A cute bunny hopped out onto the cobbled path.  It twitched its nose and blinked up at the princess.  Bewildered by this new addition to her menagerie, she was rather taken aback.  This bunny was not like the one in the cage by the fountain.  It didn't smile or wink its red eyes... It was entirely wild in its actions and movements.  Almost like it hadn't been properly trained at all!
Not sensing any sort of threat from the blinking rabbit, the princess bent down to look at it. It seemed frightened and lonely on the cobbled path, and she suppressed an impulse to scoop it up into her arms.  The rabbit twitched and observed her.
"Oh, little bunny," she thought aloud, "why are you here all by yourself? Should I get a trainer to put you where you belong?"
The rabbit, flustered and twitching madly, replied.
"No!" it exclaimed, its red eyes wild with panic.
It must be said, then, that for all the wonders that the princess had seen in her remarkable kingdom, talking animals were not included.  Startled, the princess lost her balance and fell backwards onto the seat of her fluffy pink dress. 
"Did you just talk?" she asked the bunny, feeling rather silly for speaking to an animal.
"I did, princess!  That I did.  And please, I implore your highness not to call for the trainer.  Will you listen to a tale, princes, a short one?"
The princess who loved all sorts of tales, long and short, agreed to listen.
"Long ago, before your castle was built, the animals roamed through the land.  We lived in proper houses and cottages and we all spoke English like you do.  Then, when the Emperor moved to this country from Wherever He Came, he tore down our homes, burned our books and built his castle on our land!
"He took the birds and the cats and the lions and the tigers as well as the rabbits and the squirrels into cages and had a trainer enchant their minds.  There are very few of us left, living outside of the castle.  Many of us have forgotten how to speak and we are all homeless now."
The princess found herself weeping at the rabbit's sad tale.  Although she could not understand homelessness and squalid ignorance, she felt the pain in the rabbit's eyes.
"Oh but princess!  There is hope for us yet.  If you follow me through the hole behind this rosebush, I can show you what the world is like outside of these walls... or you could forget I ever came to you and simply call the trainer to enchant me like the rest of my brothers and sisters.  Because I was warned not to return without you, princess.  If I do, I will be surely put to death.  What will it be, then?  Will you come, or will you allow the entire Animal Kingdom to suffer as we have for nearly one hundred years?"

The knight went straight back to the Keep where he and his Lady were logged. But as he went up the stairs, he had a very uneasy feeling that all was not well. Not just with his relationship, but with this whole situation in general. He reached the top of the stairs and went straight to the door leading to their room.

He knew as he reached for the key (yes, this door had a lock) that his Lady was not present within the room. He entered it and found it as he had envisioned; empty. The room was cold, but not like the night before. This was cold as death itself. The feeling of loneliness and impending doom grew; yet he was a warrior and knew that this was just something that had to be lived with.

He looked around the room one last time, remembering the night before and the joy that was now a part of this room and the sorrow.

He went back down the steps to go out to the stables. He went through the Great Hall were men were still drinking, boasting, and arguing. He did not care for them nor their company. He went through a side door to where his squire was sleeping with other squires. He felt, for some reason, like kicking the lad awake (he knew other knights which handled their squires roughly). But he had no such intention; so he leaned over and gently shook the young fellow awake.

After reassuring the squire that all was well, but that they needed to go out and check on the equipment and the horses, they left the keep and went quickly to the stable. The sense of dread was very close, and the knight looked around for an unseen enemy. He wished that his Lady were here. She could see well into the night and hearts of others. But she was gone; and he was not in a position to follow.

He and the squire checked the equipment and the horses. They were all fine. His war horse was grey and not much to look at, but was loyal. Just like his squire, the knight chuckled to himself. No, the horse was more loyal. Only one other creature was so caring, untameable, and independent, and she was no where to be found.

The knight sent the squire back to the keep (to stay warm) and he laid himself down on some fresh hay. He had all of the "keep" he could take. He slept and dreamt of his Lady, the stone circle, and the battle that was not in his heart. His honour bound him to his lord and the lord's oath to the King. Would to God he had become a Priest and only vowed loyalty to the one and only LORD. But then his Lady would be totally out of his reach; maybe she was at this point. Why had he allowed the argument? Regrets were worthless... what was said was said. He wished he could take it all back, but that would have been false. He was who he was, and she loved him for it. He thought he loved her enough; but knew, given time, the love would surely grow.

The morning came and a damp fog hugged the ground. The knight stood up stiffly and got both himself and his mount ready. He had a small donkey to which he tied his supplies and armour. This was the squires job, but the knight felt something... that he should do this. It might be the last time. By the time he was ready the squires and their Masters were coming out of the keep. The other knights were in bad tempers due to the drinking of the night and early morning.

