This is for you. A mage named Randal told me to give it to the Band if you ever came back. 'It surmounts evil,' he told me, 'keeps doom at bay.'

And as for death - we get what we expect.

Your honor blinds you, Tempus, to what's right and wrong these days.

Go carefully, child of mat, where no mercy can be had, and let your faith lead you on.

"Godling? Demigod?" Lysis nearly howled. "You'd be beaten black and blue in Thebes, and staked out overnight for claims like that. In Sparta, the secret police would ambush you, violate you, skin you alive and use your skull for a drinking cup."

What is needed is never to be had without price.

Men make their own fates - it's personal, not a matter for debate.