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The early morning mists drift in patches and clouds along the mountains, streams, and lakes in the pre-dawn light under the nether and hinter moons, giving a sense that this is a magical country. By turns, they hide, then reveal the path, the vegetation, and the view. Amid the shadowed greens, blues, browns, purples, and muted rainbow flashes of other watercolor hues we might almost not be surprised to meet fairies and other creatures of magic playing and working in the half light and shadows as we travel the mountain paths.
And when we see through the mists a young woman in a pale blue summer dress bending down to search among the rocks, flowers, and grasses of an open field, we might wonder if she is not just such an enchanted creature.
But she is a bit ruddy of countenance, and her build a bit tall, and solid, to be a fairy, even if her hair seems to glow amber in the early morning light.
(She is one of our new charges.)
As we watch, she stops, having found something written on one of the stones half hidden among the grasses, and calls out to a man and a woman who are searching in like manner nearby. They come, and she reads from the stone haltingly, not quite comfortable with the language, of the birth and death, and briefly of the life lived by one whose passing is marked by the stone she examines.
The older woman smiles and takes out a notebook, writing what the younger woman reads and checking over her shoulder, while the man examines nearby stones and takes notes of his own.
By their appearance, we might guess that the young woman and the couple are closely related.
Some two hundred paces distant from this scene, partially obscured by green and lavender scrub and trees, we note a young man in running gear, sweating lightly as he stretches the muscles of his calves and Achilles. Then he drops to the ground for a set of pushups. It might occur to you to consider that this young man is also of significant stature.
(He has been one of our charges for some time.)
We see another man and woman approach, and he stands.
We note a familial resemblance between the young man and the woman, although the woman's hair is more-or-less blonde, and the young man's is dark, almost ebony.
They exchange greetings of familiarity and pass, and the young man drops for another set of pushups. When he stands again they are approaching the young woman and her parents. The two hale the three, and begin a discussion, pointing out stones here and there. The young woman takes out her own notebook and listens intently.
The young man stretches his legs and squats over each leg, lightly stretching the muscles in his inner thighs, then begins again running easily along one of the mountain paths. As he passes below the five, the young woman looks up and it appears their eyes meet. She smiles shyly.
The young man smiles and nods casually, continuing on his way. Whether they are acquainted or not does not seem immediately clear.
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