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¨,«††%&£##               WINDS ESKER                ##£&%††«,¨
¨¨¨,«††%%& «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««« &%%††«,¨¨¨
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¨¨¨¨¨¨«††& 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.          &%†««,¨¨¨¨
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¨,«††&£### «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««« ###£&††«,¨
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¨¨¨¨«††††& 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?          #££&%††«,¨
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