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seen. It swirled around with a life of its own and was an even deeper and brilliant gold than the outside casing of the stone. Lu had always admired it. When she had asked him where it came from, he only smiled and said that one day she would find out for herself. Now, he wrapped her hand around the stone and told her to go play in the gardens. After she left, he had drifted off to sleep, never to wake up. That had been one year ago, and Lu had companionless since. Now, her loneliness was compounded by drudgery. Every moment of her day was planned out for her, scripted like a play. Her father believed that a strict schedule produced a disciplined mind, and unfortunately, her tutors agreed. Every morning at dawn, she was awakened for breakfast in the garden and was then whisked off to horseback riding lessons in the family woods. This wouldn’t have been so bad except that her horseback riding instructor was also her science tutor and demanded she recite the Periodic Table of Elements at least once during each ride. Promptly at nine, her morning lessons of math, English, and science began. At noon, she had a short lunch break taken in the sunroom.
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