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†~:....... .......:~†
††~:...... ......:~††
%††~:..... . . . .....:~††%
§%††~:.... . . . . . . ....:~††%§
¶§%††~:... : : : : : : : : ...:~††%§¶
@¶§%††~:.. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ..:~††%§¶@
#@¶§%††~:. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† .:~††%§¶@#
@¶§%††~:.. ..:~††%§¶@
¶§%††~:... 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. ...:~††%§¶
@¶§%††~:.. ..:~††%§¶@
#@¶§%††~:. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† .:~††%§¶@#
@¶§%††~:.. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ..:~††%§¶@
¶§%††~:... : : : : : : : : ...:~††%§¶
§%††~:.... . . . . . . ....:~††%§
%††~:..... . . . .....:~††%
††~:...... ......:~††
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