Time is what keeps things from happening all at once.

She liked the life she had. She loved habits. She craved a day with nothing in it, a long, quiet stretch of hours in the studio.

If you didn't have a choice, you had to make a choice. If you didn't have options, you made some. You couldn't just let this world happen to you... he didn't see eternity. He saw this girl and this moment and this one slim chance.

As the three of them walked home from the trees, nobody needed to say it, but Ama knew. They had questioned their friendship. They had searched and wondered, looking for a sign. And all along they'd had their trees. You couldn't wear them. You couldn't pass them around. They offered no fashion advantage. But they had roots. They lived.

How is it that a person could be so relieved and so disappointed, both at the same time.

The present no matter what I brought couldn’t change the past. The Past was set and sealed.

But certain souls cohere. It's rare but possible. But it takes two powerful wills to make it so.