Wearing her hair up and dressed becomingly in her rust colored gown, Marian searched for Guy of Gisbourne throughout Nottingham Castle. Unluckily, she found Sheriff Vaisey instead, busily engaged plucking his nose hairs.
"Excuse me, my Lord Sheriff," Marian announced, wanting nothing so much as to turn and walk away. "I was looking for Guy."
"Looking for Guy," Vaisey repeated, mockingly. "Well, la dee dah dee dah! Gisbourne, Missy, is busy with his boyhood friend, Lambert, newly arrived from Yorkshire. Did you know that, hmm?"
Marian's surprise was evident. "Guy has a friend?"
"Surprising, but true," the sheriff admitted, studying the inside of his nostrils in his handheld looking glass. Satisfied with his grooming, he continued his explanation in a tone decidedly sour. "Perhaps something stronger than a friend. Rumor has it, Lambert is Gisbourne's brother."
"Brother?" Marian repeated, astounded. "I thought Guy told me he has no family."
"A mistake his father begot off a leper on his estate, born on the wrong side of the blanket, as it were," Vaisey explained. "Of course, we wouldn't want Gisbourne to make it known he has a bastard brother now, would we, Missy, hmm? Besides, it's only rumor. Be your own judge when you meet him. Looks just like Gisbourne would look, if he'd exercised his mind instead of his body."
"Is this Lambert a scholar, then?" Marian asked.
"So I hear," Vaisey answered, sounding bored. "Apparently, growing up on their father's estate, Lambert did all Guy's lessons for him, on the sly, whenever Gisbourne was too stupid to figure them out. Which must have been always! If Gisbourne spends much more time with the likes of Lambert and you, he's apt to develop a conscience, just like Robin Hood's, and we can't let that happen now, can we, Missy, hmm?"
A conscience, like Robin's! "Excuse me, my Lord Sheriff," Marian said again. "I would like to meet Guy's brother."
"Friend! Don't let Gisbourne hear you call him anything else! Family pride, you know, especially where you're concerned."
"Thank you, my lord. I'll be sure to remember."
Gladly leaving the sheriff's presence, Marian did not have to go far before she came upon Gisbourne and another man who could be no one other than the mysterious Lambert.
The man did indeed resemble a slighter, curly-headed Guy, though he lacked the other man's strong presence and, as Much had tried to describe it, animal magnetism. But his coloring and features were similar enough, that Marian had no doubt the two men held blood ties.
"Marian!" Guy greeted her. "Here is someone I'd like you to meet. This is my friend, Lambert. Lambert, my intended bride, Lady Marian."
"How do you do?" Marian said kindly, liking the man at once, as her hopes soared that he might be a positive influence on Sir Guy. "I hear you are scholar."
"Science is my passion," Lambert told her. "It holds the secret to making the world a better place, for all mankind."
"Then we agree, that all mankind deserves a better world?" Marian asked. "Not only the wealthy and privileged?"
"I come from humble origins," Lambert explained. "I would hardly turn my back on people from my own station."
So! This quiet, thoughtful, intelligent man might be Guy's half-brother. More importantly, he was his boyhood friend. His Much to Gisbourne's Robin! Yet how different he is from Much! Where you need a friend who fawns upon you, Locksley, Guy selects one with a mind, and opinions of his own!
Guy of Gisbourne turned a warning stare onto his friend. For while Lambert's clothing and accent gave away his station, Gisbourne still thought it better left unsaid, lest Marian disapprove.
But he didn't know her well enough yet, if he thought she was too proud to be kind to others more lowly than she, regarding class above character. And so, the friendly smile Marian gave Lambert made Gisbourne's heart race. "I hope you plan to stay a long while in Nottingham," she said sincerely. "It would give me great pleasure, were we to become friends."
"That would be a pleasure to me, as well," Lambert replied.
"Shall we?" Gisbourne gloated, offering Marian his arm, his heart racing even faster when she took it without hesitation.