The Mirror Empire

People do not take actions based on logic. We make choices based on emotion. Every one of us. Then we use what we call logic to justify our choices.

Just keep in mind," Liaro said, "they're not going to remember the words. They'll remember how you made them feel. Make them feel something.

She is equal parts manic brutality and strategic fuckery.

There are some stories that don’t want telling,” Gian said. “Some stories you tell, they make things worse. Not better.

We have one shot at this,” Zezili said, “so don’t fuck it up.” Looking at the filthy, scar-faced girl next to her, Zezili suspected all the girl ever did was fuck up.

When we were too frightened to save our own people, we murdered others.

And some of us believe in freedom of the individual over the tyranny of the common good.

We aren’t going to win,” Roh said. “No,” Luna said, “but we’re going to live.

Because you may find yourself in a very bad position, Rohinmey,” Dasai said. “If things go wrong, I do not want you to fight. I want you to live.

He wore a white girdle that pulled in his waist just above the hips. He was, of necessity, slender. She believed men should take up as little space as possible. He wore his black hair long over his shoulders, tied once with a white ribbon. The men allowed to live were, of course, beautiful, far more beautiful than any of the women Zezili knew. Anavha was clean-shaven, as she wanted him, lightly powdered in gold, his eyes lined in kohl, eyes a stormy grey, set a bit too wide in a broad face whose jaw she has initially found almost vulgar in its squareness. He stood a hand shorter than she; she easily outweighed him by fifty pounds. She liked him just this way.

We all want a good many things, child, but it doesn’t mean we get them,

Most days, though, she was just Taigan – all sexes and none. It amused her to play with the language of self.

She had a lined, weathered face that put Roh in mind of the creased leather spines of old books.

When Lilia was four years old, her mother filled a shallow dish with Lilia's blood and fed it to the boars that patrolled the thorn fence.

That was a very formidable woman," Caisa said. "I seem to know a good many of those." "And you have a terrible habit of angering them," she said.

Living is the purpose, Roh. For however long we have to do it, we live. That's all. That's all the ever was." "We aren't going to win," Roh said. "No," Luna said, "but we're going to live.

Her body sometimes amazed her. She could keep going long after she couldn’t.

Becoming a thing, isn’t it? Killing ourselves.

How’s your leg?” Gian asked. She crushed a handful of scorch pods together and lay flat on her belly in front of their flickering light to kindle a fire. “Fine,” Lilia said. In truth, the pain had become constant. She rested when she could but considered it a point of pride to keep up with Gian. “Really?” “No. But when people ask, they don’t really want an answer. They want reassurance that it’s all right not to care.

Go eat your sister,” she said.

You can’t just grab a person." “Those with strength rule over those without.