But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you've traveled with them through every page?

She's as fetching as brown hair done up with ribbons blue The mountain, my lady She's as sweet as pink flowers made bright with morning dew, Mount Eskel, my lady

You've been quiet lately...but it's not so much the quiet as something inside the quiet.

The woman gestured to a seat and put on a patient face. An impatient sort of patient face, like an impatient face dressing up as a patient one for Halloween.

... If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it.

This morning, Tegus welcomed me again with an arm clasp and cheek touch. I wasn't startled this time, and I breathed in at his neck. How can I describe the scent of his skin? He smells something like cinnamon-- brown and dry and sweet and warm. Ancestors, is it wrong for me to imagine laying my head on his chest and closing my eyes and breathing in his smell?

... and with my last thought I felt some real sympathy for those poor chickens.