The Last Herald-Mage Quotes

“There is nothing ‘fine’ about warfare. There is nothing ‘glorious’ about battle. All that a war means to such as you and I is that people we know and love will die, probably senselessly; others will be crippled for life—and the fools who began it all will sit back in their high castles and plot a way to get back what they lost.”
― Mercedes Lackey, The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy

“in all the world, there are more creatures than just man that make lifetime matings. Among them, some of the noblest—wolves, swans, geese, the great raptors—all creatures man could do worse than emulate, in many, many ways. And with all of them, all, there are those pairings, from time to time, within the same gender. Not often, but not unheard of either.” Vanyel found himself unable to move, and unable to anticipate the direction this was taking. Now Moondance dropped his eyes to catch and hold Vanyel’s in a joining of glances and wills that was unbreakable. “There is in you a fear, a shame, placed there by your own doubts and the thoughts of one who knew no better. I tell you to think on this: the shay’a’chern pairing occurs in nature. How then, ‘unnatural’? Usual, no, and not desirable for the species, else it would die out for lack of offspring. But not unnatural. The beasts of the fields are innocent as man can never be, who has the knowledge of good and evil and the choice between, and they do not cast out of their ranks the shay’a’chern. There was between you and your shay’kreth’ashke much love—only love. There is no shame in loving.” Vanyel couldn’t breathe; he could only see those ice-blue eyes.”
― Mercedes Lackey, The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy