“I drop back a bit. I listen while they chatter on an Lugh makes us laugh. He always does.We're together agin.Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on behind.An that's fine.That's right.That's how it's meant to be.Lugh turns around. Smiles.Hey, he says, what're you doin back there? I ain't got a clue where we're goin. Git on up here an lead the way.So I do.”

“Lugh goes first always first an I follow on behind. An that's fine. That's right. That's how it's meant to be.”

“Lugh got born first. On Midwinter Day when the sun hangs low in the sky.Then me. Two hours later.That pretty much says it all.Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on Behind.An that's fine.That's right.That's how it's meant to be.Because everthin'set. It's all fixed.The lives of everybody who's bin born.The lives of everybody still waitin'to be born.It was all set in the stars the moment the world began. The time of yer birthin, the time of yer death. Even what kinda person yer gonna be, good or bad.If you know how to read the stars, you can read the story of peoples'lives. The story of yer own life. What's gone, what's now an what's still to come.Back when Pa was a boy, he met up with a traveler, a man who knew many things. He learned Pa to read the stars. Panever says what he sees in the night sky but you can see it lays heavy on him.Because you cain't change what's written.Even if Pa was to say what he knew, even if he was to warn you, it would still come to pass.I see the way he looks at Lugh sometimes. The way he looks at me.An I wish he'd tell us what he knows.I believe Pa wishes he'd never met that traveler.If you seen me an Lugh togather, you'd never think we was the same blood.Never think we grew togather in the same womb.He's got gold hair. I got black.Blue eyes. Brown eyes.Strong. Scranwy.Beautiful. Ugly.He's my light.I'm his shadow.Lugh shines like the sun.That must of made it east fer them to find him.All they had to do was follow his light.”

“We're bein cut asunder, Lugh an me.BitBy bit.An it makes me think.It makes me wonder.Is this how he feels when he sees me with Jack? Do I look at Jack the way Lugh looks at Maev?Helpess.Throat bared.Hopeless.”

“I stare at his chest. I can't seem to make my eyes move away. When I seen him without his shirt before, back at Hopetown, all I noticed was the scars. But now all I can see is how lean an strong he is. With wide shoulders an arms roped with muscle. He ain't got no hair on his chest, not like Pa an Lugh. My fingers itch to touch it. Find out if his skin feels as smooth as it looks.”

“We don't choose the times we're born in, he says. That's the business of the stars. The only choice we got is what we do while we're here. To make it mean somethin.”

“He turns around, all impatient. Now what? I wanna say something to you. I wanna say . . . I dunno . . . more. I could bust apart with all I'm feelin inside of me right now. What with fightin off the hellwurms an gittin my shoulder tore open, an how I felt when I woke up an seen you an, now, here I am, being so close to findin Lugh an I dunno what's gonna happen an--Jack's lookin at me, frowning. What's the matter with you, Saba? he says. I grab his face an kiss him on the lips.”