A World Apart

Title: Life Verse
Author: Jade Blood
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: This version of Robin Hood is mine, though I definitely didn't create the legend.
Summary: Tuck delivers a much-needed message to Robin.

Whenever Tuck said he “wanted a word”, that meant that Robin should hop to and seek a more private atmosphere for the two of them to talk. Said talk could be as serious or as frivolous as whatever mood Tuck happened to be in, and that usually was directly proportionate to how much he’d had to drink. Today, he was sober, which meant the conversation would lean toward more serious than usual.

Robin’s shelter was just beyond where they stood, and the spot was secluded enough that Tuck wasn’t dragging him any farther. He’d already pulled Robin out of bed, making an early riser out of him when he’d barely slept all night. It wasn’t in Robin to complain, not just out of weariness but because Tuck was one man he’d never fuss about. Men like Tuck came once an age, and Robin wasn’t about to run him off with silly grievances.

“What can I do for you this morning?” Robin asked and scratched the back of his head. His mouth stretched in a yawn, and he waved a hand as if trying to explain without words that Tuck had not already bored him.

“It’s what I can do for you,” Tuck smiled softly. “I’ve given it a great deal of thought, prayed over it…”

Robin eyed him carefully, leaning on one arm against a nearby tree. “That worries me. Prayer usually means there’s something wrong.”

“Not in this case,” Tuck chuckled softly. “More just a… riddle I couldn’t solve until this morning. And with the answer before me, I wonder why it never came sooner.”

“Now I have to know what this is about,” Robin laughed. “As usual, you’ve mystified me, Friar.”

Tuck gave him a rueful smile, as if to say he knew undue flattery when he heard it. He planted his hands on his hips with an air of importance, like a king about to announce a great decree, then blew a long breath. “All right, son… I’d been thinking for some time, since this all began, that you needed something to… bolster you, if you gather.”

“Not certain I do,” Robin muttered.

“Something you could always turn to,” Tuck emphasized, clasping his hands together, then opening them palms up to the sky. “The voice of God to remind you what this is for, what it means.”

“You mean our…” He gestured around him, to the far corners of the encampment that was already beginning to stir as the sun broke through the leaves. “…The war, mission, choose what name you will? I know that, Tuck, what it’s for. For the poor. To stop Prince John. It’s all I ever think of.”

“But you’re just a man,” Tuck reminded him, lifting his index finger and wagging it slightly. “A man with a big heart and the best of intentions, but so have been many who turned villain. It’s the Lord’s guidance that has kept you honest even in a dishonest trade, and I believe it is that which will keep you on the path. But you must look to Him.”

“I do,” Robin said and his voice dipped a shade lower. He didn’t speak of these things with anyone but Tuck, and even then it made him feel exposed. “I pray everyday. I’m merely a tool in His hand, and I realize that.”

“I don’t doubt you, lad,” Tuck smiled, and his hand came down solidly on Robin’s shoulder. “But I’ve seen this world break men, strong men… I only want to strengthen your armor against such devils.”

There was no helping the smile that surfaced on Robin’s face even as he surrendered to Tuck’s wisdom. “Then let’s have it.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Tuck grinned. “The Lord hit the mark with this one, son. You're not the sort who has time for ruminating on the Bible and its mysteries. I understand that. I believe that’s why the Lord sent me to you.”

Robin wanted to argue that this was only one of a million reasons Tuck was in his life, but it wouldn’t to do interrupt him when he was reaching his point.

“I wanted a verse for you,” Tuck explained. “But the word of God is… well, it’s dense. Teeming with so much that is so damned applicable, boy!” He gestured wildly, and Robin was then convinced the man should have a congregation. How he would enliven them. “I charged myself with the task of finding the one that would be all you’d need to hear, and the Lord led me right to it.”

“Out with it, man!” Robin laughed. “Let’s hear it!”

“John 15:13,” Tuck smiled, pressing a hand over his heart. “‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’”

They stood together, Robin still leaning and Tuck still holding a hand over his heart in a bizarre salute. When Robin’s lips parted but no sound came, they both understood just how accurately a hit it had been. Robin’s heart was a bull’s-eye, and the center had been soundly pierced.

“That’s…” Robin swallowed, and his fist clenched and loosened.

“Memorize it,” Tuck ordered in a whisper. “Never forget it. Put it in that spot I know feels all raw and open right now, and don’t ever lose it.”

“Yessir,” Robin heard himself say.

“What was it, lad?”

“John 15:13. ‘Greater love hath no man than this…’”

Tuck nodded and joined him, “‘That a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Very good.” He sighed as though exhausted, and Robin could see for the first time that he’d lost sleep over this task. “It’s everything, isn’t it?”

“To me, it is,” Robin agreed and concern flashed in the green of his eyes. “You didn’t have to--”

“Ah, rubbish,” Tuck chuckled. “I smell breakfast at my back. Don’t wait all morning to eat. You’re already but a stick. You could shoot yourself off that bow.”

Robin cackled then watched him wander off. That man could tear him open and slap him back together like no one he’d ever known. Sometimes even he needed to be opened up, whether he liked it or not. He turned back to the shelter, muttering the words under his breath, prepared to make them a mantra before the day was out.

The End