White was the most fashionable color among the nobility and the rich. Because, of course, white is so easily dirtied, and only the wealthy would do l… - Tanith Lee

Sickness, the serpent, is coming to bite you,
Death, the old dark man, is coming to carry you off,
Rest uneasy, you stinking carrion, on your gold beds.

A day out from the bay of Saardos, Drokler honored the brass Rorn god in the prow with a pound of incense.
The blank god mask stared back at them through the pall of sweet blue smoke....It gazed in myopic stillness out over the long shock of the waves, ignoring their words, their presence, their costly offering.

Well now," he said, "was I as good as you were when you were me?