The knight and his squire rode (yes, the squire had his own mount; an eager strong little horse) to where the battle was to take place. The squire rode in front and slowly as to not tire the mounts out. The fog was persistent and cold. But the knight felt good. Things were going to work out; they always did for him.

When they arrived at the camp (dozens of tents had been set up, with a larger one in the middle of the camp), the sense of disaster grew stronger. But the knight got off his horse and greeted an old knight, one who was quite the veteran and much older than himself. They were friends and had fought side-by-side in a number of battles. They walked, joked, and generally got on. They came to the large tent in the centre of the camp. The older man went inside.

The knight felt troubled. He wondered if only his lord was there or if the King himself had made an appearance. However, he did not care. He looked up and saw the valley where the battle would be waged. But on the other side was a rise. The sun had just broken through the higher level clouds and he felt the fog would disappear any moment. The sun hit the other side of the valley, gelding the rise. It had a village on its slope. He wondered if the people there were awake, and if they cared one wit about what would take place in their valley in a few hours time.

He wished with all his heart that his life could be tied with theirs. That he could wake up in the morning, go milk the cow, feed the chickens, laugh with his wife and children... sigh. He smiled wondering where his Lady had gone. It was a sad smile, for he felt he knew. He wished that they were together again. His "honour" would be the death of him, he thought.

Then he felt it... an experience that he would remember forever but not willingly. He felt sick; a thick wave of nausea enclosed him. He wondered why there wasn’t more pain. He turned to see his squire smiling a very cruel smile. The squire had a short sword in his hand and it was covered with red sticky stuff.

The knight tried to speak, but only a whisper left his lips. "My Lady, remember and forgive me". In vain, he hoped that his last thoughts would reach her in time. He prayed his Lady would continue to love him.

A father grew anxious as he saw doctors rush a small bundle from one operating room to what he thought was another. He knew something was wrong, but not what. He also knew that the bundle was his. He asked the doctors about his wife (she was fine), and the child.

The child was born upside down and they could not get the baby to breath. The child was a "blue baby" or so they called it. They had to put the baby boy in an iron lung to persuade the infant to take life giving oxygen. The baby started to cry, and they named him Richard William.

The child grew up, but was rather weak and sickly. He was small for the family "average" but had an apparent (or so his parents told him later) inner strength. The child grew. Again, the parents noticed something odd about the lad. The boy stayed to himself. He grew interested in the world around him; the plants, animals, insects, rocks, water, and everything else. He took everything in. His brother often told him how "odd" he was and, "why can’t you be like everyone else?" Good question, the boy thought, "I wish I knew".

After several days of tiresome wandering, he felt both weary and empty. Only one thing kept him going.
He sat down and rested his back towards the trunk of an old oak, watching his young squire; The boy had grown more and more uneasy as they rode closer to the mountains. Well, he would have to continue ahead alone from here. No doubt the boy would protest a bit to part with him now, though he would be relieved with getting another assignment instead. "Delivering an important message," he thought and smiled to himself.

He found some parchment and a pen in his saddlebag, and started writing a letter to Her - The dark and mysterious woman in his life. With great care and his finest handwriting, the words took shape on the brittle paper. Luckily the stick was made of hard wood, so the letter wouldn't be damaged inside it. The rumors of the highwaymen near Lady Morion's castle worried him more, he would have to ask the young man to be on guard at all times.

My dear Lady Morion, he wrote, the Joy of my heart. A few days ago I had a vision: Both you and your gems came to me in the evening, beautiful and serene. The thought of you being so far away was easier to bear afterwards, almost magically so... Is it maybe yours and your crystals' magic that has come to aid me? I saw your crystal so clearly, I almost could feel its magical power fill me. And the beauty of the orb can only be measured against yours - I've recalled these images several times lately, when I've needed the strength, and it has always given me to courage to spur the horse and continue on the quest.

The trumpets blare their announcement of the Grand Lady Morion's entrance to the Hall of Acceptance. The hundreds of would-be protectors of the Lady hush... all looking to the entrance where She will appear.. As she enters the Hall, a gasp of disbelief is heard from the hoard. Whispering are heard amongst the anxious men.. "I had heard she was beautiful, but never did I expect anything so wonderful"

"Ohhh"

"My eyes have never seen such beauty"...

As the Grand Lady strides through the applicants towards the Throne of Approval, she suddenly stops. She starts looking through the crowd, as if searching for someone...

Her eyes fall on a humbly dressed old man, whose tattered clothes seemed out of place for this Great Hall...

She starts to continue on, then pauses again and turns to the man... "Do I know you, old man"? she askes. He raises his bowed head, and his bright, piercing blue eyes look directly into hers and said...

"Oh Lady Morion, I have known you throughout the ages. I once told you Your spirit feels so joyous, open and free and I told you that I expected this to happen and here you are shining, a light that will never dim again. " The Lady hesitates, as she searches her momories, all the while looking into those piercing blue eyes.

