Part 3
Dusk was beginning to settle when Robin and Marian appeared at camp. Much who was still put out said. "I suppose you have not eaten. That you both expect my cooking pot to hold some supper for you?"
Robin half peered in. "Is there…"
"Yes, not that you deserve it, you are late."
"Do not scold me, you are not my mother."
"No I am not, your mother…I did not know her. But I am sure if she needed to scold you it was for good reason."
"She had plenty reason to scold him and often," supplied Marian with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Marian!" Robin said.
"I bet he got up to all sort of things," Djaq said joining in the conversation.
Robin looked from one to another of them amused saying. "Right I need to eat."
He went to take the ladle.
"No," said Much. "I will do it, I do not want you to spill any and waste it, sit down both of you. You are making the camp look untidy."
Sitting down eating the food that Much had prepared Robin said. "So, what has been happening in my absence?"
"Not a lot," said Alan.
"The weather, it is too hot," offered John.
"There's been nothing through the forest?" asked Robin, unbelievingly.
"Here," Little John said holding out a few trinkets and coins, "I got these this afternoon while they were all sleeping."
"It was hot," protested Alan.
Robin who had not been doing anything constructive with helping the poor could only agree with him.
"Tomorrow we must work though."
"To do what?" asked Alan.
"I must see Tuck; he is our only source of information."
"There is Thornton," suggested Much.
Robin looked thoughtful. "He often gets information later than Tuck, but is worth a visit. We will split up and visit both."
"I was hoping for more lazing about in the sun," said Alan.
"You can do that when we have been about our business," Robin replied.
Tuck passed Thomas in on the staircase. "You look pale my friend," he said.
"Nothing a good night sleep won't cure," Thomas replied.
Tuck watched him go, he rubbed his heart, he had a feeling that a good night sleep wouldn't cure Thomas at all.
The camp was quiet save the gentle snores of Little John and Much, the night was still. Next to Robin, Marian shifted and he moved and looked up at her.
"You should be sleeping," he chided.
She ran her hand up his back, he shivered, in response to her touch and she repeated it over and over as she spoke, "I was thinking about Much."
He propped his head on his elbow and said. "Much? Not me?"
"Not everything is about you. Although in a way this is."
"Tell me," he whispered.
"He is sad, he misses you."
"I have not gone. I am here."
"You used to spend more time with him; you spend a lot of time with me."
"Don't you want to spend time with me?" he asked, leaning in and kissing her briefly.
She pushed him at arms length. "I think tomorrow you should go to Knighton with him alone. The rest of us can go to Locksley. He needs to feel wanted."
"Maybe I have…ignored him a bit," he admitted. "But not on purpose."
"I know that, but he needs to know that too."
"Right now I need you," he said.
She stretched her arm out and cupped the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair and leant forward with anticipation. He smiled into the night and replied with a kiss.