“I let my head fall back, and I gazed into the Eternal Blue Sky. It was morning. Some of the sky was yellow, some the softest blue. One small cloud scuttled along. Strange how everything below can be such death and chaos and pain while above the sky is peace, sweet blue gentleness. I heard a shaman say once, the Ancestors want our souls to be like the blue sky.”

“Wait, I want more green. I hope I did not imply I only wanted your colors. We can't turn a cold shoulder to green, and blue, and purple, for the sake of all ordered things, how can you dismiss purple? Celi, call Nom back and tell him of my need for purple!”

“Once there was a queen in a palace of bread.Sing blue, sing white, stay up all night.She nibbled on the walls and gobbled up her bed.Sing white, sing blue, sing ballyhoo.The people begged a crumb from their robust queen.Sing blue, sing white, she ate all night.She would not share a thing until it turned green.So white, so blue, the mold it grew.”

“Enna leaned back her head and laughed at the sky. 'Of course he wasn't! Who could kill Razo?”

“Loan me your lace of yellow, sisterLend me your fine kid glovesTonight is the bridal ball, sisterTonight I'll meet my lovePresent me a sash of blue, sisterGift me a ribbon of whiteMy love awaits me below, sisterI am a bride tonight”

“What she had long believed was not true, and now the world was wide open to discover what was.It is like all my life I thought the sky was green.”

“This morning, Tegus welcomed me again with an arm clasp and cheek touch. I wasn't startled this time, and I breathed in at his neck. How can I describe the scent of his skin? He smells something like cinnamon-- brown and dry and sweet and warm. Ancestors, is it wrong for me to imagine laying my head on his chest and closing my eyes and breathing in his smell?”