Guy woke up and rubbed his eyes, still sleepy. It was still dark, and he could hear Robin lightly snoring. For a moment he was tempted to go back to sleep, wrapped in his warm blanket, but he couldn't. With a sigh, he got up and searched for the chamberpot under the bed.
A mumble came from Robin's bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Need to pee."
"You could have been quieter, you woke me up," Robin complained.
"You always wake me up when you snore," Guy answered, with a smirk.
The younger boy shook his head.
"I don't snore!"
Guy pushed the chamberpot back under the bed and he went to wash his hands in the basin.
"You do, you do, I wish you could hear yourself."
Robin stuck his tongue at him, even if in the darkness Guy couldn't see him, then he closed his eyes again.
He opened them back just after a moment, and he hurried to get up.
Guy was standing near the window, looking out, and he turned to glance at him.
"What's up?"
"I need to pee, too. Your fault, I didn't a moment ago."
Guy shook his head, with a smile. After a while, Robin reached him at the window.
"What are you looking at?"
"At the village. It's so quiet at night."
Robin shrugged.
"They are all sleeping, and so should we."
The boy walked to his bed, but Guy called at him.
"Hey, wash your hands."
"Why?"
"Maman says that you should always do it before eating and after using the chamberpot."
Robin looked at him, a little irked.
"Your mother always sets a lot of boring rules."
"Well, maybe your father should do it too," Guy replied.
The younger boy glared at Guy. Most of the time they got along decently enough, but there were still moments when he wished that their parents never got married.
Now Robin was annoyed, and he wanted to spite Guy too.
"What's the use of washing your hands when you wet the bed? Is it true that you did it until you were twelve?" He asked, teasing him, and Guy turned to look at him, angered.
"Mind your own business!" He growled, pushing past him to leave the room, and Robin was surprised to see him go away.
He felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he had been cruel without a true reason. When Guy pushed him to the side, he looked to be really upset. Robin couldn't be sure of that, because the light of the moon wasn't bright enough to see well, but he thought that he had seen tears in Guy's eyes.
He blushed. When Isabella told him about her brother's 'accidents', they both laughed about it, but Robin was beginning to realize that it must have been really humiliating for Guy.
I am ten, and I think I'd die of embarrassment if it should happen to me now...
With a sigh, he took a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders: the night was still cold. He thought that Guy went out of the room barefooted, and he felt even more guilty.
I guess that I should better apologize.
Robin tiptoed down the stairs, holding his breath. His father and lady Ghislaine were sleeping, and there weren't servants around, but he was afraid that somebody could hear him.
If he were caught wandering in the middle of the night, he'd be surely punished, and Guy too. He wasn't afraid of being whipped or spanked, but he knew that Guy would be mad at him if he should get the same punishment for his fault, and Robin already felt guilty enough.
He opened the back door of the house, and he slipped outside, heading for the stables.
As he had imagined, Guy was there, standing in front of his favorite horse, and scratching his muzzle.
Robin approached him, quietly.
"I knew I'd find you here. When you're upset, you always come here."
Guy averted his face to avoid looking at him.
"What do you want? Go away."
Robin sighed: it wasn't going to be easy.
He handed a blanket to Guy, but the other boy didn't even look at it.
Robin cleared his voice.
"Hey, Guy… I'm sorry. Really. I shouldn't have said those things."
Guy gave a quick, hostile glance at him.
"You don't need to apologize, I'm not going to tell your father, so you can spare your words," he said, bitterly.
"That's not why I did it! I am really sorry, I have been mean," Robin replied, honestly.
"As if I don't know what you think of me!"
The younger boy was confused.
"What?"
"You think that I'm boring, that I'm a coward, that I'm never good enough for your crazy games, even if I'm older than you. And now you have another reason to make fun of me."
Robin stared at him, shocked to see how hurt Guy looked. It was true that he had enjoyed teasing him when he refused to join him in some foolish adventure, but he had never meant to make him suffer. He had never really thought that words could hurt as deeply as a sword.
"Maybe sometimes I think that you are boring and not brave enough, but probably it isn't a bad thing, after all. Last month you refused to secretly try father's new horse, saying that he looked too wild to be trusted..."
Guy glanced at him.
"You did it anyways, didn't you?"
"Yes, and I should have listened to you, I almost broke my neck. I had a bruise on my backside for weeks, after that. See, Guy? I might have called you boring, but you were just being wiser than me. I know that often I am reckless and cheeky, and I always end up in troubles. Sometimes I wish that I could be more like you."
"You're teasing me, now."
"No! I swear I'm not!"
