Cate Tiernan

Being good is something that one must choose over and over again, every day, throughout the day, for the rest of one's life," Asher said. "A day is made of a thousand decisions, most small, some huge. With each decision you have the chance to work toward light, or sink toward darkness.

At that moment I remembered something Cal had told me: that there is beauty in darkness in everything. Sorrow in joy, life and death, thorns on the rose. I knew then that I could not escape pain and torment any more than I could give up joy and beauty

He gave a hard smile and the oxygen in my lungs evaporated. __eboth know I__ not a gentleman.___eah. Okay, let me out. I__ tired.___here__ something else,_ he said, and I groaned.__hat now?___his._ He stepped closer to me, so close that the containers weresandwiched between us. His eyeslooked down into mine, intent and golden, like a lion.__h, no, you don__!_ I hissed, dropping everything. I pushed hardagainst his chest; it was like shovinga tree.__es,_ he said very softly, leaning down. __es, I do.

I'm here by choice, I reminded myself. I'm here because I can't bear to be not- here anymore. I'm here because I can't tell right from wrong, light from dark. I'm here because I can't stand being me. I'm here because I don't want anyone to know where I am.

I looked deeply into the fire, and the timeless, eternal dance of colors I saw there was so beautiful, I wanted to cry. Cal's deep voice floated toward me as clearly as a whisper in a tunnel, as if his words were meant for me alone, and the found me unerringly even as the group dissolved into talking. He said the words under his breath, his gaze fixed on my face. "I banish loneliness.

Anytime you feel love for anything, be it stone, tree, lover, or child, you are touched by the Goddess's magick...

There is beauty and darkness in everything. Sorrow in joy, life in death, thorns on the rose.

The Goddess teaches us that every ending is also a beginning. May there be rebirth from this death.

Yes. Reyn is our resident horse master. He has an excellent seat."I grinned. "I've noticed."Reyn's face tightened and Nell flushed, looking embarrassed. "It's an equestrian term.""Really? I thought you were talking about his ass.

I held a nail in place and slammed it with the hammer. Best. Chore. Ever.

No, officer, I have no idea why I'm wearing this possum costume. I called you what? OH. My bad."-Nastasya

I felt an overwhelming gratitude in my life right now and wanted a chance to acknowledge it. I felt that any thanks given to any god all went to the same place, anyway, no matter what religion you were centered in.

Have you ever seen a god laugh? It makes you catch your breath and feel hopeful and shivery and excited all at the same time. That's how it was watching Cal.

Because you are in the middle of becoming who you will be. It isn't going to be easy. You may need help. So feel free to ask us for it.

Please, please be some sex-starved nutcase who wants to kidnap me and make me your love slave, I begged silently.

Then what's the point of trying if you can't even win?""You win in lots of different ways," Asher said. "Lots of little wins. The point of this life is not to be good all the time. It's to be as good as you can. No one is perfect. No one does it right all the time. That's not what life is.

Maybe what River had meant was that time itself was like a river, moving steadily forward, and you got to be in a new river every day, every hour. All my life I'd felt like a lake. A lake where everyhting was contained, forever. All my experiences, all the different people I'd been, everything I'd had, everything I'd lost...I carried them around with me, all the time

I cared about them. I wanted them to feel better, to live better lives. And then it occurred to me - I cared about myself. I wanted me to live a better life, too Caring about myself was allowing me to care about others.