#epigraph

If love were not stronger than poetry

And poetry were not stronger than love.”

I've always loved the use of epigraphs, taking a quote from another piece of art, or a speech, or a song, and using to set the tone for another story. It's art interacting with other art.

So, at the start of Summit, you hear a voice that seems to be coming from the Tower itself, quoting from Chapter 9 of Wuthering Heights

(It's kind of a mild spoiler so I'll stick the quote under here)

Through it all

Through it all

Through it all

-Quadeca, “FORGONE”

For The Loser

Rest your head, my child,

You saw them all.

The good times, the bad times,

The days sometimes felt like

A cornucopia of black sludge,

But you never knew.

You ran like all four winds

Blew in your stride.

They loved you.

Your name brought them luck.

And so you can’t imagine

The day you were found

Folded over.

Dense muscle that might

Have had a few more hidden in their

Salmon-pink folds.

You can’t imagine the cry,

Piercing and sharp,

When they saw you there,

Straw scattered around you like

The light filtering in through the stable roof.

They loved you.

They still do.

They shook you.

They thought horses slept like that for

One beautiful childish moment.

They couldn’t imagine

The loser might lose one last time.

I hope he’s as kind to you as he was to my dogs.

I hope you went in one go.

I hope the stench left behind christens those stables

“The Blessed Loser’s Stables.”

You should get to remain