This ethereal-looking woman began to walk towards us, along the canal. All of us blinked in disbelief, yet no matter how much we rubbed our eyes the scene before us remained: the water moved with her. A flurry of ripples and swirls formed as the mass miraculously pushed its way upstream, and her fingers splay behind as if directing it all to their whim. Even the skimmers, normally frightened and shy, obediently skittered close behind. With but a gentle sweep of fingertips the whole thing followed behind as a dress weaved of water, waves of shimmering fabric folding softly over one another as she drew closer. We were all shocked; a pair of shaky hands clasped around my shoulders as one of them took shelter behind me. A funny thing happened though... the closer this woman came to us, the more at peace I felt. It's a feeling difficult to describe, but the fear and confusion, the unease... it all began to melt away. A gentle stream eroded our anxieties until there was not a single fear left. We all felt it, and we knew. The grip against my shoulder relaxed. She comes to a stop a few feet ahead of us. For whatever reason-- confusion, fear, hesitance-- I avoided looking this woman in the eye. Yet as the inexplicable wave of calm took hold of us my focus was just... drawn right into her returning gaze. Instantly everything went white. Gasping breath and pounding heartbeat gave way to something else entirely; the trickling and lapping of water lay beneath a bed of wind, both weaving together in playful dance, rustling the treetops and carving through rock as they race and intertwine. Flocks of birds sung and ruffled their feathers, small creatures burrowed through the soil, the veins of water in the canals and rivers and underground passageways lit up and swept around us in every direction, just... every last damn rustle of leaf and glint of life was amplified in astounding detail. Never before have I listened to the forest. Not like this. Before any of us could process the overload of stimuli, she was gone. Whether we spent the last while looking up at the canopy in total awe or simply drooling in place while gawking into some otherworldly gaze, I couldn't tell you. The well of water had already begun to slip back downstream, and whatever skimmers weren't carried with the current resumed their usual scuttling. The din of the forest dulled for the labored breaths behind me to resume. And while our nerves returned to feeling frazzled and worn, a small part of that peace remained within us. Glances of confusion, disbelief, and acknowledgement were exchanged, and without spoken word the collective thought swirled through all of our heads: we tell no one of this.