" I was reminded ... the way that wood crumbles into dissolution.’
‘The release of energy. Perhaps a better way of seeing it.’
‘Such release is ever fatal.’
‘Among plants, yes,’ said Caladan Brood.
Among plants ... ‘I think of the breath we give them — our gift.’
‘And the breath they give back,’ said the warlord, ‘that burns if touched. I am fortunate, I think,’ he continued, ‘that I have no appreciation for irony. "

― Steven Erikson , Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #8)