How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
She shook her head and told herself that the wind was not speaking to her and that this was not the forest that was full of death and betrayal. Nothing in this wood put bodies on those thin memories and made flesh what was nightmare. In fact, she discovered, there was a comfort in the close trees. And just being on horseback again gave a confidence to her entire body. She smiled. "Nothing. This is perfect." (12.96)
We get the feeling life is pretty perfect for Ani when she's hanging out with Geric in the pasture. It probably has a little something to do with the fact that Ani feels really at home in nature, even if she has had some pretty rough experiences there.
Quote #8
He stopped. Looking into his dark eyes was like gazing at a calm river, and in them she saw the reflection of the leaning trees behind her, of golden leaves, of herself crowned by autumn. She lifted her face to him and was aware of the fullness of the sun on her skin, breaking through the cold air. Geric touched her cheek, smooth as a teardrop, thrilling as a lightning storm. She felt real. (13.22)
Geric is torn between staying and going, but check out how Ani is described—it's all in terms of nature. So much of their relationship happens out and about instead of in the palace where Selia is trying to be ruler. Out in nature is where Ani and Geric get to know each other for themselves, not their titles.
Quote #9
She had begun to feel it more profoundly since winter came. The cold deadened the world—froze stones, emptied streets, buried the pasture, and iced the stream. The bare trees stood against the whiteness like rigid ink strokes reaching upward to the dimmed, gray paper sky. (15.6)
As the seasons change, Ani does too. We get to see her grow up while the leaves fall and it changes to winter. It helps us mark the passage of time, but it also gives us a sense of how Ani understands her world—through the changing weather and earth.