N.K.Jemisin

The world is not fair, and sometimes it makes no sense.

“My—oh, that one. Moving the way we do is hard for them, so they’ve got their own ways of getting about. Including ways I would never have guessed.”

pain is what shapes us

“So you’re a stone eater,” you say.

He nods, solemn.

You’ve only seen that kind of attitude, and this kind of comm-wide acceptance of it, once before.

“He said, if you wouldn’t come, to tell you that you owe him. For Corundum.”

You freeze.

“Alabaster,” you whisper.

“Yes,” says Hoa, brightening. “That’s his name.” And then he frowns more, thoughtfully this time. “He’s dying.”

what broke once will break again, more easily

lost in the hateful world with no one to rely on except a man whose love comes wrapped in pain.

Her heart breaks in this moment. Another small, quiet tragedy, amid so many others. But she speaks, because in the end she is her mother’s daughter, and if Essun has done nothing else, she has trained her little girl to survive.

“Hello, little one,” the man says as Nassun stares. “That’s quite the trick.”