How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Nothing. Only you can hear what the cedars say. I can't. And you know the way to the lake. Not me. And one day it'll be you singing to the cedars, like Ma does. Not me." (2.40).
Tilja discovers that Anja—not her—inherited their mother's powers of speaking to the cedars. Now she'll have to build a life entirely different from the one she'd envisioned, and feels alienated from her family as a result.
Quote #2
Tilja didn't answer, but gave her a hug and kiss and ran to meet Ma. Ma knelt and held her tight, both of them sobbing quietly. Her hug was as awkward as ever.
"Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" Tilja said as soon as she could speak. "Is Da all right? The river told us the pass was open and there'd been fighting in the Valley." (19.64-65)
When Tilja sees her family for the first time after coming home, she doesn't blab her whole story out. She takes in the simple rewards of a job done well and returning to those she loves most. She savors the moments of embracing her mother and sister, and only after that does she break into conversation.
Quote #3
Tilja stopped and gazed down at the long-loved farmstead. It looked shuttered and dark and still. All the way from the lake she had been twanging with worry about Da. According to Ma, the boys had arrived two days back in the last light, told her their news, and at dawn flown off to the army. Ma didn't think there could be much that two boys, even on a flying horse, could do against a horde of mounted warriors, but Tilja was confident in the Ropemaker's magic. That wasn't enough, though. Da had left ten days earlier, taking Dusty with him. Neither of them knew anything about war, and there must have been fighting already. Anything could have happened to Da, and she knew it and Ma and Meena knew it, and all the while they had trudged between the trees it had been impossible to think about anything else. (20.1)
Tilja comes home and sees Woodbourne, but she can't even process the joy of being at her house because it's dark and closed up, reminding her that her father is off at war. Her dad's been gone for ten days, but he's not a soldier and he could easily get hurt—or worse. Her family is of paramount importance in her mind now that she's back in a familiar environment.
Quote #4
It was the people—Anja cocky and bossy as ever, especially now that she was so excited at their homecoming, but different. When Tilja had given her the mother-of-pearl comb she had bought for her in the market at Ramram, and somehow ferried home unbroken, through all her adventures, Anja had been delighted with it, but instead of rushing off and looking for something she could see her reflection in and then flaunting it in front of everyone and pestering them for admiration, she had first thanked Tilja rather gravely, almost as a grown-up might have done, and actually said it must have been a nuisance to carry it all that far. Yes, Anja had changed, because for several months now she had been the elder daughter, and one day Woodbourne was going to be hers, and she had begun to understand in her bones what that meant. (20.19)
Tilja realizes she's not the only one who's grown up during her absence from Woodbourne. Anja has assumed responsibility for her future duties at Woodbourne and acts more maturely—in other words, Tilja and her sister are new people. These two semi-strangers must negotiate a new relationship than the one they had previously.
Quote #5
Perhaps, she thought, it was something to do with the magic dying out of the forest. Once that had happened, what was the point of Ma being at Woodbourne at all, instead of Grayne? What was the point of all those Urlasdaughters before her, trudging out year after year through the winter snows to sing to the unicorns? Twenty generations of certainty, gone. Oh, the cedars were talking again. Only that afternoon Meena had sat by the lake with the unicorns spread round her, singing to tell them she was home, and was reweaving the magic for another twenty generations, But nothing would ever bring back the old certainties into Ma's own mind. So she fiddled with her hair. (20.22)
Ma's lack of confidence in the magic makes Tilja wonder what will happen if the power fades from the Valley. If that happens, then what's the point of the past twenty generations of her family doing their duty? All of their magical tasks become meaningless if they can't perpetuate the enchantment. She and her mother call into question their entire family history, though this seems to cause a greater lack of uncertainty in her mother than it does in Tilja.
Quote #6
Without a word he picked her up as if he were about to lift her onto Dusty's back, just as he'd done almost a year ago, sending her out to look for Ma by the lake. He held her for a moment, studying her face, and set her down. (20.27)
While many things have altered in Tilja's family dynamic, one thing hasn't—her relationship with her father. When they reunite, he sweeps her up in his arms just like he did before she left. He worried terribly while she was gone—as Ma mentions in a previous paragraph—and Tilja later expresses that she finds this continuity reassuring.
Quote #7
They settled onto a pile of hay, close together, not just for warmth, but because they were long-parted sisters, with feelings for each other no one else could have, ever. (20.125)
After the tense feelings between Tilja and Anja at the beginning of the book, the two have finally reconciled, each settling into her own powers and duties. Both girls are comfortable in their own places and futures, so they can once again bond as sisters do. It's a pretty sweet reconnection, isn't it?
Quote #8
Anja shouted, raced to the gate and climbed it. Twisting round on the top bar, she cupped her hands round her mouth and yelled.
"Wake up! Wake up, everybody! Meena's come home!"
She swung herself down on the other side and raced to welcome her grandmother. (20.137-139)
The very last line of the final chapter ends with Tilja's family similar to the way they were when the book started. Anja is in a girlish role again, Meena is her old self (literally), and Tilja is somewhere in the middle. She's still a child at home, but is a powerful magician now, too. Anja is also more grown-up, and Meena has found romance again, but in this last moment, their family is joined by one simple bond—love.
Quote #9
[...] Alnor dead. Tahl dead. Meena, whom she loved more than anyone in the world, dead, horribly, horribly dead. (17.113)
When the bag featuring the mini versions of her friends drops into the fire, Tilja is overcome by grief. She mourns the Ortahlsons, but her biggest loss was Meena—the old lady was her grandmother, her guardian, a trusted source of advice, and an occasional annoyance. She's the matriarch of the Urlasdaughters and the core of Tilja's life, the one constant during this entire magical journey.
Quote #10
No voice answered her call. She hadn't expected one. Her brothers would be righting the raiders, or dead, her mother and aunt hiding in the forest with the animals.
She scuffed with her feet among the fringes of the heap. It was a way of preventing herself from weeping, because she felt she had no right to. Of her own will she had cut every connection with Woodbourne, even grief. All of that was over. (Epilogue.6-7)
Every Urlasdaughter is tied inextricably to her family at Woodbourne, even if—like Saranja—she deliberately leaves them all behind and rejects her legacy. When Saranja comes home and doesn't find her family, she feels a great sense of grief and regret for pushing them away for so many years. Now she won't have a chance to redeem herself... or so she thinks.