.,~††£¤@## ##@¤£††~,.
....,~†£¤@ @¤£†~,....
.,~††£¤@## ##@¤£††~,.
.....~†£@# #@£†~.....
.,~††£¤@## ##@¤£††~,.
....,~†£@# 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? ¤£†††,,,..
.,~††£¤@## ##@¤£††~,.
...,,,††£¤ ¤£††,,,...
....,~††£@ @£††~,....
.,~††£¤@@# #@@¤£††~,.
.,~††£¤¤@# #@¤¤£††~,.