Chapter Four ~ Jude

"When will your relatives be coming, my dear?" Uncle asked Loveday at breakfast one morning. She simply shrugged.

"I do not know." She replied. "Heck, neither does my father!" She sighed to herself then gave Uncle a small smile. "A letter just turns up out of the blue from Uncle George informing us that he and Henry are coming to visit. No 'Is it alright if we visit?' just a 'We're coming.'" She jabbed her fork irritably into her food. "It's just plain rude!" Loveday was very frustrated with her family visiting. As were the other De Noir's for that matter. I was just confused and wondered what all the fuss was about. They were their family after all. Though I didn't dare say that in front of anyone, I knew it would start a rant.

"I know, dear." Uncle nodded. "But it'll be fine." Loveday nodded.

"If they're staying at the castle then I may be lucky. I won't have to see them as much. Though they would be wanting to meet you, Benjamin." Uncle paused in mid-chew. "Knowing them, they'll probably take one look at you and Uncle George will disapprove."

"That's comforting." Uncle muttered. Loveday smiled at him.

"You do not need to care what they think though." She said. "I love you and that is what matters."

After breakfast, Mrs Heliotrope demanded that we make start on the teaching for today and we headed off to the piano room. I had begged Uncle to let us have lessons in there, as I preferred a great deal more than I did the other room. He agreed, with Loveday's persistence, and it was now my new teaching room.

"Are you going to bring in some of Mr Gomez's teaching methods in today's lesson, Mrs Heliotrope?" I asked, sitting down on the bench in front of the piano.

"Mr Gomez and I have very similar teaching methods, Maria dear." She began. "Which is a wonder as you and Master Robin have both turned out very differently."

"I wouldn't say we're very different." I said.

"Really?" She smiled at me. "You are a Merryweather, Maria. Proper, smart and a true young lady. Robin is a De Noir. He roams the forest trapping animals and dilly-daddiling about with that gang of misfits of his." I frowned at her.

"He's not like that any more." I objected. She paused for a few seconds before nodding.

"I suppose you're right. He is a very nice young man now that his father isn't filling his head with lies and ridiculous stories."

"And he doesn't 'dilly-daddle' about with his 'gang of misfits' any more."

"No he does not." Her smiled perked up. "He spends most of his time with you." She brushed a strand of hair from my face before chuckling quietly to herself. I frowned at this.

"What's so funny, Mrs Heliotrope?" I pondered. She shook her head.

"Nothing, my dear." She replied. "Now then, let's start with today's lesson."

After a few long hours of non-stop learning, Mrs Heliotrope told me I was free to leave as she was going to spend time with her husband. I jumped to the opportunity of freedom and left the house and into the forest.

I found Robin's and my spot easily and sat down on the ground. Robin wasn't here, though I didn't expect him to be. We hadn't arranged anything today. I had the urge to go to the De Noir castle and surprise him, but I knew he would probably be busy today helping his father out so I thought it was best not.

I sat there for a while, staring up at the sky through the treetops. There was no clouds today so the sky was an endless blanket of blue. It was these days in summer that I loved. But though I dreaded the bitter cold of winter that was fast approaching, I was looking forward to the rain. Odd that may be, I loved days when it rained. The feeling I got when I'm standing outside as it's pouring heavily is just remarkable and unexplainable. Crystal droplets splashing against my face, running down my cheeks and dripping off the ends of my chin. That may be why I loved Robin's waterfall so much. I had a thing for standing underneath it, letting myself get positively drenched, and though I knew Mrs Heliotrope would give me a right good scolding when I got home, I didn't care.

Just thinking about the waterfall, made me want to go to it. But I knew I wouldn't know how to find it without Robin's help. I would just have to wait for another day.

As I was sitting there, I noticed the sound of footsteps getting closer. Robin? I frowned and stood up, looking around for the source of the sound. Then a figure appeared from between the trees. They stopped when they saw me.

