Robin laid awake back in his tent, and, while Much snored away, he forced himself to remember Marian for the last time.
"It's your eighteenth birthday Marian," he whispered.
"I thought you had forgotten in all of this."
"How could I forget after what you did to me last year?"
She laughed, "I was pretty brutal wasn't I?"
"Like always."
"Like always?" She cuffed him on the ear and smiled.
"No, you're gentle as a lamb," he murmured in mock seriousness.
"Honestly Robin, perhaps it will be nice to have a break from you."
"A very short one, I promise," he said sincerely.
"All right then," she agreed, tugging him closer to the bed strewn with clothes still to be packed.
"But you haven't finished packing Marian."
"I thought perhaps you could finish packing in the morning."
He smiled, lacing his fingers through hers and spinning her around under his arm. She spun into him and leaned against his chest for a moment. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply. Seduction was long past them and they expeditiously removed their clothes and were once again in each other's arms, the heat of their bodies delicious and intoxicating as always.
"What will your pleasure be this evening my Lord?" She asked, tilting her head back to grin at him.
"M'lady, this is your farewell, since you are the one who seems to doubt that I will return."
She mock pouted her hands on her hips.
"Sit on the bed," she commanded imperiously.
"Yes my lady."
He crawled onto the bed and sat leaning against the headboard.
"Are you ready my Lord?" She challenged, "Never mind, I can see you are."
She grinned and crawled up beside him, and straddled above him.
As she looked into his blue eyes the laughter died on her lips and desperation crept up from her privates into her throat and she lowered herself onto his penis. She gasped as the intimacy filled her. She didn't dare to move. Robin felt that he could see nothing but Marian's green eyes. He hoped he would never regain the rest of his sight, that these eyes would be a color wash over everything he would see forever after. He couldn't move; all he could do was look into her eyes and believe that everything would be all right, and whisper her name over and over. She rocked her hips forward once and paused, one hand holding the back of his neck, the other over his heart.
Suddenly she was hit with panic that there was not enough time, and her blood began to race and she pumped her hips faster and harder, fighting back tears as the bittersweet pain and pleasure of their joining washed over her again and again. She felt his familiar tension and release and was overwhelmed with sadness and fell upon him, beginning to cry in earnest.
He felt a familiar tug inside as he held his love in his arms, and began to rock her, cradling the back of her head in his hand.
"Don't let me go," she begged, wrapping her arms and legs around him more tightly.
"I won't, I can't."
Their bodies were still aligned, clinging to each other. After awhile Marian struggled to her knees and then got off the bed and walked to the window, her fingers going to her temples in a gesture so familiar it broke Robin's heart. In a moment she returned to bed and lay down beside him. She set to memorizing his so beautiful body. He turned to her and ran his hand up her white thigh, cupped his hand over the warm wetness between her legs, the curls above, and placed his hand over the softness of her stomach. He explored her ribs, a familiar stepping stone path for his fingers. He watched mesmerized as she drifted into a dreamy wakefulness and finally into sleep. He fell asleep relearning the texture of her hair.
When they woke it was still night and they began again, unspeaking. And then they just remained awake and silent, lying in each other's arms, waiting for the dawn.