Year lost
"It's our birthdays soon. Kate's and mine, of course it's not the same day but they're so close and well… when her family lived in Locksley we always celebrated it together."
It took a while for the gang to let the information sink through; especially since it was Will coming with it and not Kate, of the two of them she was without doubt the most outspoken.
"Good idea Will. Really, we should celebrate everyone's birthday, didn't do that last year. How old are you guys turning?"
"Nineteen." Kate couldn't help being a little proud; she still remembered their age, even after all what she'd been through.
"No Kate. It's twenty. We're turning twenty."
Or… maybe she didn't remember the ages. She'd just been so sure.
"How?" It couldn't be. It simply couldn't.
"You were in the forest, alone, for over a year."
She was lost for words, could do nothing but sit, trying to get used to the fact that she'd lost a year of her life. Then she realized something.
"Mike… he… I thought he'd grown… couldn't understand… I mean; I knew it was winter when I fell into the river, and when I came here it was spring so I thought it had only been some months… when, really it was a year and some months."
"Yes Kate. I'm sorry."
Suddenly, for a reason she couldn't comprehend, Kate felt it as if her world was starting to turn. Making an excuse she got up and left the camp, walked towards the cave with her head bussing. Why was it bothering her so much she'd been in the forest for over a year? She was still alive, she was safe.
She knew the answer to that; she'd joked about her time in the wood, saying she'd all but forgotten what it meant to live a normal life. She'd thought it had been some months, what now? When it was over a year, would she ever be able to live a normal life again?
"Why didn't just drown instead of having to go through this?"
"I'm not being funny but, I'm kinda glad you didn't drown."
She'd been so lost in her own thought she'd neither heard him coming nor realized the fact that she was speaking out loud.
Slowly he went over and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her while doing so, pulling her close.
"What's bothering you?"
"Who am I?"
At first he didn't answer; simply pulled her even closer so she had to rest her head against his shoulder.
"You're Kate Scarlett. A brilliant, brave wonderful girl and I love you. I really don't care whether you're nineteen or twenty. And, when the king returns you'll be able to return to a normal lifestyle. I promise."
"How… how can you be so sure?"
"I know you. Know how stubborn you can be. You're a fighter; falling into the river couldn't kill you. Living alone for a year didn't kill you. Getting hit by a poisonous arrow didn't kill you."
"Mainly because of you."
"If you say so. But the thing is Kate, I'll be by your side all the time, and, I think I know a bit about what you're going through. When my parents died, I… I can't explain what happened, me and Tom; one day we were those two promising young men, Tom even engaged to Beth, then, we lost it all. He tried, Tom, but I think he always felt bad about the fact that we were a little poorer than Beth's family; he wanted to give her everything, even if it meant he had to steal to get it… then he ran away, after some time I went to look for him. The rest is pretty much history."
She'd never known. How could it be? Then a thought stroke her; she was probably the only in the gang whose parents stilled lived, whose family was still intact with the exception that she lived in Sherwood while his parents and siblings lived in Scarborough.
"You know what? Maybe we can thank our brothers for bringing us together; Tom ran away, you went looking for him. Mike fell into the river, I… well… you know…"
"Jumped in to save him. Because annoying as little brothers might be they are wonderful. Come; let's go back to the camp."
They walked back to the camp to be met by the others slightly worried faces.
"I'm sorry Kate. Didn't mean to…"
"It's okay Will… I'll make it. And… I might've lost a year but I've gained something else instead; the most wonderful friends one could want and a man who, though he can speak the ears off the devil and half of it isn't even true, will always make me happy."