It was a girl, much younger than I was. She was wearing a tattered red dress and her deep brown locks were done up in two high pigtails. Her eyes pierced into me, wary and almost scared. What struck me the most about this little girl was the colour of her skin. It was a luscious brown colour, like chocolate. She took a step back and I quickly raised my hands to show I meant no harm.

"Hello." I spoke. She didn't say anything. "I'm Maria Merryweather. What is your name?"

"Jude." She replied quietly after a long hesitation.

"That's a very unusual name. I haven't heard of it before. It's very pretty." She gave me weak smile. "Where are you from?"

"The De Noir castle." I frowned slightly at this. Robin hadn't told me about a little girl called Jude before.

"You live there?" She nodded. "Are you a De Noir?" She shook her head.

"My mother works for Mr De Noir."

"Oh." I quickly smiled at her to calm her down. She seemed still very tense. "I'm not going to hurt you." I reassured. "I'm a friend of Robin."

"Master Robin?" Her face seemed to perk up at the mention of Robin. "You are the Maria he speaks of." It wasn't a question. A grin broke out across her face. "Nice to meet you, Miss Merryweather." She walked forward and stood a few feet away from me. I smiled at her sudden calmness and held out my hand. She took it and we shook.

"You too, Jude." I replied. "And please call me Maria."

"Miss Maria." She corrected herself. I laughed lightly and I sat down on the floor again. After a few seconds she joined me.

"What are you doing out in the forest alone, Jude?" I asked. She dipped her head down slightly, almost in embarrassment.

"Hiding from my mother." She admitted.

"Why?" I pressed.

"I didn't want to work today, but she was going to make me so I ran into the forest to hide from her."

"But Jude, she must be awfully worried about you." Jude shrugged.

"She has a lot of work to do and even if she noticed me missing, she'll probably just ask Master Robin to come find me." She smiled at me. "How come you're out in the forest, Miss Maria?" I shrugged in reply.

"Something to do, I suppose." I replied. "Everyone's busy in my house."

"Do you not have to work?" Jude asked, tilting her head slightly in thought.

"No not at all, we have Digweed to do the work for us." Jude giggled. "What?"

"Digweed is a silly name." I laughed with her. "Do you live in the big fancy house over there?" Jude asked once we'd finished laughing. She pointed in the direction of where I had come from before.

"I do indeed." I nodded. I glanced over my shoulder and then back to Jude. "I would like to show you, but I don't think that would be a good idea today." Jude frowned.

"Why not?"

"Your mother will be worried about you and Robin is probably wondering the forest helplessly looking for you." Jude grinned at this.

"It won't matter. Robin will stop mother from shouting at me." There was a brief silence as I studied the girl. She was quite forward, especially as we had just met. Though I liked that about her. "I like your dress." Jude said suddenly. I glanced down at what I was wearing. It didn't seem special to me, but considering what Jude was wearing compared to it, it must have looked magnificent in her eyes.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Did you make it?"

"No I didn't. Loveday gave it to me. Do you know Loveday?" Jude nodded again.

"I know Lady Loveday." She smiled. "She visit's some times."

"She's married to my uncle." Jude didn't seem surprised by this bit of information.

"She told us that she had married a Merryweather man." Jude smiled. "She talks about him a lot. And you. And a woman called Mrs Heliotrope." She looked to me, puzzled and waited for me to explain.

"Mrs Heliotrope is my tutor." I replied. She nodded.

"Like Mr Gomez?" I paused before replying.

"Yes like Mr Gomez." Another brief silence.

"I like Mr Gomez." I didn't know what to say so I just raised an eyebrow and listened as she talked. "It's funny when he tells Master Robin off." I laughed at this.

"I can imagine." I grinned. She smiled at me, waiting for me to say something. She seemed to so content sat here with me. She didn't seem nervous that I was someone she has just met. She looked at me like she had known me all her life. "So you know Robin?" I asked finally. She nodded immediately.

