Vathna

“Welcome home. Welcome back. We missed you. I missed you more than I should have, more than I wanted to. I went to hell for you. I’d do it again.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Hell Bent

“Sometimes, if you want to save other people, you need to remember to save yourself first.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

“The first humans who got possessed, the ones who went on to become saints; they weren’t all strong enough to control unbound spirits, were they? They couldn’t have been. At least some of them must have fought with their spirits the same way I do.”
“Yes,” the revenant said, after a long, ancient-feeling pause. “They were our friends.”
“Then does that mean we’re—”
“You had better not push it, nun. I can possess you whenever I want. I could do far worse than make you murder someone. I could make you try on hats.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine

“I can’t accept it,” I answered.
“Accept what?”
I wasn’t certain I could put my tangled, poisonous thoughts into words. It felt blasphemous to even try. “That—that there can be such a thing as…not necessary evil, because evil is never necessary—it can’t be—but…acceptable evil. Hurt and cruelty that the Lady would allow in service to Her will. Like the goat in Naimes,” I said, dimly aware I’d never told the revenant about the goat and it would probably think I had lost my mind. “She wouldn’t make someone kick the goat.”
The revenant was quiet—a careful, pained pause. “Nun,” it said. isn’t that what She’s done to you?”
― Margaret Rogerson, Vespertine