Leonidas watched Pallas, a sharp light banked behind his eyes and held there. Pallas in this state was a fine chance to guide.
"We measure ourselves against ourselves. Quiet the heart, clear the soul, make the me of today more at ease than the me of yesterday. Watching the heart is like looking in a mirror—every day it shows back one of your own shortcomings, and we set them right a little at a time. Fall down, get up. Fail, then look hard at why. The road ahead isn't as cruel as you make it out—one step, one footprint is the simplest, most direct way that works."
To feel into yourself, to mirror your own heart—that was the root of grasping the demigod rule. Leonidas was in earnest; he'd already started steering Pallas down that road.
—
Far off, in open country.
Since leaving the Bastion Wall, Orion had kept Scamp by the tail the whole way, carrying him along upside down.
