####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
#&*†««.... ....««†*&#
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. . . . ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. . . . . . . ..«†*&####
##*††††«.. . . . . . . . . ..«††††*##
#*«....... « « « « « « « « « « « .......«*#
####&*†«.. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. just off the coast to the baltic sea ..«†*&####
#&†....... there's a freshwater pond, secluded .......†&#
###*«..... among ashen and juniper. a cleft in the .....«*###
#&*««..... limestone bedrock, sharp-cut from the .....««*&#
##&**«.... surrounding plains, a ninety degree ....«**&##
#&*†...... drop down, down, to the midnight-black ......†*&#
####&*†«.. water. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ««««********«««« ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. ««** **«« ..«†*&####
#&&&&*†«.. «««««** fairies live here. **««««« ..«†*&&&&#
####&*†«.. ««** **«« ..«†*&####
##&††«.... ««««********«««« ....«††&##
##&&&*†«.. ..«†*&&&##
###*†..... they speak to the sloane, caress it, .....†*###
####&*†«.. urge it to grow thicker, tangled, with ..«†*&####
#&***††«.. longer and sharper thorns. they tell it ..«††***&#
##**†..... to stay just below the grass, so that .....†**##
####&*†«.. the animals what come to drink the ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. water cannot see it before it draws ..«†*&####
#&***††«.. their blood. closer to the pond, the ..«††***&#
##&*††.... sloane can grow taller, being able to ....††*&##
####&*†«.. hide also in the juniper. ..«†*&####
###&*«.... ....«*&###
###&&*†«.. the fairies will beckon the animals to ..«†*&&###
###*†..... push forward, tell them that they're .....†*###
##&&*«.... almost at the water, that they may ....«*&&##
###&*†.... drink soon. and they will tug on the ....†*&###
####&*†«.. sloane to make sure that the thorns cut ..«†*&####
###&&*†«.. deep. when they finally find the path ..«†*&&###
#&††††.... down between the rocks, away from the ....††††&#
####&*†«.. bushwork and into the cleft, they are ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. bleeding from a thousand wounds. as ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. they drink from the dark water, it is ..«†*&####
#**«...... in turn drinking the animals blood. ......«**#
#&****†«.. ..«†****&#
#####*†«.. the circle is complete, the contract ..«†*#####
#&†††«.... carried out; the animal is abandoned to ....«†††&#
####&*†«.. find its own way back. the bushes roots ..«†*&####
###*«..... drink the nutrutious water. the fairies .....«*###
##&*«..... dance in the sunbeams. .....«*&##
#####&*†.. ..†*&#####
#####*†«.. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ..«†*#####
####&*†«.. « « « « « « « « « « « ..«†*&####
####&*†«.. . . . . . . . . ..«†*&####
#&*«««.... . . . . . . ....«««*&#
##&&†..... . . . .....†&&##
##&*†..... .....†*&##
####&*†«.. ..«†*&####
#&*««..... .....««*&#
#*†....... .......†*#
#&*††..... .....††*&#