The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)

by Ken Liu

the Four Realms of the Universe: the World of Fire down below—filled with demons who mined diamond and gold; then, the World of Water—full of fish and serpents and pulsing jellyfish; next, the World of Earth, in which men lived—islands floating over the four seas; and finally the World of Air above all—the domain of birds and spirits.

“A great warrior trusts not his weapons, but himself. When you possess true strength, you can deal a killing blow even if all you have is a blade of grass.

“Good matches are not the stuff of stories and songs,” he said. “For every pain we endure together, there will be a joy twice as great. They will still sing of us in a thousand years.” She saw that he had changed into a yellow silk robe. And he kissed her, and he tasted of salt and wine. And she knew he was the man she was destined to marry.

Creation seems to favor making friends of those destined to be enemies.”

“They’re all dear to me, but I admire the dandelion the most. It is hardy and determined, adaptable and practical. The flower looks like a small chrysanthemum, but it’s much more resourceful and far less delicate. Poets may compose odes about the chrysanthemum, but the dandelion’s leaves and flowers can fill your belly, its sap cure your warts, its roots calm your fevers. Dandelion tea makes you alert, while chewing its root can steady a nervous hand. The milk of the dandelion can even be used to make invisible ink that reveals itself when mixed with the juice of the stone’s ear mushroom. It is a versatile and useful plant people can rely on.

“The chrysanthemum is a noble flower.” “That’s true. It’s the last flower to bloom in autumn, defiant against winter. Its fragrance is exquisite, and overwhelms all competition. In tea, it awakens the spirit; in bouquets, it dominates the arrangement. But it is not a flower that endears.”

“All life is an experiment. Who can plan so far ahead? I just promise myself to do the most interesting thing every time there’s an opportunity. If I can stick to that promise most of the time, I’m sure in ten years I won’t have any regrets.”

“It’s very scary to do the most interesting thing when the chance arises. Most people don’t dare to do it—like bluffing your way into a party you aren’t invited to. But look how much more delightful my life is now. I got to know you.” “The most interesting thing is often not the easiest thing,” Jia said. “There may be pain and suffering, disappointment and failure, for yourself and those you love.”

Sir, a reformed man is worth ten men virtuous from birth, for he understands temptation and will strive the harder to not stray.”

“A bird needs both long and short feathers to fly,” said Jia. “You need to learn to work with different kinds of people.”

Long ago, Thasoluo, the World Father, was called away by the King of All Deities, Moäno, never to return. He left behind his pregnant wife, Daraméa, the Source-of-All-Waters. Alone in the void, she cried hot, large tears of lava as she gave birth. The sizzling tears fell from the heavens into the sea and solidified into the Islands of Dara. Eight children were born. As the gods of Dara, they staked out their claims to the Islands and watched over the native inhabitants. Daraméa, comforted, withdrew to the great ocean, leaving her children in charge of Dara. Later, when the Ano arrived and spread throughout the Islands, their fates also became inextricably bound with the doings and undoings of the deities.

The gods were charged by their mother, Daraméa, the Source-of-All-Waters, with the running of the natural world: Kiji governed the winds and storms; Rapa guided the flow of glaciers across eons; Kana controlled the flashy eruptions of volcanoes; and so on. If mortals happened to be in the way of these forces of nature, like Tazu’s famous whirlpool and raging tides, then their deaths would not be a violation. Mapidéré had no interest in testing how Tazu, the most unpredictable of the gods, interpreted his own promise.

They and their families were executed. That was the law of Xana: Treason was a taint in the blood, and five generations would pay for the crime of one.

He understood the duty of respect one owed to one’s teacher, for the teacher was the model and mold of a man’s skills and learning, as the father was the model and mold of a man’s form and manners. These were ancient obligations, the kind that secured the world on top of its foundation. Though they were private bonds, they were as important and as unbreakable as the public duties one owed to one’s lord and king.

“Then I will call it Goremaw, companion to Na-aroénna.” “You will not use a shield?” Mata gave a contemptuous laugh. “What need is there for a shield when my enemies will die before three strokes?”

If you try to obey the law, and the judges call you a criminal anyway, then you might as well live up to the name.”

The best followers are those who think it was their own idea to follow you.

Mere coincidences. What is fate but coincidences in retrospect?

