Clergyman's

“The sensation of the ocean bearing my weight was the most carefree lightness I’d ever experienced. When we were halfway across the strait, the sound of an engine approached from a distance—it was probably the police coast guard. We quickly ducked under the surface of the water, exposing only the tips of our trunks so we could breathe.”
— Xi Ni Er

“500. There are paradoxes. If there were no night, we would be deprived of themagnificent image of a starry sky. Thus light deprives us of “vision,” anddarkness helps us “see.”
— Alija Izetbegovi?

“You didn’t think I really liked you? Do you think I really like you now?”He turned toward her, uncertainty in his face.”You did go quite a lot of effort to be having this conversation, but… I don’t want to read too much of what I hope into that.”Val stretched out beside him, resting her head in the crook of his arm. “What do you hope?”He pulled her close, hands careful not to touch her wounds as they wrapped around her. “I hope that you feel for me as I do for you,” he said, his voice like a sigh against her throat.And how is that?” she asked, her lips so close to his jaw that she could taste the salt of his skin when she moved them.You carried my heart in your hands tonight,” he said. “But I have felt as if you carried it long before that.”She smiled and let her eyes drift closed. They lay there together, under the bridge, city lights burning outside the windows like a sky full of falling stars, as they slid off into sleep”
— Holly Black