Scarborough Fair
Are you going to Scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there,
He once was a true love of mine.
Tell him to find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Between salt water and the sea strand,
Then he'll be a true love of mine.
The waters in England were unexpectedly clean, Djaq (or rather, Sofia) thought while she washed and prayed. She had not expected such a politically dirty country to harbor such a fine stream. Although there was much yet to be done on this day, washing soothed her. She sighed with happiness as she shrugged off the boyish clothing, finally able to be her true self, if only for a few moments. She prayed only minutes before her thoughts were turned to the analysis of what was yet to take place this day.
This Robin of Locksley, who understood some of their language and Saracen ways, had charmed all her fellow prisoners into helping the outlaws destroy the mines of the Sheriff. Djaq did not particularly want to take part in such a scheme, but it was either this, run away in the strange land, or be arrested. She concluded that her chances at survival here were stronger with this group of unusual men. Not all of them were ill-looking, she thought as she splashed the cool clean water all over her bare skin. The splashing covered the sound of approaching footsteps, or else she surely would have heard the heavy steps on the bracken.
"Robin says that we have to get -" a deep voice emanated from the trees behind her, and she jumped up and started screaming as she met the piercing blue eyes of Will Scarlett. She hastily grabbed her shirt and covered herself, but it was too late. He had seen that she was not a boy.
Although Djaq wasn't particularly concerned about the thin-looking English boy knowing her secret, she did still feel slightly uneasy. No man had ever seen her without clothes before. It was particularly offensive when she considered how her kinswomen back home would feel – those women who constantly covered their faces with layers and layers of gauzy veils. She almost wanted to laugh once she had composed herself and dressed again. Leaving behind the veil of her womanhood had been a particularly satisfying aspect of becoming her brother, even if the pain was too much to handle.
When the real Djaq had died, at first Sofia could not believe it. The war had already caused so much damage to her land and her people that when her own twin was killed it seemed particularly heinous. The idea to become a boy came to her after she had heard of all the women in other villages who had been handled by foreigners and renegades. It would be so much easier to help her father with the wounded in the field if she were a boy! And it had protected her and allowed her more freedoms since that day, with the exception of her capture by the English. Now, it could all be spoiled by one foolish accident. Already she was preparing to defend herself against this Will. Even an innocent-looking boy like him could be dangerous under the wrong circumstances. She had seen the fear in his eyes when that horrible slave-trader told them they were diseased.
Djaq scanned the camp quickly to judge if there was any danger. She had already given away too much today. She spoke English to them, her method of burning the rope with the mirror had failed – what else could go wrong in this place? She feared too much. She would go along with Robin's plans, but she would watch her back and do nothing to jeopardize her situation. She would keep her eye on Will Scarlett.
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Perhaps it was the color of her skin that had so intrigued him, Will thought, as he analyzed the puzzling "Djaq" for about the tenth time that day. Even though he had plenty to do, coordinating the destruction of the mines, building up scrap piles to set afire, and preventing Rowan from seriously harming anyone, Will's thoughts persistently turned back to that startling glimpse he had caught of the woman now in their midst.
The skin was a dark golden color, and perfectly smooth – not to mention she was well proportioned in all the ways a lady should be. But was she even a lady? Will had a limited experience with the opposite sex when he lived in Locksley, although he was nigh on eighteen years old – and since they had all gone to the forest, his chances to gain a more intimate knowledge of a woman's body were narrowed even more. Allan had regaled them all with stories of his conquests, and although Robin was modest, there was no doubt he had known his share of fair skin and properly-proportioned flesh.
Will's frustration with the situation was not improved when he couldn't get the fires to light. He was supposed to know how the wood best catches flame, but Djaq had prevented him, calling him "primitive" and lighting the fire with her curved mirror and Saracen trickery. He was wary of her, although he was also for the first time interestingly befuddled by a girl. He had known a few of the Locksley girls, but he had never seen that before…
Shaking his head, Will tried to concentrate on the task at hand by anticipating problems and hastily making repairs. When they had all returned from Nottingham that night after winning Rowan the silver arrow, Will thought he could relax and put the confusing feelings he was experiencing away for good. But, when Much's fire caught light miraculously, Will knew at once that the confusion was just beginning.
"Djaq, won't you come and join us?" Robin shouted at the seemingly empty wood.
"For good?" spoke the voice of a nonentity. It was her voice.
"I was just thinking for dinner, but…"
"And I was thinking for good!" Djaq emerged smiling, and rolling her r's magnificently, exotically. Will twitched from his seat behind Allan as she tried to get Robin to let her stay. Will couldn't understand why a woman should wish to live in the forest, but something about this one told him she was no ordinary woman. Still, he would not let her get away with deceit when she was in danger.
"It wouldn't be safe for you to join us," he spoke out, challenging her with a look. Djaq pursed her lips in anger; a sort of resignation also crept over her features, but Will assumed he would be the only one able to recognize it in her.
"For him or for us?" they questioned him.
