How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Miri felt torn in half, like an old shirt made into rags. How could she bear to leave her family and walk into some lowlander unknown? (3.43)
Miri's grown up and spent her whole life on Mount Eskel. Even the prospect of leaving home to go to the princess academy is scary and unwelcome.
Quote #2
Miri suspected it was a fancy meal meant to mark a special occasion, but the strange spices made it feel foreign and unkind, a reminder that they had been taken away from home. (3.143)
You could serve filet mignon and champagne and the girls would still feel as homesick as ever. They've all been dragged from their families to this strange place where they live together almost as if they're orphans. It must be really jarring.
Quote #3
More and more often, the girls looked up from their books and toward the heartening sight of Mount Eskel's peak, shedding white for brown and green. Miri could not think of returning home without a plummeting sensation in her belly. (10.2)
Miri may be focused on becoming academy princess and getting a big house for her family, but she still can't resist the pull of Mount Eskel. After all, it might not look like much to lowlanders, but it's home.
Quote #4
Where should I fly? Miri asked herself all summer as she traveled between the academy and home. (15.13)
Mount Eskel has been home for Miri's whole life, but now her world has gotten a little bigger, thanks to her lessons at the academy. Now that she knows there's more out there, what is she going to choose for herself?
Quote #5
She found herself glancing often at Katar, wondering if the older girl had caught things that Miri missed, or staring at the painting of the house with hope so strong that it felt like something she could reach out and grab. When she found herself in such a mood, she tried not to think of Peder at all. Her mind and heart tangled. (16.4)
Like most adolescents who are growing into adults, Miri has to choose between the home she's always known and going off to make her own fortune. Sure the allure of being a princess is great, but is she willing to give up her life on Mount Eskel for all those riches?
Quote #6
Doter often said, Truth is when your gut and your mind agree, and a heaviness in Miri's gut confirmed what she was starting to believe—if the bandits took them down the mountain, none of them would return. (21.29)
The bandits have promised that all the girls will get to go home at the end of the day, but Miri is pretty sure that's a lie. It'd probably be safer for Dan to kill the remaining girls so they couldn't talk.
Quote #7
Her silent challenge to Dan heartened her. She was a Mount Eskel girl. There was something she could do. (21.75)
No matter how much time Miri spends at the academy and how many lowlander customs she learns, she's still a mountain girl at heart. That's never going to go away.
Quote #8
She realized with sudden clarity that she did not want to live far away from the village where Mount Eskel's shadow fell like a comforting arm. The mountain was home—the linder dust, the rhythm of the quarry, the chain of mountains, the people she knew as well as the feel of her own skin. (23.34)
Mount Eskel will always be home to Miri, and no matter what the lowlanders think of the mountain, Miri knows it's a wonderful place and she'll never find another place like it.
Quote #9
Her thoughts were filling with the lush expectations of a quarry filled with snow, allowing everyone days of free time, of Marda and reading lessons, of winter at home with plenty of fuel and plenty of food. (24.8)
After the whole brouhaha with the bandits, Miri doesn't care about preparing for the prince's return—she just wants to hang out at home with the people she loves. It's practically time for winter break.
Quote #10
"Maybe. But I haven't enjoyed home in so long, and now I think I can—I want to try. I want to make my pa's breakfast, and take care of Britta's garden, and spare Marda the slaying of the winter rabbits. And I want to open an academy where anyone can come learn. Esa is going to help me." (25.150)
Going to the academy has been enough time away from home for Miri—a big part of what she's learned from her experience away is that there's no place like home. It's time for her to settle down with her family and open a school for the villagers on Mount Eskel now. After all, who else will take care of their education?