You are attempting to be logical, I suspect, and logic has little to do with government, and nothing at all to do with military administration.

He looked at her rather as a man looks at a problem that he would very much prefer to do without. She supposed it was a distinction of a sort to be a harassment to a king.

...there remained a strange formality between them, and her pleasure in his presence felt too much like missing him had felt during the last week.

If you wish, I shall go personally to your City and knock together the heads of Perlith and Galooney.

The story is always better than your ability to write it. My belief about this is that if you ever get to the point that you think you've done a story justice, you're in the wrong business.

The insides of our own minds are the scariest things there are.

I advise those who want to become writers to study veterinary medicine, which is easier. You don't want to be a writer unless you have no choice - and if you have no choice, good luck to you.