"It's not that, either... the experience of dying, I mean. Or mortality. It's not something cruel, it's not something kind..."

Hamuko replied very calmly, likely uncomfortably wise beyond her apparent age. 'It just happened a bit sooner than it will for the rest of you.'

"Death, the Shadow, though... he was a very loving person. He didn't want any of us to suffer, knowing the end was inevitable. He gave us the option to have our memories changed so we wouldn't know what was coming."