She floated. Rootless like a rose on the still lake. Water rippling under her. Sky mirrored in her bloom. Sun bathed her petals. Shadows danced beneath. She sought no shelter. The lake was calm, deep, secretive. Physics bound her to it. Alchemy connected them. Like the mystic bound to the universe. Their dance stirred the water. An ambiguous rhythm. A paradoxical ballet. Revealed only to the patient observer. She was the liminal rose. The lake, her quiet partner. Insiders in a hidden world. A world in between. The reflections of unseen depths. The symbols beneath surface beauty. They told no tales.