"Education isn't everything that makes up a person," she insisted quietly, the silence around them acting like a silk cushion for her words. "Their values, their beliefs, their acts, that is what makes a person worthy of greatness. And you may have no college education, but Shadow, you are a man of greatness," she said, voice trembling slightly with the import of her words. "Because you act the part."

She eased back, nudging off her jeans very slowly to get herself down to the smallest item of clothing.