“I forced a swift smile, then turned back to my glass, salvation and sanctuary viniferously bundled into one.”

“The grey-rain curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.”

“Oh God, Oh God! that it were possibleTo undo things done; to call back yesterday!That time could turn up her swift and sandy glass,To untell days, and to redeem these hours.”

“Not bad for a ‘common soldier,’ hmm?” I quietly asked, then resheathed my katana and headed back toward the chapel. I could feel his gaze on my back as I walked away, so I decided to play it up. I paused at the sanctuary door, then looked back over my shoulder and smiled vampishly through hooded eyes. “Coming?”

“I hear one of my mares scream, and I turn long enough to flip open my bag and throw a handful of salt in her direction. She jerks her head up as some of it sprinkles her face; she's offended but not hurt...I turn back to the sea, and the wind throws sand in my face, hard enough to offend but not to hurt. I smile a thin smile at the irony and turn up my collar.”

“The cemetery is my sense of comfort, my sanctuary in a world of darkness, the one piece of light that i have in my life.”