"It's been a wasteland for seven hundred years. That puts a pall over a land. For the short time Samura flourished, it was quite a beautiful place, where a musician won far more fame than a warrior. For a time, it almost seemed like it could last."

White Chain shook her head ruefully. She may have slightly misunderstood what Maya meant by what Samura sounded like. "Sadly, violence is inescapable."