6
" But at some point in her passage, the trees began to change. They stretched taller, and the soft, pale bark darkened, roughened. She put her hand to a tree and touched the lichen growing dark green upon brown, and it felt like old cork, dry and crumbling. Here the sun mellowed, took on the cast of late afternoon, and the shadows seemed to fall a bit longer; the forest had sunk into a deeper silence, magnifying what sounds did arise. The sudden, quick crash of a fox bounding through the brush was as loud as the slam of a great wooden door. "
― Malinda Lo , Ash
11
" With her heart hammering in her throat, Ash asked, ‘Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?’ She looked up at Kaisa, and the huntress’ look of bewilderment was changing, slowly, to a small, tentative smile. It steadied Ash, and she extended her hand across the distance. Kaisa came down the steps, took her hand, and said, ‘Yes. "
― Malinda Lo , Ash