1
Did I never explain to you about love, Reva?' Pa asked. I gave him a look, and he laughed uncomfortably. 'I guess not. Let me put it in a way you'll understand. Love is like stinging nettles. Only they prick from the inside out, starting at your heart and bursting on around. It's worse when it gets here'--he rubbed the bridge of his nose--'then your vision goes a little strange. But eventually the nettles stop stinging--once she agrees to kiss you. But they start right back up again when she agrees to marry you--'' Pa, ' I interrupted, 'that's not love, that's fear.' Pa shook his head, looking off admiringly in the direction where Lacrimora had disappeared. 'Same thing, in my case. .Merrie Haskell
2
I understand that you don’t want to marry me, ” I said. “I mean, I don’t know why, since I’m simply delightful to be around. But to each his own taste.Merrie Haskell
3
The other good thing was that I had enough rank to strong-arm Marjit into confessing that she'd been the one who'd told everything to Pa about my first invisibility cap, which was how Pa knew to come steal it. Unfortunately, since my rank in the surface world hung off Pa's, I did NOT have enough rank to take him to task for stealing my cap. So I just put him to sleep during a fancy dinner, so that he went facedown into the sour soup. Just the once. It eased my ire terrifically.Merrie Haskell