Storytelling was the most honored of all talents, for it benefited everyone.

Who are you and what have you done with my brother?

I was thinking, while I was running..." He paused. "About not hitting the trees, I hope.

I was like a lost moon―my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation―that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind, ignoring the laws of gravity.

Don't be self-conscious, if I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I'm not ashamed of it.

I kept pushing against the black, though, almost a reflex. I wasn't trying to lift it. I was just resisting. Not allowing it to crush me completely. I wasn't Atlas, and the black felt as heavy as a planet; I couldn't shoulder it. All I could do was not be entirely obliterated.

Only you could be more important than what I wanted...what I needed. What I want and what I need is to be with you, and I know I'll never be strong enough to leave again.