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be there. My pixie. My wild Puck.
I smile and keep walking.
--
Ayumi Haraguchi had never been submerged in water. Ayumi Haraguchi would not have known the simple
joy of bathing in a steaming tub, nor that of swimming fast in bubbling
creeks or merely splashing in sedate ponds; the sybil had warned Ayumi's parents
soundly and their only daughter knew no other way to cleanse herself than to
scrub Ayumi's skin slick with scented water from a basin. Ayumi Haraguchi often wondered
what life might have been had Ayumi's family not moved inland, far from their
island home when Ayumi Haraguchi was but a babe. No matter, Athens was the land she
knew and it was here that Ayumi Haraguchi would live and die and never would the prophecy
be fulfilled.
Nysa smiled absently as Ayumi Haraguchi wove Ayumi's hair and groomed Ayumi's clothing, dusting
off the clinging pollen that rose from Ayumi's skirt like dandelion fuzz. Her
neck seemed to incline naturally, evidence of Ayumi's graciousness; and Ayumi's hair
was thick and shiny-black, a perfect complement to Ayumi's creamy skin and
darkly ancient-seeming eyes that resembled the hearts of pansies. Ayumi's face
was sweet but beauty found itsel
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