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Part 37

"Where are you two going?" Much asked a few days later.

Marian and Robin looked as if they were setting out for a whole days outing, together. He thought not for the first time how much he was missing Eve, and how he longed to be back with her in Bonchurch once again. But it would be several months travelling before that occurred and before that, Robin and Marian had to be ready to go home. He had let Robin leave England without him, and he was not going to leave the Holy Land until Robin and Marian were ready to walk alongside him and his fellow travelling companions.

"Emius," Robin replied.

"There? What are you going there for?" Much asked puzzled. "I mean that was where Marian…..Guy….Vasey…….Oh…. I get why you're going there."

"Want company?" asked Little John.

Robin shook his head and said. "This is something Marian and I need to do alone."

John nodded understandingly and Djaq asked. "Will you be back by nightfall?"

Marian looked to Robin who shrugged and said. "I do not know."

"Then take provisions in case you are not."

"And if you are not back the day after that we will come looking for you immediately." Much added, worry lines crossing his face.

"We will be back," Marian told him, with a reassuring rub on his shoulder with her hand.

"But if you are not?"

"Then come." Robin said, not to distraught his most loyal friend even more than he was.

"Did you pick up the thing in the market, Robin?" Will said, evasively as he joined in the conversation.

"Yes," was Robin's short reply but he smiled a secretive smile to Will at the same time.

--

Robin and Marian rode to Emius; they stopped short of the fallen city. In the heat of the day Emius was an empty shell looking for life once again and by night it was a deserted wasteland. They sat on their horses, and with the city in the distance just stared at it.

"Does it spark any….Does it?...Do you?" Robin asked gently.

This was a big step they were undertaking. Although he had visited this place when he first arrived back in the Holy Land, this time would be his last. He knew that all ghosts had to be laid to rest before they could move on with their lives. Not just Marian's pain but his as well.

Marian sighed heavily and whispered. "Yes."

Robin reached across the divide between the horses and covered her hand with his and replied. "We will work through this together, you and I."

She glanced at him and still in hushed tones answered simply. "Yes, together," as drops of moisture filled her eyes.