We may not have demon fathers dangling offers of infernal power before us, but everyone understands what it means to struggle with temptation or resist the urge to give in to our baser natures.

But slight mistakes accumulate, and grow to gross errors if unchecked.

And Kushiel sends no punishment that we are not fit to bear.

There are patterns which emerge in one's life, circling and returning anew, an endless variation of a theme

I preferred a hard truth to a well-meant lie.

Nothing spoils idle pleasure like too much awareness

For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always. These events, so distant in legend, play a part in shaping the very events we witness about us, each and every day.