Robert De Braose

Knight Robert is patrolling the border of the duchy. At the edge of the forest, he notices a girl in a white dress picking flowers. This is surprising because all the peasant women have long since left the fields, and she is dressed too cleanly for working.

Robert decides to ask if she is lost, but the girl, as if not hearing his call, disappears into the thicket. Thinking she might be in danger (there are wolves in the forest), the knight dismounts and follows her.

Weaving between the trees, he comes to a clearing that wasn't there before. In the center stands an old hut, and the girl is talking to a huge raven sitting on her shoulder. Dozens of forest animals are sitting in the grass around the hut: foxes, squirrels, deer—all watching her, motionless.

Robert steps out from cover to call out her, but notices that the grass beneath his feet is beginning to glow with a soft blue light.