Mad Archer - One Shots

Deliver the Message - Part 4

There was something funny about the change of seasons in the Enchanted Forest. Seasons had a large control on people. They arranged their lives to suit the weather, not the other way around. They sowed seeds and planted veggies at the start of the year, they nurtured and harvested their yield before they prepared for a less active time when the winter would keep them inside. With the fall the start of change came, stripping the trees of its green and soaking the lands in heavy downpours.

One of those seemed to built right now, in form of gray clouds above the increasingly thinning crowns of trees, as Robin was on her way from Queen Tiana's palace to Alice.

It was time for yet another letter delivery and chess lesson.

It would be a long walk till she arrived at Alice's hut but it would also be a while for the rain to start. That did not keep the merchants and couriers from hurrying up and down the main road on their feet, their horses or their carriages already. One of the latter had almost run over Robin a few moments earlier. Robin was reminded of a movie she had seen as a kid, a three dimensional animation of ants and bugs racing in streams to get their work done.

Though rain could be a dangerous and at times even lethal type of weather.

Unlike the concreted streets with the whole package of gutter and drain in Storybrooke, paths inevitably turned into mud lanes here. People did not use umbrellas but were shielded by the leather of their coats and the treetops holding smaller raindrops at bay; or they waited beneath trees in hope for the stronger shower of rain to settle down. Sometimes it did not work. Sometimes they got wet, sometimes they got ill and sometimes they died.

Life was harder in the Enchanted Forest than it had been in Storybrooke.

Life was more sincere and yet Robin couldn't complain.

When her coat got heavy from the rain and her clothes filthy, stained by the mushy paste of the ground, she did not bat an eyelid. When her boots sank in the mud on her travels she did not curse – unless she was stuck for sure. She hated it when the mud threatened to pull off said boots.

However, there was hardly any condition which would bum her out for good.

She loved the smell of rain and the soft and musky scent of the woods. She loved the sight of the leaves falling, covering the forest floor with warm, citrus colors.

She felt at peace here, more than she ever felt at home, when she would wait for the rain to stop, chatting with her alleged friends, slash followers, about some nonsense on the phone or trying to avoid her mother's ideas of quality bonding time.

One time or another Robin had sneaked out while it rained, heading towards the forest at the outer rim of Storybrooke to savor the atmosphere.

It had felt like true magic to her. Unlike the weird sensation she would sometimes get thanks to the magic she had possessed back then.

She was never meant to be a witch.

By now she knew that, even if she had never known her father, never had been able to be with him, this side of her was his heritage. Her strive for adventure, her talent for archery and her love for nature brought them closer. Even if they weren't and could never truly be. It was similar to what Alice said about having a part of her father with her by doing stuff they had used to do together.

A tingling sensation crawled over her skin as her thoughts drifted to the petite blonde.

They often did.

It had become second nature to Robin by now.

She didn't even mind the momentary falter in her steps as she walked down the road, ignoring fellow travelers for the sake of day dreaming about the pretty blue eyed girl with sun kissed hair.