But the thought arrived inside her like a train: Marya Morevna, all in black, here and now, was a point at which all the women she had been metโthe Yaichkan and the Leningrader and the chyerti maiden; the girl who saw the birds, and the girl who never didโthe woman she was and the woman she might have been and the woman she would always be, forever intersecting and colliding, a thousand birds falling from a thousand oaks, over and over.
Catherynne M. ValenteItโs been me all along,โ said September slowly. โMe who gave up my shadow, me who went down into Fairyland-Below and Fairyland-Lower-Than-That to wake up the Prince. Me who shot the poor Minotaur. You oughtnโt just hand the whole business over the moment a Prince comes on the scene. Iโve got to see it through, donโt you see? The Hollow Queen is hollow because sheโs missing the part of her thatโs me. Weโve got to come together again. And he canโt do a thing about that.
Catherynne M. ValenteYou should always listen to minotaurs. Anybody with four stomachs has to have a firm grip on reality.
Catherynne M. Valente