Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, #1)

by Jim Butcher

To call Aquitaine beautiful was to call the ocean wet, Fidelias thought. Accurate enough, in its way, but wholly insufficient to the task.

The course of a century of history can be set in a few short hours. A few precious days. Focal events, Fidelias — and those people who are a part of them become the ones to create tomorrow.