Mmm. It's been a while since I've written a RH fic.
I promise it'll be decent. That is, if you're open to some interpretation on the traditional Robin Hood myth.
Disclaimer:
Robin Hood does not belong to me. Also be warned that this fic will contain yuri/lesbian relationships. No sex or anything pornographic, but there is a mention ofrelationships between females. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. NO HOMOPHOBIA, PLEASE. OR I'LL SHOOT SOMEONE.
Hey, if you tolerate Robin/Prince John fics, you can tolerate this. And I promise it's better writing than anything else I have up on this site.
So, if any of you are still reading this...
When the Leaves are Falling in Sherwood
Robin's eyes opened to the sounds of the greenwood. There was a soft twittering of birds, the gurgling of the stream on whose banks they were lying, a smell in the air that suggested lightening was approaching, a July early-morning comfort, and an overabundance of hair in Robin's face. Marian's hair.
Marian had always had lot of hair. She had used to spend hours brushing it with a fine toothed comb till it shone and fitted underneath the restricting headdresses she had to wear to be acceptable. Robin looked her over and smiled at the irony of it all. Lying half-naked as she was, Marian certainly wasn't acceptable now. But certainly, she was more beautiful now than before, when she hadn't belonged to the Outlaw of Sherwood Forest.
Robin sat up slowly so as not to disturb her, and looked at the sweetness of her sleeping face. The details of her were so fascinating, the way the black hair fell across her white face, the way her brow wrinkled ever so slightly as she dreamed, the way the tiny moon shaped birthmark above her eyebrow obstructed the symmetry of her face yet gave her something that distinguished her from all the other beautiful girls that Robin had slept with.
The Outlaw of Sherwood had waited for this for what had seemed an age. It was not the lovers' first time, but it was their first time without a fear of being caught by someone, their first time since Robin had worked for Marian's father, their first time since the outlaw had risked it all for this ruse. And the ruse had worked.
Robin lay back down and looked at Marian again, examining more things about her face. Robin noticed how long her eyelashes were, how her face had been almost crushed into the palm of her hand as she slept, how her nose was narrow and well ordered with very little acne or other such imperfections. The famous outlaw decided to wake her, and leant forward and kissed her forehead.
Marian's whole face changed, and Robin watched as she wrinkled her nose and shut her eyes tight as if her face was desperately trying to stay asleep, then her face relaxed and she made a noise like, "Hnn…" and then her eyes opened.
Marian's eyes had always been a subject of fixation for her lover. They were a determined shade of blue, a blue that seemed to defy the dark color of her hair and the pale color of her skin almost in the same way Marian had defied her parents and run off with an outlaw. Her lips parted, to the delight of Robin, who took delight in everything that Marian did, and whispered a word, as the blue, blue eyes focused on the imperfection that was her skinny, wiry, driven admirer.
"Reina…" she whispered, and leant in and kissed Robin with a smile in her mouth so Robin could feel it, disregarding the worries the outlaw had been having about morning breath. "Reina, it was real…"
"Robin," the outlaw corrected, trying to be firm but finding Marian too lovely to be stern with her, "You can't call me Reina back at the camp."
Marian wrinkled her nose again, "Robin, Reina, Robin, Reina," she said softly, kissing Robin in between words, "I don't care."
Robin had to consciously not melt, "I do care, my love. I have to care. If you call me Reina at camp…"
"Then they'll find out who you are and everything will be ruined, I know." Marian was serious now, "I'll be careful. I won't let your men find out you're a girl. But I'll call you Reina when no one will hear us."
Robin pulled Marian into her arms and Marian nestled into her chest, which felt ridiculously loose. The "King" of Sherwood had had to do lots of things to keep the ruse up, some of which had been easy, (like cutting her hair off) and some of which hadn't (like binding her breasts so tightly with cloth her chest seemed flat.) Bathing had been hard too, always having to disappear into the forest and finding an icy stream to wash in. Luckily outlaws didn't wash too often. Lucky, also, was the fact that Robin's breasts were smaller than most other women's.
Marian suddenly became aware of the state of her dressings. Indeed, if they were to go back to camp that day she would be quite a spectacle, as she wore naught but one of Robin's tunics, the green woolen one that went over the pale white linen Robin wore now. She giggled to herself at the impropriety of it all, a Lady, nay, a Ward of King Richard, lying in a secret clearing in Sherwood Forest with naught but a man's tunic on, in the arms of another woman, a woman who had killed, stolen, and worst of all, loved other women in ways unholy, including herself.
And the funny thing was, at that moment, in that idea of realization that she was not a good, proper lady, in the thought that if her parents were to see what she was doing right now, they would turn in their graves and bar her physically from heaven, in that second, she had the insane urge to kiss Robin on the mouth. And she did, too.
The younger girl's eyes closed as Marian's mouth touched her. She opened her mouth and they danced together inside each other, and their tongues flickering in and out of each other's mouths, playing a game of cat and mouse that was much nicer and more intimate than the childhood pretends that took place in the streets of Nottingham. Marian's hands left the safety of Robin's neck and worked their ways down her sides. Slowly, ever so slowly, they made their way underneath the loose tunic that Robin wore, up the soft, white skin to the delicious flesh of Robin's small breasts, who had been so abused in the past year that Marian had to be gentle with them.
Robin was the first to pull away, and they both lay back on the soft moss they had spent the night on. Marian still touched Robin's breasts, and she smiled wickedly at her as they lay there, facing each other.
