"Rail went first, Moa followed. It was always the way, ever since thay had met in the ghetto, all that time ago" (The Sea Bird, 1.2, p. 8).

"Leave her behind, just leave her behind, whispered a voice in his head, the voice that had helped him survive through a hard and dangerous childhood...But he couldn't leave her. He couldn't. In the time they had known each other, she had become the most precious thing he had" (The Sea Bird 1.4, p. 28).

"That was why people feared the victims of the storms; because they reminded everybody how fragile their happiness was, how easily their world could be turned inside out. That was why people reacted with disgust and hate" (The Sea Bird, 1.9, p. 76).

"It was clear that Rail wouldn't be persuaded. He dared to try and change his own life, but refused to accept the possibility of a different life...