Girls of Storm and Shadow

Being vulnerable isn't a flaw. It is the most beautiful thing in the world. If you were invincible, being brave would be easy.

There is nothing stronger than people who endure the worst hardships in the world and still raise their fists at the start of a new day to fight all over again.

Wren and I might not be Paper Girls anymore, but we are still capable of creating fire. And now we have a whole world to burn.

I was a girl with fire in her veins.

She is my air. My shelter. Wren is my wings.

Fear is good. It means you care. And caring is its own kind of magic. One just as powerful as any dao I can weave.

I am still that girl of paper and fire - and I'm going to prove it to them.

You might be human, but you're a woman, and that gives you far more strength than he'll ever be capable of. Not to mention perspective. Only women truly understand the cruelties of the world, the depths of people's greed and desire, what dark things they can motivate someone to do.

Hold on to that as tightly as you can, Lei. Because war will do everything it can to take goodness from you. I think sometimes people forget there will be time after all of this-for the lucky ones, at least. And when that time comes, we'll all have to live with what we have done.

We have a new goal now, Wren. One we can share the burden of together.

Despite Lei's size, Kenzo had been struck most by the fierce determination blazing off the girl. It had been electric, charging the air like the moment before a lightning strike. She was a Paper Girl set on fire. He'd never been prouder of her.

It’s easier to be strong when you’re doing it for someone else’s sake.

No matter how bad things got, no matter how hopeless or terrible, Bo’s laughter was there to protect us. To shield us from the darkness, even if just for a moment. That’s what his laughter was—a weapon.

But there is one thing that is infinite: greed. The ability of humans and demons to want. To desire. To hunger after things that don't belong to them.

Because this is what I am. Not a Paper Girl anymore, just “girl.” Almost, as I told Lady Dunya, a caste of its own. An oppressed caste, yes, but one braver and bolder and capable of more brilliance than any other in this world.

I see you, the way you fight. The way you are towards others. You are soft where they are hard. You have love where they only have hate.

I've experienced firsthand how desire can twist and corrupt a person. What happens when it lives untamed. Like fire, it destroys everything in its path. Like fire, it burns, until there is nothing left.

Yet like most lies people tell themselves, it came apart in the shadow and quiet of the night.

You're not the same. I see you, the way you fight. You have love when they only have hate. Hold on to that as tightly as you can, Lei. Because war will do everything it can to take that goodness from you. I think sometimes people forget that there will be a time after all of this - for the lucky ones, at least. And when that time comes, we'll all have to live with what we have done. And what we have left of ourselves.

Girl. Such a simple title. One I've been labeled all my life. But nowhere was I called it more than at the Hidden Palace: spat from the beaked mouth of Madam Himura, hissed with contemp by Naja, thrown with derision by General Yu. But in the Cloud Palace, with the magnificent Lady Dunya before me and her bold, fierce daughters, I feel for one of the first times the hidden power contained within its single modest syllable. Because this is what I am. Not a Paper Girl anymore, just "girl." Almost, as I told Lady Dunya, a caste of its own. An oppressed caste, yes, but one braver and bolder and capable of more brilliance than any other in this world.

She looks far more like Ketai’s Moonchosen than I ever could be.