1. Aerin recalls history lessons as dull and dry, but Astythet's History that she finds in the library includes the heart behind the facts and brings them to life.

How does this compare to the history you have studied? What conclusions can you draw about the way facts, in history or in anything else, might be presented?

2. Aerin spends almost three years experimenting with the recipe for kenet.

She learns herb-lore, braves the shopkeepers, makes meticulous measurements, and keeps careful records. If she were a transfer student to your school, how would her experience with kenetmaking be evaluated in her education?

3. Agsded looks like Aerin and his laugh is like hers. Its echoes "found the places in her own mind that she had never looked into, that by their existence had long frightened her; that she had hoped always to be able to ignore." The...