How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Cam kicked at the ground with the toe of his boot. "I've done nothing. Nothing. Since I did come home."
"You fought; you've done enough."
"Enough for who? For what? To rot the rest of my days?" (1.45-47)
Right away we get the sense that Cam's duty to fight in the war has overtaken his life—no one wants him to lift a finger once he's home, and it's driving him crazy. He wants to get back to normal, but most people feel it's their duty to take care of him now.
Quote #2
"We say he died brave and fighting," said Bailey.
It made no sense to Cam. "For why?" If they died of fever, why was there shame in that? (7.83)
It seems like there is shame in dying in war of anything other than a battle wound—at least to the soldiers—which Cam doesn't really understand. Do you think it matters what a soldier dies of? Is it more heroic to be killed in combat, or to die of a fever? What about just risking your life to go to war in the first place?
Quote #3
"All my life, all I do, is an obligation." (10.111)
Gyaar says this to his mom when she urges him to get married, and we can't help but feel for the guy. But when he's practically royalty, his life really is a series of obligations and tasks for the country.
Quote #4
"In this, in this one thing, I would not be driven by obligation, but rather to have a…" Choice. Gyaar did not say it, knew that he could not. "In this one thing, of all of them, you must be driven by obligation." (10.115)
Gyaar's mom doesn't back down when he puts up a fight. Whether her son gets married and has kids isn't a matter of her wanting little grandkids; it's about securing the future heirs for the country.
Quote #5
"Free," the Lord would say. "Make yourself free." In his mind, Cam saw the mailed arm making a slow sweep of the air: "Free of the palace, the grounds, the village." Free of the North and the South. Free. (11.1)
Cam doesn't just want to be free from Gyaar or Upland—he wants to be free of obligations. He's fought long and hard in a war that only did harm to everyone around, and now he just wants to escape it all.
Quote #6
Faint color washed into the garden, with the dawn. It was like the census: The more time Gyaar spent here in the garden, the more he grew into it, and it grew into him. He thought of the new laid over the old, lawn and trees over the gray gravel that had been here before. Uplander over Downlander. (12.71)
As Gyaar tries to calm himself each day, he thinks about what the war means for his side (a.k.a. the winners). We might expect it to be glamorous, but in reality, it just gives him a laundry list of things to do: get married, provide heirs, rule the nation. Easy enough, right?
Quote #7
He looked across at Father's empty seat, knowing what Father would do, and knowing as surely that he, Gyaar, would turn from it: Father would choose no sides, he would strike at all who had been caught up in the conflict— innocent and guilty alike— and crush them, merciless, brutal. (12.102)
Gyaar doesn't want to be his father—ruthless, brutal, selfish—but as he starts to rule, he begins to realize that not all his decisions are easy ones. The truth is that he's forced to make choices that sometimes have a negative impact on people.
Quote #8
Cam was a voice, a deeper darkness in the dark night, that was all. "Here is another: You looked at me and it was like looking into a mirror, in time to come." (12.204)
And with that, Cam and Gyaar have a deep bond with one another. Only they seem to understand how the other felt in that moment, and it gives them both a sense of responsibility to one another.
Quote #9
"Ah, Graceful," he said. "Ah, Graceful. You will one day understand." (13.140)
It's a tough pill for Graceful to swallow, but eventually she sees her dad is right—her marriage does bring a kind of stability to the country that it needs. This means her life becomes more about duty than desire. Is it worth the trade off?
Quote #10
"You take Dorn-Lannet, and now me, and do you ask? No."
"We must do our duty— Ai!" Cam whirled about. Graceful had flung the contents of her cup over Gyaar, who clasped his hands to his face, tea dripping onto his collar. Graceful set the cup down. "Duty!" (15.116)
Graceful stands up for herself to Gyaar when he wants to take her to his bedchamber (wink, wink). Still, we can't help but wonder if Gyaar is right given the purpose of their marriage—it's not about love or companionship; it's all about the duty to the nation.