how far we've come

[Marian Cooper]

Visiting the markets in London had been one of her favorite ways to pass an afternoon; she and her sister would get all dressed down and go forth to mingle with the common folk, considering the whole thing as an adventure of some sort. But since she found herself in Nottingham, she considered a bit of shopping a welcome reprieve from the dark, gloomy halls of the castle she was supposed to be learning to call 'home'. That was a bit of an exaggeration; okay, so they kept the candles lit well enough, no one could contest that it was damn gloomy in there. She relished the idea of getting out for a bit, even if it was only to the town market.

She didn't dress in the clothes of a commoner, but neither had she dressed to impress. Her frock was simple, with a warm, heavy cloak over top, although she wore the hood down, her wavy chocolate locks flowing over her shoulders and down her back loose. She left the castle without so much as a nod from the guards; they were used to her leaving the castle as she would, and the Sheriff had given them no orders to keep her there. If she went off and got into trouble, even got herself killed, he'd probably be more relieved than concerned. One less thing to occupy his mind. If Marian were a more dutiful wife-to-be, she might hang herself just to take the stress off...but she just wasn't that good of a girl.

She glanced around the marketplace as she entered, meeting the eyes of those who looked her way, but she was glad when they went back to their business without stirring up a fuss. Days like today, she was just as happy to be ignored as pampered. She moved with the crowd, pausing only to examine those wares that interested her, before moving on to the next item of interest.

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tag; Edric!

[edricgriffiths]

Ok so he had to do it again. I mean come on a man had to eat, and he was tried of filling his body with ale he got from some nice tavern mates of his. Market places where perfect spots to walk by and pick something up without someone noticing. Edric had tried it before, only a few times though. He would never try it in big places like London. He hadn’t been back to London for many years now after everything had gone down between him and his brother. He would through be able to send his mother some money he stole and food he managed to get, he used an old knight buddy who he knew he could trust.

Now the market place of Nottingham was a different story. He had been moving from one tavern to another, he hadn’t settled in one place, but Nottingham seemed like a place he could hide out in, then again he didn’t know if he could be in one place for to long, he was still on the run, he couldn’t go back home. Not when his brother had framed him for murder, he missed living in London, being with his mother, being at court, and going to all the wonderful parties. Now he spent his days drinking away his life and stealing anything he could get his hands on. He had to keep his cloths simple, the heavy cloak he had stole off a man was keeping himself warm and it was great to keep the hood up over his head to mask his face. He kept his head done as he walked through the crowd of people walking through the streets, stopping to look at the many different stalls.

He grinned under the hood when he noticed a stall selling apples. It was better then nothing and his stomach hadn’t stopped growling for the last two days since he finished having a few ales at the last tavern he had spent the night in. He looked around and blended in with the moving crowd. He quickly swiped his hand across the apple stall and grabbed one and then moved along with the crowd again. He was abit a few meters down from the stall when the stall owner yelled out.

“Thief!”.

Oh great, that was all he needed. The guards that were standing around started towards the stall and closer to him, so he moved quicker through the coward, not to much to make him stand out. Then he made a choice he moved out of the crowd and stand by one of the stalls there was a woman and a few other people. He just needed to look like he was just another person looking at the stall. He looked up from under his hood at the women and then back to the guards walking by he just hoped she would not call him out. The guards where getting closer now. He raised an eyebrow wondering where he had seen the women before, but he had no time for that, he didn’t want to cause any trouble today.

[Marian Cooper]

Marian glanced up briefly when someone cried out about a thief, but the crowd was too dense to tell exactly who they had meant, and it was of little interest to her anyways, so after looking around briefly, she went about her business, finding a less crowded stall at which to browse. There wasn't very much for sale here that she found particularly enthralling, and she was just considering either heading back to the castle or going to the outskirts of the woods, as she'd done many days in the past when she was bored, when someone else joined at the stall. She looked up to meet the man's gaze when he glanced at her briefly, and she recognized him immediately. Marian was good at remembering faces, particularly those of people she liked. "Edric?" She murmured his name with some surprise, before she realized that look in his eye.

