¨¨^«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«^¨¨
¨^«††$¤¶##                                          ##¶¤$††«^¨
¨¨^«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«^¨¨
¨¨¨^«††$¤¶                                          ¶¤$††«^¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨^«††$¤                                          ¤$††«^¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^«††$                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?          ¤$††«^¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^«††$                                          $††«^¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨^«††$¤                                          ¤$††«^¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨^«††$¤¶                                          ¶¤$††«^¨¨¨
¨¨^«††$¤¶#                                          #¶¤$††«^¨¨
¨^«††$¤¶##                                          ##¶¤$††«^¨