“Sometimes it is easier to see the light when you stand partly in the darkness.”

“Don't look, part of his mind said. If you don't see trouble, it doesn't exist.But it does, thought Arthur, fighting down the fear. Keep breathing slowly. You have to confront your fears. Deal with them.”

“Why, Yrael?” it said, as the last of the dark gave way to silver, and the shining sphere of metal sank slowly to the ground. “Why?”“Life,” said Yrael, who was more Mogget than it ever knew. “Fish and fowl, warm sun and shady trees, the field mice in the wheat, under the cool light of the moon.”

“The visions are fragmented and a dark cloud spreads like spilt ink across the pages of possible futures.”

“I'll sing you a song of the long ago - Seven shine the shiners, oh!What did the Seven do way back when?Why, they wove the Charter then!Five for the warp, from beginning to end.Two for the woof, to make and mend.That's Seven, but what of the Nine - What of the two who chose not to shine?The Eighth did hide, hide all away,But the Seven caught him and made him pay.The Ninth was strong and fought with might,But lone Orannis was put out of the light,Broken in two and buried under hill,For ever to lie there, wishing us ill.”

“A Kiss," said Mogget sleepily. "Actually, just a breath would do. But you have to start kissing someone sometime, I suppose.""A breath?" she asked. She didn't want to kiss just any wooden man. He looked nice enough, but he might not be like his looks. A kiss seemed too forward.”

“For everyone and everything, there is a time to die. Some do not know it, or would delay it, but its truth cannot be denied. Not when you look into the stars of the ninth gate.”