"Yes, Miss Maria." She grinned. "He plays with me and my brother when mother's busy." I nodded at this. "Master Robin has told us a lot about you Miss Maria."

"Really?" She nodded again. "I wonder why he hasn't gotten round to introducing us properly then."

"He's tried to." Jude said quickly, noticing my wariness. "But mother doesn't like us coming into the forest so Master Robin never get's the chance to."

"Oh." I replied. I studied Jude. I couldn't quite place her age. She looked so young and yet she spoke as if she was much older. Her tone was ever so polite and pleasant, I couldn't help but like her instantly. Her eyes, which were wary and nervous before, now bore into me and were occupanied by a small smile on her perfect full lips. "Jude, how old are you?"

"Just turned 7." She replied, almost proudly. "How old are you, Miss Maria?"

"Almost 15." I remembered then my last birthday. I was 13, nearly 14, when I saved Moonacre all that time ago. I celebrated my fourteenth birthday shortly after. It was quite a grand occasion. Loveday had gone to a lot of effort to make Merryweather Manor appropriate for the occasion and Marmaduke had prepared a magnificent feast. I had to say, it was an amazing day. Now my fifteenth birthday was coming up and I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to or nervous about what Loveday was going to concoct this time.

Before I could speak again, there was a distant shout. Jude and I both turned to the direction it came from.

"Jude!" A voice called. Jude turned back to me.

"I think that's Master Robin." She said, getting to her feet. I stood up aswell. As I did, Robin appeared into the small clearing, spotting Jude and I. A wash of relief went over his face.

"Jude, where have you been?" He asked, walking over. "Your mother's been worried sick! She sent me to come collect you." Jude looked up at me and grinned.

"Told you." She said. I laughed. Jude turned back to Robin. "I didn't want to do any work today and I knew she'd get angry so I ran away." Robin sighed and knelt down.

"Jude, you can't just run off like that!" He told her. "It could get your mother into a lot of trouble with my father. She promised him you would behave." He spoke softly to her, he wasn't telling her off. "Plus he isn't going to be best pleased if he finds out I've left to come find you." Jude hung her head.

"I'm sorry, Master Robin." She muttered. Robin stood up and took her tiny hand in his. He then looked up at me.

"I'm sorry about this." He said quickly.

"It's fine, Robin." I laughed. "I don't mind."

"I would have introduced you sooner but…"

"Jude's already told me." I cut him off.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked. He frowned slightly. "We haven't planned anything today have we?" He suddenly look worried. I shook me head.

"No, don't worry, we haven't." I reassured. "Lessons have finished today so I just came for a walk." He nodded.

"I would stay, but I need to take Jude back and father has a lot of things for me to do for him that's going to take up the rest of the day." I silently hoped he could stay, but that was not to be. I shrugged.

"Another time."

"Tomorrow?" The one word perked me up immediately and I had to fight the urge to grin like a fool at him.

"Okay." I nodded.

"Same time, same place?" I could only nod this time and he gave me a grin. "Come on then, Jude." He tugged the little girl's hand and began to lead her back the opposite way.

"Goodbye, Miss Maria." Jude waved. I waved back.

"Nice meeting you, Jude." I replied pleasantly. I saw a large grin appear on the small girl's face. Robin noticed it to and smiled one last smile at me before disappearing into the trees. The last smile Robin gave me was stuck in my head. It was unlike his other smile's he gave me. This one was special. Like it was only meant for me. I bit my lip as I felt my cheeks flush and I quickly evacuated the area incase Robin saw me blushing in his expense.

(A/N) Okay, so I added another character. I hope the whole Jude working for the De Noir's isn't too odd.

Also apologises for the lack of Robin and Maria fluff. I'm not the best at writing romance and whenever I add it in it just seems a little too rushed, so I'll try my hardest to build it up or just suck it up and do it. Whatever comes to mind when I'm writing.

I hope you're enjoy my story. Please Review! Much appreciated. Thank you!

-jemlou-