Will grimaced again, unsure what to do. Elijah was clearly shaken by this whole event for today, close to breaking. It wouldn’t help either of them if he fell apart now. Glancing around to see if guards were approaching, he sat back and cleared his throat. “You mentioned, the other day, of Robin Hood, and it stuck with me, I guess,” he began. “When I was a boy, my nanny told me stories. She was from round those parts, she knew them. Did you ever hear the tale of Robin Hood and Little John?”
He deliberately chose a tale that wasn’t his own. He didn’t want to appear too conceited, and he wanted to avoid naming Tuck again. Besides, the story of John knocking Robin off the bridge was never not hilarious. He didn’t wait for Elijah to acknowledge his words before he began telling it, his tone settling into a warm, rhythmic tone, and he added a few flourishes here and there because he knew these tales like they were written on his soul. And they kind of were.
As he approached the end of the tale, he looked up to find Travis standing silently at the door, listening in, and he smiled and waved. “So soon, Trav? I’m still letting my lunch settle.”