Were the seeds of next things always there, in the circle of the year, and was that how the world worked its miracles? - C. J. Cherryh

Baiji was sweating. Visibly. And Ilisidi sat there with the smile of a guardian demon, staring straight at him, with Cenedi standing by her side.

...it struck at the root of intentions, not at the flower.

And both root and the flower were important to him, one having to do with what one meant to do... and the other, most fearsome, with the outcome of it.

Machigi had been practicing the old Momentum theory of leadership: start a war, keep everyone facing the enemy — and avoid discussing domestic problems for another decade.