01c. 1976 ADI wonder if it's meant to be punishment for something one can't forgive oneself for. Or an external expression, Lady Queen, of an internal pain? Or perhaps it's a way to realise that you actually do want to stay alive.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
02c. 1976 ADBut she remembered having told Archer once that you could not measure love on a scale of degrees, and now she understood that it was the same with pain. Pain might escalate upward and, just when you thought you'd reached your limit, begin to spread sideways, and spill out, and touch other people, and mix with their pain. And grow larger, but somehow less oppressive. She had thought herself trapped in a place outside the ordinary feeling lives of people; she had not noticed how many people were trapped in that place with her.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
04c. 1976 ADIt seemed to Fire it was rarely enough one knew a person one wished to marry. How unjust then to meet that person, and be kept from it because one's bed was made of hay and not feathers.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
05c. 1976 ADFire looked into his quiet eyes, touched his dear familiar face and considered the question.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
07c. 1976 ADThe only way for you to keep your mind straight is to run from those who would confuse you.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
08c. 1976 ADHow absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people - girls, women - went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
09c. 1976 ADOf course, it was impossible, in this company, not to think about balances of power. Raffin and Bann glanced at each other now and then, sharing silent agreement, teasing each other, or just resting their eyes on each other, as if each man was a comfortable resting place for the other. Prince Raffin, heir to the Middluns throne; Bann, who had no title, no fortune. How she longed to ask them questions that were too nosy for asking, even by her standards. How did they balance money matters? How did they make decisions? How did Bann cope with the expectation that Raffin marry and produce heirs? If Randa knew the truth about his son, would Bann be in danger? Did Bann ever resent Raffin’s wealth and importance? What was the balance of power in their bed?Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
11c. 1976 ADShe understood now that while it had been wrong to kill Cansrel, it had also been right. The boy with the strange eyes had helped her to see the rightness of it. The boy who'd killed Archer. Some people had too much power and too much cruelty to live. Some people were too terrible, no matter if you loved them; no matter that you had to make yourself terrible too, in order to stop them. Some things just had to be done.I forgive myself, though Fire. Today, I forgive myself.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
12c. 1976 ADShe didn't know what would happen because of this. But she knew that today, she would hurt no one. She threw back her blankets and though only of today.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
13c. 1976 ADI want to have the heart and mind of a queen,” she whispered. “I want it more than anything. But I’m only pretending. I can’t find the feeling of it insideKristin Cashore / quote ↗
14c. 1976 ADHe leaned heavily on the desk now, as if danger had strengthened him before and its lack now made him weak.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
15c. 1976 ADI meditate, and when I do, Prince Harry appears in my subconscious and meditates with me. It's a little strange but I don't think there's anything I can do about it. Sometimes he's not the only one; the other day it was me, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Mr. Rogers, Coco the gorilla, and George Clooney. We were all floating above the earth looking down at the continents as they passed. George Clooney suggested I visit Providence, Rhode Island. The Dalai Lama sighed deeply and said he'd like to visit Tibet.Poor Dalai Lama.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
16c. 1976 ADYou do trust him, though, Giddon?""Holt, who is stealing your sculptures and is of questionable mental health?""Yes.""I trusted him five minutes ago. Now I'm at a bit of a loss.""Your opinion five minutes ago is good enough for me.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
17c. 1976 ADI don't know how it'll be between us Thiel. I don't know how we'll learn to trust each other again, and I know you're not well enough to help me with every matter I face. But I miss you and I'd like to try again.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
18c. 1976 ADIt was a haunting tune, unresigned, a cry of heartache for all in the world that fell apart. As ash rose black against the brilliant sky, Fire's fiddle cried out for the dead, and for the living who stay behind and say goodbye.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
19c. 1976 ADThere was no helping her tears. For they would leave Po behind… She cried into his shoulder like a child. Ashamed of herself, for it was only a parting, and Bitterblue had not wept like this even over a death. ‘Don’t be ashamed,' Po whispered. ‘Your sadness is dear to me. Don’t be frightened. I won’t die, Katsa. I won’t die, and we’ll meet again.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
20c. 1976 ADI'd thought once, actually, of taking your mind, if you asked. I'd thought I could help you fall asleep at night."He opened his mouth to say something. Shut it again. His face closed for a moment, his unreadable mask falling into place. He spoke softly. "But that wouldn't be fair; for after I slept you'd be left awake, with no one to help you sleep.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
21c. 1976 ADShe didn't want to go far, just out of the trees so she could see the stars. They always eased her loneliness. She thought of them as beautiful creatures, burning and cold; each solitary, and bleak, and silent like her.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
22c. 1976 ADThey seemed no closer to the tops of the peaks that rose before them. It was only by looking back, to the forest far below, that she knew they'd climbed.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
23c. 1976 ADA monster that refused, sometimes, to behave like a monster. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
24c. 1976 ADDo you understand? I don't want you to do a thing if you don't understand it.Kristin Cashore / quote ↗