It was the look she'd seen in many men's eyes of late, that hunted, suspicious look of a man trying to avoid notice when he knew someone was looking for him and he didn't want to be found. Was he...no, he couldn't be the thief they were looking for. And yet, as she casually glanced up, she could see the guards moving in this direction, and Edric was definitely not among those curiously wondering who could possibly be behind their interest. No, she decided, they were certainly looking for him, and whatever the reason, she wasn't about to just sit back and let them catch him. Whatever he had done...well, he could explain his reasons to her, and she could decide if he deserved to be punished for it, not some lazy guards unlucky enough to pull market duty today.

As they approached, Marian turned towards them casually, and raised her eyebrows to get their attention. "I don't know if he was your thief, but I saw a man in quite a panic head off that way." She pointed down a back alley, far from where Edric was standing next to her. They nodded their thanks, trusting the word of a noblewoman where they might not have another, and dashed off down the alley. Once they were out of sight, Marian turned back to the hooded knight by her side. "I believe you owe me an explanation, Sir Edric. Come this way," she leaned in close enough that he would be able to hear her quiet words, but she knew it wasn't safe to talk here; the market was too busy, and too full of prying eyes. She led the way down a side street, to a smaller street where fewer people were milling about, and notably, there were no guards. Here they could speak with some safety.

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[edricgriffiths]

All Edric had to do was just breath and look normal. I mean it wasn’t that hard to look like everyone else, just passing by the stalls to look at the many things they were selling. But each time the former knight tried something like this there was anyways a risk of getting found by the guards. The last tavern brawl he had been in, he had just mean it out of there, if he hadn’t he might be sitting in a cell right now and that wouldn’t help him very much. He had to take care of his mother and find a plan somehow to prove his brother was all behind what happened back in London. He shook out of his thoughts when the women beside him spoke his name. When he had looked up only for a second he knew he had seen the women before, and know when she spoke his name he knew for sure that is was in fact Lady Marian. He just couldn’t understand what she was doing here. The last time he had seen her, she was back in London. “Marian?”, he whispered back, he was just as shocked as she was, but he just nodded his head lightly.

He glanced back one more time to see the guards getting closer, and he kept still, he didn’t want to be found. He could feel them getting closer and all the while he wondered if Marian would call him out to them. He knew she wouldn’t, but it had been many years... Oh what was he saying of course she wouldn’t call him out, but he was ready to move if he needed too. He hand had been gripped to his sword hilt the whole time then guards where coming closer and closer, and Edric felt his heart stopped when they got even closer. It was a waiting game and Edric didn’t like to wait. He knew he was a different man then she would have remember him to be, nobles don’t steal food from stall in the middle of a marketplace and nobles don’t dress like commander and have their stomachs growling from the lack of food but he was no longer that noble, he was now outlawed and forced to do what he had to do in order to keep alive, just like the wars did to a man, being framed for something you didn’t do would changed anyone.

As Marian spoke to the guards, Edric kept his head down. She was pointed them in a different directions, anyway from where they were standing and when they where gone, he let out a sigh and smiled under his hood. He nodded his head and followed her. Yes the marketplace was no place to talk, but at least where they were going it would be easy. Yes he did owe her explanation, he owed her more then that, she had saved him from the guards, and it had all been over some stupid apple then more then likely wasn’t going to be enough for him to eat. There was a lot of explaining to do and he didn’t know where to start. When they stopped in the back street his pulled off his hood, for he didn’t need to hide his face anymore. “First, thanks, for what you did back there”. He grinned and took a bite of the apple, tasting so much better then ale that was for sure, but his stomach just growled even louder, he ignored it and faced her, “Marian.. I don’t even know where to begin..” It was the truth now does one some up all the things that had happened to him.

[Marian Cooper]

Once they were in the quieter back streets, Marian took the opportunity to give him a good once-over. And came swiftly to the realization that he looked like hell. His clothes were dirty and he seemed far skinnier than she remembered him being, and judging by the way he bit into that apple, it was probably the only thing he'd had to eat in a while. Not to mention he stunk like ale. She let him get a few bites of the apple he'd risked life and limb for before she pressed him for answers. "How about you start with why you were willing to lose a hand over an apple." She figured that was the best place to start.

