Golden Daughter Quotes

“Sometimes the worst failures in our lives turn out to be for the best. Sometimes our path leads through darkness, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't walk it. Sometimes our path leads to loss. But that doesn't mean we've gone astray.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Poets, as you probably are aware, are pretty keen on the emotions, turmoils, and such-like of the soul. Some might even call us empathetic.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Sometimes a nemesis can grow dearer to the heart than a friend or even a lover. There is something... 'foundational' in an enemy. Something that reminds one why one continues to live.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Do you know who I am, Sairu?" the voice asked.
"I do," she said, though until she spoke she had not known.
"What is my name?"
"Lumil Eliasul," she responded without question. "The Giver of Songs."
Then a sob caught in her throat, and she could not speak, not in words, though her heard cried out, "Where have you been? Where? Where? Where have you been?"
"I have been here," said the voice. The blood falling from the gong seemed to spill through the air in a sort of shape, a sort of image that Sairu could almost, but not quite, see. "I have been here all along. And now I will hold his pain.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Falling on her face, she knew she could not walk a single step more on this road, this Dragon's Path.
But suddenly there were arms around her, strong arms drawing her close. She fell into them, leaning against a warm heartbeat. She heard a voice he recognized, felt it flowing over her like a covering, a shield, a protection.

"Beyond the Final Water falling,
The song of spheres recalling,
When all around you is the emptiness of night,
Won't you return to me?”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“But then a voice reached out to him across the leagues of his own vast terror. A silver voice, gentle and serene yet cutting like a blade through any boundaries or walls.
Won't you follow me?
The cat opened his eyes. Sure enough, the blindness pressed in upon him, sickening his gut. But the voice still sang, and when he turn his head to the sound, he was able-if only just-to discern figures moving up ahead of him.
And so, not for the first time in his life, he walked Death's Path.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“It means starflower," Sairu said. "The temple is named for the Gardens of Hulan."
"Oh," said the cat. "You don't say."
Sairu, startled by the tone of his voice, looked down. But he was gone.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“I'll have you know that Dumpling, Rice Cake, and Sticky Bun are the noble offspring of the great Bright Mane," Sairu said, "descended in a long line of royal canines bred from the deified lineage of the Lordly Sun's own watchdogs."
The cat gave her a look. "Really?"
"Well, the come from the same kennels as the emperor's dogs, so that's close enough."
"Useless yapping things, hardly what you'd call proper dogs. What's the point of them?"
"They ward off devils."
"Yet I'm still here. What else?"
"They're fluffy."
"I'm fluffy," said the cat.
"You're a monster," said Sairu.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Sairu slid off her donkey and gave pursuit, shouting, "Sticky Bun!" Which is not a good name for shouting if one hopes to maintain any sense of dignity.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Perils?" Sairu said. "Highway robbers? Hustlers? Cads, perhaps? Pickpockets? Pestilence?" Her brows lifted, her eyes widened. "Toll gates?”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Jovann glimpsed colors deep inside, behind the gray, colors he did not see with his eyes but perceived clearly nonetheless.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“How could anything so small, so isolated, so trapped in a single, linear stream of Time be said to be alive?
And how could anyone ever care for such a sad collection of beings?”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“Beyond the Wood lies the Dream. And beyond the Dream lies...
But these thoughts are not meant for mortal minds to fathom.”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter

“All who are sacred, valuable, and rare have enemies...”
― Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Golden Daughter