mercifulserpent

"I used to dream of slaying monsters," he went on. "And I
used to fear that the days of adventures were all past. I
longed for magic and mystery and fabulous beasts. But it
never occurred to me before: If my wish came true, and I
went out and killed all the dragons and griffons that there
were, I would be destroying the very thing I longed for.

"I don't say," he added, "that I would like things to be as
they were in the old days: monsters roaming around freely,
terrorizing people and carrying maidens and little children
off to be eaten. But it seems . . . it seems there ought to
be some sort of middle ground between utter chaos and a
world that is safe and colorless and dull, without even the
possibility of peril, or wonder, or surprises.

"I don't know," he said, "that I want to live in a world
without griffons."

The Work of the Sun
The Green Lion Trilogy
Teresa Edgerton