I can see that one can never pay back Gilsa for the fear that she will give again.

They laughed much harder than the memory was funny because it felt good to laugh.

Yes, we'll yell, 'Help, help us, goose girl, and bring the terrifying legion of warrior geese'.

...'Goose girl, may I kiss you?' She answered by... kissing him first.

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

But in a country where you hang your dead up on walls and pride whether or not a man bears a javelin more than his character, how am I to persuade you out of a war? It would be suicide for Kildenree to war on Bayern and butchery for Bayern to attack Kildenree. If you don't believe me, then send me back. Or if you don't trust me to leave, I'll return to my little room on the west wall and tend your geese, and you can be sure that on my watch no thieves will touch my flock.

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