He deftly followed her instructions, albeit with a few errors as to which cupboard or drawer she meant at any given time, and soon the table was set before them with a feast that was simple but mouth watering. James, once the drinks were poured, sat down as well across from Brenna with a sheepish grin. “Not used to doing the serving,” he admitted sheepishly, “Rather enjoyed it actually.”

Her question caught him by surprise, and James had to chuckle at himself again. “Oh, yes. The state of me when I appeared upon your doorstep. Chasing a legend, I’m told. I was hosting a hunt, you see, to be followed by a grand dinner afterwards. No doubt all and sundry are wondering where I am now, though I must say I prefer the current company. Ah, but one of my guests put a word on my ear as to a local myth, a fabulous hare that can outrun any hunter or hound, a cunny so black as to be night with fur so silken as have come from the Orient: The Bonny Black Hare. Some sort of local superstition, I gather. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?”

Giving a shrug that indicated his own foolishness, James sighed as he admitted to folly. “No sooner had my guest told me this when out of the scrub comes just such a beast! Determined to prove that this was no ghost or witch to sour milk and scare babes, I was away and after it before I could think twice on the matter.” There came a genuine laugh. “I won’t say this hare was the fabled creature of local color, but God’s Breath! It could [i]run[/i]!”

James paused for a moment, lost in the recent recollection of watching the hare seemingly fly across the forest’s ground and the memory of his admiration. His voice was full of awe. Staring into the flames of fireplace, he could almost imagine seeing it all over again in the dancing light. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen such a thing, but this hare was… amazing. It ran as though not just for its life, but for the love of the run! It was as though this hare loved the hunt just as much as I did, that it was all a grand game for its own amusement! It… No, she, I’m positive now it was a she thought I couldn’t tell you why. She was… beautiful…”

He fell to silence, a faint smile of regret upon his lips that the chase was over and that he might never have such a hunt again in his life, successful or not. Then James glanced towards Brenna and chuckled. “No doubt you think me a foolish man. So did this hare! She led my poor Ninny right up to the ruins of an old well house, where my horse decided that I required bathing posthaste and then threw me into the pond there where I learned quite what it must be to live like a frog. Not finding it to my liking, and not knowing exactly where I was, I set out to find this place. My uncle’s solicitor had mentioned it to me, but assured me it was nothing more than a four walls with neither roof nor chimney.”

Raising his wooden mug in Brenna’s honor, he smirked. “As always, I was happy to find a man of the law to be completely and utterly wrong!”