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As Horn, he’d seen Fists duel for jade, pimps and drug dealers knife each other for the best street corners, dogs and vagrants fight over food. One thing he knew for certain was that stalemates and compromises always broke down. Lasting peace came from unequivocal victory.
A wry smile curved her lips. “I’ve been called unlucky my whole life. I’m not afraid of bad luck any more than a bird would be afraid of feathers.”
Lan looked at her compassionately. “We’re always alone with our own decisions.”
“You can make a rational, well-informed choice, and still be unprepared for what it means.
She wanted what she was told by others she couldn’t have, was willing to dramatically self-immolate rather than accept terms forced upon her.
“If this is supposed to be peace, I think I prefer war.”
Social progress, Kekonesestyle, Shae mused. Equal opportunity to die by the blade.
“My grandfather taught me that if a friend asks for your forgiveness, you should always give it.” Her guests relaxed considerably, their shoulders coming down, smiles beginning to appear on their faces. Shae added, before any of them could begin to speak, “He also taught me that if you have to give it again, then they weren’t a friend to begin with.”
“That damned island is like a beautiful woman with a barbed pussy—very tempting, but not to be fucked.”
the possibility of death was like the weather—you could make attempts to predict it, but you would likely be wrong, and no one would change their most important plans due to threat of rain.
He was not shocked; given that Wen was a stone-eye, he’d always known this was a possibility. He had hoped, of course, that it would not be true, but now that he knew for certain that it was, he found himself accepting the idea with some indefinable combination of disappointment, relief, and parental defensiveness.
Now, however, he felt no great relief or happiness—only the sort of heaviness that comes from wanting something for so long that the final achievement of it is a loss—because the waiting is over and the waiting has become too much a part of oneself to let go of easily.
