How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Tilja thought about Woodbourne, trying to imagine, detail by detail, what her family might be doing at each moment. She wondered if they were missing her. Did it feel very strange without her? (6.1)
Tilja's away from home and misses it desperately. She occupies her time and stops herself from worrying about being stuck in Ellion's home by worrying about something else—things that might have changed while she was gone. Enough's changed already—Woodbourne will be Anja's—but will her being gone now isolate her even more?
Quote #2
She was, in a sense, no less miserable about knowing that she one day must leave Woodbourne, but at least she knew why, and she could accept it as a fact, something that she had been born with [...]. (3.221)
After talking with Meena about the unicorns, Tilja now knows more about the heavy load the heirs of Dirna's magic must carry. It's not as easy as she once thought, and though she knows she'll have to leave home, not possessing the family magic no longer feels like a flaw in herself.
Quote #3
Where were the mountains, that even from the southern fringe of the Valley at Woodbourne seemed to tower above it? Gone, gone beyond sight, and the Valley itself and the forest. You wouldn't have known they were there.
But they are, she told herself. And I'm not saying good-bye to them. I'm going home. (6.25-26)
While traveling to Talagh, Tilja misses the sights of the Valley, which are nowhere to be seen around her. But she has newfound determination: she won't succumb to homesickness, but will return to Woodbourne after her journey. That's her purpose—helping the home she grew up in—and she's not worrying about losing Woodbourne, now or later. Instead she focuses on her immediate task and keeps home in mind as a long-term goal.