Ani felt a stirring, a hope, a winged thing waking up in her chest and brushing her heart with it's feathers.

I'm not hopeless, that's the problem. I'm too hopeful, if anything ... I'm so thick-headed it's taken me this long to give up on men, but I can't give up completely, you know? So I ... I channel all my hope into an idea, to someone who can't reject me because he isn't real!

No matter that we could be beheaded for this,” said Esa. “Heads are overrated.” “Yes, they are so unfashionable,” said Miri, imitating an Aslandian accent. “This spring, ladies of style are wearing their feathers in their necks.

There you go...let it all slide out. Unhappiness can't stick in a person's soul when it's slick with tears.

Throwing herself into learning helped Miri ignore the painful chill of solitude around her.

Here's the thing about home: you can create it most anywhere, as long as you gather your people around you.

Goodness knows she is too fierce for you Goodness knows she has eyes for a lord Goodness knows she yet will prove untrue Her cheek's blush is as false as her word