Mikeru was still puzzling over Horace's last remark. He frowned. 'Kurokuma, these shenanigans... What are they?' 'Shenanigans are what Rangers do. They usually involve doing things that risk breaking your neck or your leg.' Mikeru nodded, filing the word away. 'I will remember this word,' he said. 'Shenanigans. It is a good word.'

Failure is just a few seconds away from success.

What do you mean, Araluen? Death?" Halt made a careless gesture. "The usual, I suppose: the sudden cessation of life. The end of it all. Departure for a happier place. Or oblivion, depending upon your personal beliefs.

Who are you, gaijin? What do you know about honor?' 'I'm called Chocho,' Will said... 'Chocho?' Arisaka shouted, goaded beyond control. 'Butterfly? Then die, Butterfly!

He'd just have to lie there and die, watched over by strange stars who didn't know him, didn't care for him. It was very sad, really.

An ordinary archer practices until he gets it right. A ranger practices until he never gets it wrong.

I wonder," she said. "Does this castle have a moat?" A group of servants were busy emptying the privy buckets into the moat when they were startled by a sudden drawn-out cry. They looked up in time see a scarlet-and-gold clad figure sail out of a first-story window, turn over once and then land with an enormus splash in the dark, rancid waters. They shrugged and went back to work.