The Oldest Dance Quotes

“Kusha felt a tinge of pride, exponentially multiplied by her Low-Grade inferiority complex, reading this footnote. It worsened when ads started coming up on her HOME page after reading it. The ads had horrible titles:

Dream Youth For The Low Grades.
Alternate Longevity.
A Secret Pleasurable Way To Youth.
Get Your Dream Citizenship With Pleasing Pleasure Contract.

The last one is for non-citizens, of course. At least, she’s a citizen. But when Kusha discovered how many unevolved men and women enter such contracts just for citizenship, it made her face crease. As if she’d caught a nasty smell. For a moment, she even thought, she hated every High Grade in the world, including everyone in her adoptive family. Right now, standing in front of Meera, the hatred swells.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Maroc Metz—as usual in his tailcoat, rimless glasses, gloved hands, and neatly brushed black hair—welcomes the Mesmerizer with boiling-hot tea—Earl Grey, raspberry flavor. He drinks a third of it in one gulp, its heat boosting his prana. The boiling-hot tea doesn’t make him blink away from the Devil’s Book.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“If his first impression weren’t ninety percent pre-constructed by the entrance, he would think that it was a nice, comfortable place to live in.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“A herd of deer catches the Monk’s attention. They are running. He senses the fear in them. Soon, the largest cat in this forest takes one of them: it runs, grabs a neck, halts, and mauls; then it kills. A predator wins. Always.

The herd of deer accepts it. Mourning a while, they go back to grazing. Perhaps they even think, this time too, it wasn’t me. Not yet.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“It's a laughable lock—one that you would use only to guard a graveyard. Not that anyone would trouble themselves invading a timber hut in a mangrove forest farther away from the Bay of Bengal. Still, how can someone live with a lock like that? Made of ancient iron, reeking of rust. It would need a primordial key to be twisted and turned, going through several moments of mechanical trouble until the old lock opens. Good luck if you can do that without breaking the key.

Oh! The key … Well, the owner of the hut has left the key right beside the lock, including instructions. The Monk, Yuan Yagmur—revealing his muscled arms from under his wide, dark shawl—takes the note (the one with instructions):

Please, scan your CRAB first before touching the key. For your own safety.
From what, you ask? It’s a surprise.
Enter without scanning if you want to find out.
—Mee-Hae Ra

”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“She can’t find something that doesn’t exist, can she?
Is the book destroyed? (a) Yes (b) No. No.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Kusha freezes her muscles, straightening her spine and lifting her chin. Absolute attention, she tells herself.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Then why are you touching your face in the middle of the dance?” She doesn’t add sweetie at the end; her gaze nearly scratches along the definition of a glare.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“The Monk remembers what he has told the Mesmerizer. That he won’t step into the evil. That he won’t read the Devil’s Book.
And, he will never let that predator win. Never.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“He saw what that man has become in their recent meeting.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“It’s too dangerous for her to step into this. Is he making a mistake bringing her? What if that monster harms her?”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“My nightmares are out of control. The thoughts during my dreams,” Mee-Hae says, leaning against his chest.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“You need to control your thoughts, Ra.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“And much of her energy gets drained in cell-building, in self-healing.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Even though her strong prana heals it at the same rate, constant damage and regeneration is happening inside her.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Mee-Hae, like the perfect, gentle, and understanding woman from contemporary books of the Old World, lets the Monk avoid her crucial question, the question she should never have overlooked. The question even the Monk will regret not answering right now, right here, not only for her sake but also for his own.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“You’re still depending on healing pills?” he says in questioning tone.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“He never wants to answer it if he doesn’t need to. So, this time, he visibly avoids her question.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“I have to stop him,” the Monk says.
“Am I the bait?”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Just answer a question, Yuan. Did he put you onto this?”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Sometimes, I wonder if he is behind it, too. Or maybe I’m thinking too much.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“I know what war looks like, Yuan.” Mee-Hae gazes into the forest from the balcony. Her palm traces her lower belly where her womb should be, and her face creases as if she is in physical pain.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“The Monk frowns—almost, noticing how vaguely the Archeologist crafted her answer, for he said he’d believe it blindly.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“There are signs of war. The radioactive rain wasn’t natural. I believe they were annihilated.” Mee-Hae utters annihilated so carefully as if someone might hear, as if it’s a cautiously chosen word and not spoken as a part of a casual description.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Rewrites history, huh?” Mee-Hae gazes at him. The sparkles in her eyes are those of an archaeologist who is living in a forest near her latest discovered underwater civilization. “The last Ice Age was supposed to be twelve thousand years ago.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“A city? Seventy thousand years ago, you say?”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Evidence of radioactive rain destroying a city seventy thousand years ago,” Mee-Hae answers.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“I thought a Monk with no emotions would understand.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“You’re after secrets, aren’t you? Just like him,” Mee-Hae says.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance

“Now you’re interested. After three years? No wonder you even found me here!” says Mee-Hae. “I’m sure I was harder to find than the tea I’m holding.”
― Misba, The Oldest Dance