舞

This is one strange eagle.
It is the only one of its kind that desires to leave its forest home.
It's not because life is tough at home. Apart from the slightly above average number of rainy days, it's pleasant here. The climate is comfortable, food is plentiful, and its fellows and neighbors are friendly. It's really a great place to live. "...Screech." But that is the problem! It is precisely because it's so great here that it wishes to leave.
It wants to feel alive, not just pass its days in idleness, watching the end of its life approach. Every time he mentioned his desire to leave, the other eagles would circle around him and scream "Baldy" sneeringly.
This epithet is a bit of a joke, as it refers to an eagle in the past who had once thought the same way. It had been coaxed out of the forest by a Two-Legs, and the very next day was found plucked completely bald and strung up on a pole.
It doesn't think that it'll be fooled, however, as it views the Two-Legs the same as the other eagles, and all forest life. They are all creatures satisfied with what they have, insects so content with their lives that nothing greater can ever be expected of them.
And so it was, until a rock smashed into their stagnant existence.
The first time it saw him, it had just finished preening and was about to get out of the water. Looking up, however, it spied a Two-Legs that it didn't recognize, standing not far away. It couldn't even remember the last time an unexpected interloper had appeared, so was naturally quite apprehensive on this occasion. Instinct compelled it to act cautiously, so it carefully followed the Two-Legs to observe what he was doing.
It would never let itself become another Baldy!
...It followed him for a full day, watching as he went from enthusiastic to uncertain, even confused, and then finally leaving in disappointment. This reaction, however, was not exactly surprising, given how boring the forest was. It seemed that both eagles and people could be disappointed by the same thing, and this feeling of sympathy gave it a good feeling about this Two-Legs. So it perched on the very top of a tall tree, and gave two screeches towards that distant figure, as a polite farewell.
It didn't think they would ever meet again.
But the very next day as it was preening, it again caught sight of the very same Two-Legs! He appeared well-rested, as bright and energetic as the first time it saw him. This time, however, there was something else in his gaze, something with which it was very familiar: he was hunting for prey. Feeling that he must be looking for something, it decided to follow him and find out what it was. And so passed yet another whole day.
Following the river, they slowly traversed the whole forest before just turning around and heading back. He returned empty-handed, and it was incredibly confused. It burned with curiosity to know what exactly it was that he sought but, due to a lack of common language, it was impossible to ask any questions or solicit any answers.
The Two-Legs departed in disappointment once more, but this time with a slightly better expression. This was also an expression it knew well, as they were kindred in this: waiting for a new day with a little hope among the disappointment.
It thought they would meet again the following day.
Sure enough, he came back on the third day. And the fourth... And every day to today, the seventh. However, when it realized on the fourth day that nothing varied in his route or action, it gave up following him the whole way. It had its own things to attend to, anyway, and couldn't afford to waste time wandering around blindly with him all day. As long as it makes sure to come back to the trees by the river before sunset, it'll be sure to know how the day turned out.
But today, for some reason, the Two-Legs never came back. The light was fading, and it wondered if he'd gotten into any trouble. There was no end of rather less friendly sorts around here, after all and, with this in mind, it flew towards the river's source.
"Screech... Screeeeeech—" It found the Two-Legs sleeping peacefully atop a mossy hillock. Annoyance came quickly on the heels of relief, and it had the sudden impulse to give him a couple of nasty pecks right on his forehead.
It restrained itself, however, as hunters know the effective trick of pretending to be asleep in order to lure prey. And again, it still wasn't in a hurry to become another Baldy!
Having anxiously flown for so long, it was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to stop and rest in a nearby tree. After a while, it heard him making noise from the hillock: "Hum-hum-hum! Hum! Hum-hum!" The noise had a certain rhythm, and so it believed the noise to be some kind of song. To be honest, it didn't really want to acknowledge it as singing, as compared with the work of actually talented singers, the noise the Two-Legs made was little better than the snoring of the forest beasts!
Under the moonlight, the Two-Legs got up and started swaying. The movements were clumsy at first, like a freshly-hatched fledgling groping about for the light. Gradually his movements aligned to the rhythm of the humming, and the whole scene was less painful on the eyes.
It thought the movements must be "dancing", but had no idea why he would want to dance. It looked from different angles in different trees, but didn't see that he had found any decent treasure. So why exactly was he so happy?
As it pondered this question, it couldn't take its eyes off the dance. He just kept on going, seemingly without any intention of stopping, as if he was a tireless dancing machine. It couldn't help but admire such powerful vitality...!
It even ended up wondering whether, if it kept on watching, would he keep on jumping and dancing forever?
But suddenly, the song came to an end.
"Aren't you bored of just watching? Wanna join in?!"
While the words were unintelligible, it somehow understood the noise to be an invitation of sorts, perhaps due to his gestures and outstretched limbs.
"...Screech!" It accepted the invitation after only a moment's hesitation, and was then surprised by its own boldness!
Alighting on his wrist, feeling the heat of his body, it found a way to convince itself: that this creature who danced in the moonlight, who truly lived despite being bored day after day—perhaps his passion was the vitality which it sought. If it follow him, could it live with the same ardor and enthusiasm?
His reason was much simpler.
"Ahaha! We meet at last!"
Because THIS was his serendipitous encounter!