The soft wind swept through the courtyard, making her dark hair curl about her shoulders sinuously. The full moon shone overhead, it’s face partially obscured by a veil of wispy clouds as she stood before her fountain listening to the song of the water behind her.

Slowly she turned, surveying the courtyard quietly, her deep blue eyes scanning every shadow. Her midnight blue gown rustled softly against the cracked cobblestones as she stepped forward into a pool of moonlight, causing her fair skin to glow as if it held the light of the stars within. Raising her face to the sky she opened her mouth and once more the music that so entranced and terrified the people living in the homes around her poured forth to soar among the sky.

The song echoed through the night, her clear high voice seeming to cut through the night as she sang of love. Of love found, lost and never recovered; of love that never came and the hope destroyed when love is betrayed. Her voice carried into the houses around her, making all within shiver and listen raptly as tears poured down their faces at the heartbreaking sorrow in her song. After a time her song spiraled to an end, and she opened her eyes to the night once more.

He was there…he’d come again to listen to her song! He stood before her, about six feet from her, closer than she had ever dared let him approach before. She gasped softly and backed away even as she gazed adoringly at him, taking in his bright blond flowing hair and the soft brown eyes that gazed softly at her. "Don’t be afraid milady, I will not harm you."

She stepped back again at the sounds of his light voice, her eyes swirling like whirlpools in the confusion of her desires. He walked closer and closer and still she retreated unless at last she came up against the edge of the fountain that was her link to her home. At last she stood, trembling with her conflicting desires of attraction and fear as he came ever closer. Finally he stood before her and softly reaching out one hand he caressed her cheek, making her shiver, "Please, milady…may I have the favor of your name?"

As his hand came to rest on her cheek, she could no longer surpress her fear and dissolved back into the spirit that was her true form, leaving him alone in the night with only her last whispered secret, "Nimue…my name is Nimue."