That's from the Dark is Rising, isn't it? Silver on the Tree? I think you shouldn't be ashamed of saying it, because it's what resonates so strongly with me about this fic; like any good piece of writing, it's more than the sum of its parts, and even if it's about characters which don't belong to you it's still got this internal philosophy which vocalizes a lot of how I feel about, well, life, except I didn't know I felt it until you said it. Oh dear, the previous sentence could use a good edit, but the point is (she says, waving her glass drunkenly), the point is that I feel so strongly about this fic because that's something most fanfiction, and hell, rather a lot of published fiction, never quite manages to do.