The Constant Tower Quotes

“After a moment’s silence, Antun continued. “It is difficult, one’s first rape,” he said. “And for a studier.…Perhaps now…now that you’ve killed your friend…peace will rule between you and your father. Take the prize.” “Antun,” Psal answered, “peace may will rule but at the price of my conscience. Understand, I have no wish to bring about a revolution among the studiers. Nor do I care about gaining the respect of warriors. My aim is to become a chief and to gain my own longhouse.”
― Carole McDonnell, The Constant Tower

“Psal had not thought of all that. He would think of it all night. The loveliest woman from the defeated Peacock longhouse would be his. Yet he did not want her. In the middle of the night, as the longhouse keened to Poh’s region and one landscape blended into another, Psal lay on his wheeled bed wondering if he should rape in order to show his ability to compromise. All night, the Lesser Light flickered and Psal often found himself holding his breath.”
― Carole McDonnell, The Constant Tower