“When you learn enough about the world, even a blade of grass can be a weapon.”

You’re the mount I have been seeking, just as you have been seeking your rider. For too long we both languished in obscurity, away from our true roles on the world-stage. It is only when beings of true quality are matched to their stations that the world can prosper again.

It’s easy for men to be friends as close as brothers when they’re poor and struggling, but much harder when things are going well. Friends are never as close as blood.

Power abhors a vacuum, need demands complement. Cocru and Faça draw their strength from solid land; Deep miners of Rima wield fire in either hand. With ships, Amu, Haan, and Gan rule the watery element, But he who masters air, the empty realm, Seizes the vantage point, holds the world’s helm.

“The book grows as you grow,” the old man said. “The more you learn, the more there is to learn. It is an aid to your mind, an extension of your capacity for seeing order in chaos, for invention. You shall never exhaust its knowledge, for it is replenished by your curiosity, and when the time is right, it will show you what you already know, but daren’t yet think.”

A man who willingly acknowledges his own weakness is strong in his own way.

he plucked a dandelion from behind her ear and held it up for everyone to see. “Lord Garu, you compare yourself to a weed?” Cogo Yelu frowned. “Not just any weed, Cogzy. A dandelion is a strong but misunderstood flower.” Remembering his courtship with Jia, Kuni felt his eyes grow warm. “It cannot be defeated: Just when a gardener thinks he has won and eradicated it from his lawn, a rain would bring the yellow florets right back. Yet it’s never arrogant: Its color and fragrance never overwhelm those of another. Immensely practical, its leaves are delicious and medicinal, while its roots loosen hard soils, so that it acts as a pioneer for other more delicate flowers. But best of all, it’s a flower that lives in the soil but dreams of the skies. When its seeds take to the wind, it will go farther and see more than any pampered rose, tulip, or marigold.”

The ninth day in the ninth month of the year: By the time I bloom, all others have died. Cold winds rise in Pan’s streets, wide and austere: A tempest of gold, an aureal tide. My glorious fragrance punctures the sky. Bright-yellow armor surrounds every eye. With disdainful pride, ten thousand swords spin To secure the grace of kings, to cleanse sin. A noble brotherhood, loyal and true. Who would fear winter when wearing this hue? “The King of Flowers,” Cogo Yelu said. Mata nodded.

A lord who knows how to wield men is ten times more fearsome than one who knows only how to wield a sword.”

“The gods may make one plain or pretty, stocky or thin, dull or clever, but it’s up to each of us to make a path for ourselves with the gifts we’re born with. A toad’s poison may take away the life of a tyrant and save a country, or it may become the murder weapon of a street gang. A peacock’s feather may end up adorning the helmet of a general, rallying the hearts of thousands, or it may end up in the hands of a servant fanning a foolish man who has inherited his wealth.”

“You seethe and simmer because you think your beauty traps you, but if you’re truly as strong and brave and intelligent as you think you are, you’ll understand how dangerous and powerful your beauty can be, if you wield it properly.”

“A seducer is one who wins through deception rather than force, a harlot is one who wields sex like a sorcerer wields a staff, and a ‘mere bauble’ may yet decide to put herself on display to guide the hearts and minds of thousands into an unstoppable force.

I am the eagle who must carry a mouse. I am the wolf who must obey a vole. But one day I will assume my rightful place, And then the foolish child will beg me for his life. “You remember the deer, Rénga?” Pira whispered to the frightened and furious Emperor Erishi. “I hope you have finally learned what you needed to know.”

The young often want that which the old detest and fear. The yearning for the new, for something different glimpsed but faintly through legends and shadows, cannot be taken from them—not unless you freeze their hearts and imprison their minds. Yet, you say you wish Tan Adü to remain free.”

“If the freedom and way of life that you so treasure are worthy of your love, then you will win the hearts of your young far more easily than the visitors of Dara can. But the young must be allowed to make their own choices, to live their own lives as grand experiments. They must choose to become you. That is the only hope for Tan Adü.”

From this point forward, only three criminal laws would be enforced in Duke Garu’s Pan: first, a murderer would be executed; second, one who physically injured another had to pay compensation; third, thieves must return their loot and pay a penalty.

