“King Dan sat on his stallion fierceSwords did slice and spears did pierceBut in a tree upon the fieldPerched a small, keen-eyed blackbirdAnd the blackbird did not singNo, the blackbird did not sing”

“It was a pleasure, Enna, Finn, tree rat.""Did she just call you tree rat?”

“She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she did not open her eyes for three days.”

“He did a very good impression of a stone column.”

“It was karma, it was kismet, it was magic. It doesn't matter how it happened, just that it did.”

“Get back in my cot, girl," said Gilsa. "You're sickly."No, I'm not," said Ani.Oh, no? Well, maybe stubbornness is a sickness, did you ever think of that?”

“But when she turned her back to the lights, she saw that the night was so dark...She could not see the stars. The world felt as high as the depthless night sky and deeper than she could know. She understood, suddenly and keenly, that she was too small to run away, and she sat on the damp ground and cried.”