Firewing

Firewing (Silverwing #3)

by Kenneth Oppel 

“Down here is like life, only less,” Murk said. “We only pretend at life here. We have no more need of food or even sleep really. We do not dream. We are biding our time here, mimicking the world above. And I feel there must be more to eternity than this.”

 “Yes,” said Java eagerly. “That is exactly the feeling I have. It’s not more of my old life I want. It’s something new in the next world.”

 “Fine for you,” snapped Yorick. “You got to live your full life. I was just flying along, nice and cheerful, taking my time, and got blasted against a tree during a storm. I had another twenty years coming to me.”

 “At least nobody ate you,” muttered Nemo, looking darkly at Murk.

 “I make no apologies for my species,” said Murk. “I doubt you grieve for the fish you eat.” He glanced over at Shade. “Or you for the insects you devour.”

 “I eat fruit,” said Java. “No one’s feelings get hurt that way.”

 “We do not choose our appetites,” Murk said. “We are born with them.”

 “You eat your own kind,” Shade said bluntly.

 “Why is that evil? Many other creatures in the Upper World eat their own kind. It is simply the nature of things.”

“Strange as it may seem,” Dante said, “with death also comes the death of fear. Fear is the greatest tyrant of all in our lives. It makes us greedy, selfish, violent. Here, we don’t have to worry about food, or the elements, or predators.”

"Shade came out over the forest.

 He had no body, no shape that he could discern.

 He was just here.

 And here was anywhere he wanted, just by wishing it. He glided low over the treetops and skimmed a maple leaf—not above it or below it or near it, but inside it. With elation he felt his whole being enter the leaf and course through its tissue, through the tiny tributaries that carried water and food, and then down the fibrous twig which held it, and into the strong tendons of a larger branch, and then down the wise old muscle and bones of the trunk itself—and finally Shade knew what it felt like to be a tree. He slipped out through the bark back into the forest.

 This was great."

"He felt himself expand with joy when he saw Marina and Griffin, talking and enfolding each other in their wings. Shade streamed towards them and embraced them both, flowing through Marina and Griffin, his mate and his son, and being closer to them than they could possibly comprehend. He felt all the things in their hearts, and became a part of them, and so the homecoming was his as well."