"I love you." Robin said smiling.
"I love you too." Marian grinned, and moved her hands to the soft white skin of Robin's back, and they held each other, eyes closed, listening to the sound of each other's heartbeats.
There was a strangeness about Marian's new lady-in-waiting that confused Marian to no end. She wasn't… cold… that wasn't the word to describe her, more like introverted, or with a secret. Reina kept her eyes on the floor, never making eye contact with Marian, even during their seldom conversations.
"Stop pulling, that hurts!" she cried as Reina tugged at a tangle of her matted dark hair. Hair at Marian's length tangled at random, and would onset at any time, giving her hours of sitting still while her strange lady-in-waiting attacked her hair with reckless abandon.
Reina's voice was mildly amused, "Well, if you would let me plait it for you at night, it wouldn't tangle nearly so often."
"But that hurts too!" cried Marian as Reina resumed her war against the rat's nest at the back of Marian's head, "Could you try and be more gentle?"
"I could try, Miss Marian."
"Thank you."
Reina really did try to be more gentle with her hair, but when Marian sucked in her breath as every stroke of the comb touched her head, she began to show some frustration, "This is pointless if you're going to insist on making a fuss about a few hairs being pulled!"
Marian realized suddenly, that it wasn't about the minimal pain involved in having her hair brushed; it was more that she wanted to interact with her and make her rather intriguing lady-in-waiting look at her properly.
"That's as good as I can make it, tonight." Reina said, putting the comb down, "Goodnight, Marian."
Marian touched her hand, "Can you stay with me tonight?" she asked, "It's so cold, this night… and…" she broke off, suddenly embarrassed, "…I have strange dreams…"
Marian did indeed have strange dreams. She would be in a big forest, and all of a sudden someone would come out of the trees, they would kiss, and suddenly Marian would realize that the person was a girl, and that all the trees were people, shooting arrows at her. She shuddered. She hated those dreams… she always felt so strange when she awoke… horrified but content, humiliated but joyous, disgusted by the idea and turned on at the same time.
Reina appeared to think, furrowing her brow, focusing on a spinning wheel just visible over Marian's shoulder, "Alright. I'll stay tonight."
It was not a suggestion of something bad, when women slept with women in that time. It was because it was January, and the castle was cold and damp, and the fires often went out on their own accord in the wee hours of the morning.
Reina pulled off her serving gown so she wore nothing but her linen gown that served as a petticoat. Her body was different from Marian's, skinny and flat and freckled, with long gingery hair that fell all about her face. She was taller than Marian, with almost a manly air about her. Marian took off her dress underneath the covers and, casting the garment aside, she beckoned to her maid. Haltingly, almost nervously, Reina came, lying in the bed as though it might collapse. They lay, awkwardly, until Marian pulled herself over to the girl who somehow fascinated her.
"Tell me your story," whispered Marian into Reina's ear, "I want to know all about you."
Reina turned her head and looked into Marian's cerulean eyes, surprise reflecting in her sharp brown ones, "There isn't really much to know or tell," she whispered apologetically.
"Everyone has a story."
"Well," she said hesitantly, "how should I start?"
"Tell me of your family."
"Alright," she murmured, thinking, "I have two parents with a tooth between them… a small sister, two middle sized brothers, and a twin."
"A twin."
She smiled and nodded, "Yes. His name's Robin. He's off pursuing some cause or another… something to do with Richard coming back."
Marian smiled indulgently, "That sounds romantic."
Reina rolled her eyes, "No, he's a fool. He thinks he can do anything if he puts his mind to it."
"Well can't he?"
"No. You actually have to do work. You can't just wish things done." To Marian, she sounded vexed.
"Well what else?" Marian asked, persevering through the awkward silence that followed Reina's last words, "What do you like doing?"
"I can fight." The other girl said, "I can beat my brothers when I feel like it."
Marian was shocked, "But ladies don't…"
"They do when they have to deal with highwaymen, cutthroats, braggarts and tax collectors day after day." Reina smiled, "What about you? What's your story?"
"Mine?" she broke off, "I was engaged to be married when I was thirteen."
"Really?" Reina rolled over to face her so that her legs just touched Marian's, "What happened?"
"He broke it off and ran away with a peasant woman. I never liked him anyway." She lied. She had liked him a lot… as a brother. She never could picture herself with a man so much older than her. Or any man, to be completely correct.
"That's awful." Reina declared, "But you'll find another, eh?"
"I don't know." Marian sighed, "Men are so strange to me…. the way they always boast and always want to go off to war." She grinned wickedly, "and then there's their strange… equipment…."
"Mmm. I don't like it much either." Reina shuddered, "I might become a nun. Then I won't ever have to see any, except for the occasional priest."
Marian giggled. "I like it when you talk, Reina."
"Huh?"
"You never talk to me. It's almost like you hate me."
Reina had surprise and hurt in her dark eyes, "No!" she declared, "No, I don't hate you at all. I'm just shy, tis all." She lowered her eyes, looking away from the piercing blue, "I… I like you a lot."
Marian smiled, "I like you too, Reina."
Reina still wouldn't look at her, so Marian gently touched her face, bringing the dark eyes into hers. Her eyes…. they had so much in them, like entire universes, boundless heavens of feelings that made Marian shudder inside.
There was something intense about Reina.
Her stomach squirmed pleasantly. She didn't quite understand what it was that was so intense about Reina…
But she would soon find out.