Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive, #3.5)

by Brandon Sanderson

Way Yalb saw it, if a fellow was naive enough to get pranked, then he’d lose all his spheres eventually. Why not lose them to mates?

No feeling sorry for yourself, she thought forcefully. You filled your quota on that months ago.

but I didn’t let him finish, because he was going to grumble,

Lol of course he would he's Kaladin

“Pick me!” “I literally just did.” “I know. That was for old time’s sake.”

Rysn had been warned never to mistake Thaylen naval traditions for Thaylen naval regulations. Regulations, after all, were written down—which made them far, far easier to change.

“You all strange,” she admitted. Each word was hesitant, but her Alethi was progressing well. “So long as I’m the strangest,” Lopen said. “It’s, sure, one of my more endearing traits.” “You are . . . very strange.”

Something was floating in the water nearby. Something large. And something that was very, very dead.

“Words are like foods,” Lopen said, settling down on the rocks nearby. “You’ve gotta taste them all. And foods change over time, you know. How they taste. What they mean.”

“I have Alethi friends. The Alethi queen seems worthy. But they know that strong countries take from weak ones. They will say this thing is for everyone’s good. They will say they’re protecting us. But they will move to where we are. They will live in our cities. For everyone’s good.”

Love how accurate this is right now...

“And thus, my great fortune evaporates like a man’s beauty upon the weathering shores of time. Like how that one time I, sure, almost had a chasmfiend pet that would—”

For a moment, the look of it was nauseating—the figure’s stomach pulsed with the creatures moving within. Lumps twitched on the arms. The skin of the legs split as if sliced open, revealing the insectile horrors within. Then it all seemed to tighten and settle down, and appeared human. A near-perfect likeness,

Rua wagged a crustacean finger at him. An annoyed gesture that conveyed, “You know you have to earn that.” “I will protect even those I hate,” Lopen said. “See? I can say it.” He dodged again. “It’s easy.” Rua-monster wagged another limb. “But I don’t hate anyone!” Lopen complained. “And nobody hates me. I’m The Lopen. How could they? These rules, sure, aren’t fair!” Rua-monster shrugged.

“What have you done?” Nikli bellowed. It was unnerving to watch him speak with his head split in two, one of his eyes crawling across the side of his face. “What have you done?”

“I don’t hate you, Lopen,” Huio said. “Who could hate you? It would take a special kind of bitter soul.” “That statement, like the Lopen himself, sounds like it comes with a quite spectacular butt attached.”