Robin was having a wonderful time; every moment with Maria was bliss to him. Sitting on that field, they chatted half the day away as the girl excitedly told him about the wedding between Digweed and Mrs. Heliotrope. The bride had complained nonstop that she was too old for this in comparison to Digweed, who looked as if he was in his twenties again, filling the room with energy as he frantically searched either for his tie or for the rings. Loveday was the maid of honor and Maria was the bridesmaid. Even though nothing changed much, both were very happy for the woman, who was finally letting herself have some fun without judging the actions around her. Maria was going to blow her top if she ever heard another critic from that woman, yes she loved her nanny, but Maria sometimes wanted to go and hide from her so she would not even hear her voice. Not-lady-like was not something that bothered her as her time in Moonacre Valley grew. Her tone was not so bossy anymore, her posture was not so strict and her smile was shown more. Maria liked the way things were in the Valley and she would not have them any other way. Talking to Robin, she got to know how he was, how his friends were. His little "posy" as she jokingly told him was doing quite fine, having the time of their lives, traveling to the town, meeting new people as they were now no longer outlaws but heroes. The Curse was broken and a lot of things changed.
Robin told her about the hunts he took part in, mentioning to her that one time one of his friends got chased by a boar ironically. He had ran through half of the forest before the animal decided to call it a day and stop wasting its time on pray that would never stop running.
"Luke thought that his legs would just give up on him and his bum would take the damage. I swear, what idiot decides that it is okay to go and poke a sleeping boar?" She laughed, in her mind was the image of a whiny Luke with his hands on his behind, rubbing it as if his actions could ease the pain the tusks of the animal caused. "Besides," he mused,"he had it coming. You know Luke, always on the lookout for trouble. By the way he was asking how you are; he and the boys were wondering when are you coming to visit with Loveday again." He asked nonchalantly but his gaze was hopeful.
The visits were not a rare thing but he always made sure he was out and by the time he got back to the castle they were gone again. This time tho, he would be sure to give her a tour of the whole castle himself.
"Oh, what a lovely idea! It has been some time I agree. I will speak to Loveday when I get-"Maria stopped and looked around. It was not morning any more, she was not even sure that it was noon. She had missed breakfast; she had probably missed lunch too. If she missed supper it would mean she would bet scolded and this time not only by her nanny but by her uncle. Often she would miss breakfast and everyone wondered how she had so much energy. Robin looked up also. It was soon going to get dark and he would not rest if she was still in the forest. The mist was gone and the forest was very much alive, squirrels jumping from tree to tree, small butterflies and birds would sometimes fly close to them. He got up and stretched, he had taken his jacket off and was now only with a plain black T-shirt and his feather collar. Maria looked up at him, her eyes running down the muscles that tensed and reddened when his shirt rose a bit, not daring to look any further. The action went unannounced by Robin who just gave her a hand to get up with the intention of walking her back to the manor.
"Will you walk with me a bit more?" She asked casually and when seeing his nod gave him one of her little smiles that were contagious. They walked back the say way, this time tho Robin knelt and took some berries. Marias lips parted to form a small "o" as he contently ate. She smacked him slightly on the back of the head, the hat jumping up a little.
"Hey, ow! What gives princess?!"
"Don't eat all of them! What if some animal wanted them and you just took them under its nose?"
He looked at her neutrally as he stuffed the remaining fruit in his mouth, earning himself another whack.
"OW! Would you stop hitting me? The bush is over there!" He pointed like a small child next to himself and Maria scoffed.
"Oh please, in that case why don't you just pick some?"
"Because you picked them." He smirked at her blushing face, how cute.
"Don't you have hands? Pick some up yourself."
"Nah, too lazy." He got back up and they continued to walk back. It was unusual for Wrolf or Wiggins not to pop out of somewhere, they usually found her with ease and kept her company everywhere she went. But she would never complain right now, that was pretty much obvious. Moving along, they talked about the upcoming wedding of Sir Benjamin and Loveday.
"It is going to be at the end of summer, oh Robin I cannot simply wait!" She clapped excitedly with her hands, grinning as she avoided a thorn bush on their way. Robin sighed, that meant he was going to wear a suit wasn't it. He did not like suits, the ties and other things that came along, he felt as if they were chocking him and his neck was bare from the temporary loss of his favorite feather collar. Maria pouted; she probably thought that he would prefer his usual attire.
