“Yer in my blood, Saba, he says. Yer in my head. Yer in my breath, yer in my bones...gawd help me, yer everywhere. You have bin since the first moment I set eyes on you.”
“Ever heard of the rule of three? he shouts as we run.
No!
If you save somebody's life three times, their life belongs to you. You saved my life today, that makes once. Save it twice more an I'm all yers.”
“Marry me, he says. I got all my own teeth, I wash twice a year an I'll cut you in fer half the business here.”
“I never knew that missin somebody could hurt, I says. But it does. Deep inside. Like it's in my bones. We ain't never bin apart till now. Never. I dunno how to be without him. It's like... I ain't nuthin.”
“I'm sorry, I says.
Fer what? he says.
Fer always bein ... you know ... so-
Ungrateful? he says.
Yeah, I says.
Ornery?
I guess so.
Rude? Pig-headed? Violent?
I ain't violent!
Oh yes, you are. Very. But I like that in a woman.
I laugh. Yer crazy, I says.
I was fine till I met you, he says.”
“There can be beauty anywhere. Even here. An if it ain't there, you can make it yerself.”
“Wisdom ain't a virtue I ever aspired to.”
“Lugh shines like the sun.
That must of made it easy fer them to find him.
All they had to do was follow his light.”
“Like what you see,Angel? he says.
You ain't my type”
“Jack grins. Anyways, Saba likes to look at my bare chest.
Lugh looks at me. Frowns. Is that a fact? he says.
I feel myself go bright red. It is not a fact, I says. You stinker, Jack.”
“Don't give in to fear. Be strong, like i know you are. An never give up, d'you unnerstand, never. No matter what happens.
I stare at him.
I won't, I says. I ain't no quitter, Pa.
That's my girl.”
“Lugh goes first always first an I follow on behind.
An that's fine.
That's right.
That's how it's meant to be.”
“Did you know, he says, every time you make somethin, any time you make anythin, a little bit of yer spirit goes into it?”
“We're on our own. An I feel calm. It seems crazy . . . but I'm calm. Because now I see what I gotta do. An what I ain't gotta do, which is waste time thinkin that anybody's gonna help us. That somebody's gonna come along an rescue us. I cain't count on nobody but me.”
“Love makes you weak. Carin fer somebody that much means you can't think straight.”
“You don’t fool me, he says in a low voice.
Is that right?
Yea, he says. I see it in yer eyes. All you care about’s yer precious brother.
That aint true, I says.
If it’d been Emmi they took, he says, Emmi an not Lugh…would you of gone after her?
I take in a breath to say of course I would but the look on his face stops me. there ain’t no point in lyin when he already knows the truth.
He leaves go of me an steps back.
I thought so, he says. Yer sister’ll be safer with me than she could ever be with you. You jest ride along on yer high horse an leave her to me.”
“You got three seconds, he says, then they're comin down. He starts to count. One... two...
I turn and run.
I can still hear him laughin when I'm halfways back to camp.”
“He turns around, all impatient. Now what? I wanna say something to you. I wanna say . . . I dunno . . . more. I could bust apart with all I'm feelin inside of me right now. What with fightin off the hellwurms an gittin my shoulder tore open, an how I felt when I woke up an seen you an, now, here I am, being so close to findin Lugh an I dunno what's gonna happen an--
Jack's lookin at me, frowning. What's the matter with you, Saba? he says. I grab his face an kiss him on the lips.”
“I ain't never seen a creature like that before, she says. He's so smart, he's-
More, like a person than a bird? I says.
Yeah, she says. That's it.
Whatever you do, I says, don't tell him that. I'll never hear the end of it.”
“Jack nudges our pile of clothes with his foot. Grins. Well, ain't this an innerestin sitchation? he says. Two girls naked in the water an me with all their clothes.”
“I grab his face an' kiss him on the lips. Then I step back. We stare at each other. All the air gits sucked outta the tunnel. The heartstone burns into my skin. The blood pounds in my ears.
Yer timin stinks, he says.”
“It's dangerous to let your enemy see weakness. Weakness can git you killed.”
“Bloody Jack. What is it with him? What is it about him that he seems to charm everybody an everythin that crosses his path? Ash an pretty well every other Free Hawk, my sister an now my damn crow. I swear, if there was a rock in his path that he couldn’t be bothered steppin over, all he’d hafta do was give it one look an it’d roll outta the way.”
“Before I know what he's up to, he grabs my hand.
Hey! I try to pull it away but he holds it even tighter.
Saba, he says, I dunno what happy star sent you lookin fer me but I'm mighty thankful it did. If you hadn't of turned up, I'd be dead by now.”
“Pretty dark in there, says Ash. Did you git lost? I feel a hot flush crawl up my neck. Lucky for me, Hermes trots over an I busy myself strokin his neck. It uh . . . took us longer than we thought to put out the fire, says Jack.”
“I drop back a bit. I listen while they chatter on an Lugh makes us laugh. He always does.
We're together agin.
Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on behind.
An that's fine.
That's right.
That's how it's meant to be.
Lugh turns around. Smiles.
Hey, he says, what're you doin back there? I ain't got a clue where we're goin. Git on up here an lead the way.
So I do.”
“Move fast, travel light, an never tell 'em your real name.”
“Be careful, Angel, he says. When you stare at a man like that, he’s likely to git any number of number of … innerestin ideas.”
“Ike! Jack yells, pointin at the villains at the table. Look! He's takin seconds!
Oh no, he ain't!”
“Proper loafing requires company.One man lying about is being idle; two men lying about is a lunch break.”
“i held hands
with my sadness,
sang it songs in the shower,
fed it lunch,
got it drunk
& put it to bed early.”
“There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that sustained and consecutive thought. It is the hardest work in the world.”
“Eureka!"s like the one Archimedes had when he stepped in a bathtub and suddenly realized the answer to the problem of testing metals' density are few and far between, and mostly it's just trying and failing and trying something else, feeding in data and eliminating variables and staring at the results, trying to figure out where you went wrong.”
“...though I cannot promise to take you home," said North Wind, as she sank nearer and nearer to the tops of the houses, "I can promise you it will be all right in the end. You will get home somehow.”
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