"Oh.. is it you? Is it really the Wind Walker??"

The old man straightens up and as he does so, his appearance changes, molding into the warrior he truely is. With bold steps he walks to the Lady Morion, bends on one knee and says, "Yes, M'lady, I am here for you when ever you need me. I thought perhaps a small test to see if you could truley see your true champion... Will you accept me in your service"

The fair was bustling with life. Laughter, shouts and music filled the air. Merchants sold their finest fabrics and best weapons, probably for a higher price than usual as there were lots of people here, many from the nobility; This was the event of the year!

The knights were enjoying the attention they got from the young maidens before the jousting started. Or most of them, at least. Some were keeping for themselves, preparing themselves as the customs in their realms instructed, and at such a large fair as this, those were very different for each. Only one thing they had in common: To have earned their place here by being victorious in local tournaments.

It had been some hard and tough fights for most of the knights, many had scars to witness about this and showed them proudly to the maidens. They may exaggerate their tales a bit, but didn't hide the fact that it had been some tough fights and jousting to come this far. All but one, a young knight with the face of a cherub. At least, that was what he told himself; It had been easy to win the tournament in the realm he lived - the competition had posed no problem at all. At first he was getting lots of admiring glances where he stood in his bright, shining armour, but his popularity wore thin under his constant bragging. The maidens started to avoid him, the men looked at him with contempt, believing he couldn't have met any knights with experience at all. The knight didn't care, he intended to show them all that he would win this tournament as easy as he said.

The jousting was about to begin, and the audience gathered around the arena, a long field with a long, low fence in the middle. The knights would ride against each other on each side of the fence, lances lowered to knock the opponent off the horse. At the moment, the two first knights mounted their horses and got their lances from their squires, honoured to be the ones to open the tournament.

Cheering, shouts and ecstatic screams from the audience motivated the different knights as they were going the rounds against each other, they didn't care much who was winning, as long as they had fun. They just cheered a bit more when a knight from their own realm was on the arena. Then, the knight with the cherub face, or Tycho as he was called, entered the arena. The crowd stopped shouting for a brief moment as they discovered him, but then started cheering at his opponent. All of them hoped sincerely that he would knock Tycho off the horse, showing him where he belonged.

The two knights charged towards each other, aiming the lances carefully. Hitting wrong, and they would either lose, or be disqualified for dangerous hits. The cheers grew more intense as they got closer to each other, and then, impact. One of the knight seemed to sit in the air as the horse disappeared under him, before he landed on the ground with a crash. The crowd were stunned and silent as the knight looked around, confused. Tycho was riding back towards him and stopped. "Child’s play," he said, with a disgusting smile.

And so the tournament continued, with Tycho winning each of his duels as easy as he had said he would, much to the grief of the audience. Only one time he had seemed shaken, curiously enough this had been against a young boy that had just turned old enough to be a knight, with almost no experience at all. People started to wonder why, as he seemed to beat experience knights as easy as if they were offering no resistance at all. Naturally, there were other knights that hadn't lost, too, but none of them had won this easy. But they didn't worry too much about it, he would probably be defeated by that old fox, or the big, squarely built knight. Or even that strange, black knight that never spoke nor showed his face. There were still lots of chances left.

But Tycho beat them all, one by one, until he was in the finale. The people seemed to accept the inevitable - if he only hadn't been such a bragging type, or made them feel so uneasy. The opponent was the knight in black, but when that big, musculous knight had been defeated, what chances had this one? He might be mysterious, but too small to stand a chance.

Obviously Tycho was of this opinion, too. His taunting was met with silence from his opponent, so he looked at the Lady who would give him the price instead. Oh, she might want to dismiss him straight after, but he knew how he would convince her otherwise. He smiled to himself as he lowered his visor.

Again, the familiar scene appeared: Two knights riding towards each other, a loud crash, and one of the knights found himself on the ground, confused. Several seconds passed in silence before the crowd discovered what had happened: It was Tycho who found himself on the ground this time.

Tycho couldn't believe it himself. "Who are you?" he shouted as he slowly got up on his legs. "No man can beat me! I paid "
"That’s right." Tycho started at the voice, and stared as the black knight started to remove the helmet. Long, blonde hair flowed down the shoulders - the black knight was a woman! Tycho opened and closed his mouth like a fish on land, unable to say anything.

"But then again, I'm no man," she continued. "And there’s always a price to pay. I paid with many hours of training and hard work. What price did you pay?"
The words took time to sink in, but when they did, Tycho paled.

The female knight turned towards the astonished crowd and waved, and they answered with a cheer louder than anything as she started walking towards the Lady, leaving a panic-stricken Tycho behind her. This year, the price would be hers. Her name, Monica, would be written in the annals together with the previous winners.