Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander stolid: calm and showing little emotion minstrel man: an entertainer who performs songs, dances, and snappy patter with others, who are similarly made up phoenix: a mythological bird that destroys itself in a fire and is born again from the ashes; a symbol of immortality subconscious: concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware, but which influences one’s actions refracted: deflected a ray of light that entered water, air, or glass at an angle marionette: a puppet worked by strings mausoleum: building used to house a tomb or tombs stratum: a layer of rock melancholy: sadness, depression of the spirits; gloom conjure: to call to the mind (as if by magic) proboscis: an elongated sucking organ of an insect; a nose olfactory: relating to the sense of smell multi-faceted: of an eye: having a number of lens-like visual units ballistics: the study of the flight characteristics of projectiles trajectory: the path of an object moving under the action of given forces shin: to climb quickly up or down by gripping with one’s arms and legs proclivities: habitual tendencies to do something usually discreditable; inclinations or predispositions odious: extremely unpleasant; repulsive condemnation: severe reproof; strong censure heresy: belief or opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted ravenous: extremely hungry stagnant: of water or air: motionless and often having an unpleasant smell centrifuge: a machine with a rapidly rotating container used chiefly to separate liquids from solids cacophony: a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds feigning: pretending to be affected by a feeling, injury, or state of mind sauterne: a delicate, sweet white wine nomadic: leading the life of a wanderer dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source exploitation: the utilization of another person for selfish purposes quibble: to argue about a trivial matter noncombustible: incapable of igniting or burning bestial: savagely cruel and wicked torrent: a strong and fast-moving stream of water or other liquid