“You can see why they need you,” Marion said softly, sometime later, when Robin found himself idling behind her. He had remained stubbornly quiet since their departure from Locksley. He would offer determined bits of succinct advice, on how to move the man safely, on how to hide their trail, on terse facts. His opinions were few, which was a rarity for him. It was more than obvious he regretted his decision to stay. If the Guardsman’s unconscious body had been discovered even a few minutes earlier, Robin would undoubtedly have left with Wendenal, and been all the happier for it. Every inch of his skulking linger spoke to that truth.

“They need to disappear,” Robin said, not taking any care to hide his callous tone. “Before they do more damage.”

“You know they don’t have that option,” she replied. The Guardsman’s chest gave a short stutter as if to emphasize her point. “This is what happens when they’re left to their instincts. They steal the wrong wagon, they nearly kill someone when they don’t have to. They mean well, you can see that, whether or not you believe it. They just need training.”

“Training in how not to kill someone?”

“Not that.” She didn’t have the right words to piece it together. It was another facet of what she’d seen building at Locksley Castle, a glimpse of what was possible. “They need training in just … in just how to be. Does that make sense? Without a master, they have no rules, like a child without a parent. They don’t have any experience living outside of direction, outside of … the law.”

“Congratulations,” came his dry response. “You’ve figured out why they’re called outlaws.”

“Shut it.” She could feel that fake smile on his face even behind her head. “But yes, they also need to learn how to control themselves. How to avoid a fight. How to steal without getting into trouble, before something truly terrible…”

Her sentence drifted away to horrors of the past. Robin was silent behind her, for likely the same reason. That soft part of her told her to let it lie, but it was an open wound in him that she could sting. He had proven himself unconscionably prickly so far, and she was feeling something shy of charitable at the moment.

“You need to do this for me,” she finished simply. “You have to try.”

A quiet eternity passed before he responded. “Alright. On one condition. You stay, too. That captain knows who you are, and I can’t protect you if I’m in the woods.”

Marion didn’t have the energy to explain how misplaced his heroism was, but she’d already come to the same conclusion. Nottingham wouldn’t be a safe place for her until this had blown over.

“Well then,” Robin continued. “First thing, they have to stop stealing war supplies.”

“Obviously.”