"Father, do you honestly think I'd wear these confounded rags if I didn't think this tip could bless us with unfathomable wealth? I've seen how you and Mother have struggled, forgoing your own happiness to bolster mine."

"I would like to barter this for those robes, please." [Proud that she was able to gather the requisite item]

[Narration test] Today was my first refusal. The citizen in question tried to argue with me that the new thirty-percent requisite tithing was too much. It used to be ten percent, he said, as far back as he could remember. I gently explained that it was still ten percent—the first ten percent going toward defense and war management, the second ten percent going to social services and infrastructure, and the final ten percent going to Orzhova to compensate Kaya and the Oligarchs for their valuable time, but he didn't want to hear that. I presented him with the opportunity to make up the other twenty percent in debt promises if he needed to, but then he started cursing the guild, saying that our guildmaster had better get her greedy hands out of his pockets before he did something about it.

I could overlook his agitation and swearing, but I couldn't ignore a blatant threat against Kaya. As I moved to subdue him, his eyes twitched like those of a rabid bat. He charged me, his bare hands beating against my gold-plated armor until the metal turned red with his blood. I dealt him a forearm to the temple and then used my staff to sweep his feet from underneath him. He fell back and hit the dirt, his breathing heavy and hard. He locked eyes with me, like the punishment that was about to befall him was all my fault.