With age comes wisdom. Or at least experience. - Jay Lake

I know he is important Meat because he is dressed like a fool and doing no work.

But if you really want to feel the stress of divine regard, spend time in an oncology unit. The half-hidden whispers and the strained smiles and the whirring click of the infusion pumps form a choir of pain every bit as agonized as the howls of the damned in some imagined hell.

No, Horn replied. I am a seeker of wisdom. The old man squinted, taking in Horn's scars, motley head of fire-scarred hair, and ropy muscles. Looks like you haven't found it yet, or you'd have learned to stay out of trouble.