I am the blood of the dragon. Do not presume to teach me lessons.

Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.

Was there ever a war where only one side bled?

Woman?” She chuckled. “Is that meant to insult me? I would return the slap, if I took you for a man.” Dany met his stare. “I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, khaleesi to Drogo’s riders, and queen of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

She had never loved him so much as she did in that instant.

Anger was better than tears, better than grief, better than guilt.

Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak.