"They refused the gift of my lord, the god Satoris. He offered them the quickening of the flesh that would have led to reproduction." Boiled down to its essence, it was lust and sex that he had offered them, but Ushahin would never use such crass terms to describe the gift that had been his master's.

"Their god Haomane didn't want them to have it, for he was a jealous god, and wanted his creations to be above all others that the gods had created. But without it, they reproduce hardly at all, and so they fade away more and more as the years go by. When they disappear altogether, I shall be very well satisfied." Maybe then the bitterness in Ushahin's heart towards that half of his heritage will finally disappear, though he doubts it. They had made of him a monster and a monster he would remain.