6
" I stood on the edge of that abyss between man and beast and played my harp for you, checking each note, one by one, to see if it would reach you. Because I wanted to know. I wanted to know what you thought.
And you - you spoke to me, one note at a time. We explored each other's incomprehensible minds from across that yawning chasm.
Sometimes we hit the wrong notes like clashing echoes.
Yet sometimes, just by chance, the notes we played for one another made unexpected music, like this.
[...] As long as the life you have given me continues, let me stand on the shore of that great abyss and play. Let me pluck my harp, note by note, and speak to the creatures of earth and sky, so that I may hear music as yet unkown. "
― Nahoko Uehashi , The Beast Player (The Beast Player, #1-2)
11
" In return, when the time came, I planned to take responsibility for this choice. But after hearing you describe Damiya’s scheme … I just don’t care anymore. “If that’s the way people think and the path they choose, then let them. If it’s simply human nature to maintain the status quo by killing each other, then even if I sacrifice my life and bury the Art with me, someday the same thing is bound to happen all over again. If humans are just going to destroy themselves anyway, why not let them…” This savage thought must have lurked deep inside her for a long time, because when she voiced it, she knew it came from the core of her being. Yet even voicing it did not ease the fury she felt in her heart. "
― Nahoko Uehashi , The Beast Player (The Beast Player, #1-2)