Small towns were terrible places to grow up with world-sized dreams—especially when those dreams were the only things you had left to hold onto. - Robert Asprin

Malcolm had forgotten how very young eighteen was, with its mixture of invincible assuredness, fragile emotions, and the desperate need to be taken seriously—even when caught in complete ignorance.

Oh. I was beginning to worry."
"You do that," Kit laughed. "I like it better when you're worried. Proves you're thinking."
She put out a pink tongue. "You're mean and horrible. Why does everybody else like you?"
Kit scratched his head. "Search me. Guess it's my good looks and charm.

It operates very much like the social structure of a nomadic tribe. Those in the brotherhood are fully human; those outside are not.