"Magic," Marian confirmed. "You were brought here by a Biblical Seal. The one that was keeping Lucifer caged in Hell." Robin knew his religious studies as well as she did and would at least know what she was talking about, even if he wouldn't believe her. "It brings people from all different points in time. You're actually in the year 2014. And I'm here from several years after you. I'm twenty-two now." Because she obviously wasn't three.
He jumped down in that nimble way only Robin could and she smiled. "I've been told I look just like my mother. She was very fond of you." Or so her father always told her. She wouldn't mention her mother's passing to the young boy. It wasn't long after the point he'd come from. She'd only just turned three when it had happened. Katherine had probably been hiding her illness from the young earl at the time of their meeting.
"My father adores you," she added, patting the spot on the stump next to her, inviting him to join her. "You're the son he didn't get to have. All he got was me." She knew now, all that time later, that her father didn't regret having her for a daughter. But his need for a boy had bled through and created the rebellious, exuberant daughter that he had. "I know it isn't the same as having your own parents around, but they do care for you as if you were one of their own. It's one of the reasons they were so eager to choose you for their little girl."