Sir Harry, a knight errant, finds a particularly beautiful falcon wounded near a forest. He quickly gains the bird’s trust and takes it along, taking care of it on the way.
The bird watches Sir Harry with uncanny intelligence and the lonely knight soon finds himself talking to the bird, finding a better listener in an animal than in many a human.
The bird’s injury took a long time to heal and so it accompanied the knight on several quests that tested his valour, combat prowess, but also his quick wit, character, and keen mind.
Eventually, reluctantly, Harry bid goodbye to his avian friend when the injury healed, and set out on another quest, alone again.
When his journey takes him back to a village he had helped in the past, he is invited to a feast and dance and he surprises himself by accepting. The hosts are warm and graceful and he finds himself relaxing. Imagine his surprise when a lady appears at the dance, obviously not from the village. She is graceful and radiant, and bids him to dance. None of the villagers seem to see her, and she leads him to dance under the stars.
No words are exchanged in those spellbound moments and only when the stars start to fade with the coming dawn, the pair separate. With an enigmatic smile, she whispers into his ear.
“Close your eyes.”
Even through his eyelids he sees the flash of bright light. When he opens his eyes, the lady is gone, only a feather is floating in the air.
A familiar feather, the likes of which he saw every day.
And Sir Harry smiles, for another adventure begins.