"Do you not want to wear a suit?"
"No, oh god no! I really hate those things…"
"Though luck, my friend, you are going to wear them. If not Loveday would still force you and you know: What Loveday wants, Loveday eventually gets."
They laughed at the thought. Loveday was an extraordinary woman, her ways were many and she would not stop at anything to get what she wanted, in the good way of course. However that did not mean that she did not like playing match maker.
"There was that time when she wanted me to meet some boy I never heard of. She said that he wanted to meet me and was interested in me."
Robin growled on the inside, he would remember that. Maria was a beautiful girl, if they haven't noticed her yet, they needed help for their eyes. She accompanied her uncle frequently when he went into town and that was how Loveday got to know that some fool liked the sight of her. The princess however was not so flattered to have held his attention by the look she had while talking. No boy was worth Maria, she was way out of their league anyway and besides…they would probably go missing if he heard that some kid even thought to take advantage of his princess. Even he did not deem himself worthy of her but never the less wanted to be around her all of the time. He instead grumbled as she watched his face carefully.
"So how was he?"
"Oh, I very much liked his brother more than him." She laughed at his shocked expression.
"He had an eight year old brother. The guy himself? A total imbecile, trying everything to impress me. He behaved awfully towards his brother, the poor boy ended up crying. I left him to go and play with his brother. In the end the child was happier to be with me than his sibling." He smirked, Maria's temper had not changed. Loveday however, he had to talk to her for something. Concerning the way she found princess a suitor.
"Poor guy tho. He just wanted to be suave." He said, no sympathy whatsoever. Maria smirked as they made their way out of the forest and were now slowly walking towards the huge manor, Perriwinkle eating peacefully outside, his eyes on the teenagers ans the horse slowly chewed the grass. Maria kissed the animal on her way and turned towards Robin to say goodbye but found him hiding behind her horse for some reason. He was glaring at something behind her, a defensive position and his eyes darting with caution.
Wrolf had come out to greet his dear friend and his tail was lazily on his left side as those piercing eyes were on Robin. They had bad memories, Wrolf and Robin. Of course, Wrolf stopped attacking him, but the bird boy was not taking any chances and preferred to stay away as far as possible. Why, Maria could not understand. Wrolf was more of a dog, wiggling his tail and sniffing everything that seemed new enough for him. Chasing Zachariah and licking himself was something normal for him, the small detail that he was actually a lion long forgotten.
"Oh come on Robin. It is just Wrolf. He is a sweetheart." To prove, she scratched him behind the ears and he purred.
"Yeah… A demon, cheeky, scary sweetheart." He shot back as he moved slowly closer to Maria. She giggled and tapped him on his hat as she made her way towards the door.
"I had a wonderful time Robin. I truly did." The door closed behind her, leaving a grinning Robin behind.
"Me too princess. Me too."
The Moon princess ran straight into the piano room where Loveday was again arranging flowers and putting them wherever she saw, the room looking more refreshing even when the new paint was still wet, the creamy color in contrast with the striking red petals. The place was truly more beautiful if they showed life inside it.
"Loveday, Loveday! Oh, Loveday!" She all but screamed at the woman with a huge smile on her face.
"Why do I think that Robin has finally decided to make his entrance?" The mature woman smirked a bit but hid it almost instantly behind a radiant smile as Maria held both of her hands.
"Yes, child, what is it? You seem much happier than usual, I wonder why."
"Loveday can we go and visit the De Noir clan again? Please, it has been almost a month since we last went and I would like to see Luke and Jayme and Terrie and the others again. Please, can we?" Her excitement was clear and Loveday couldn't say no to that face and smile. She had to tell her fiancé too and ask him if he had something in mind the next few days. Loveday nodded, grinning as she saw Maria dash off to tell Mrs. Heliotrope the news and went to tell Benjamin as well. Making her way in, not bothering to knock, she went straight to the point.
"…She jumped up and down around? Are you sure we are talking about Maria here?" Benjamin looked up from the paperwork he was occupied with and looked with skepticism at his soon-to-be wife. Loveday gave him a half hearted glare as she walked towards him.
