Des

“He exhaled. For a moment, Grace thought he might get angry, but he took the question seriously. That was a thing that she was noticing, that he took all her questions seriously and considered them, and felt they were worthy of an answer. She wasn’t used to that.”
― T. Kingfisher, Paladin's Grace

“That all their kindness was because she was a nun in distress, not because she was worthy in her own right. Stranger yet, she cared. It is easier to travel together in hard country. That’s all. That must be all. And I was lonely because I felt so alone and helpless without my sisters, even in Bastian’s house. It is only hope and camaraderie that makes me feel less lonely with these people. That’s the only reason I am reluctant to part ways, and why I keep hoping something will happen to prove that I am useful.”
― T. Kingfisher, Paladin's Strength

“Knitting socks was not a particularly glamorous hobby, but it filled the same mental need as the sword—careful work that held his attention and hopefully did not allow his mind to wander too far afield. Plus at the end, you got socks out of it, and no one appreciated good socks like a soldier.”
― T. Kingfisher, Paladin's Grace

“There was a difference between want and need. You could not comprehend that difference easily, in the inked phrases of a definition; only when you were in the middle of need yourself, sinking to your knees in its alluvium, searching the horizon for a figure, any figure, to haul you out of the cloying sediment, did you understand what it meant to be without choice. Nobody merely wanted to be pulled free by a firm hand. Nobody merely wanted to be seen.”
― E.J. Beaton, The Councillor