WHO Fairytales, Robin Hood WHEN Wednesday morning WHERE A park in New York WHAT Fairytales in New York WARNINGS none
Elaine slipped out of the cottage in the early light of dawn, before her two guests awoke. Her cat joined her, interested that her mistress was up and about before the chickens even were stirring.
She felt the need to breathe the crisp morning air today, and watch the first beams as rosy-fingered dawn broke over the trees. Today, she was going to go to New York. She enjoyed having Marian and Lancelot with her, and the last two weeks had been lovely company, but she’d had an odd dream that night and awoken early, with a curiosity that refused to be dislodged. She’d seen a park, and a broken-hearted man playing chess alone, and a tall man from a distance whose face she couldn’t quite see, but her heart seemed to call out to him and rejoice in his presence.
Today she didn’t dress in her usual fairytale garb. She was going into the real world, and that meant modern fashions, although tailored to her own fancy. She wore a frothy pink tulle midi skirt and a pale blue denim blouse tied at the front, and pink wedge sandals to match, with a beige faux leather bag over one arm. The cat jumped smoothly up to sit on the fence at the end of the garden.
“Look after them until I return,” she whispered to the cat, kissing the top of its fluffy head, then she unlatched the gate, pushed it open, and stepped through into the rush of the city.
After the peace of her little oasis, the rush of cars here took Elaine’s breath away. She’d stepped out of the entrance to an underground station, walking up the steps to join the throng of people heading to work. For a moment she almost panicked, lost in a sea of bodies, and found her way into a coffee shop to pull herself together. Then, with a venti white chocolate caramel frappe in hand to steady her nerves, she tried again.
There was a pull she felt, a direction to go in, and once she got her stride she found her way easily enough to a park. The green space gave her a sense of relief, and she stepped lightly over the grass, golden hair catching the morning light. And then she spotted him, the heartsick man sitting alone at a chess table, mouth turned down at the corners and so deeply lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice her walking slowly towards him.
“All is not lost,” she said, touching his shoulder gently and giving him a sweet smile.
When the world stopped and Robin was alone, those were the moments that his mind got away from him. He’d used the time he had to busy himself with his new plans, but there was always the in between times that no one could know what he was dealing with. He was still heartsick over Marian, and that could have been because he’d prepared to propose to her. He may have even picked out a ring to finally put all these years to rest. That had been before she’d announced what happened with Gisborne. He’d thrown that ring in the park lake, but the next day that little black box had managed to float it’s way back to the water's edge and wedge itself between some rocks. No one had noticed it, he’d picked it back up and debated what to do with it now. Marian was long gone now wasn’t she? John wouldn’t tell him where she was, and he thought he’d be better off not knowing, he didn’t think she’d return. What John did know was that she was safe.
Robin danced a few rocks across the chess board, settling in with all the other old men that spend their days together on these same boards. The hand on his shoulder startled him, he hadn’t even seen her coming out of the corner of his eye, the blonde showed up without any footsteps and with a warmth radiating from her palm.
“What does that mean?” He looked confused. Who was she? Was she a wandering traveler that spoke in riddles to strangers?
Elaine sat down in the chair opposite to him. She felt that immortal hum from him, so she knew she had the right man.
“The thing you are worrying about, so much that you can’t let it go. It will be alright.” She picked up a pawn on the board and moved it forward a space.
“You don’t know me lass.” There was no way she had any clue about what he was thinking. His heart wasn’t that exposed. He held things inside that no one else knew about, and at one time Marian was the one who saw that weakness inside of him. She knew the burden he carried and how sometimes he couldn’t be perfect. He didn’t expect the rest of the group to see him that way, but in some strange way, they all still had their own glorified versions of who ‘Robin Hood’ was. Their own hero worship, even if they tried to hide it.
“I know of you. I know your heart.” She shifted a few pieces around the board, responding to his moves. “And I know you think you can’t move past this great, terrible thing. But all you have to do is forgive. Forgive yourself.” She moved a knight forward to draw out his bishop.
“You know of me? I haven’t even introduced myself, love.” He chuckled watching her position her pieces on the chess board. “Who are you?” Robin narrowed his eyes as he tried to assess this person and what sounded like riddles, riddles that seemed to hit him where it was the most tender.
“I’m a friend,” she said. “You can call me Elaine.” She hadn’t been going to give too much of herself away because it really wasn’t about her, but he did keep asking so she had to give him something. She tilted her head at him, sky-blue eyes wide and guileless.
After a moment, she asked, almost shyly, “What is the name of the tall man who holds you so close?”
“A friend huh?” He questioned just from where, if she was a friend of someone else who wanted to check in on him without asking herself. He knew Marian better than that, at least she was safe if she had someone with her. He moved his piece across the board.
He wondered if she was a spy, as he had his own he’d be sending out to Gisborne, but he didn’t sense her as trouble. He might be an emotional wreck, but Rob’s instincts with people were pretty spot on.
He looked behind him, John was usually with him, but not today. Today Robin had been on his own. John was never far though, so there was a chance he’d show up. “You mean the big guy that likes to be a bodyguard? That would be Little John,” and little he was not.
“Oh. Little John,” she whispered to herself, as if discovering something sweet and new. A light blush appeared on her cheeks for a moment, and she smiled. As much as she was here for Marian, she had a tiny bit of selfishness, wanting this little thing for herself.
She looked across at Robin, sizing him up, trying to read his heart. Was he truly ready for Marian to come back to him? Would he welcome her, or push her away again? She couldn’t do that to Marian, bring her back here only to have her heart broken all over again. She moved a piece on the board, then leaned forward, her face open and earnest.
“Do you still love her?” she asked, willing him to trust her and tell her the truth.
Robin stared at that chess piece for a long time, lost in his thoughts when that question rang like a bell right to his ears. It was such a clear question, and he hadn’t realized his mouth opened up to answer, his heart answering before his head. “Yes.” He pulled out of his pocket the ring he’d been hanging onto for days before Marian had turned his world upside down. He twirled it around his finger, using it as a crown to put atop the Queen’s head on the chess board.
“I’m lost without her---” he whispered into the wind.
Elaine felt a thrill of joy and tragedy at his words, and clasped her hands to her heart. She just loved a beautiful love story. She almost welled up, she was so touched by the goodness of it.
“You’ll find her again, I know it,” Elaine said, and she reached into her bag and pulled out a small hawk, made from crystal, and placed it on the board. Then she got to her feet and pressed a kiss to Robin’s forehead, and lifted his chin to look into his eyes and give him a wink. “Faint heart ne’er won fair lady.”
And then she turned and walked away, leaving behind the chess board, where the path between her queen and Robin’s king had been opened, and the queen only needed to move forward and they would be reunited once more.