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It really was reht as she took more deep, measured breaths and closed her eyes There was no noise but a soft, barely-there hu that was oddly tuneful And the Mists seeiant, invisible hand She felt…cradled was the best word she could co, actually As though soer than her had taken her in hand and lifted away the burdens she’d been carrying So peaceful…

As Ean It felt like tiny bubbles landing and then bursting all over her naked skin

One ht the odd sensation would have ain, but by now she al in cha all over her skin—asensation

“Curiouser and curiouser,” she hed When was the last tied to herself Things had been so damn tense lately, ith everyone up in arms about the Monstruhters were grown and gone and she had no one to help her bear the burden of public life, ever since Nigel had run off with that silly little girl that was half his age…

No, I don’t want to think of that, Em told herself It’ll ruin my mood I just want to relax I just want to drift in thisat all

And that was exactly what she did She relaxed in the swirling-colored Mists and let all the cares and burdens that had been piled on top of her like a lot of heavy stones, roll away until her ht as a feather

Later, she couldn’t have said if she drifted through the Mists for hours or only minutes It could have been days, for all she knew, but at last she heard so her name in a soft, melodic voice

“Minister Oxley…Emilia,” it called

Eht beside her

“M state she’d fallen into

“At last, you are purified,” Elfa told her, sently “The Mists have drained away your troubles and cares and so it is now tie”