liz

“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. Please. Please let me help you.”
― Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale

“Light my flame, mein Herr, I thought. Light my fire, and watch me burn.”
― S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong

“Courage, dear heart.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

“There was a song in this forest, too, but it was a savage song, whispering of madness and tearing and rage.”
― Naomi Novik, Uprooted