<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(var(--color_16)); orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">Feel of the Cloth</span></div><div class=""><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">The emperor wanted to believe<br class="">the itinerant tailors—that the robe they’d<br class="">made for him had been woven of light. </span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">Which, of course, it was.<br class="">Of sunlight and air.<br class="">His heartbeat quickened as they<br class="">pointed out the iridescent beads of dew<br class="">and delicate taffeta of fog.<br class="">The pale blue moonglow trim.</span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">The emperor wanted to hear<br class="">the whisper of wingbeats as he<br class="">fingered the cloth, to smell<br class="">the sweet decay of the forest floor. </span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">And so he did. As he dove head-first<br class="">into that glorious garment he heard<br class="">and smelled uncountable things.<br class="">It was like nothing, he said<br class="">when he regained his wits, like nothing </span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">he’d ever put on. Like wearing a cloud.<br class="">Or a breeze. It’s not of this world,<br class="">he said to the tailors, who nodded<br class="">and smiled… Which, come to think of it,<br class="">was their only lie. For this world </span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"> </p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));">was precisely what they used for their warp,<br class="">our commonest threads their woof. </span></div><p class="font_8" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));"> </span></p><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; pointer-events: auto; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(var(--color_15)); orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""><span class="color_16" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(var(--color_16));"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""> - <span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Prartho Sereno</span></span></span></div></div></div></body></html>