Tress of the Emerald Sea

by Brandon Sanderson

Empathy is an emotional loss leader. It pays for itself eventually.

And then, Tress took the singular step that separated her from people in most stories. The act, it might be said, that defined her as a hero. She did something so incredible, I can barely express its majesty. I should consider this more, Tress thought to herself, and not jump to conclusions.

If we let it, memory can make shadows of the now, as nothing can match the buttressed legends of our past.

It is a great irony that society tends to look down on those who sell their bodies, but not on those who lease out their minds.

No, my greatest nightmare is the one where I learn I’ve been repeating myself for years, telling the same tired jokes, the same stories—energetically wearing a path through people’s patience and fondness until even the weeds upon it are dead.

In the land where everyone screams, everyone is also slightly deaf.