“I have a sense that we have not yet arrived, that we are still reaching. For each other. For who we are meant to be.”

“For we are all walking each other to our deaths, and the journey between footsteps makes up our lives(Cassia 'Reached')”

“But I feel separated now, as though a clear thin wall rises up distinctly between myself and those staring at me. We can see each other, but we can't cross over.”

“If I can't pull myself together soon he'll know somethings wrong. We know each other too well.”

“But I also know we can’t plan on anyone else rescuing us. We have to do it ourselves.”

“Neither of us moves for a moment, locked instead in each other's eyes and in the branches of this Hill we might never finish climbing.”

“One night," Ky says, "doesn't seem like much to ask." I don't speak. He moves closer and I feel his cheek against mine and breathe in the scent of sage and pine, of old dust and fresh water and of him. "For one night, can we just think of each other? Not the Society or the Rising or even our families?" "No," I say. "No what?" He tangles one of his hands in my hair, the other draws me closer still. "No, I don't think we can," I say. "And no, it isn't too much to ask.”