"Romance? Your brains will go soft with that mush. You'll end up more fit for tending flower gardens than for running confidence games."
"Well," said Jean "I shall be sure to criticize your reading habits, Master Kosta [Locke], should I ever see your develop any."
"I have read quite a bit!"
"History and biography, mostly what Chains prescribed to you."
"What could possibly be wrong with those subjects?"
"As for history, we are living in its ruins. And as for biographies, we are living with the consequences of all the decisions ever made in them. I tend not to read them for pleasure. It's not unlike carefully scrutinizing the map when one has already reached the destination."
"But romances aren't real and surely never were. Doesn't that take away some of the savor?"
"What an interesting choice of words. 'Not real and never were.' Could there be any more appropriate literature for men of our profession? Why are you always so averse to fiction when we've made it our meal ticket?"
"I live in the real world," said Locke, "and my methods are of the real world. They are, just as you say, a profession. A practicality, not some romantic whim."
Jean set the book down before him and tapped its cover. "This is where we are headed Thorn—or at least you are. Look for us in history books and you'll find us in the margins. Look for us in legends and you might just find us celebrated."
– Red Seas Under Read Skies (2007), by Scott Lynch.
