Yanik

“A pair of minstrels stood beneath them on a ramshackle stage, puffing air into homemade woodwinds. There had been four of them once, but the war had taken two, including the singer. The two remaining had not learned enough about music to compensate the losses, and so they merely played the same parts they had always had, harmonies without melody, and the music wandered anxiously through the air like a lost child.”
― Eric Fenstermaker, The Reaping

“Poor kid. All of them, really. And the years stretch ahead, a march beneath a sun that never goes down.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Now it sprang up again, that little bright flame that had driven her to apply to the Academy in the first place. Danger ignited it - ignited her - the way nothing else could do.”
― Elizabeth Moon, Trading in Danger

“Well, then, dueling with me should be fun, because I like to use a little bit of everything. You can critique my form. That should be a nice change for you." Vernestra winked as she said it, and Reath found himself flushing.”
― Justina Ireland, Out of the Shadows