . . . the first bite of every meal that Dieu eats? That’s good. That’s how the old warriors who don’t like to use words like love talk. My grandfather still says I will always give you the first bite of my dinner, you terrible woman, to my grandmother. I didn’t know that tigers said it too.”
