This was how mortals found fame, I thought. Through practice and diligence, tending their skills like gardens until they glowed beneath the sun.

“I did turn his men to pigs.” He did not smile. He was like an arrow shooting to the end of its arc.

He was not a pious man, but the seeking out of things hidden, this was his highest worship.

Whatever you do, I wanted to say, do not be too happy. It will bring down fire on your head.

A Room of One’s Own,

It is strange now, to remember how I worried that.

I did not know if I was kind, I felt I did not know anything. He spoke carefully, almost tentatively, yet his treason had been so brazen. My mind struggled with the contradiction. Bold action and bold manner are not the

But perhaps no parent can truly see their child. When we look we see only the mirror of our own faults.

Give him to me, I said. I held him up before me and looked into his screaming face. ‘Sweet son,’ I said, ‘you are right, this world is a wild and terrible place, and worth shouting at. But you are safe now, and all of us need to sleep. Will you let us have a little peace?’ And he calmed. Just went quiet in my hands.