“And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.”

“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.”

“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”

“Chiron had said once that nations were the most foolish of mortal inventions. “No man is worth more than another, wherever he is from.” “But what if he is your friend?” Achilles had asked him, feet kicked up on the wall of the rose-quartz cave. “Or your brother? Should you treat him the same as a st...”