The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty, #2)

by Ken Liu

“It isn’t the achievement of victory that makes a leader noble, but the willingness to fight for what is right in her heart even when defeat is certain. Fithowéo is the god of not just victors, but also those who fall for a just cause. Insist on seeing, even when all around you is darkness. “All the Ano sages wrote about the unpredictability of life, and they agreed that there is nothing free of doubt in this life except the fact that we will all die. But death can come in many forms: Some are heavier than Mount Fithowéo, and some are more inconsequential than a feather in the wind. It is not your place to deny the right of each man and woman to choose how they wish to achieve that death.” “If even the gods of Dara have not shown any signs that they favor our cause, how can I know that this is the right path?” Gin asked. “I was not born with double-pupiled eyes, knowing that I was destined for greatness. I did not slaughter a great white python in the mountains and have rainbows point the way for my wife.” “There are no born heroes, and legends are just stories. Gin, you know that truth as well as I. But the world sometimes demands a man or a woman to step forward to embody the will of the many, and thus are legends and heroes born. True courage comes not from being certain and unafraid, but from doing what must be done even while being terrified and full of doubts.”