Aidan stepped out into the sunny camp from the shelter, and was struck by the fact that he was alone. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, trying to adjust to the light, which seemed to be getting brighter every day. A serene silence fell over the camp, and Aidan frowned, wondering just how early he had woken up. But the other members of the gang were awake and gone; the fire was still smoking from breakfast. Aidan sighed, and tried to decide what to do. He was alone, which meant that technically he could leave the camp without anyone knowing. Once the gang went out in the morning, they were usually gone all day, and returned late in the evening. Unless. Unless there was a complication, and they needed to gather back at the camp to make a plan, or they needed different weapons, or they needed to drop off supplies or money. Leaving would be risky, but only if certain gang members returned. For instance, if Will or Allan came back and found Aidan missing, they wouldn't say a word to Robin. They were like his older brothers- especially Allan. But if Little John or Djaq or, God forbid, Robin came into camp…

It had been a week and four days, and Aidan was quite proud of himself for staying in the camp. He hadn't even attempted to sneak out yet, which was pretty good for him. He had managed to fix his broken bow without Robin finding out he broke it, and he found rabbits or chicken to make for the gang each night. But Aidan was getting restless again.

He had finally decided to take a walk in the forest- not leaving the forest, but just getting out of the camp, and was just moving towards the trail when Robin came walking towards him from the opposite direction.

"Going somewhere?" he asked dryly. Aidan cursed inwardly.

"I was going to get water…" Aidan said quickly, hating the fact that he was such an abysmal liar when it came to Robin. Anyone else, and he would have thought of something better.

"Without any buckets?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow. Aidan bit his lip, and Robin nodded, turning him around and steering him back into camp. He was going to check the traps he had set earlier. Of course. Why couldn't he have thought of this thirty seconds ago, Aidan thought in irritation.

"Sit down." Robin said, going into the shelter momentarily. He emerged shouldering his bow, and then stopped in front of his son. He put up one foot on a rock in front of him, and stared Aidan for a minute.

"Where are you going?" Aidan asked, looking up at his father through the almost blinding sunlight.

Robin adjusted his bow on his back and sighed. "We're planning another ambush. Supposed to be a shipment of silver pieces coming through here at midday. I'm just hoping it's not too well guarded."

Aidan nodded, wishing he could go along and help. Robin seemed to notice this, and he stared at his son again. "Tell you what. You stay in camp for the next three days, without sneaking off, and you're off restriction. Sound good?" Aidan nodded fervently, and Robin smiled.

"Allright, get out of here." He said, nodding over his shoulder.

"Where am I going?" Aidan asked, confused.

Robin cocked his head to the side. "You were getting water, remember?" He grinned knowingly at Aidan. Aidan bit his tongue, getting up to get the buckets.

Robin left the camp, and Aidan watched after him. He lugged the buckets of sloshing water back and forth three times, and then went down a fourth time when heard noises from far off in the forest. Dropping the buckets, he ran quickly and quietly farther away from camp. He stopped at the ridge of a hill, crouching down so he wouldn't be seen. A man was in back of a cart pulled by three horses- well make that two- one horse had gotten loose, and was bolting ahead of the cart, the man screaming after it. The other horses were getting riled up from the man's yelling, and were bucking and snorting wildly. Aidan decided to take matters into his own hands, and ran off along the ridge of the hill, trying to catch up to the escapee. After running quite a stretch, Aidan found himself directly above the horse. He decided to take his chances and leapt off the bank of the hill, landing almost perfectly astride the horse. He then took measures to calm the blasted thing down, and after a painfully long time, it slowed to a trot. Gently rubbing the horse's neck, Aidan cautiously turned it back around, and found the owner a ways back. Aidan realized that the horse had veered way off the trail, and that they were on the East side of the forest, very close to the edge. Aidan was almost never on the edge of the forest, especially not on the East side. The center was his specialty. Aidan slid off the horse as they reached the man in the cart, who looked flustered and quite relieved to have his animal back.

"Thank you so much, young man. I swear, that has never happened to me before. I don't know what spooked the horse so!" He held the broken reins in his hand, furrowing his brow.

Aidan smiled, a little winded. "Not a problem, sir."

The man stuck out his hand and Aidan shook it, a little disconcertedly, as he was anxious to get back to camp. The man forced him to take some money for going to such trouble, although he didn't exactly need to twist his arm to accept. He soon parted ways with Aidan, and he was left alone again, in an unfamiliar clearing. He noticed that only a few trees separated himself from the village outside the woods, which was new for him. Unless he was aiming to get out of the forest, he found he liked it better in the center of the woods; he felt almost protected by the expanse of trees in every direction. As much as he liked the adventure of being out of the forest, he liked familiarity. Seeing smoke from fires outside the forest made him fidgety, so he turned and began to walk away from the edge when he heard voices. They weren't the voices of adults, however, and his interest was instantly sparked.

He climbed another bank and came face to face with a young man of about his age. Before he could calculate what was going on, Aidan found himself meeting the ground, with the young man pinned on top of him.

"Oi! Just where did you come from? How did you find us? This is our side of the woods, we've told you that," The boy growled menacingly.

Aidan tried to speak, but his head was being pressed into the ground. And then a new voice joined the boys, louder…but gentler.

"Would you relax, Caleb? Does he look like an outlaw? Why, he's barely older than I am!"

It was a girl, he saw, as the pressure on his back was lifted and he was able to sit up. It was a beautiful girl. She had flowing, dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes, as well as slender hips and a slight, though powerful, form. Noticing his gaze, the girl crossed her arms and smiled slightly, though only out of one corner of her mouth, in an almost taunting manner.

"What? Never had a girl come to your rescue before?"