.^»††*§£## ##£§*††»^.
....»††§££ ££§††»....
.^»††*§£## ##£§*††»^.
....»†**§§ §§**†»....
.....^^†*§ §*†^^.....
.^»††*§£## WINDS ESKER ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» ##£§*††»^.
.^^»»†*§££ ££§*†»»^^.
.^»††*§£## THERE WAS THIS PLACE THAT FOR TWO YEARS ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## I COULDN'T GO TO. REGARDLESS HOW MUCH ##£§*††»^.
....^»††§§ DISCUSSED WITH OTHERS, OR POINTED OUT §§††»^....
.^»††*§£## ON MAPS, I COULD NOT THINK OF IT WHEN ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## ALONE. I WOULD OFTEN TRAVEL PAST THE ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## FORK, WHERE A RIGHT TURN WOULD SURELY ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## TAKE ME THERE, BUT EVEN THEN, SOMETHING ##£§*††»^.
.....^^†*§ KEPT ME AWAY. §*†^^.....
...^»†††*§ §*†††»^...
....^^††*§ WHEN I FINALLY GOT THERE, AFTER SOME §*††^^....
.^»††*§£## HEAVY SUBCONSCIOUS BATTLE I MUST ##£§*††»^.
....^»»†*§ ASSUME, THE PLACE WAS SURREAL. AN §*†»»^....
.^»††*§£## ESKER, LIKE A NEEDLE-THIN RIFT OUT IN ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## THE LAKE, BUT TEN METERS HIGH AND ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## ADORNED IN BIRCH, WILLOW, BRACKEN, AND ##£§*††»^.
......»†§§ BLUEBERRIES. §§†»......
.^»†††**§§ §§**†††»^.
.^»††*§£## WALKING ATOP THAT SPINE, I CAME TO ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## NOTICE THE VIEW TO EITHER SIDE. THERE ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## SHOULD BE SHORES, OF COURSE, BUT I ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THEM. FIRST OFF, THEY ##£§*††»^.
....»»†*££ WERE MUCH TOO CLOSE, AS THE LAKE SHOULD ££*†»»....
.^»††*§£## STRETCH FOR A HUNDRED METERS MORE ON ##£§*††»^.
.....»†**§ BOTH SIDES. BUT NOW I FELT I COULD §**†».....
.^»††***§£ ALMOST REACH OUT AND TOUCH THEM. AND £§***††»^.
.....^††*§ THEN, WHEN I REALIZED WHICH SHORES THEY §*††^.....
....»»†*££ WERE, I HAD TO STOP. ££*†»»....
..^^^††**£ £**††^^^..
.^»»††**§# THEY WERE OF THE RIGHT LAKE. BUT THIS #§**††»»^.
.^»††*§£## LAKE IS LARGE, FRACTURED, AND ##£§*††»^.
....^»»†§£ BIPARTITE. LIKE A PAIR OF LUNGS CARVED £§†»»^....
.^»††*§£## INTO THE GRANITE, AND WITH NO LESS THAN ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## FIVE COMMUNITIES ANCHORED AT VARIOUS ##£§*††»^.
.....^^†*£ POINTS. AND SO, STUDYING THESE £*†^^.....
.^»††*§£## IMPOSSIBLY CLOSE SHORES, I SLOWLY ##£§*††»^.
.......»†§ UNDERSTOOD THEM AS BELONGING MANY MILES §†».......
...^»†††§# AWAY. #§†††»^...
.^^^»†*§§§ §§§*†»^^^.
.^»††*§§§§ I EXAMINED THE RIDGE, THE TREELINE §§§§*††»^.
..^»††††*§ ABOVE. WAS THIS WHAT YOU SAW OPPOSITE, §*††††»^..
...^»†††§§ FROM THOSE OTHER SHORES? I COULDN'T §§†††»^...
.^»††*§£## REMEMBER. ##£§*††»^.
....^»†††§ §†††»^....
.^»††*§### CARRYING FORWARD, ON THE VERY TIP OF ###§*††»^.
.^»††*§£££ THE ESKER, I FOUND THE RUINS OF SOME £££§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## OLD BUILDING. THERE WERE OVERGROWN ##£§*††»^.
...»††††*£ MARBLE STAIRCASES, STONE FLOORS BENEATH £*††††»...
......»††§ THE MOSS, AND STRANGE SLABS INSERTED §††»......
.^^^^†††*§ INTO THE SLOPE LIKE DAMS AGAINST THE §*†††^^^^.
.^»††*§£## GROUND ITSELF. ##£§*††»^.
.^^^^^»†*§ §*†»^^^^^.
...»††*§§§ SITTING THERE, I COULD SEE ACROSS THE §§§*††»...
....^††*£# NARROWED LAKE MY ENTIRE PATH TO WHERE I #£*††^....
.....»†*§£ SAT: FROM THE STAIRWELL OF MY HOUSE, £§*†».....
.^»»»††*§£ THROUGH THE OLD WOODS BEHIND THE TILE £§*††»»»^.
.^»»»†**§# FACTORY, THE BRIDGE OVER ROUTE #§**†»»»^.
.^»††**§£# TWENTY THREE AND THEN BACK UNDER IT, #£§**††»^.
.^»††*§£## THROUGH THE FANCY VILLAS, OVER THE ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## FIELDS, AND THEN THAT RIGHT TURN AT THE ##£§*††»^.
.....^^†*£ FORK. £*†^^.....
.^»††*§£## ##£§*††»^.
.^»†††*§££ AND THEN THE STAIRS UP ON THE RIDGE. ££§*†††»^.
.^»††*§£## THINKING BACK, THIS WAS PROBABLY IT. ##£§*††»^.
...»††††*§ HIDDEN IN A GROVE, THERE WERE STAIRS §*††††»...
.^»††*§£## MUCH LIKE THE ONES I CURRENTLY SAT ON, ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## OLD AND WORN DOWN, THAT LEAD YOU UP ##£§*††»^.
....^†††§# ONTO THE ESKER. THE POINT OF ENTRY. HAD #§†††^....
..^^»†**§# I INSTED OPTED TO WALK THE PATH AT ITS #§**†»^^..
..^»†††**£ FOOT, I'M SURE MY EXPERIENCE WOULD'VE £**†††»^..
.^»††*§### BEEN DIFFERENT INDEED. ###§*††»^.
...^^††*§§ §§*††^^...
.^»†*§£### »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» ###£§*†»^.
.^»††*§£## ##£§*††»^.
.^»††*§£## ON THE LAKE, THERE WERE PEOPLE IN ##£§*††»^.
...^^^»†§# BOATS. I WONDERED, COULD THEY EVEN SEE #§†»^^^...
..^^»††§§# ME? IF I SHOUTED, WOULD THEY TURN TO #§§††»^^..
.^»††††*§# STARE RIGHT THROUGH ME? #§*††††»^.
......»†*£ £*†»......
.^»††*§££# #££§*††»^.
....^»††*£ £*††»^....
.....^^»†§ §†»^^.....
.^»††*£### ###£*††»^.