“Once, for a brief and terrifying moment, Fancy thought of the thousands of pebbles in the river that could think and dream and how they would never realize they were not alone. Imagine! Terrifying solitude amid thousands!”

“Compared to Bramble’s eyes of bright blue, which was indicative of Sprites in the formative years before the expression of gender and the Ceremony of Names. Bramble had no sense of their own identity, and though still at least a decade away, had no interest in being male or female. There was, of course, no pressure either way. Gender only served to define if one would physically be able to reproduce.”

“I was young once, filled with wonder and promise….”

“When Winter comes, the World holds its breath, and when death arrives, a person’s Spirit holds its breath as well.”