By the time he reaches the farm, he is sure that the Bailey he is now is closer to the Bailey he is supposed to be than the Bailey he had been the day before.
They live and they work and they play and they love and if they ever miss the world above they rarely admit it. This is their world, starless and sacred. They think it impervious. Impenetrable and eternal. Yet all things change in time.
Do not be afraid; our fate can not be taken from us; it is a gift.
He glances at the Tenniel illustration of a gryphon over the bar and wonders if anyone ever names bars after the Mock Turtle.
I’m not trying to get back to the place,” Dorian says. “I’m trying to get back to a person.” Admitting it aloud feels like an affirmation. “People change, too, you know.” “I do know,” Dorian says, nodding. He doesn’t want to think about it. He had always wanted to be in the place but he didn’t understand until he was finally there that the place was merely a way to get to the person and now he has lost them both.
They live and they work. They consume art and stories and create new art and new stories to add to the shelves and the walls. They find friends and lovers. They put on performances and play games and weave community out of camaraderie.
It won’t be the same when you get back,” Eleanor says. “Sometimes you can’t go back to the same old place, you have to go to the new ones.” “I’m not trying to get back to the place,” Dorian says. “I’m trying to get back to a person.” Admitting it aloud feels like an affirmation. “People change, too, you know.
They seek each other out, these people of such specific like mind... They sit over their drinks, smiling like children and they relish being surrounded by kindred spirits, if only for an evening. When they depart, they shake hands and embrace like old friends, even if they have just met, and as they go their separate ways they feel less alone then they had before.
The absurdity of the matter does not make it less true.
Maybe once you go to wonderland you’re supposed to stay there because nothing will ever be the same in the real world, in the other world, afterward. Afterworld.
He always wanted to be in the place but he didn’t understand until he was finally there that the place was merely a way to get to the person and now he has lost them both.
You have no friends. And all of this is a fabrication. Your brain’s feeble attempt to preserve itself. Telling itself a story with love and adventure and mystery. All of those things you wanted in your life that you were too busy playing your games and reading your books to go out and find. Your wasted life is ending, that is why you are here.
She said I’d have two sons. I had Zachery and for years afterwards I thought maybe she was just bad at math, or maybe he was twins for a moment before he was born and then not, but then I figured it out and I should have figured it out sooner. I know he’ll be back because I haven’t met my son-in-law yet.
And there are always those who would watch Alexandria burn.
I wished for her.
Inside the tower room the small girl looked at the darkness and the darkness looked back.
This is a story they will live over and over again, together and apart.
Isobel hesitates, glancing around at the clientele, a mostly bohemian crowd sipping absinthe and arguing about art.
You ask a lot of questions.” Tsukiko responds. “You don’t answer very many of them.
A sword, perhaps three or four inches in length, is tattooed on each guardian. Each sword is unique. It has been designed for this guardian and no other.