She had heard rumors that nobles were being beggared by the taxes, or else stripped of their lands by means of royal intervention, but she hadn't really believed them. Apparently she'd been out of London too long. She wanted to be able to rejoice at seeing a familiar face in this dreary place, but the face that looked back at her was too gaunt for such talks, and again she wondered what could have brought him to this state, reduced to thieving for petty scraps? It was hardly a life befitting a nobleman.

"You look absolutely dreadful, Edric." She added, not feeling the need to mince words; she was sure he ws aware of his appearance, just as he seemed to be aware of the ruckus his belly was stirring up. It was awful to see someone she'd always considered a friend to be in such dire straits; whatever it was that had happened to him, she'd have to see to it that he at least got a proper meal before he was sent on his way.

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[edricgriffiths]

Yes he did look like hell. Heck he felt like hell. He thought that fighting over there in the war had been like living in hell. Try coming home to have your brother frame you for the murder of your father and teacher and forced to be outlawed and live each day risking your life for something mere as a stupid apple. But that was the life he had to live now, there was no way he could go back to his old life now. Not with Rowan pulling all the strings. He hated to admit but he really hated being this way in front of her. He didn’t look like the noble Edric she had once known and it was shame full. He should be shamed of looking like a dirty drunk fool in front of a lady such as Marian. But these were tough times and Edric had no gold to clean myself up with. Really the only times he could even get a meal or some new cloths was when he stole from someone or happened to come across clothing left at a tavern he was staying in.

It was the best place to start, because he could have lost his hand for the apple he was now eating. Or worse he could have been locked up, sent back to London and hanged. Oh Rowan would love to see that, his brother hang. Edric still couldn’t get his mind wrapped around the idea that his brother had turned against him that he was in a sense evil. He really wished it had been because of taxes or anything else that had brought him to this state but it hadn’t it had been his brother. Rowan was all behind this, he wanted to see his brother suffer. And Edric was suffering.

“It’s what I have been forced to do. Steal food just to keep living another day, it’s not how I saw myself living my life”

It truly wasn’t. Edric had seen himself fighting in the war, coming home and maybe finding himself a nice lady and settling down. But of course none of that would happen now. Edric would spend the rest of his life wasting away alone. No one knew how hard it was just to get something to eat when you were on the run. He was glad he had run into Marian back there because he didn’t know what would have happened if had been someone else. He was glad to see an old friend here, he had missed being in London, going to court and the parties he use to go too. He missed his life and everything in it. Well I guess it was time to fill her in on what she had missed.

“It all started when I left for the war. Unknown to my knowledge Rowan had been plotting against me since the day I took fathers place. Over the years I spent over in the war all I wanted was to come home. When I came back, everything seemed great; I was welcomed back with pride. But a few days after I returned, the guards came for me and I was to be hanged for murder. Rowan had gotten in with the court and told them that I had murder my father and Sir Derek, our teacher. He kicked out mother and forced me to run from London, and well here we are now”.

That was pretty much the whole story. He had come home thinking everything was fine, when it wasn’t. He would have never left for war if he knew what was going on with his brother. He wanted to see his mother again, but it was a risk for him to even get a little close to London with his head on the block. It was no use, no one believed him. Rowan had told so many lies that it had stuck with the court and those that were evil within it. He grinned,

“Well handsome would have been much better word, but there’s no words to say how much I feel like hell. Of course you always look lovely Marian and it’s a shame I look so dreadful in your presence”

She would know he was joking the first part about him being handsome; right now he was far from that. He knew he looked like hell. He wished he could clean up and maybe find somewhere he could settle and not have to worry about running and having to steal food. But he always had to look on the brighter side of things that’s just who he was, that’s why he had joked earlier. But he was right, it was no way to look in front of a lady. He finished his apple and throws it down on the ground. He looked back up and her and ran a hand through his hair. Man when did it get so long?