The rain continued falling throughout the day. Other than Much, the outlaws didn't complain as they completed their drop-offs in Knighton.

Marian, however, had every reason to complain. In her own village, among her own people, Kate would not stop sidling up to Robin, never leaving him, behaving as if she were his wife.

"Remember when you were training me?" Kate asked him. "You stood behind me, reaching around to correct the way I swung my sword, like you were hugging me. I could use another lesson, Robin!"

"I'll let Much know," Robin told her, then stepped away to join his wife and speak to the village tanner.

Kate ran after him. "I don't want Much to teach me. I want you. Remember when I discovered the king's body was only wax? We had to hide together in a coffin, lying down like we were in bed."

Robin turned to her. "Enough, Kate. I need to speak to the people here, to see if there are any unmet needs. Here, pass this out to that row of cottages."

She held the money pouch he'd given her without moving, then called after him as he and Marian walked away, "Remember when you kissed me?"

Marian had heard enough. She spun around and angrily faced Kate. "He didn't kiss you," she corrected her. "You kissed him." Not wishing to create a scene, she walked back to Kate and quietly accused, "You grabbed his face and kissed him. I was there." And then, sarcastically, she finished, "Remember?"

"Not that time," Kate said smugly. "It was before you came back."

"Let it go, Kate," Robin ordered, rain streaming from his hood. "Much!"

Much, only a few steps from his master, splashed through mud puddles to join him. "Yes, Robin? Ooh! I don't think that was mud I just stepped in! No! All over the bottom of my boot! I hate this!"

"You love drop-offs."

"Not in this weather."

"Much, take Kate away."

"Master! Surely! Must I?"

"Do it for Marian."

"Not for me," Marian said curtly. "I, for one, would like to hear the rest of Kate's reminiscences."

"Rem-in-is-scences-ses," Much repeated, trying to commit the word to memory. He enjoyed using long words he picked up from the nobility. He repeated the word incorrectly again, wiping the sole of his boot in the grass.

Kate proudly continued. "We were all alone, sitting by the fire outside our camp at night, and Robin kissed me, nice and slow. On my mouth."

Marian lifted her eyebrows and looked questioningly at her husband from beneath her hood.

Robin spoke to both women at once. "And that's all that happened. I apologized the next morning. I'd had too much ale that evening. You'd been drinking, too, Kate."

"It was because you liked me in my tavern girl costume earlier in the day, when I arm-wrestled Lord Sheridan. You said I was a surprisingly effective tavern girl. You didn't know I could be so enticing. Your words, Robin."

"Kate," Robin said, "we'll talk about this back at camp. Marian is my wife, and I expect you to treat her with respect. Now, can we finish the drop-offs and go home, so we can get out of the rain?"

Two boys who were honorary members of Robin's gang came running from a hut. "We are Robin Hood!" they cried.

Robin was very pleased to see them, especially at this awkward moment. "Daniel, Mark!" he greeted. "You're just in time to help us! Is there anything we should know, happening here?"

"Not here," Daniel said. "But Prince John's in Nottingham."

"Good work," Robin praised, not letting on he already knew. "Anything else?"

"Gisbourne's getting married."

"Is he?" He handed each boy a pouch of coins. "Care to help pass these out?"

"Hurray! Which houses?"

"Let me show them, Robin," Marian said. "I need to cool off."

Kate looked extremely proud of herself, watching Marian lead the boys away. Robin spun angrily around to face her. "If you cannot pay my wife the respect she deserves, you're out of the gang. I mean it, Kate. Do you understand?"

"I thought you said we were all equal in the forest."

"We're not in the forest. We're in her village. You find nothing wrong, accusing me here, upsetting my wife?"

"Accusing you of what? What you did? I didn't make anything up! Everything I said was the truth!"

"I think it's time you returned to Locksley, for good. Your mother will take you back, won't she?"

"Robin, no! Give me another chance, please! Please, I won't say anything any more! Please, Robin! Please, please, please!"

"I'm sorry, Kate, but no. When we've finished here, we'll return to camp and you can collect your things. I'll walk you back Locksley and try to make peace with your mother."

"No, Robin, please! I'll be recognized! Gisbourne and the sheriff will kill me!"

Robin quickly realized the truth of what she'd said. "You're right, Kate. I didn't think. You're safe, I promise. I won't send you home to Locksley."

"Oh, I'm glad! I thought you meant it." She flung herself at him, but he took hold of her arms and moved her off him.

"This stops, today. You can only stay with us until we find somewhere else for you to go."

"Someplace safe? I'm only safe with you, Robin!"

"We've helped others relocate before. How do you feel about going into service somewhere far enough from here, where nobody knows you?"

"I won't go!"

"You'll have to, unless we think of something better. We'd only send you to work for a kind mistress. After that, you forge your own life."

"My life's with you! Everything was going so perfect, before she had to return and spoil things! You finally learned how awful Isabella is, and you were falling for me. You were, Robin! Admit it!"

"I'm sorry, Kate, but no. I never was. I love my wife."

"She always gets what she wants, doesn't she?"

"Hardly."

"But you're all I want!"

"You see, Kate? That is why you have to go."

Kate stomped her foot, then turned and stormed away, cursing under her breath.

"Well," Much said, "I must say, I am relieved! Goodbye, Kate!"

"Kate never was part of our gang," Robin said, sorry that he'd hurt her. "Not really."

Allan was laughing, having watched the entire scene. He joined Much and Robin. "You finally did it! We've been tryin' to get rid of her ever since she joined us! Hey, don't look so depressed!"

"I don't expect you to understand, Allan. She's from my village. I'd do anything to make my people happy."

"That's why you kept her outta Locksley so long?"

"No, Allan. I mean I'd do anything for any one of them, including Kate."

"He wants everyone to love him," Much mentioned.

"Yeah," Allan agreed. "Maybe we can send Kate where Annie went. I wouldn't mind meeting up with her again!"

"That is not a bad idea," Robin told him. "I'll see if Marian can ask her friend Lady Glasson whether she needs another young woman in service."

"Well, I wouldn't wanna be you," Allan said, "explaining to Marian why you kissed her. Not bein' funny, but spinnin' that yarn about tryin' to keep your people happy isn't gonna fly with Marian."

Robin breathed out a sigh of frustration. This had to be the final discussion of its kind, he believed, not remembering anything else of the sort Marian didn't already know about.

"Marian did not need to hear that, especially today," he said, thinking out loud.

"Why today?" Allan asked. "It's not her birthday or your anniversary or anything, is it?"

Robin shook his head, sending water droplets scattering. "She needs security now. She needs to know how much I love her. And I'm not going to spin a yarn, as you say."

"We always tell Marian the truth," Much announced, proudly. "Can we go home now?"