He had tried to conjecture why in hellspoke's name the law required him to come to this armpit of the universe. It was a very archaic law. The only modern justification that he had been able to come up with was that all this adversity was supposed to toughen his soul. To Tod's mind you did not make a soul tough by walking all over it: you just made dents.

A Sudden Wild Magic ~ Diana Wynne Jones