My skill didn't lie in planning battles, only in fighting them.

Every army has a beginning, no matter how humble.

Here in the enclave, one didn't prosper by demonstrating too much independent thought.

My heart shifted a little in my chest; it seemed to swell and beat against my bones until I couldn't hear.

If so, I couldn't imagine how the opposite gender managed to get out of bed in the morning. They might be lovely to look at, but clear thinking wasn't their strong point.

But wishes were empty thoughts, cast down a dark hole. They didn't come true unless you worked for them. I'd learned that about the world, if nothing more.

I'll always want him. Until every sun goes dark in every sky, until I am nothing more than long-forgotten cosmic dust, I will want him. And even then I suspect my particles will long for his.