I FEEL SO STRONGLY ABOUT THE CHAMBER'S REACTION TO KEL OK

I FEEL SO STRONGLY ABOUT THE CHAMBER'S REACTION TO KEL OK

kel is the lump, a stone, the calm surface of a lake- but ONLY on the outside- ONLY to make dealing with people work better

the chamber hammers your weak spots trying to make you BREAK, but KEL, WENT TO THE CHAMBER, AGAIN AND AGAIN, she GREW AROUND it like a TREE

the day came when the chamber had it's chance- to strike her as HARD AS IT COULD

and

there was almost nothing left for it to even aim at

because kel had stuck HERSELF already, had BEEN hammering herself this whole time- had been TESTING herself every step of the way QUESTIONING HERSELF AND asking herself how she could be and do better next time

for the sake of those who need someone when no one sees them as people. for the sake of unwanted animals and overlooked humans- kel became her own ordeal

the chamber couldn't break Kel. SHE broke IT

so it had nothing to do, except make her an ordeal in the real world-

the nothing man, child killer, the promise she will stare evil in the face somewhere somehow, that tantalizing and USELESS knowledge burning her as she is given charge of convicts and refugees and not enough soldiers to defend them and her old desire to be like the Lioness, her inspiration, to go out there and STOP THIS SUFFERING FROM HAPPENNG HERSELF

the chamber jammed this thorn into her heart and THEN it chose to Watch Her out there

as she.... chose people. Again. chose care over glory. everyday duty over heroics. obscurity to wider world- but a friend to a small corner of the world that desperately needed someone to see them, fight for them, and not ever look away... or abandon them

the chamber saw that. it NAMED HER- didn't chose her- didn't make her- gave no gift other than pain to her

but it was glad, to have seen her

Protector. of the Small

gently burying dead sparrows and scoffing at such a silly name

I am far too academic to not find having my personal bookshelves arranged by color deeply upsetting, but I do have to give it aesthetic points, because rainbows are pretty.

To that end, I made a happy little rainbow stack of books! It made me smile, and I hope it makes you smile too.

you know what's making me insane? the thought that vimes used what VETINARI thought him to defuse the mob in night watch and vetinari learned it from watching him defuse that mob. like. that's insane. that's crazy to me. i dont even need to say anything, that's already poetic enough

my favorite three creatures from The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Totally forgot that Maia should be loaded down with earrings, d'oh

You Have My Attention: Provost's Dog Trilogy First Lines

Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite authors, she was formative for me in terms of her books, and honestly it's a CRIME she's not more well-known. She should be a tent pole on the order of Brando Sando or SJM. I'm sold on her books without first lines, but just for funsies, let's see how Pierce catches her readers with the Tortall trilogy that made me cry just...so much.

In all those lessons for which I was made to memorize chants and prayers I never used, couldn't our temple have taught one--just one!--lesson on what to do with a boy who is too smart for his own good? I am at my wit's end! My George was taken up for stealing and I had to go to the Jane Street Guard Station.

-- Terrier

I should have know tonight's watch would kiss the mule's bum when Sergeant Ahuda stopped me after baton training. "A private word, Cooper," she told me, and pulled me into a quiet corner of the yard. Her dark eyes were sharp on my face. We'd gotten on well since I'd finished my Puppy year and in my five months' work as a Dog. I couldn't think what I might have done to vex her.

-- Bloodhound

We buried Holborn today. The burying ground has no trees in it, no shade for us Lower City Dogs. Because most of us work in the dark, we want our bodies to lie in the sun. Stones decorate the graves, stones placed there for remembrance. Some graves are piled waist-high with them, signs that the Dogs who lie beneath were loved by family and guards both.

-- Mastiff

In tears because the sergeant in Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight writes poems for his wife Millie- who is self conscious about her freckles. "What Good Is a Sky Without Stars" indeed T.T Terry really knew how to write good men.