The world, Kieran thought, is cruel. But it was the people in it who made it filthy.

Now that he had caught a glimpse of the world, he could no longer bear to be away from it.

Oscar squeezed his hand softly. 'Do we really need to know? Can we truly know? Perhaps this whirlwind we call our lives is too big and too vast to be known by our small minds? Perhaps our purpose is not to know, but to be okay with that, to be comfortable with not knowing, and still have the courage to love

All my life my heart has sought a thing I cannot name,' the silver boy said, eyes dancing over the horizon. 'But now that I have found it, I am not so sure I can handle knowing it.

And like a rushing tide against his skin, Kieran felt the full weight of the very heavens press against his shoulders; and Kieran marvelled at the whole unfairness of it all.