The Prompt: Robin Hood is Snow's mentor

Snow exhaled slowly, keeping her eye on the target that she had crudely painted onto the scarred trunk of a large tree. Her fingers released the arrow, the line snapped against her cold cheek, slapping it like a drunk father who was disappointed in his child for missing their mark. The arrow soared through the woods landing several feet from her intended target.

She made a sound that was unfit for a princess, tossing the bow onto the ground at her feet. It was pointless. She was no good at this. She was never good at anything. She couldn't save her mother from dying, she couldn't save Regina, her step-mother and Queen of the Enchanted Forest, from taking over her Kingdom and she couldn't save the people she was meant to protect.

Regina was right all along. She was nothing more than a nuisance, she wasn't intended for a throne. How was she to rule a kingdom when she couldn't even hit an unmoving tree with an arrow?

"Little fox," called out the familiar voice of her mentor, Robin. She turned to him, pursing her lips tightly together. "It's because you have too much tension," he told her, plucking the bow off of the forest floor.

Snow placed her small hands on her narrow hips and sighed. "I've carried too much tension since I was a little girl and..."

"You know just as well as I do that wasn't the tension I meant." He lifted the bow, holding it with ease as he knocked a slim arrow into place. "Focus on your target, and only your target. Ignore everything around you, become one with the heart, think as your target would think." He released the arrow. It glided with finesse through the cluttered trees, slamming against the hollow tree with a loud thunk.

"How can I become one with a tree?" she asked with a wirey smile planted firmly on her pale, pink lips.

Robin chose to ignore her taunting, releasing another arrow into the air. It spiraled down the same path of its predecessor, splitting the makeshift arrow into two as it slipped into its place. Show off, Snow thought slumping against a large, gray boulder from behind her.

Robin joined her, leaping in top of the rock with a subtle grunt. He pulled his leg up to his chest and began to mess with the string of the bow. His fingers plucked at the quivering line creating short, humming sounds. They sat in their own silence for a while, content in the fall sun that poured through the canopy of large, pine trees. Snow listened to the birds in the far off distance, chirping in delight at one another as the wind rustled the fallen pine needles that littered the forest floor.

A slight chill began to bite through Snow's cloak and she involuntarily shivered. Robin slid off the boulder, offering a gloved hand for her to take. "Let's get something warm to eat. I think that's enough practice for today and Little John probably has supper prepared already."

Snow took one last glance at the tree with the split arrow protruding from its bark. Even in death the tree still bled sap from its open wound. She found herself wondering if she would ever heal from Regina's betrayal or if she too would forever bleed even beyond death.

"Thinking of your old friend again?" Robin asked, slinging the bow over his shoulder. Snow furrowed her dark brows and frowned. "Your eyes tend to glaze over when you are lost in thought about her," he explained, looking to the tree that Snow had miserably failed to hit.

"Old wounds heal, little fox," he quietly said, his eyes distant and unfocused. "It's the new ones that bleed. If you keep picking at the scabs then how are they to truly heal?"

Snow's gaze fell back to the tree, watching the sap ooze slowly down. Old wounds heal, she repeated to herself thinking of how much pain she and Regina had inadvertently caused one another, and the pain that Regina cut at Snow thereafter.

"Are you saying I should forgive her?" Snow asked, almost offended.

Robin's eyes snapped back to reality, falling back to Snow. He gave her a small smile, then shook his head. "You have to forgive yourself first and foremost. That's the only bandage for old wounds that refuse to heal."

Snow stood up, holding out her hands. "Can I try a few more times to hit the target before we head back to camp?"

Robin's smile widened, even reaching to his eyes. He handed her the bow, and then an arrow, helping her hold it properly. She exhaled slowly, focusing on the target. Her fingers released the arrow.

Robin placed his hand on her bony shoulder. "Faint hearts never won fair lady." She stared at the arrow that stuck from the middle of her uneven circle painted on the tree. "This will be your best performance yet."