“On a long journey to Glen-StoneIsailed into its shadethere before me she proudly shonemy decision was already made.A lass who bore the light of the townher fur of ivory threadhow she danced is stuck in my crownand back to this glen my boat led.Twenty some seasons have since passedsince her eyes and mine both metthrough lands unnamed and wildly vastmy blade slaying every threatWolf, hawk, fox, and snakecan't stand in my waymy body is weak and it may break,but not today.Living in blackness wrought with frightmy steel shattered facing the foesdusks and dawns darker than nightmy fallen companions in rowsLife spilled past me staining the groundmylimbs growing ever so coldabove villians let out a cackiling soundtelling me i'd never grow oldOne dance and one mouse played in my mindcalling me back from the doomthe courage to carry on i did findto raise me out of my tombWolf, hawk, fox, and snakecan't stand in my waymy body is weak and it may breakthough not todayBattered and bruised i stood to my pawsraised what little i ownedpredators growled caring not for my causeof the mouse that shone light off Glen-stoneWolf, hawk, fox, and snakecan't tand in my waymy body is weak and it may breakthough not today. -The Ballad Of The Ivory Lass”

“I was stuck back on “you can’t have two maids of honor” and therefore fighting back hyperventilation at the same time flashing pictures filled my head of a commando-style wedding; Hawk in black cargos, me in a white flak jacket festooned with lace. The picture of me carrying a bouquet of flowers and Hawk carrying an automatic weapon. The picture of me admiring Hawk’s huge-ass hunting knife. The picture of Hawk carrying me out of the reception in a fireman’s hold while bullets flew and flames caused by Molotov cocktails danced on the dance floor.”

“[Lev Beniov:] "The imminence of death did not frighten me as much as it should have. I had been too afraid for too long; I was too exhausted, too hungry, too feel anything with proper intensity. But if my fear had diminished, it was not because my courage had increased. My body was so weak, so spent, that my legs trembled from the effort of standing upright. I could summon no great concern for anything, including the fate of Lev Beniov.”

“They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience.”

“Here I am not the one to throw out. No one steals my warmth and shoes because I am small. No one handles my backside. No one whinnies like sheep or goat because I drop in fear and weakness. No one screams at the sight of me. No one watches my body for how it is unseemly. With you my body is pleasure is safe is belonging. I can never not have you have me.”

“My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love, but my mind holds the key.”

“My mother is no longer shouting or shaking me, but she is still holding me very tightly. Even though I didn't speak out loud, she heard me and understood. "Don't you know?" she asks me back. "Don't you know who you are?" Tears are sliding down her cheeks and falling off onto my face. I never knew how hot someone else's tears feel. "You're part of me," she says, as if it is the deepest truth she knows. "You're all the family I have. The only person I can count on. You're flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood, my only baby, and nothing else comes close to that. Nothing."And then she runs out of words, so she just clings to me, and not all the doctors in the world can pull her away.”