¤¤††††«,.. ..,«††††¤¤
###¤¤††«,. .,«††¤¤###
##¤†««,... ...,««†¤##
#¤¤¤¤††«,. .,«††¤¤¤¤#
####¤††«,. .,«††¤####
#¤¤†«..... . . . .....«†¤¤#
###¤¤††«,. . . . . . . .,«††¤¤###
¤††««..... , , , , , , , , .....««††¤
#¤¤††««,.. « « « « « « « « « « « ..,««††¤¤#
###¤¤††«,. †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† .,«††¤¤###
###¤¤††«,. .,«††¤¤###
####¤††«,. 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. .,««†††¤¤¤
####¤††«,. .,«††¤####
#¤†,...... †††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† ......,†¤#
¤††«,,.... « « « « « « « « « « « ....,,«††¤
###¤¤††«,. , , , , , , , , .,«††¤¤###
#¤¤†««.... . . . . . . ....««†¤¤#
###¤¤††«,. . . . .,«††¤¤###
###¤¤††«,. .,«††¤¤###
#¤††«..... .....«††¤#
¤¤¤††,.... ....,††¤¤¤
###¤¤††«,. .,«††¤¤###
#¤¤†««.... ....««†¤¤#