Only Ashes Remain

I think, more than anything, people like to feel superior to others.
Canadians like to feel that they’re better than Americans. Americans love to feel they’re better than the whole world.
And when people feel superior, it makes it harder for them to see the problems just beneath the surface. They don’t want to believe them, to face them, because if they did, can they really claim to be superior anymore?

Going home was the easy choice. And the easy choice was almost never the right one, in Nita’s experience. The easy choice was hiding, letting other people make decisions for her. Nita didn’t want that.

He shrugged. “If you ask the wrong questions to the wrong people, sometimes the answers get locked away and the keys thrown in the ocean. It’s a delicate art.”
She snorted. “You’re a kelpie. Since when has a key being thrown in an ocean been an impediment for you?”