Gratitude takes less energy than anger.

Would you please do me the honor of telling me WHAT THE BLAZES IS GOING ON?

In the saddle again, Fire mulled over the commander's trust, prodding it around, like a candy in her mouth, trying to decide whether she believed it.

It was a strange monster, for beneath its exterior it was frightened and sickened by its own violence. It chastised itself for its savagery. And sometimes it had no heart for violence and rebelled against it utterly.

He made her drunk, this man made her drunk; and every time his eyes flashed into hers she could not breathe.

Some people had too much power and too much cruelty to live. Some people were too horrible, no matter if you loved them; no matter that you had to make yourself terrible too, in order to stop them. Some things just had to be done. I forgive myself, thought Fire. Today, I forgive myself.

It's hard to wake from a nightmare when the nightmare is real.