It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright, the pleasing scent of summer emerged the woods and a soft breeze chilled the spine of young Prince Harris as he and his father, The King.
They went hunting without their men escorting and guarding them for some father and son bonding time.
It was his first hunt and he was doing very well.
Not wasting time, he caught 2 rabbits in less than one hour.
He felt proud and father surely was very impressed of him.
"When I was your age, catching a mouse was hard enough!" Father joke patting on Harris's back.
"Thank you father, i-"
"Son, look!" before Harris could finish , the king interrupted him for he saw a beautiful buck inches away from them.
He made a signal for Harris to shoot the buck with his bow and arrow.
Harris understood.
Slowly he pulled out an arrow, and aims for the buck.
But as he was about to shoot,
"I wonder why the grass is green,
And why the wind is never seen"
a beautiful singing voice suddenly echoed through the woods.
"What was that? He asked
"What was what!? Shoot it!" The king whispered loudly with his brows furrowed.
"I must be getting mad"
Harris thought, aiming carefully on the buck again.
"Who taught the birds to build a nest,
And told the trees to take a rest"
"That! Did you hear that!" Harris retorted
"Harris, you're too loud the buck's gonna hear you boy!" Father muttered
Again, Harris thought it was just him.
Or it could be his father's hearing.
Not thinking much, he fired an arrow but missed his target by little.
The buck was alarmed by the loud thud of the arrow when it hit a tree nearby, and ran off.
The king disappointedly shook his head turning around,
"Let's go!" He said speeding his stallion to the direction of where the buck ran off.
Harris felt disappointed, he was doing well, he could've easily shoot the buck.
He followed behind his father but then suddenly stopped at his pace as the alluring voice got louder and clearer.
"Oh, when the moon is not quite round,
Where can the missing bit be found"
He looked around and saw a stream from where he was and wondered if the voice was coming from there. He looked back to see where his father was then back to the stream.
With hesitations and curiosity, he got off his stallion and walked his way to the stream quietly.
As he got near he finally saw a figure starting to emerge clearly down the hillock and on the other side of the stream.
He got behind the bushes for undercover and peaked through it.
From the distance, he saw a beautiful young girl around his age with dark wavy hair, wearing an old worn dress, sitting on a rock, rinsing clothes while humming a beautiful tune.
"Woah" he marveled for he was captivated.
He wanted to get a closer view, so he carefully took a few steps further on the slippery muddy ground.
But then
"Aaaagghhhh!" Harris squealed as he accidentally slipped, rolled through the mud, down the hillock, into the water and made a very loud splash.
The young girl stopped singing.
He quickly stood up, brushing off the watery mud in his eyes and the first thing he saw was the young girl, staring at him surprised.
"Ahaaa... I uh...I'm very sorry.. For umm" Harris said embarrassed
The young girl was still sitting on the rock with her eyes wide as she was very caught off guard.
"Interrupting you." He continued awkwardly
She was still quiet
"I'll go" Harris cleared his throat
He felt very embarrassed that he was very mad and started mocking himself "stupid, stupid, stupid!"
He grumbled, slapping his forehead each mock while climbing up to land .
"Slapping your forehead is bad" the girl finally started talking
Harris turned his head back to her
"Have you been watching me the whole time?" The young girl asked with her head tilted.
"What? No no!" Harris shook
"I just heard a voice that got me curious" he explained
"I was singing too loud wasn't I? It must have been annoying" she giggled
"No, no. You sounded... Amazing" Harris slipped those words off his tongue without realising.
The young girl blushed and laughed while looking down embarrassed.
"You got mud everywhere on you" the girl jested, observing every inch of Harris. "That's gonna leave a stain"
"I can see that" Harris chuckled, looking down at himself
"HARRIS! WHERE ARE YOU BOY"
It was Harris's father, looking for him. He was so loud it got both of them surprised.
"Well, i uh got to go" Harris sighed, climbing up the hillock
"Not sure how you're going to explain all this, but good luck" the young girl giggled
"Thanks. Again, so sorry" Harris blushed and ran off
But before he runs back to his stallion, he stayed a few seconds behind the bushes, peaking the young girl again.
To Harris, she seemed very friendly. The fact that she didn't run off was surprising to him. Or it could may be because she thought Harris seemed about the same age as herself and was too young to cause any harm to her.
"MEERAH!"
A woman's voice suddenly echoed. The young girl quickly put the wet clothes that she had just rinsed in a basket, and walked off to where the echoing voice came from.
"Meerah..." The young prince murmured, smiling.
