He remembers when he was very small his mother once said she wished happiness and adventure for him. If this does not count as adventure, he is not sure what does.

Only the ship is made of books, its sails thousands of overlapping pages, and the sea it floats upon is dark black ink.

We are two different people, Ethan. Just because you could never decide which one of us you were in love with does not make us interchangeable.

I didn't know your identity, but I had an impression of who my opponent was, being surrounded by things you made.

I suppose there will never be a lack of things to say, of stories to be told and shared.

Our instructors do not understand how it is. To be bound to someone in such a way. They are too old, too out of touch with their emotions. They no longer remember what it is to live and breathe within the world. They think it simple to pit any two people against each other. It is never simple. The other person becomes how you define your life, how you define yourself. They become as necessary as breathing. Then they expect the victor to continue on without that. It would be like pulling the Murray twins apart and expecting them to be the same. They would be whole but not complete.

The past stays on you the way powdered sugar stays on your fingers. Some people can get rid of it but it’s still there, the events and things that pushed you to where you are now.