All the outlaws, even Much, could tell their leader's interview in the stream with the Lady Marian had not gone well.

Robin returned to them silent and grim, yet before Much could utter a word, he'd changed his demeanor to one of confident determination.

"Much," Robin asked, "how well stocked is our larder?"

Food was the one subject that would keep Much from asking prying questions. The loyal servant grinned. "It's full, Master, for once! Cheeses, and venison haunches, and pheasants! And...and what's that?"

"Fish," Robin answered, tossing several on a line to him. "You didn't think I'd spend all that time at the stream, and not bring anything back to eat, did you?"

"Not bein' funny, but he let the big one he wanted get away," Allan whispered to Will.

"Robin," Djaq interrupted, gravely. "I need to tell you something."

"Can it wait?" he asked, knowing it had something to do with her fight in the water with Marian, and not feeling up to hearing about it yet. "We need to get this food to Locksley. Who's with me?"

Thinking how much Alice liked fish, Little John volunteered, "I'll go."

Much, however, wiped the grimace he'd worn since having fish tossed at him off his face, and sputtered, "Robin! You can't be serious! I mean, our food! You're not going to give it all away! I thought...I thought we were going to have a feast!"

"People are hungry, Much," Robin reminded him. "Children are hungry. Besides, you can catch us something else."

"Something...something else? Unbelievable! It's not as easy as you think!" Much huffed, indignantly.

"The forest's teeming with game, Much," Robin told him. "We have God's bounty at our arrow tips. The people of Locksley never have enough to eat."

"I'll go, Robin," Will spoke up, painfully remembering how his mother had starved to death.

"Good," Robin nodded. Staring straight into his best friend's face, he asked, meaningfully, "Anyone else?"

"Me, too," Djaq agreed.

"I'm not bein' funny or anything," Allan objected, "but don't the people hate you right now?"

"That's right!" Much was quick to remind them, not wanting to give away their food. "The sheriff and Gisbourne convinced them you rob from them, Master! They despise us! So, who's for roasted pheasant?"

"All the more reason to prove to them I don't," Robin said, firmly. "I can't help my people, if they don't trust me."

"Please! You just want to be loved!"

Robin turned away. Much's accusation stung, after Marian's rejection.

"We all go," Little John insisted, ending the discussion.

...

Arriving in Locksley, laden with food, Robin and his men were met by confused, unhappy stares.

Since Gisbourne and his most of his men were in Nottingham, the outlaws managed to sneak into the village undetected by Gisbourne's lookout. The people were not holed up in their cottages, hiding, but out and about, working.

"I don't care what I hear," old Elspeth spoke out. "I've known Master Robin since he was a babe in his lady mother's arms, Heaven bless her sweet soul, and he's always been a good-hearted, generous lad! He wouldn't do naught to harm us!"

"That's right!" several other serfs chorused.

"Just see how thin he is," Old Elspeth continued. "Skin, muscle, and bone, that's all he is! And he's brung us his own food, again!"

"It's a bribe," blond-headed Kate, the potter's daughter, insisted. Turning and looking Robin straight in the face, she snarled, "We don't take food from outlaws!"

"Kate," Robin said, wearing his pain on his face, "I would never hurt you! You're my people!"

"Not anymore, we're not!" Kate whined. "Go back to the forest! We don't want your charity!"

Her shouting drew the attention of the dozing guard in Gisbourne's crow's nest lookout post.

"Robin, we gotta go!" Allan warned him, having been assigned to scout the crowd, alert for danger.

"We'll leave this food in the hollowed out oak, just inside the treeline," Robin told his people. "Take it, for your children, if not for yourselves, and for the old, who cannot work."

"There's plenty what can't work, thanks to you!" Kate complained.

"What?"

"Master, we need to go!"

"Now!" Little John asserted.

"Immediately!" Much insisted, tugging on Robin's arm, as the few guards stationed in the village closed in.

"Go!" Robin told the others in his gang. Turning back to Kate, he asked, "What did you mean, people can't work, thanks to me?"

"Master!"

"The miners," Kate spat. "You fired the mine, shutting it down. Now, the miners can't work."

"They were sacked! The sheriff brought in slaves, to do their jobs! Besides, it wasn't safe! Men were dying down there!"

"They were feeding their families! Now, they can't!"

By this time, Much was the only outlaw who hadn't run from Robin's side. As the guards drew their swords and closed in, he literally dragged Robin away, pushing and pulling him to safety.

Catching their breath at an agreed upon place safe within the forest, Robin looked at his gang and asked, "It was right, to shut down the mine, yes?"

"It was right," Djaq assured him, confirming it in his mind. "Now, Robin, may we please talk? I need to tell you something about Marian."