""Hester, don't you go before I do," Lee whispered. "Lee, I couldn't abide to be anywhere away from you for a single second," she whispered back. Lee saw the fireball and heard through the roar in his ears Hester saying, "That's all of 'em, Lee." He said, or thought, "Those poor men didn't have to come to this, nor did we." She said, "We held 'em off. We held out. We're a-helping Lyra." Then she was pressing her little proud broken self against his face as close as she could get, and then they died"

- Lee Scoresby and Hester, The Subtle Knife