“Arin, are you all right?""How?" He managed. "How did her arm break?""She fell of a ladder."He must have visibly relaxed, because his cousin raised her brows and looked ready to scold. "I imagined s...”

“I want to know everything about you." So he told her. The stars, too, seemed to listen.”

“Arin. I've wanted to do this for a long time."Her words silenced him, steadied him.Antecipation lifted within her like the fragance of a garden under the rain. She sat at the piano, touching the ke...”

“Something tugged inside him. A flutter of unease.Do you sing? Those had been her first words to him, the day she had bought him. A band of nausea circled Arins throat, just as it had when she had a...”

“He told himself a story. Not at first. At first, there wasnt time for thoughts that came in the shape of words. His head was blessedly empty of stories then. War was coming. It was upon him. Arin h...”

“You will be lonely, but you'll become strong.”

“She turned to look at him, and he was already looking at her. Im going to miss you when I wake up, she whispered, because she realized that she must have fallen asleep under the sun. Arin was too r...”

“Arin. I've wanted to do this for a long time."Her words silenced him, steadied him.Antecipation lifted within her like the fragance of a garden under the rain. She sat at the piano, touching the ke...”

“He told himself a story. Not at first. At first, there wasnt time for thoughts that came in the shape of words. His head was blessedly empty of stories then. War was coming. It was upon him. Arin h...”

“Of course it would be hard. But I remembered what my nurseryman grandfather used to say when I didnt want to go to school: half the work in the world was done by people who didnt feel so good today.”

“I've never minded it," he went on. "Being lost, that is. I had always thought one could not truly be lost if one knew one's own heart. But I fear I may be lost without knowing yours.”

“There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison”