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141 " It’s like—it’s gleaning in the woods. . . You have to pick your way through the thickets and the trees, and it’s different every time. "
― Naomi Novik , Uprooted
142 " It’s very easy to claim you’ve summoned something that’s invisible and incorporeal. "
143 " Don’t make mournful faces at me,” he added. "
144 " How did you,” he said, pushing himself up on an elbow, indignation finally dawning, and I pushed him back down and kissed him. "
145 " Maybe he would let me come in, but he’d want to close the doors up again behind me. "
146 " I glared at him speechlessly; how dare he put a pet name on me? "
147 " I felt as though I were pretending to be grown-up. "
148 " they were wild-eyed and terrified even in their courage. "
149 " I didn’t want her to need to do things like that. I didn’t want her to need a sword. "
150 " I felt the soldiers understood perfectly well that we were making sums out of them—this many safe to spend, this number too high, as if each one wasn’t a whole man. "
151 " I just sobbed myself out until I had too much of a headache to go on crying, and after that I was cold and stiff "
152 " true, but unkind anyway. "
153 " and her laugh was like a song that made you want to sing it. "
154 " My first description held true: I felt as though I was picking my way through a bit of forest that I had never seen before, and her words were like another experienced gleaner somewhere ahead of me calling back to say, There are blueberries down on the northern slope, or Good mushrooms by the birches over here, or There’s an easy way through the brambles on the left. She didn’t care how I got to the blueberries; she only pointed me in the proper direction and let me wander my way over to them, feeling out the ground beneath my feet. "
155 " They looked at me and saw someone out of a story, who might ride by and be stared at, but didn’t belong in their lives at all. "
156 " Happiness was bubbling up through me, a bright stream laughing. "
157 " if truth didn’t mean anything without someone to share it with; you could shout truth into the air forever, and spend your life doing it, if someone didn’t come and listen. "
158 " Listen, you impossible creature," he said, "I'm a century and more older than--""Oh, be quiet," I said impatiently. "
159 " He darted a look at the uncovered basket behind me, saw what I was eating, and glared at me. "That's appalling," he said."They're wonderful!" I said. "They're all coming ripe.""All the better to turn you into a tree," he said."I don't want to be a tree yet," I said. "
160 " I don't think I can do it alone," I said. I had a feeling the Summoning wasn't really meant to be cast alone: as if truth didn't mean anything without someone to share it with. "