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.

“A lie uses true details to encircle an untrue essence,” he said, chin in hand. “Stories take fictional details to depict an essential truth.

Strength is built through strife, resistance, through coming into opposition with something and throwing everything you’ve got at it and, sometimes, through learning where you went wrong when you lose. We learn from losing; we change when we are challenged.”