Quotes from Hawksong

By Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

“Hawksong”

"I wish to you sunshine, my dear one, my dear one. And treetops for you to soar past. I wish to you innocence, my child, my child. I pray you don’t grow up too fast.

Never know pain, my dear one, my dear one. Nor hunger nor fear nor sorrow. Never know war my child, my child. Remember your hope for tomorrow.

My prayer is simple, my dear one, my dear one. May you never need understand. My prayer is for peacetime, my child, my child.

Live it well, and life can be grand."

“This myth is one of the stories we hear as children, but it says nothing of reality or the hard lessons we are taught later.”

“Meaningless hatred: the hatred of an enemy without a face. No one knows why we fight; they only know that we will continue until we win a war it is too late to win, until we have avenged too many dead to avenge, until no one can remember peace anymore, even in songs.”

“Like our sister and our father years ago, like our aunts and uncles and too many friends, Xavier Shardae was forever grounded.”

“Avian reserve. It kept the heart from breaking with each new death. It kept the warriors fighting a war no one could win. It kept me standing when I had nothing to stand for but bloodshed.”

"This was a life: serpiente, yes, but still a life; who was I to steal it?"

"I felt a sob choke my throat and couldn't stop it.  Gregory Cobriana was the enemy, but here on the battlefield he was just another brother to another sister, fallen on the field.  I could not cry for my own brother; he would not want me to.  But I found myself crying for this hated stranger and the endless slaughter that I had almost contributed to."

“Gregory Cobriana was the enemy, but here on the battlefield he was just another brother to another sister, fallen on the field.”

“By the time I found sleep that night, back in the Hawk’s Keep, my throat was tight with too many tears unshed, screams unuttered and prayers whose words I could never seem to find.”

“I knew there would be no energy left for living if I grieved too deeply for each loss, but each funeral was harder to turn from than the last.”

“With my mother’s command, the seven floors of the Keep had changed from my safe home to my prison. Instead of being a refuge from the blood and pain, the walls were suddenly a trap keeping me from reality.”

"I passed the door to my brother's rooms and whispered a final goodbye before I entered my own."

"I pushed the phantom away and found myself face to face with the garnet eyes of Zane Cobriana, the creature whose kind was responsible for every lose we suffered, every tear I held inside.  My breath halted in my lungs; my blood turned to ice.  I felt my throat constrict as I tried to scream-

'Danica, are you all right?'"

"Irene lowered his head, and I could tell she was trying to speak around her anger.  'Gregory Cobriana died two nights ago,' she answered quietly.  She looked at me as she said the words.  'He was only seventeen, and now he is simply dead.  I came here, without weapons, with the hope that someone might listen.  Zane wanted to come himself, but my mother argued that you would sooner put a knife in his back than listen to anything he had to say.  And do you know what he replied?  He said, "Let them.  If they do, someone might finally be satisfied that they've won this war, and then maybe it will end.""

"Zane Cobriana lounged on a cushion, his back resting against the wall, one leg bent and the other straight.  The iridescent shimmer of his black slacks led me to wonder which of his kind he had skinned.  His shoulders were broader than those of a common avian man, and in the position in which he sat, the black material of his shirt was pulled taut across his chest.  On his left hand I could see the onyx signet ring.  For a moment he was absolutely still, then he looked up and unerringly caught my gaze.  Twin pools of fire, a shade of red brighter than Irene's, held me tight.  Time seemed to freeze for an eternity.  Then his eyes released mine and flickered down my body, a quick scan that brought heat to my face."

"You are both saying that your people doubt your sincerity, and the other side's sincerity," the Dio paraphrased.  "You two are their leaders, and if you can set the example and show them how much you are willing to give for this peace, they will follow."  He paused and then looked at me.  "The question then is, how much are you willing to give?"

And I answered, "Anything."

A breath later, Zane echoed my response with, "Everything."

The Disa spoke to the entire hall as she concluded, "The best advise I can offer is this: Tie the two royal famalies.  Make the two sides into one.  If you are willing to trust each other, and willing to put aside your anger and your hatred, then Zane Cobriana, take Danica Shardae as your mate.  Danica Shardae, have Zane Cobrana as your alistair." 

"A chill down my spine and a flicker of darkness in the corner of my vision announced his presence, even before the figure emerged from the shadows"

"What do you want?"  I asked, choking back a cry for my gaurds.  Zane Cobriana would not be stupid enough to kill me in Mistari lands.

Would he?

Zane sighed heavily.  "Of couse you.  If the Mistari Disa's proposal is even to be considered, I would like to know what I would be getting myself into."

There were no words to express my emotions in that moment, though I am sure they bordered between pure terror and helpless fascination.  The Disa's suggestion was impossible.  It would never happen.  But still..."And what exactly do you think you are 'getting yourself into'?"  I inquired distastefully.  Before this conversation went any further, I thought it best to have some idea where Zane intended to go, since he had surely come here with some hidden purpose.

I jumped when he reached toward me, belatedly recognizing the movement as something casual, a mere gesture while he spoke.  His hand froze, as if he had not even realized he had moved until I reacted, and then it balled into a fist.

Zane was on his feet instantly.  "Damn it, Danica!"  he hissed, his voice soft but full of impatience.  "I'm not going to hurt you."