Summer Tree, The: Book One of the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
Location 458:
It seemed that there were still things one could not do. So one did everything else as well as one possibly could and found new things to try, to will oneself to master, and always one realized, at the kernel and heart of things, that the ends of the earth would not be far enough away.
Location 693:
There was a cold silence. "You realize," said Gorlaes, his voice dropping almost to a whisper, "that you offer me little choice?" The voice came up suddenly. "I must obey the commands of my King. Vart, Lagoth . . ." The two soldiers in the doorway moved forward. And pitched, half-drawn swords clattering, full-length to the floor. Behind their prone bodies stood a very calm Matt Sören, and the big, capable man named Coll. Seeing them there, Kevin Laine, whose childhood fantasies had been shaped of images like this, knew a moment of sheer delight.
Location 1044:
And in this fashion did Paul Schafer first see one of the lios alfar. And before the ethereal, flame-like quality of the silver-haired figure that stood before him, he felt himself to have grown heavy and awkward, as a different dimension of grace was made manifest.
Location 1531:
Of desire they spoke, and called her fair in words more strung with fire than any she had ever heard.
Location 3102:
Turning, she watched the battle, her heart leaping into her throat, though not with fear. By the light of the setting sun, Kimberly bore witness to the first battle of Aileron dan Ailell in his war, and a stunning, a nearly debilitating grace was displayed for her then upon that lonely path. To see him with a sword in his hand was almost heartbreaking. It was a dance. It was more. Some men, it seemed, were born to do a thing; it was true.
Location 3109:
"I told you to go," he said. "I know. I don’t always do what I’m told. I thought I warned you." He was silent, looking up at her. "A ‘little’ skill," she mimicked quite precisely. His face, she saw with delight, had suddenly gone shy. "Why," Kim Ford asked, "did that take you so long?" For the first time she heard him laugh.
Location 4439:
"I lied," Leith said quietly. "I married you because no other man I know or can imagine could have made my heart leap so when he asked." He turned from the moon to her. "The sun rises in your eyes," he said. The formal proposal. "It always, always has, my love."
Location 4460:
"Could you trouble yourself," the bass voice continued, "to summon this Levon person from some other locality?"
Updated: Feb 28, 2022
After the war was over, they bound him under the Mountain.
Bright One, Too long. Even the stars now speak to me of you, and the night wind knows your name. I must come. Death is a dark I seek not to find, but if I must walk within its provinces to touch the flower of your body, then I must. Promise only that should the soldiers of Cathal end my life it will be your hands that close my eyes, and perhaps—too much to ask, I know—your lips that touch my cold ones in farewell. There is a lyren tree near the northern wall of Larai Rigal. Ten nights past the full of the moon there should still be light enough at moonrise for us to find each other. I will be there. You hold my life as a small thing between the fingers of your hands. Diarmuid dan Ailell
"Do you know," Rachel said, "that you are a musician, after all." "I wish," he heard himself say. "You know I can’t even sing." "But no," she said, pursuing a conceit, playing with the hairs on his chest. "You are. You’re a harper, Paul. You have harper’s hands." "Where’s my harp, then?" Straight man. And Rachel said, "Me, of course. My heart’s your harpstring." What could he do but smile? The very light. "You know," she said, "when I play next month, the Brahms, it’ll be for you." "No. For yourself. Keep that for yourself." She smiled. He couldn’t see it, but he knew by now when Rachel smiled.
Updated: Mar 02, 2022
Deny not your own mortality. The voice was within him like a wind, one of her voices, only one, he knew, and in the sound was love, he was loved. You failed because humans fail. It is a gift as much as anything else. And then, deep within him like the low sound of a harp, which no longer hurt, this last: Go easy, and in peace. It is well.
He looked for Leith again across the ring of fire. And with a twist in his heart, Ivor saw how beautiful she was, how very beautiful still, and then he saw the tears in her eyes. Youngest child, he thought, a mother and her youngest. He had a sudden overwhelming sense of the wonder, the strangeness, the deep, deep richness of things. It filled him, it expanded within his breast. He couldn’t hold it in, it was so much, so very much.