Megan Whalen Turner

Mother why does the River not riseIt is not the River's timeWhy does the seed not sproutIt is not the seed's timeWhy does the rain not fallthe leaf not unfurl itselfWhere is the hind and why does she not graze the fields before usit is not their timeThe River knows its timeThe seed knows its time The rain the leaf and the hindThey know their timeThe River will rise the seed will sproutThe rains come down and the leaves unfurlThe hind will bring her children to graze before usAll in their time

I am a master of foolhardy plans.

Were you lying?""I never lie," he said piously. "About what?""The sand, the snake."For a young man who never lied, he seemed surprisingly unoffended by the question.

That was the message. For me, alone among mortals, the gods send their messenger to tell me to stop whining. That__l teach me to go hide in a temple.

I know that if you don't look for an alternative, Sophos, you certainly won't find one.

No man can choose to serve only himself when he has something to offer his state. No one can put his own wishes above the needs of so many.

Ambiades, I realized, was the kind of person who liked to put people in a hierarchy, and he wanted me to understand that I was at the bottom of his. He was supposed to treat me politely in spite of my subservient position, and I was supposed to be grateful.For my part, I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one. I might bow to the superior force of the magus and Pol, but I wasn't going to bow to him. Neither of us moved.

All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung.

He whines, he complains, he ducks out of the most obvious responsibility. He is vain, petty and maddening, but he doesn't ever quit.

Would you like to hear more romance of the evening? He told me that the Guard should be reduced by half, and I threw an ink jar at his head.""Is that when he cried?""He ducked," Attolia said dryly.Grown more confident of the queen's humor, Relius said, "I had not pictured you for a fishwife.""Lo, the transforming power of love.

He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.

Are you telling me in your own gentle way to stop whining?""Yes.""I don't feel like a hero. I feel like an idiot.""I think heroes generally do, but those men believe in you.""I did wait until I was outside before I threw up.