"Yes, who else. She wants us to go visit my father and I said yes. We could stay there for a few days and then be off to London to go shopping for my wedding dress, how does that sound?"
"Only the two of you? And right after you intend to leave?"
"Oh, please, no. You are coming too. You, my dear, still haven't experienced a dinner at the De Noirs. It will hit you so hard you won't even know it's coming."
"With you, everything hits."
A small book was directed towards him as Loveday exited the study room, trailing behind her was Sir Benjamin's laughter.
Digweed was informed and so were Marmaduke and Marias nanny.
One was a bit sad that he had to take a break from cooking and the other was secretly terrified of the food there for her ingestion was not something to be taken lightly.
Maria went to the stables to check up on Perriwinkle, Wrolf and Wiggins trailing behind. The cute little dog was going to miss his mistress but knew that she would be back so for the time being he would entertain himself with the black lions tail and chasing around Zachariah. The cat was not fond of that fact.
The Moon princess caressed her dear horses' head and hugged him from the side. She was the only one in the small room, the other horses watching her display of affection curiously.
"I would soon be back Perriwinkle. I have to go to London too, that vile city. I do not hate it..but I would never move back there. That place is now a distant memory and nothing more."
She tried to recall memories from London, the friends she could barely stand, the people who never seemed to catch her attention. It was such a blur in comparison to the colorful pictures that flashed in her mind, the infamous escape from the castle, her running like mad to get to the safety of her room. Serena, being the bait to lure Robin out so he could hear her out, the first one to drop his pride and listen to reason.
And then there was that jump from the cliff.
She would never change a thing even if she could. Things were falling back to place in her opinion and for some reason she was having a wonderful day. The reason was not unknown, Maria knew that much.
The cause of her happiness was at the same moment walking down the stone hallways of his fathers' castle to his room.
Robin was quick to return and went straight up to his room, not to be disturbed before supper.
Entering, he stumbled on one of his shirts lying on the floor.
His room really was the lair of a pig. But he was not doing anything to change that, the only clean thing he needed was the bed and he didn't even change the sheets. Robin dropped his shirt on a random pile which meant that it was dirty and sat on his bed.
On someone's hand.
Terrie was the smallest in the gang, and youngest if Robin had to be exact. Only fifteen years old, Terrie had a fiery temper and was the one who could make others laugh for no reason whatsoever, just being himself and his sense of humor was enough for the boys to take him in and make him feel a part of the small family that had formed over the years.
Also the habit of sleeping in Robins' bed, but that was something that Robin got used to after half a year. The boy was snuggled again, one arm under his pillow and the other under his head. His hair was a mess, his black strands sprayed on his pillow.
"TERRIE, UP, NOW!" Robin shouted close to his ear making the boy jump and sprint out of his room. Curses could be heard behind the door and fading as he walked down the hallway towards his own room. Robin chuckled as he went to write the daily report to his father and bring it to him while going down for dinner. While writing small thoughts would jump around making it hard for him to concentrate and by the time he had finished the only thing he would think about was her smile and the shine in her eyes, her fiery hair in almost perfect curls. How could someone be so…so…so beautiful?
His mind could not comprehend how he had lasted these months as Robin wanted to talk to her the moment they parted; he wanted her to be by his side as his feet took him to the castle. Her sweet voice was ringing inside the young De Noirs' mind and he got up to give his father the book he had been writing for about an hour. Closing the door, Robin imagined how Maria would react if she saw his room.
She would simply refuse to go in until he tidied it up which he was never going to do simply because he was too lazy. If he wanted her in his personal space he would have to work, Robin knew that. Just not tonight because his mood was too good to be ruined by the things he might find while cleaning up.
The moon shined through her window as Maria got ready for bed, petting Serena as she sat in front of her small vanity table. The day had been eventful and she enjoyed it very much. The rabbit snuggled in her arms and was fast asleep. The girl got up and put her in her little nest she had made herself and proceeded to make her bed. A smile was on her face as she looked outside, her green eyes scanning briefly the small garden and the part of the forest that was visible. Only a few hours ago, she was there with Robin. The fact made her heart flutter again while she lay in bed, sleep taking over her as well.
"Hopefully, tomorrow will be as wonderful as today was." She whispered to no one in particular. The last thing her eyes saw was the twinkle of the stars on her ceiling.
