Destiny or gods or fortune—whatever one is pleased or innocent enough to call them—they seal men to their decree. - Tanith Lee

Westward and inland there was a form of government, some prince or other sitting on his backside ordering this or that.

Sometimes the communications between these two partners are so complex, and have so many permutations, that I can't follow them. Their relationship seems to be a little like chess, but without the rules.

This was the custom of the tribes, and perhaps, in the fogs of their pasts, the scheme had had its reasons. Yet like many of their ways, only the peel remained, the fruit was long gone.