Heartwarming / Wise Child

• The very beginning of the book opens with Juniper and Wise Child's first meeting: when Wise Child was younger, she went blackberry picking with her cousins, and they left her behind on their walk back home to teach her a lesson when she refused to walk and wanted one of them, Conor, to keep carrying her. When left alone, she started crying out of fear a taran ^note the ghost of an unbaptized baby or sidhe (The Fair Folk) would take her away, but Juniper came along on her donkey, picked her up, and not only caught up with her cousins, but gave her a ride the rest of the way back to the village. And once they got to the village, Juniper told Wise Child (who, keep in mind, is still a stranger to her at this point) this:
  "You may be too tired to walk today, but you'll be a great traveler one day. You're not Finbar's daughter for nothing."
• When Wise Child arrives at Juniper's house after her grandmother's funeral, Juniper does everything she can to make Wise Child comfortable in her new home (giving her tea and a soft blanket, getting her out of her rain-soaked clothes so she can wear her dry ones, and letting her explore the house). After Wise Child admits that her cousin Seumas told her that Juniper might put spells in her food, Juniper doesn't get angry or offended. She laughs it off, offers for Wise Child to help her prepare dinner, and asks if seeing her eat the same food will make Wise Child feel safer, showing how much she already cares about how Wise Child feels.
• At the end of her first day in Juniper's house, Wise Child finds a bedroom to sleep in, but soon breaks down over how scared she is to sleep in a strange new house. Juniper overhears her crying and comforts her, leading to Wise Child confessing all the horrible things her cousins told her about what Juniper and her house was like (the rumors that her cabinets were full of corpses and ghosts and that she was a Wicked Witch who flew on a broomstick). Juniper not only assures her that she'll show her the cabinets the next day so she can see they're nothing out of the ordinary, but picks her up and carries her to a smaller, cozier little room for Wise Child to sleep in and tucks her in.
• Juniper reconciles Wise Child with Cormac after she threw a stone at him (she mistook him for a thief trying to steal the food she set out at Juniper's instruction, which she assumed was for the fairies but in reality was what Juniper always left for him). She brings Wise Child (despite her protests) on her usual visit to his hut, sits with Cormac while Wise Child stays outside, and Wise Child eventually feels ashamed and comes in to apologize, then goes back out. When Juniper brings her in so Cormac can talk to her, Wise Child finds she is no longer frightened of him when she sees him up close. They then have this touching conversation:
  Wise Child: It's not as bad as I thought.
  Cormac: I'm glad. Perhaps I won't scare you so much.
  Wise Child: I'm no longer scared of you, sir.
  • Afterwards, Wise Child tells Juniper about how Fillan claimed that Cormac's condition was a punishment from God for a horrible sin. Juniper points out that though Fillan may hate Cormac, God does not, and that Jesus healed the lepers and forgave everyone, including his crucifiers, so why would God punish Cormac? She also correctly summarizes that illnesses aren't divine punishments, and the real cause for them isn't so clear-cut:
  Juniper: Lots of people kill other people without getting leprosy, as well as hurting them in all sorts of other ways. Of course, it does sometimes make them ill in their minds, and their minds sometimes make their bodies ill, but usually we don't know why people are ill.
• Colman visits Wise Child at Juniper's house, all by himself, and gets there by walking up the cliffs barefoot, which cuts up his legs and feet so much that Juniper has to heal them. And he does this while still believing like his siblings that Juniper is a witch with dangers in her home. It goes to show how much he cares about Wise Child—he overcame his fears just to check on her and make sure she was okay.
• During her stay at her mother Maeve's house, Wise Child meets Jeannie, a servant girl assigned to her. She notices how scared Jeannie is around her, figures out that it's Maeve that Jeannie is actually scared of, and befriends her by telling her she's glad she's her age and sharing her Breakfast in Bed with her. Wise Child also later teaches her how to play games like brandub, reads fairy tales to her, and tells her about her life at Juniper's house (leading to Jeannie asking her the Armor-Piercing Question of how she could leave it).
• What motivates Wise Child to leave Maeve once and for all is her discovery of the Voodoo Doll Maeve made of Juniper to torment her. She uses the pony Maeve gave her to escape back to the village and meets up with Colman, who helps her get back to Juniper's house via the underground caves. And when Wise Child returns, Juniper isn't even angry with her for running away. She's just glad Wise Child is safe and came back home.
• At Beltane, Wise Child is immediately able to pick out Juniper in the crowd despite her wearing a mask like the rest.
• Near the end, after Maeve returns to take Wise Child back and Juniper drives her away, Wise Child finally remembers how Maeve scarred her on the hand with a fire poker and breaks down when talking about it, crying that Maeve didn't love her. Juniper gently holds her hand and tells her that she thinks Maeve did love Wise Child as much as she loved anyone else, but people like Maeve, who can't express love any other way, sometimes do it by hurting others. It becomes heart-melting when Wise Child affirms to Juniper what she's known all along, but hasn't said up until this point.
  Wise Child: From now on, I choose you to be my mother.
• When Juniper and Wise Child go into the village to heal a nursing mother named Jean with a milk infection, Wise Child is able to soothe Jean's crying infant by singing her to sleep. After Juniper heals her, Jean warns her to be careful because there are people in the village who want to harm her. Although most of the villagers fear and scorn Juniper as a witch, Jean proves that some of them do appreciate the hard work she does to help them.
• At Juniper's trial, Wise Child gives a powerful speech to defend what being a doran means when questioned on the stand by the inquisitor. Doubles as an Awesome Moment.
  Wise Child: [A doran] is someone who loves all the creatures of the world. The animals, birds, plants, trees, and people, and who cannot bear to do any of them any harm. It is someone who believes that they are all linked together and that therefore everything can be used to heal the pain and suffering of the world. It is someone who does not hate anybody and who is not frightened of anyone or anything.