The air was damp and the sky a light grey. The slightest of rain always had a way of muting the sounds of the forest. If it had been colder it might even have turned to snow, but instead water floated in the air and soaked their faces. Robin traveled through the trees with Alan, impressed with his ability to move without making noise. He thought about commenting on it, but was certain the young man would take it the wrong way. You’re very good at being unnoticed, wasn’t the type of thing Alan wanted to hear.

“I know why you came back,” Alan said out of nowhere. “And it’s not about being a hero.”

“Oh?” Robin was, rarely, caught off guard.

“It’s obvious.” Alan slipped through a dense cluster of birches. “Marion. I recognize the way you look at her, even when you first showed up. She’s … she’s your everything. She’s behind every word you speak.”

“I don’t know about everything,” Robin replied, somewhat embarrassed. After a lifetime of never talking of the thing between them, it was strange for it to suddenly be a reality. Their younger selves would have thought they were destined to be together like this, but life had intervened for so long. Somehow, against all odds, they had fought their way back. “I can do you one better, Alan. I know why you were able to recognize it.”

Alan just squinted his face.

“I spent a lot of years pining after Marion, so I can recognize it in you. It’s Elena, isn’t it?”

Alan was suddenly a frightened child, caught misbehaving. “It’s not like that.”

“What’s it like, then?”

He hesitated. “I know she doesn’t want me.” He wouldn’t look at Robin, no longer careful about the noise he was making. “And that’s okay, it really is. Will is my best friend, I wouldn’t … I just wouldn’t, you know? Will’s a better man than me, he’s stronger and faster and smarter. Certainly funnier. She’s better off with him, I know it. I just…”

The leaves crunched underfoot. He kicked a bed of them into a beautiful violent plume.