There was talk of horsemen getting closer. Horsemen who razed everything to the ground...Horsemen who stole people.
-- Narrator (NA)

Importance: This quotation comes from the opening chapter, which is set in Botu and focusses on Aminah. It serves as foreshadowing to Aminah's own capture by slave raiders on horses later in the novel.

I dreamt that he was in a room with no doors and windows and he kept touching the walls to find a hole.
-- Hassana (NA)

Importance: The twins both share a dream about a man that is in a dark room with no windows or door. With their father's prolonged absence, they determine that this dream must be about him, concluding that this means he will not return. It is a profound dream and serves as the only evidence of what happened to Baba, implying that the must have been captured into slavery by the horsemen.

She awaited her wedding day with...
-- Narrator (NA)