East Quotes
"They say losing someone you love is like losing a part of your own body. An eye or a leg. But it is far worse—especially when it is your fault."
"It isn't easy for me to walk the path back to the beginning of the story, even to know where the true beginning is."
"Every single thing a body did in our house was charged with meaning."
"The trouble with loving a wild thing: You're always left watching the door."
"I just couldn't keep my thoughts, and then my feet, still."
"To say that my mother was superstitious would be like saying the great blizzard of 1539 was naught but a light snowfall."
"The only thing that gave me the slightest twinge of sadness was Neddy, with his exasperated, sorry-for-himself look when he found me after yet another time I'd run off without telling anyone."
"It's a funny thing. I think it was Mother and I who had the hardest time with Rose's wandering ways. But we both had different ways of living with it."
"The interests of an east-born, if I've ever seen them. She'll settle down. You'll see."
"You must not even consider it, Rose. It would not be worth the price you must pay."
"It was a frosty, clear night, and the stars shimmered against a black sky."
"Riding a bear was nothing like riding a horse."
"The white bear's fur was extraordinary."
"Though the journey lasted seven days, the white bear stopped only once."
"I remembered the imaginary companion of my childhood."
"Despite his enormous speed, the white bear's gait was surprisingly smooth."
"I thought instead of the beast upon which I was riding."
"I panicked for a moment, wondering how I was going to breathe."
"Are you afraid? came the words from deep inside the bear's massive chest."
"I thought about the white bear, wondering uneasily where he was at that moment."
"I have never seen my father so angry. But I am not worried."
"The days that followed Rose's departure were dark and more painful than anything I could have imagined."
"It was as if she believed that by nursing Sara and restoring her health, she could justify Rose's sacrifice."
"I will come back to this place and find the boy, and then he will be mine."
"I spent my time in a dazed sort of twilight world, going about my chores."
"I had not seen Father so happy in a very long time."
"I must have been still tired from the long journey, as well as from the many hours I had spent at the magnificent loom."
"I wanted to head directly back to the loom, but instead I made myself sit still and think."
"I am not one who cries easily, but at that moment tears spilled from my eyes."
"I suddenly felt impatient, and stood up."
"I must have been in some kind of trance—or maybe it was an enchantment or spell."
"I was suddenly very hungry and thirsty."
"I looked back at her in astonishment, which quickly turned to anger."
"I have here a list of herbs that I will need for Sara's treatment."
"It was because of Rose. Father wanted to keep everything just as it was before she had left us."
"I had been so swept up in the wild ride getting there and then exploring the castle."
"I sat up, stretching, and saw that the table had been cleared while I slept."
"It was one of the fairest springs we'd ever had on the farm."
"I felt like I was working with the spun gold from fairy tales."
"I was caught up in the easy grace of the bear's motion."
"He was so overwhelming, so white and so large, that the room seemed to shrink."
"The white bear watched me with his sad black eyes."
"I had no will for anything except either sitting and staring or incessantly roaming the castle."
"I have always thought time to be a very fickle thing. When you are unhappy, doing something you'd rather not do, time crawls at the slowest, crudest pace. But when you're happy, it speeds up faster than a skier racing down an icy mountain."
"You sound like Mother! Rose, those things had nothing to do with the bear. It was coincidence, nothing more."
"It is fine, Neddy. I don't mind going back, as long as I can have a little time like this."
I will think about what you said," he replied reluctantly. "But you will be back soon.
"Estelle, elle est Njorden," the mother said to the girl, gesturing to me.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, then slipped into unconsciousness.
It is too soon," Sofi protested. "You need more time to get better.
You journey on," she said, "and the old Viking will stay. There is healing here, if he will be healed. If not, he will find his own journey.
"You will come with Malmo," the shaman said by way of explanation.
"I am looking for passage to Njord," I called to him.
"Rose, is it? I am Gest, at your service, and this is my mate, Goran."
"Drink of the gods," Thor said with a grin.
"But it's out of the question. Pay Contarini's fee, and at least you know you'll arrive in Njord in one piece."
"I am pleased to be home, and to have him here with me at last. Now there is only the wedding to prepare for."
It is bad luck," he said, "to have a woman on board. You will stay confined to your quarters until the ship docks in Tonsberg.
"What do you mean 'my animal'?" I asked hesitantly, not wishing to offend Malmo.
"My name is Malmo," the shaman said as she stood facing me on the beach.
"The man's got a mighty thirst on him." He turned his attention to me. "Well, welcome aboard the good ship Sif," he said.
"You may curse me all you like, but I am not the one who has given up," I said.
"Living in the frozen world became second nature, and I grew to love the breathtaking beauty of the vast white landscape."
"The only colors in the land were white, gray, and pale blue, with the occasional burst of red from the spilled blood of a seal."
"I need to return to my people. If we do not reach the ice bridge soon, I will have to turn back."
"The man, not the white bear, kept entering my thoughts."
"I AM GLAD I DECIDED not to hurry the ceremony after all."
"The sun was peering over the line of the horizon and its light caused the ice bridge to glitter."
This river is Tawktoak Imuk," she said. "A silvery gray, almost black, ribbon of water moved restlessly below us.
"I will cross this ice bridge and go into Niflheim and find the white bear and rescue him."
"I had seen his face only briefly, and sometimes I could not remember it, but once in a while it would come clear in my mind."
"My queen is very good. She watches over me, ever thoughtful of my needs."
"I must have a ship," I blurted out to Soren.
"The ice daggers broke under my skis, though I took care to avoid the larger ones."
"I did not know why I did not speak of those things, except that I thought it might displease my queen in some way and the girl might be punished."
"It was a different kind of dancing, too, flowing, moving in wide circles, my hands at her waist."
"I am very well content in my life here. If it were not for the nightmares, there would be nothing to complain of at all."
"I am tired of being cooped up with this splendid but maddening contraption," he said, gesturing at the printing press.
"I took the ring off and placed it in a drawer. My queen would know the answer."
"And then suddenly, it did not matter whether the man cared for me or I for him. The only thing that mattered was giving him his life back."
"All I could see around her was white. Immense and frozen, the whiteness seemed to be pressing down on her. She looked terrified."
"SOMEHOW HE DUG us out. I don't know how. I helped as much as I could, but it was his strength and his will that saved us."
"Around us was a scene of utter devastation."
"He had saved my life back in the ice palace. I knew I should thank him, but I couldn't speak."
"Perhaps I would need to find my own way. Perhaps I should."
"The white bear and I each commanded a sleigh, and we selected several of the most alert of the surviving humans to drive the remaining sleighs, telling them to follow our lead."
"I do not know," he replied with a small twisted smile that did not reach his eyes.
"I knew where he was going and I would follow."