Title: Thick as Thieves
Rating: T
Summary: Marian and Robin take a trip to London for the Christmas season! Naturally, things do not go according to plan when there is a thief in the Tower. Set post- "A Year and a Day."
Disclaimer: I do not hold any ownership over the BBC's version of Robin Hood. Now with 30% more historical accuracy!
Author's Note: Uh… yeah. Enjoy! I didn't really expect to continue in the universe, but then this idea caught hold, and then I went to London, and then I did some research…. well, one thing led to another.
Inspired by true events

"London is a labyrinth, half of stone and half of flesh. It cannot be conceived in its entirety but can be experienced only as a wilderness of alleys and passages, courts and thoroughfares, in which even the most experienced citizen may lose the way; it is curious, too, that this labyrinth is in a continual state of change and expansion." ~Peter Ackroyd

o0O0o

Chapter One - The Plan

"I promised you that we would go to London."

"What are you talking about?" She was combing the tangles and debris from today out of her hair. Marian and Robin had been assisting their villagers with bringing in the harvest. Both were exhausted. Katherine (a precocious nine year old) and Geoffrey (a daring eight and a half) were tucked into their beds, quick to sleep after long days of fetching and carrying for those in the fields.

"London. I was thinking perhaps we could go celebrate Christmas in there. Much heard that King John is having his Christmas Court at the Tower. Would you be interested in going?"

She settled her comb on the dressing table and turned around to face him. Robin peeled off all his clothes and rinsed some of the dirt off him (they would be in the fields all week; it did not make sense to bathe tonight).

"I… yes?"

"It will be fun, Marian, I promise!" his eyes shone with mischief as he planned.

"Oh?" She stood up and took off her own clothes, laying them over the low stool she had vacated.

"Yes. You and me, in a rather dangerous city. We will fit right in!"

Marian laughed and jumped into bed. He snuggled up to her.

"Tell me about London," she smiled and rested her head on his chest to hear the steady rhythm of his heart. She liked hearing of his travels. Even though she had heard about London countless times before, she could tell he wanted to talk about it.

"We can write ahead and ask for lodging at the Tower. It will be cramped there for Christmas but I am well remembered from my years as a squire and a knight. We shall go to Christmas Mass at St Paul's. Every Friday at Smith's Field, there is a horse sale, we shall go there so you can see the best new horses. And outside the walls are beautiful vineyards, although I guess it will be under a layer of snow, so never mind…."

She fell asleep to the rhythm his ramblings.

o0O0o

Over the course of the next few weeks, she was far too busy to listen to his plans. He was busy too, but apparently not too busy to scheme for Christmas.

She was excited in a distracted way, and sometimes worried about leaving her children in Nottingham to celebrate the holidays by themselves. Not by themselves, exactly, as Much welcomed everyone in Nottingham castle, and they did still have Hilde, the children's nurse, whom Katherine and Geoffrey still minded. If Katherine and Geoffrey were upset at their parents for leaving, they certainly did not show it. In fact, they gave her a litany of articles they wanted from London.

Long ago, when they were first handfasted, Robin had promised to go traveling with Marian. Of course with them, nothing ever went according to plan. They thought they would not have children, and instead they had two: the adopted Katherine and the surprise that was Geoffrey. In addition to their children, Robin and Marian were kept quite busy with their lands and estates, and assisting Much as best they could with his position as Sheriff of Nottingham. The result was, Marian had never been farther than Lincoln.

But since John Lackland had become King, and his nickname went from Lackland to Softsword, there were things to think about other than travel to foreign places with exotic sounding names. It had to be said that John was not a good King. This was not to say that (in Marian's opinion) Richard had been a good King, but at least Richard managed to pick battles he could win. John had no such luck.

He had delusions of grandeur instead. After his nephew Arthur mysteriously died, John had inherited all of Richard the Lionheart's lands. Not having a son, he annulled his marriage to Isabel, Countess of Gloucester and instead married Isabella of Angouleme. (It must have been convenient to have their names so similar, lest John call out the wrong name in the marriage bed. Not that this was a subject for polite conversation.) Regardless, it was now 1203, John had managed, through poor relations with diplomacy, and through terrible battle stratagems, to lose every tract of land on the continent, withdrawing to England and turning his attention to a place that Kings had been largely absent (Richard had been content to use England as a treasure box, leaving the English to (mostly) their own devices). And still John had no son to carry on his illustrious name.

In 1200, John had visited Nottinghamshire; the tense visit was marked in the county's memory by the acts of the village of Gotham. They realized that their village was the most direct route that King John would be taking, and they were concerned that the little road through their village, upon becoming the King's Highway, would be subject to further tax. It certainly was a valid concern. So the entire village took it upon themselves to act stark-raving mad.

King John (Softsword that he was) feared that the madness was a contagion, and went around Gotham instead of through it.

When John told of the events at a feast in Nottingham castle, wondering if all of the North was insane, Marian could hardly contain her laughter. In fact, she had to duck into a servants' passage to exorcise her giggles. When she came back, she could not meet anyone's eyes, and certainly not Robin's, for fear of laughing out again.

So the autumn passed; Marian and Robin were busy packing trunks and bags, making last minute arrangements, making sure the children had packed properly and taking them to Nottingham. It was almost a relief when they took to the road.

The relief wore off quickly as the miles passed.

o0O0o