“He foresaw his pale body reclined in it at full, naked, in a womb of warmth, oiled by scented melting soap, softly laved. He saw his trunk and limbs riprippled over and sustained, buoyed lightly upward, lemonyellow: his navel, bud of flesh: and saw the dark tangled curls of his bush floating, floating hair of the stream around the limp father of thousands, a languid floating flower.”

“He froze, and for one moment, we stood locked in time. I could feel the silk of his shirt against my skin and the warmth of his body. The lingering scent of the overpriced cologne he wore floated around me. No smoke for a change. I’d always told him the cologne couldn’t be worth what he spent, but suddenly, I reconsidered. It was amazing.”

“Jose Palacios, his oldest servant, found him floating naked with his eyes open in the purifying waters of his bath and thought he had drowned.”

“Mat had tried to make her say she saw a hat floating around Mat's head. That would persuade Tuon to stop trying to get rid of his, would it not?”

“and each of his voices left his body in a different colored soul and floated up towards the sun still singing.”

“He opened his palm and saw that the watch remained. Still there. Still real.Varen looked up at the figure that stood atop the fountain.With a howl of rage, he made it burst apart.He fell to his knees amid the wreckage and floating dust.Crumpling into himself, he released a choking sob, knowing that he, too, belonged to the ruin.”