“I admire how she protects her energy and understands her limitations.”
“How you can come to love an animal! She doesn't talk, but she speaks with her eyes, her paws, her meows, and I understand her.”
“I take my time because I love how it feels to carry her, the way she needs me, the way I need to protect her.”
“She protected herself by making herself believe no-one else could ever really understand her.”
“I'm her protection! I don't care if it's in this world or the next. Just show me how to get where she is, and I'll be there for her. ~Stark”
“Madlen came to sit beside her on the bed. "Lady Queen," she said with her own particular brand of rough gentleness. "It is not the job of the child to protect her mother. It's the mother's job to protect the child. By allowing your mother to protect you, you gave her a gift. Do you understand me?”