Thee will not appoint thyself my conscience, Nhi Vanye. Thee is not qualified. And thee is not entitled. - C. J. Cherryh

I will give you the hearts of your enemies.

It is of course, always an age of wonders. The true gift is remembering to look out the windows, and to let the thoughts run backward and forward and wide to the breadth and height of all that’s ever been and might yet be — Once upon a time, I tell you.

But once out of Tabini's immediate presence the spell was broken, the excitement ebbed, and adrenaline was shifting from second-to-second performance to the raw fear that he had a human situation on his hands and that he'd given atevi far too much information.