Blackbird
Rated K
AN/Summary; Part of the "Fab Four" challenge. Will/Djaq, but not obvious, I guess. Set during and a little after "Turk Flu," so spoilers for that, I suppose. Do first season spoilers count? I own nothing, of course, and beta-ed by the wonderful Matriaya. She's the best! Go read the story we wrote together, "Intimates."
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The birds here were different then the ones at home. Smaller, and fragile. They were everywhere, hiding in the abundant green trees, serenading to the godless people that were deaf to their songs. But Djaq heard them. Even as the cage she was locked in rolled down to an uneven road to destinations unknown, she heard them, singing. She wished she could fly away and join them.
These Christians worshiped a broken man, tortured on a wooden cross, as their savior from death. They called themselves the most holy, yet imprisoned fellow humans and sold them into slavery. She would never understand them, no matter how hard she tried. She felt blinded, but still strained to see.
And then the carriage was stopped, by more heathen, godless men. But these men seemed against the ones that imprisoned her. She watched carefully with her physician's eye, and quickly picked out the leader, confident, arrogant. Then another man caught her gaze, a younger, silent one.
She saw that he was caged too, but saw that he was content. He was safe in his confinement. His cage, whatever it was, was safer than the one she was in, and she longed to join him.
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Though she never told anyone, that was the reason she decided to stay. She wanted to find the peace that Will Scarlet had found, and over time, she realized he was not caged at all. He was passionate about what he was doing, what he was fighting for. She mistook following orders as imprisonment.
The truth was, there were many kinds of imprisonment. When she was a girl, she was caged by her sex, and her clothes. Strange as it was, the deaths of her family members liberated her. She was in control of her own actions, at least until she was captured on a raid. Later, she was set free again. Broken, but relearning how to fly.
Now she was content to follow orders, because in all other ways free. Free to live, free to love. All the things that made her different from the rest of the gang; her religion, her sex, her background, never once held her back in this new land.
It was a fresh start. She allowed herself to stretch her wings. In so doing, she discovered more about herself, and more about these men whom she previously thought to be godless. Indeed, they worshiped the same God, just by a different name. She learned that she could fight like a man, yet not to be ashamed to be a woman. A contradiction, of course, and some still thought her to be inferior, but it was not the gang she allied with. No one really noticed that she was a Saracen, at least no more than they noticed she was a woman. Much and Robin probably had the most respect for her, having fought in her homeland.
Surprisingly, she was happier here in cold, damp, dark England than she was in her warm bright homeland.
She could finally see….
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AN; So? What do you think? Please leave a review, whether you liked it or not. Tell me how I could have improved it!