How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Southeast, roughly," said Lananeth. "That way lies Talagh. You said you would look for him there. And you think he still lives—the same man that gave the peach nineteen generations back?"
"So the waters tell me," said Alnor.
"Then he is powerful indeed," said Lananeth. "He must hold Time itself in his hand." (6.104-106).
Faheel still has power over Axtrig—carved from a peach tree that came from a peach he once owned—nineteen generations after it was first a fruit. If his power can be so strong for so long, he's a magician of extraordinary power—one that, like Asarta when she made herself younger, might have the ability to turn back time and/or maintain extreme power over long stretches of time.
Quote #2
"[...] I'm really making the most of it, seeing all these places and meeting all these people, when all my life I've never been more than nine miles from my own front door."
Not everyone felt like this. Some were already in the grip of their last illness, some made the journey with dread, and some with fierce resentment, but most seemed to be going south almost gaily, and these helped to keep the doubters from gloom. (8.25-26)
For the old folks here, their time to live is up. Some take it badly, but some are actually quite cheery about it. Maybe they're suffering and looking forward to a relief. Maybe they enjoy traveling when they never got a chance to. It's an interesting look at death: it's the end of someone's time on Earth, but it's not necessarily negative.
Quote #3
"So what I must do is ask the ring to hold all time still for everything but you and your immediate surroundings while you are carried to Talagh. There will be a sort of bubble of moving time inside an unmoving universe. The bubble will be centered on you. Our journey will seem to us to take several hours, but when we reach the palace at Talagh the parading soldiers will not have moved a step." (11.157)
The manipulation of time is what allows Tilja and Faheel to complete this part of their journey. They save the Empire from a despotic ruler, destroy the Watchers, and restore some balance of equality to the country. It furthers both their missions—Tilja stops the Ropemaker from becoming a Watcher—and allows things to continue as they should, not as they might have.