Isabella grabbed the sleeve of Guy's tunic, but she didn't talk. They walked home in silence after spending the day playing by the river with the other children of the village. Neither of them really wanted to go, but Ghislaine told Guy that Isabella needed to be with kids of her age and try to forget her sadness for a while.
It didn't go very well. The other children never really liked them, less than ever now that their father was dead as a leper.
Guy spent the day apart from the others, sitting on the grass and watching Isabella. His sister tried to play with the other girls, but they ended up teasing her and being mean to her until Isabella burst up in tears and Guy ran to help her, yelling at the other girls to let her be.
The other kids didn't like his interference and promptly came to defend their sisters.
The scuffle left Guy with a few bruises, a ripped tunic and a sad, burning resentment against the other kids.
Isabella walked at his side, dragging her feet and silently weeping, and Guy didn't know how to cheer her up when he was feeling so heartbroken himself.
The little girl stopped suddenly, and Guy turned his head to look at her. Isabella was pale and she looked at him with her eyes full of tears.
"I feel sick, Guy..." She whispered.
"Do you want to sit down?"
Isabella covered her mouth with a hand and ran behind a bush at the side of the road. Guy didn't move for a moment, then rushed to help her.

Robin looked at the sticks on the ground, searching for the ones that he could make into arrows. It was a warm day and the other kids of the village went to play by the river, but he preferred to walk to the edges of the forest and practice with his bow.
He was walking back home when he spotted the Gisborne kids, at the side of the road. The younger girl, Isabella, was sitting on a rock and she was sobbing, while her brother was caressing her back, trying to comfort her.
They both looked sad and miserable, and for a moment Robin thought that he could go home by another road and pretend he hadn't seen them.
Isabella sobbed loudly, and Robin sighed. His father taught him that he always should try to help people, if he could.
He walked to reach Guy and Isabella.
"Hello, Guy! What happened to her?"
Guy looked at Robin, frowning, and wondering if he was there to make fun of them. This time, though, Robin looked sincerely concerned.
"She threw up," Guy answered. "Some girls at the river were cruel with her and she was really upset. She is always quiet and she hides her feelings well, but when it becomes too much, she feels sick."
Guy touched his sister's forehead with a hand, and sighed.
"It happened quite a lot in the last few weeks."
Robin nodded, serious for once.
"Can she walk?"
The girl whined.
"Papa took me in his arms when I was sick and he took me to bed. I want papa, Guy! Why did he come back only to die?!"
Guy closed his eyes for a moment, to stop the tears. That was a question that was burning his soul and his mind. They had missed their father for years when he went to war, they believed him dead and mourned him, then he came back only to die a few months later, just when they had begun to get used to his return.
It was unfair, a cruel joke of the fate, but Guy had to be strong.
He was the man of his family now.
He kissed Isabella's brow.
"I can't take you in my arms, but I can carry you on my shoulders. Would it be good enough?"
The girl nodded weakly. She was a year older than Robin, probably too old to be carried like that, but grief made her wish to be a little girl again, to go back to the time when their family was happy.
She climbed on her brother's shoulders and closed her eyes, weak and still a little sick.
"Could you carry her basket?" Guy asked to Robin, and the younger boy nodded, putting the bow on his shoulders to have his hands free.
They walked in silence for a while. Isabella had fallen asleep, and Robin glanced at her, wondering if she was feeling better.
Guy gave him a little, sad smile.
"Thank you."
Robin smiled him back, a little embarrassed. In the past he too made fun of Gisborne, but after Sir Rodger's death, he hadn't dared anymore. And Sir Malcolm, just a few days ago, talked to him about an important matter, explaining him another reason to be kind to Guy and Isabella.
"It's nothing. And I guess that we should better get along," he added, reluctantly.
"So your father told you, at last," Guy said, with a little smirk.
"You knew?!"
Guy sighed.
"I saw them together a few months ago, when we still believed that our father was dead at war."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"What for? Do you really think that it would make a difference? They're going to be married anyways and there's nothing that we can do. We can just hope that this wedding is a good thing."
Robin shook his head.
"I thought that my father only loved my mother."
"And I thought the same about my parents. But my father and your mother are dead, so maman and Sir Malcolm can marry if that's what they want."
Robin looked at Isabella: the girl was still pale.
"Is that why she's sick? She's upset because of the wedding?"
"Yes, I think that's one of the reasons. But mostly she misses father. She was little when he went to war, but she loved him so much and she had never forgotten him during the years he had been away. She was so happy when he came back..."
"Do you miss him too?"
Guy nodded, sadly, trying to hide his emotions.
"I wish I could remember my mother's face," Robin said in a whisper.
"I think that you could find it in a mirror. You look nothing like your father, so you must look like her."
Robin touched his face: he had never thought about it and he didn't know if Guy was right, but he understood that the older boy was trying to be gentle and comfort him.
Once he used to laugh at Guy because he was a stranger, a half-french who wasn't born in his village, but now he was beginning to realize that if their parents got married, they were going to be a sort of brothers.
He didn't like the idea very much, and he was sure that Guy and Isabella didn't like it either, but they had no choices but accept their parents decisions and trying to make the best of them.