"You shouldn't swear," Guy said, and sighed, seeing that Robin was rolling his eyes.
"Well, I promise, then," Robin said, with a grin. "I won't tease you ever again."
"I don't believe you," Guy answered, but he smiled back at him.
"Alright, maybe sometimes I will tease you, but remember that it's just another one of my silly games: I'd never hurt my brother willingly."
"Brother? Do you regard me as your brother?"
Robin shrugged.
"Well, sort of. Don't you?"
Guy grinned.
"Well, you are as annoying as Isabella when she was little and pestered me to play with her dolls, I have to share a room with you and listen to your snores, and we find some reason to fight every other day... I guess I might think of you as a brother as well."
The younger boy laughed.
"Love you too, brother. So, are you taking this blanket or do you prefer to freeze to death?"
Guy took it, and wrapped it around his shoulders.
"Thank you."
The two boys slipped back to their room, feeling a little closer after that fight.
Robin buried himself under the thick blankets on his bed, shivering, and Guy did the same, but he didn't feel cold at all.
Robin words had hurt him, it was true, but then the boy went to search for him, to apologize, because he cared for him.
Guy smiled, listening to Robin's breath slowing down while the boy was falling asleep, and he thought that, after all, he didn't mind to share a room with him.
"Guy?" Robin's sleepy voice called.
"What?"
"Let me swear just once: I swear that I'll never tell the other kids about your bed-wetting. Isabella told me, but we are brothers, it doesn't matter. And I'll never make fun of you again for this, I promise."
Guy didn't know what to answer, but after all he didn't have to: after a little while, Robin began to snore, and Guy closed his eyes too.
Guy and Robin looked at the last slice of bread covered with honey, and they both moved a hand to take it.
"You already had two!" Guy said.
"But I need it! You're always so quiet, while I run a lot!"
"I need it too! I'm growing up, maman says that I could get as tall as my father!"
They kept quarreling for a while, then at last they agreed to cut it in half the bread and share it, but when they went to take it, the dish was empty, while Isabella, on the other side of the table, was chewing it, and grinning at them.
"Too late, boys."
Guy and Robin stared at her for a moment, then they both began complaining at the same time, while Isabella laughed.
They were still arguing, when Sir Malcolm and Ghislaine reached them into the hall.
"So early in the morning, and already so loud," Malcolm said, and the kids went silent, looking at him.
They were all a little wary, wondering if the man was going to scold them, but Sir Malcolm was amused by their childish quarrel, and sincerely happy to see his family gathered around the table.
He smiled at Ghislaine, still amazed that they could fulfill their love, and looked fondly at Guy, Isabella, and Robin. He was glad that after almost a year from it, they all had accepted their wedding, and that they got along well, almost like real siblings.
This made everything easier.
"Were you fighting for some treat, again? Kids, you are always hungry like little wolves," he said with a laugh, "But don't worry, you will soon have the chance to eat as much as you can, and have fun."
"Why, father? Are you taking us to a fair?" Robin asked, curious.
"No, we will have a banquet here in Locksley to celebrate the birth of your new brother or sister."
Guy looked at his mother, questioning her with his eyes, and Ghislaine nodded, sweetly.
"Yes, we are going to have a child soon."
"When?" Guy asked.
Isabella was staring at her mother, her mouth open.
"In about a month."
Guy frowned.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Ghislaine sighed.
"I was afraid. I never told you because you were too little, but in the last few years before Rodger left for the war, I had been with child twice. I lost both of them in the earlier months, so I wanted to be sure, this time."
Guy looked at her, worried.
"And this time are you well, maman?"
Ghislaine smiled at her son, moved. Guy was always protective with the persons he loved, and she felt the first pang of jealousy thinking that he was getting near the age when he would fall in love with some girl.
He will be a man sooner that I'd like.
"I couldn't feel better," she reassured him. "Are you happy that you will have a new brother?"
Guy smirked, glancing at Robin.
"Well, he won't be worse than him. If I got used to Rob, I could like this new one."
Robin stuck his tongue at him, but they both laughed.
Isabella sighed.
"I just hope that it will be a baby girl..."
"What about you, Robin?" Sir Malcolm asked, and the boy looked at his father.
He felt jealous, but he thought that at the beginning he didn't like the idea of sharing him with Guy and Isabella, but he didn't mind now. He knew that he would accept and love this new baby too, in time.
"Well, he will never be a better shot than me," he boasted, then he looked at Guy. "By the way, want to come and train with the bow?"
"Sure," Guy answered, following him.
The two boys went outside, Isabella followed them claiming that she wanted to try too, and Malcolm and Ghislaine smiled at each other, happily.
