Akkarin: I watched the first woman I loved die. I dont think I can survive losing the second. Sonea: I love you too.

The first rule of world-building is available physics, which basically means that if you want it to feel real, it has to follow the same rules as this world, from gravity to how human behaviour works. If you have a fantasy element that doesnt obey the laws of physics, make sure that it has a fantasy explanation.

Unquestioning obedience is for slaves, the uneducated and the pathetic.

Extending his senses, Lorkin tried again to hear his mother’s surface thoughts. What he picked up seemed too out of character, however. He must be imagining it. Though…it was also odd that he would imagine his mother thinking such a string of curse words.

Better to know the quick pain of truth than the ongoing pain of a long-held false hope.

It is said, in Imardin, that the wind has a soul, and that it wails through the narrow streets because it is grieved by what it finds there.

I have always been fascinated by the supernatural elements in stories, whether fairy tales, myths, film or literature.