A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating very quickly. I've got finals and shtuff and I got sick...wonderful....Hopefully I can get this thing rolling, though. I'm hoping to get this whole thing completed by mid-March or early April. I'm publishing it for now, but this chapter isn't complete yet. I'm just tired of not updating.

Audrey smoothed a wrinkle out of the skirt of her cerulean dress. It was new, and she hated it. Looking pretty had never quite been her cup of tea, especially looking pretty in a dress. Her hair was pulled back in a tight braid that made her want to cut her hair off. Was that how all noblewomen felt when they had their hair pulled into crazy styles? From her own experiences she could already say the answer in her own opinion. The carriage she was in made its way into Nottingham bumping along the road as she counted the seconds it took to reach her destination. She committed it to memory just in case she might need the information one day, but she seriously doubted it.

"Audrey? Audrey, it's time to get out." Audrey glanced up at her brother's smiling face. "Come on, you can't be that antisocial." He opened the door and offered her his arm after he stepped out. Audrey tentatively took his arm and made a slow step onto the ground. She took in her surroundings, drinking in the stone walls and guards clad in black. The black and blue banners barely twitched with the breeze as she and her brother made their way into the castle.

"Robert! What a pleasure to see you finally here! And you brought your sister!" Audrey ignored the man that greeted them as she glanced around the hall. Colors and colors met her eyes as people milled about and chatted with each other like nothing else was going on. Did they care about the serfs they held on their land? The starving families? The ill? The poor? From the looks of it, it didn't look like it was a very big subject for them. If Audrey had things her way, she would be back at Nettlestone helping her people with the harvest, but she couldn't. Robert wouldn't let her, and it was practically compulsory to show up at court. Maybe she could make a difference here, anyway. Her annoyance was growing inside her as she watched the small crowd until she spotted something that didn't quite fit. A man in very dark clothes leaned against a wall in the shadows. She had barely seen him, but she felt herself becoming curious. Who was this man?

"I'm going to take a look around," Audrey mumbled as she released herself from Robert's arm. She didn't see him smiling proudly as she made her way down the stairs towards the mysterious man.

"She is an odd one," the man that had greeted the pair said.

"She's just Audrey." Robert shrugged. "You don't know what goes on in that head of hers."

"Isn't that a bad thing?"

"It just depends on how you look at it."

Audrey hated crowds. She hated being pushed and shoved and jostled and herded like a cow with many other people she didn't know. She cringed as she clung to the wall and nearly yelped when she felt someone bump her shoulder. How did people stand this? Maybe it wasn't such a mystery that the strange man had tucked himself into the shadows. She finally came within twenty feet of the man and found herself becoming nervous. Would he talk? Would he walk away, or would he just stand there? She took a deep breath. If she could rob houses in the middle of the night, then she could certainly speak to some man at court.

"Hello." Really? Was that all she could manage to say? Hello? Still, the man lifted his eyes from the floor and looked at her. She nearly gasped. What was behind those blue eyes? They seemed to burn and hide themselves at the same time. Shame and anger, shame and anger. "I'm Audrey. I don't think we've met." She tried a sweet smile and felt like she succeeded. At least that went well, but there was an odd silence between the two of them as if he was contemplating whether to speak or not. The sound of his voice nearly made Audrey jump.

"I don't think we've met either." Such a strange voice...Audrey couldn't make out what was wrong with it, though. Maybe it was the same thing as his eyes: shame and anger, shame and anger. "You're new, aren't you?" He looked back down at the floor.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Why hadn't he said his name? She didn't just come here to say that she was new. Her brother would be disappointed if she didn't learn some names. There was another silence, but Audrey didn't budge. Finally the man sighed.

"Listen, if you're looking for someone to talk to, go find someone else."

"No," Audrey said. "Not unless I know you're name."

"Is that all?"

"No."

"Then go away." Audrey watched as the man dropped his eyes back to the floor. She glanced back at the crowd, but none of them were interesting. They all looked the same to her: rich, carefree, and blind to their own people's troubles. She knew it was a generalization, but it had to be true for the most part. She didn't want to talk to any of them for fear that she might explode. She continued to stay in front of the man, although she knew that he probably fit her generalization also.

"Didn't I just say to go away?" The man still didn't look up from the floor.

"Didn't I ask for your name?"

"I believe just my name wouldn't make you go away."

"Maybe, maybe not. Is it really that hard to just say your name?" Audrey was beginning to get frustrated. "I told you mine, and I believe it is naturally good etiquette to say yours back."

"So now you're using etiquette on me?" Audrey smiled and nodded. "Well, fine. It's Guy of Gisborne. Happy?" He looked up in the floor, but the shame and anger that had been there just a minute ago was gone. Now it was just annoyance and impatience. Still, Audrey was getting curious.

"Why are you standing all the way over here? I mean, why hide in the dark when there's so many people around?" she asked.

"Well, why are you talking to me?"

"You don't like to answer questions, do you?" Silence. "Obviously not. Well, I was curious as to why you're all the way over here and not out talking to other people. Do they not like you or something?"

"They have good reason to." Gisborne turned and walked away from her, retreating to a hallway that lead away from the great hall. Audrey wasn't going to be pushed away that easily. People had good reason not to like him? Well, she would be the judge of that.

"Gisborne," she said as she followed him down the hallway. "Gisborne, please stop. I didn't mean to get you upset." He halted. "I don't understand how they have reason not to like you, though."

"Audrey, was it?" Audrey nodded. "Do you have to know everything?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I'm new and I'm curious about the people around here." That was a lie. She wanted to get away from everyone. She was only curious about his story.

"Then go be curious about someone else." With that, Gisborne stepped through a doorway and closed the door before Audrey could follow. She sighed and waited a few minutes before she returned to the Great Hall to see her brother waiting for her. She felt tired all of a suddenly, and the people that surrounded her in the Great Hall just seemed like too much.

"Can we go, Robert?" she asked before he could say anything. "I am exhausted." She felt sorry as she watched the excitement and joy leave her brother's eyes, but she just didn't want to stay anymore. Home seemed like the best place right about now.