As Old As Time

by Liz Braswell

As soon as she opened a book, this little town disappeared into a vast map of countries both real and imagined.

Some women grew calm and peaceful during pregnancy; Rosalind seemed to become more of what she already was: fiercely happy, fiercely angry, fiercely productive.

“You can’t have adventures without risk. You can’t have great things if you constantly fear loss. And I am a much, much better person because of your mother. If nothing else, she gave me you.”

Belle shook her head. She had read about this. The victims of kidnapping often wound up sympathizing with the perpetrator. It was a sickness, a very scientifically predictable one.

She and her father didn’t eat fancily but they ate well enough and even had meat once or twice a week. The herbs that still flourished in her mother’s garden spiced up dishes more than it seemed like they should have. They supped well, like all Frenchmen and women.

“Magic always comes back on itself,” Rosalind whispered. “And also kindness,” Maurice pointed out.

“They didn’t protect my people—their people. Their subjects. There are repercussions for actions. Magic comes back to you, just as the actions of people do. The bigger the person, the more their actions affect the world. If they live, perhaps they will learn that.”

In adventure books there weren’t awkward pauses or embarrassing social scenes. In morality plays and farces there were rarely serious discussions of racial tension, mob mentality, pogroms, or plague. In scientific books there were no dinnertime revelations of a terrible matter. Life is a strange mixture of all of these genres, she mused, and it doesn’t have nearly as neat and happy an ending as you often get in books.

Everyone is different. Each person has his or her own soul and is master of his or her own destiny.”

“I wish I had reined in my temper more. I wish I never cursed the Prince. I wish I had pitied the king and queen instead of seeking to punish them. I was full of power and empty of wisdom. And now it’s the reverse…I am empty of power and am just beginning to have the faintest traces of wisdom.”

“If I was your age, I wouldn’t have hesitated for a moment. You will always come back here, and I will always be here. And we will have those talks we need. Everyone should have a journey—and everyone should also have a home, too. Go out into the world for adventure, come home for love.”