Theory (The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming #1)

by Sienna Tristen

“Truth is picky about her friends,” the man continued, with a smile like he and Truth had discussed this over tea a couple years back. “She does not yield herself so easily. Can’t have everyone knowing how the whole of everything works, can you, that’s asking for trouble and it takes away the fun besides—so she sets up stumbling blocks, dresses up decoys, fashions false dichotomies galore, and even then, does she wait patient at the end of her obstacle course?” He swept the air clean with a dismissive flick of the hand. “Of course not. If you want to truly know anything, you are obliged to run the gauntlet and you must be prepared to come out the other end only to discover that Truth is not sitting pretty at the finish line as you presumed, she’s up and moved again, and there’s a whole

new cast of challenges lined up as punishment for your slowness or perhaps, if you’re unlucky, for your cleverness, your overconfidence.”

“It is the unexpected things that impact us the most.”

Change is reciprocal. Change is symbiotic. And change is work.

“Know this: the most interesting people are interested people. The ones who sink their teeth into everything. The ones who ask what no one else is mad enough to ask. The ones who know you need to drown in something before you can understand it.

“We are all bigger than ourselves. We all contain multitudes.

“When two great

shards of the planet scrape up against each other in a collision so forceful it squeezes the molten blood out of the earth, it behooves one to take notice.”

It’s a delightful paradox, that the more stable a kingdom is forced to be, the more likely it is to fall apart—if you’re aiming for longevity, you need to give the thing a little space to breathe.”