“Lord Garu, now you see how Rin’s suggestion has worked out,” Cogo said. “Not only did the period of looting give us the loyalty of the surrendered Imperial soldiers, but it turned the people of Pan permanently against them. Even if those men were to plot a mutiny now they would have no support among the populace. The former Imperial soldiers, knowing that the people of Pan hate them, have no choice but to support and defend you. You have trapped them into throwing in their lot with you without them being any the wiser. “And by ruling Pan now with a gentle hand, you are like the spring breeze after a winter of frost, a stream of fresh water after a wild fire. Had you been gentle with them from the start, the people would have treated your compassion as weakness. But now that they have suffered for ten days, they appreciate your kindness ten times more.”

Some believe that the world is a fate-shaken sieve where men and women are sorted out by their innate qualities; others believe that we carve out our own destinies by luck and skill. Yet, either way, those in high places have a duty to do more because they’re more powerful. If you value safety so much, you should never have said yes the day Kuni asked you to yoke your fate to his.

“A marriage is a carriage with two sets of reins, and you must not let him do all the driving. Accept that you’re a political wife, and perhaps you will not feel so helpless.”

Kuni was the sort of man, Risana realized, who, rather than deceive himself, was so full of self-doubt that he could no longer see himself.

Now that I have seen the larger world, I wish to change it, as does Mata. But while he wishes to restore the world to a state that never was, I wish to bring it to a state that has not yet been seen.

I may not be much of a fighter, but I have always tried to do the best for those who have followed me, who have been put in my charge, who are dependent on me. I have seen the poor suffer when nobles seek the purity of ideals. I have seen the powerless die when princes believe in the nostalgia of their dreams. I have seen the common people torn from peace and thrown into war when kings yearn to test the clarity of their vision.

“A man who can kill several people with a sword is merely a living weapon. A great warrior can kill thousands of men with just his mind.”

“Soldiers of Dasu.” Gin Mazoti raised her voice to be heard above the rising murmurs. “The world will be as confused as you when they see me. And in their confusion, we will strike them down.”

“The history books are full of examples of young commanders establishing their authority with the common soldier through terror and discipline. They would put the troops through some silly exercise and then flog or behead those judged insolent. Yet, because I’m a woman, if I were to do this I would be called a petty castrating harpy, a shrew in need of a man’s firm hand. Instead of respect I would only create resentment. Such is the way of the world. “So, I will need your ideas and help, gentlemen, on earning the hearts of our soldiers.”

The new marshal told her officers that their job was not only to carry out the orders of the chain of command, but to improvise on the basis of changing battlefield conditions. Every officer, Mazoti explained, from herself all the way down to a lowly corporal leading a squad, needed to think of themselves as the head of a living organism fighting for survival, and every advantage must exploited. If that involved unorthodox tactics that broke written or unwritten laws of war, so be it. “In war, our only goal is to win.”

She wasn’t just teaching the officers and foot soldiers; she was also teaching them how to teach. The Dasu army was going to have to grow a lot if the snake was going to swallow an elephant, and she needed to instill values and practices that would scale.

“You’re not concerned about their less-than-perfect bodies?” he probed. “We all have experiences that shape us,” Mazoti replied, and would say no more.

She worked with the craftsmen and inventors Cogo had recruited to Dasu to create new harnesses and mechanical devices that could replace some of the functionality of lost body parts. The tension in mechanical hands made of bamboo wrapped in cloth could be adjusted with ox sinew until the owners could wield spears effectively, and soldiers who lost a leg could recover some field mobility with spring-loaded peg legs that adjusted to the terrain automatically. These devices were expensive and had to be custom-made for each, but Mazoti considered it money well spent to extend the careers of battle-hardened veterans. In return, the veterans admired the marshal and pledged their lives to the cause of Dasu.

“Even a brilliant mind sometimes needs a dull stone to sharpen itself.”

Memories of the death and suffering caused by wars do not last beyond three generations, and people would remember Emperor Mapidéré fondly, as a visionary, a lawgiver who gave us peace.”

“I cannot say that I’m a good man, only that I’m a man who tried to do good. I like to believe that the people will remember me fondly, but I also know that the legacies of men cannot be foreseen during their lifetimes. I do not know if I’m the man who will complete the task you dream of, for that is a question that must be asked of our descendants in a thousand years.”