The Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #2)

by Tad Williams

“Not everyone can stand up and be a hero, Princess,” he said quietly. “Some prefer to surrender to the inevitable and salve their consciences with the gift of survival.”

There is always something beyond even the worst of bad times.

how is a person of my short years to make their words sing?”

“No, youngling, but neither is he a magical playmate and protector, as you seem to think him. Jiriki is older and deeper than any of us can know.

knew she watched a pair of ancient lovers, both enfeebled, but so accustomed to each other that they had become two limbs of the same body.