Reunion | Gilan & Emeline

knight-of-sherwood:

Gilan grunted as he fell to the ground from a failed attempt to climb up. “Probably to prevent bad people from sneaking in,” he muttered. “Well they’re doing good with it.” Looking back, he called his horse over and used the stirrup and the saddle to haul himself up. As he looked over, he just saw a glimpse of a girl with blonde hair, and a snow white hawk, along with Angel. He’d recognize her anywhere. And obviously the other two would be Emeline and Ghost. 

As he quickly processed this through his mind, his horse moved away, causing him to lose balance and lunge forward, holding on with the gate under his arms to support him. He chuckled when he saw the hawks flutter from surprise and gave Emeline a sheepish grin when she looked over at his direction. “Er, hello,” he said.

The girl waited a moment, without making any noise so she could better hear if the sound from before was repeated. She got up slowly, dropping the seeds and corn to the floor. She walked in a slow pace, doing her best effort not to make a sound as she peeked to the part of the garden where the back gate was. She would take just a quick peek to see what was the source of the sounds she’d heard before. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, to head towards the sound in case the source of it was dangerous, but if it was she had to warn the sisters.

She looked around and then she froze. “Gilan…” the word escaped her lips at the sight of him. Emeline was definitely not expecting to find him there and he seemed a little bit changed. Of course he would look different, it had been about half a year since she last saw him. The girl remained speechless for a moment.

Reunion | Gilan & Emeline

knight-of-sherwood:

On his horse, Gilan continued to ride until he recognized the familiar environment of Sherwood Forest. He grinned to himself and wondered if he could find his old hut again. As the path got a little narrower, he dismounted his horse and continued by foot, his horse following closely behind. 

As Gilan came up to his hut and Emeline’s almost-finished one, a sad smile appeared on his face. Emeline, he thought, and started wondering about her. How was she? Where is she? What happened to her? Taking a quick look inside both huts, he realized that she hasn’t been there in weeks, maybe a few months. The confused look on his face soon turned into a concerned one. Maybe the Sheriff and his men found her and put her in prison for being a friend of the son of Robin Hood? Or she got captured by bandits or highwaymen that happened to wander by? 

And right when he was about to worry about the hawks, both Angel and Ghost, he heard a cry up in the sky, and he looked up, seeing a hawk flying by. He recognized the wings— that form— anywhere. “Angel!” he cried happily. He noticed the direction she was flying towards, and quickly mounted his horse, running after her from under. 

Soon, they came across an abbey. Gilan raised an eyebrow as he noticed Angel slowly getting lower. What could she possibly be doing here? he wondered and thought back. Then he realized that Emeline used to live in an abbey. She’s probably here, he thought, urging his horse forward. Along with Angel and Ghost. He noted the spot where he assumed Angel landed. The garden. 

As he approached close enough, he dismounted his horse and walked over to the gate, attempting to climb it to look over. He could’ve sworn Angel landed there.

Her hand was extendd forward, little pieces of corn and sees across her palm, so that Ghost could eat from there. “I know, I know… you want meat, you little scrouger” she couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Ghost was an adult hawk by now and his apetite had grown just as he had. Every now and then Emeline would make sure to bring some pieces of meat for both hawks so they could be well nouished, but that happened every now and then. Having them hidden from the nuns and having to sneak out to feed them, the most the girl could get for them were seeds and corn.

She looked up as she noticed Angel flying back to where she was sitting on the garden. “There you are” she smiled “Ghost and I were worried about you”. Emeline reached out to the small pouch she had with the food for the hawks and took a bunch of it to place her free hand in front of Angel.

The girl was sitting near the back gate of the abbey, the one that faced Sherwood forest, the one she used months ago to sneak out into the woods for her night walks and then to meet with Gilan. Both hawks were eating the food she’d brough them from her hands and she smiled. The only sound to be heard were the distant chants from the nuns somewhere inside the abbey and the little noises Ghos and Angel were making. That was why Emeline was startled when she heard a noise near the back gate, like the hooves of a horse galloping closer and then the sound stopped.

Reunion | Gilan & Emeline

Life at the abbey had become quite monotone for Emeline. Everything seemed to have the same slow pace as usual. The girl was already so accustomed to everything and living each day just as the one before. It was sad to admit her life had turned out to be quite boring and not anything like she hoped it would be when she was a little girl imagined what her future would be like. This was most certainly not it but being an orphan with no name or fortune, Emeline couldn’t afford to complain about it because the nuns had been kind enough to take her in.

Newstead Abbey was the closest thing she had to a home, even though it didn’t feel like a home at all. The nuns gave her a roof over her head and food in exchange of her labors at the abbey, working like any other novice there did. The small moments of mild happiness in Emeline’s life were when she sneaked out to the gardens and spent her time with Angel and Ghost, who had grown so much in the past few months. He was no longer a baby hawk, he was almost as big as Angel by now. Emeline fed both birds in secret everyday and she enjoyed being with them. They reminded her of those days she had spent in Sherwood Forest in the company of Gilan. She missed him.