Since I've been spending a lot of time in bed the last 3-4 days, I have been reading the first books of David Zindell's The Ea Cycle...entitled The Lightstone book One, The Ninth Kingdom, The Lightstone book Two, The Silver Sword, and Lord of Lies. The series is not finished yet, and I had to order it from England upon a friend's recommendation. There are some beautiful passages of writing. I especially liked this one, so am sharing it. There might be others in the next few days if I have the energy to type them in...this one is from the first Lightstone book.

I ran into this passage today while reading David Zindell's The Lightstone Book One: the Ninth Kingdom...thought it was interesting, and made me start to think about emotions:
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"You're in love, my friend," he quietly said to me."At last in love."
His words caught me by surprise. The truth often does. It is astonishing how we can deny such things even when it is in our eyes and hearts. "You think I'm in love?" I said stupidly. "With Atara?"
"No, with your packhorse, whom you've been watching all morning." He shook his head at my doltishness.
"But I thought it was you who loved her."
"I? But what made you think that?"
"Well, she's a woman, isn't she?"
"Ah, a woman she is. And I'm a man. So what? A stallion smells a mare in heat, and its inevitable that the inevitable will happen. But love, Val?"
"Well, she's a beautiful woman."
"Beautiful, yes. So is a star. Can you touch one? Can you wrap your arms around such a cold fire and clasp it to your heart?"
"I don't know," I said. "If you can't, why should you think I can?"
"Because you are different from me," he said simply. "You were born to worship such impossible lights."
He went on to say that the very feature I loved most about Atara unnerved him completely. "The truth is, my friend, I can't bear looking at her damn eyes. Too blue, too bright - a woman's eyes should flow into mine like coffee, not dazzle me like diamonds."
I looked down at the two diamonds of my knight's ring but couldn't find anything to say.
"She loves you, you know," he suddenly told me.
"Did she say that?"
"Ah, no, not exactly. In fact, she denied it. But that's denying the sun."
"You see," I said. "She couldn't possibly love me. No one could love another so soon."
"You think not? When you were born, did you need more than a moment to love the world?"
"That's different," I said.
"No, my friend, it's not. Love is. Sometimes I think it's the only thing in the world that really is. And when a man and a woman meet, either they open themselves to this heavenly fire, or they do not."
Again I looked at the stones of my ring shining in the bright morning light like two stars.
"Aren't you aware of the way Atara listens to you when you speak of even little things?" Maram asked. "When you walk into a clearing, don't you see the way her eyes light up as if you were the sun?"
"No. no," I murmured, "it's not possible."
"It is possible, damn it! She told me she was drawn to your kindness and that wild thing in your heart you always try to hide. She was really just saying that she loved you."
"No, it's not possible," I said again.
"Listen my friend, and listen well!" Here Maram grasped my arm as if his fingers might convince me of what his words could not. "You should tell her that you love her. Then ask her to marry you before it is too late."
"You say that?" I couldn't believe what I had heard. "How many women have you asked to marry you then?"
"Listen," he said again. 'I may spend the rest of my life looking for the woman who was meant for me. But you, by rare good chance and the grace of the One - you've found the woman who was meant for you."