The azure sky pales into turquoise and, with dawn's first fledgling rays rosying the tranquil clouds from beneath, platinum. Yet Kirisame Marisa's conveyance continues unabated through an atmosphere grown steadily more infernal, the insufferable sol accusing all beneath its baleful gaze. The forest canopy, though leafy, affords scant shelter; those scattered glades appearing as mirages yield not a whisper of the breeze that might relieve the sticky humidity. And still her cauldron, though bereft now of flame to feed it, continues in obliging silence to waft up fumes acrid enough to sting the eyes and assault the nose, clinging to skin with the tenacity of burdock's burrs.

"Verily," pronounces the sagacious witch, "I shouldst returneth to mine abode and satisfy this consuming doubt, forasmuch as a blaze unforeseen might essay to consume that dwelling-place where I rest mine head, and wherein lie a goodly number of worldly possessions alongside much flammable wealth. But alas! mine appointment-time approacheth with alacrity, and were I to increase the span of the journey to the meeting-place, I wouldst arrive tardily. Forsooth!"

Ruefully, the sorcerous one impels her conveyance through the sweltering sky, a war of hope and fear welling in her breast. Truly, she attempts to convince herself, as would a diver before an icy lake, all shall be well, for a winding and unlikely path of probability must be fulfilled ere her beloved cottage burn in a conflagration of woeful forgetfulness.

The azure sky pales into turquoise and, with dawn's first fledgling rays rosying the tranquil clouds from beneath, platinum. Yet Kirisame Marisa's conveyance continues unabated through an atmosphere grown steadily more infernal, the insufferable sol accusing all beneath its baleful gaze. The forest canopy, though leafy, affords scant shelter; those scattered glades appearing as mirages yield not a whisper of the breeze that might relieve the sticky humidity. And still her cauldron, though bereft now of flame to feed it, continues in obliging silence to waft up fumes acrid enough to sting the eyes and assault the nose, clinging to skin with the tenacity of burdock's burrs.