"For her," he spat out, and she cast him a look of such blatant desperation that he shifted uncomfortably in his seat once more. Scared, she glanced around her, but Robin smiled like the rogue he was, giving her the once over before demanding if anyone had a problem with a woman joining them.
By instinct, it seemed, Will's head shook violently. He had no problem with her staying, if it was all in the open. Surely there could be no harm. They were all out here, exposed, and no one was there to judge so long as she kept up the ruse of being a boy. Will reassured himself that everything would be alright and that none of these feelings he was experiencing should be heeded. After all, Will was the most practical of men and had no intention of changing.
As he went to sleep that night beneath the covering of yellow leaves, he couldn't help but wonder what she could look like as an ordinary girl. What clothes would suit her? Of course, she could never wear the plain gray wools and cottons of the girls he was accustomed to. He thought of her hair, long behind her, rather like Marian's, only more ornately dressed, and of gold jewelry on her olive-toned skin. Only bright colors would do, he thought lazily, smiling as consciousness blended into the fabric of his dreams, and hues of his Auntie Annie's garden in Scarborough floated through his mind.
All of these luxurious fantasies were abruptly stopped when he heard wagon wheels roll down a nearby path. There was new work to be done, and thoughts of Djaq would have to be put aside. Firmly he resolved not to think of her anymore, except as a fellow comrade of the woods. It was a resolution that made him feel nearer his true self, and stiffened his manners throughout the next few days' adventures. No woman would come between Will Scarlett and the life he was meant to have. He would avenge himself and his family on Gisborne, he would help Robin fight the Sheriff and restore honesty and justice to England, he would eliminate extortionist taxes, and then someday he could think about frivolous things – but not before all this was accomplished.
Will sighed, picked up his ax and went to join the others at breakfast, staring at the ground as much as he possibly could.
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Before Allan A' Dale went temporarily mad, and before the nasty business with the mines took place, the lying fellow could usually be found, lazing about in the crooks of tree branches, or slumped against the trunk, daydreaming about something or other. The lads thought he was perhaps just thinking up a new pack of lies, and left him to himself (when there was no work to be done). And their conjecture wasn't too far from the truth. He was thinking up ways to satisfy himself, through lying or otherwise, it didn't make much of a difference.
The thing Allan required to satisfy himself at the moment, he believed, was the congenial company of a poor kitchen girl called Annie. Allan thought, 'if Gisborne can, why couldn't I?' He had almost believed he could change his ways, if he was left long enough in the woods with these noble outlaws, but still some things were laws of nature, and a man couldn't be expected to live without sin, especially in this makeshift Garden of Eden.
The scoundrel sighed in contemplating how easy it would be to just walk up to the girl, slip a few well-crafted words in her ear, and he would be a victim of the woods no longer. He smiled as he thought of the reaction of his fellow-men, once he started spreading the tale around a bit. It would be easier than escaping from the Sheriff. He had no time to act upon his brilliant scheme, however. There was work to be done, and a mine to blow up.
He acted his part to the best of his ability – it wasn't very hard to convince the guards he was afflicted with Turk Flu – the drawback was that he swallowed the nasty leaf Robin had given him to chew on. He felt perfectly fine for a good while, and was starting to believe he was impervious to the effects of whatever it was, when he suddenly felt rather light-headed around dinner time. He thought that whoever happened to walk by him was a threat, even though it was just the gang, and he tried to yell at them to scare them away – most of this time got lost in the delirium, but he remembered feeling awfully dizzy for a good day or so.
He wasn't lucid for the "unveiling" of Djaq's real situation, he was sure he would have remembered somebody asking a girl to join the gang. When he finally came out of the spell of the nasty leaves, she was already comfortably situated in one of his usual sleeping spots.
"Oy, what's he doing in my branch?" he demanded the few of the gang left awake one night.
"It's the least we could do to make her comfortable – now that she's here," Will answered. Allan stared at Will for a few stunned moments before he glanced at Robin to make sure he had heard right.
"She?" his voice went up a few notes on the scale as his incredulity crept into the conversation. Robin laughed, but Will stood up to explain.
"I found out she was a girl, two days ago. Her name's Sofia – she somehow needed to pretend she was her brother. We all decided it was alright if she joined the gang."
"Well, she did save John, didn't she? That's pretty impressive," Allan said watching her sleep in his tree. He felt rather glad to have her there; it made him feel as though he was doing something noble. Being a gentleman came slowly to Allan, although he was so practiced at imitating one. Allan suddenly smiled like it was Christmastide and glanced over at Will, sitting by the fire, staring into it.
"So how'd you find out she was a girl?" Allan asked with an expectant laugh in his voice. He wanted a story, he wanted all the details.
Will looked up sideways at Allan with a sullen turn about his mouth. He was quiet for a few moments.
"I just found out, alright? And as long as she's with us, she's one of the lads – not a girl." Will went back to staring at the flames, poking the embers with a long stick.
Allan turned to glance back up at the small sleeping form. Somehow he didn't think he could forget that from now on, there would be a female sleeping (and working) alongside him.