Chapter Sixty-Eight, Part Two

                             Chapter Sixty-Eight, Part Two

Jimbo laughed.

Robin gave him a scowl.

"Sorry."

"Accepted." Though Robin obviously still had some reservations about the apology.

Smarn clapped a hand on Robin's shoulder. "When he first came here, he had a tall friend, much like I."

 

Robin's face became clouded with sorrow for a moment. His eyes glistened moistly.

"I'm sorry, Robin." Nanny said, touched by his open feelings.

"Smarn became a replacement of sorts for the loss of my then friend, Little John. He was one of the first to fall to those above..."

Smarn nodded. "And Robin would have died also, but I saved him. He and the rest of his merry men."

Jimbo gasped. "You are that Robin Hood!"

"Yes. But legends have it all wrong. I didn't rob the rich to give to the poor. I robbed the rich to teach them humility. I just happened to also give their wealth to the poor in addition to that."

"And if you had it to do all over again?" Nanny asked.

"I'd reverse the order, but the results would have been the same."

"No." Smarn answered. "You would have been far more humble when you came here."

Robin gave Smarn a surprised look. "You've been holding out on me, big fellow."

"Smarn big. Not dumb!"

Robin gave Smarn a hug. "You're a true friend."

Smarn hugged him back a moment, then pushed him away. "Stop, before I flood the lake."

Smarn wiped at his eyes and began walking back to their home. Robin watched, his eyes warm with affection. "I will truly miss him when he's gone."

"He's leaving?" Jimbo asked.

"Yes. Quest."

"Quest?" Samuel asked. "For what?"

"The greatest treasure on earth and in it."

"What could that possibly be?" Nanny asked.

Robin didn't answer. He looked again at the dark spot in the sky. "We must leave soon. You have someone to meet before you return."

And Robin said no more, but they could tell a great sadness had descended upon his soul. Maybe even greater than the loss of his loved ones. 

Nanny hovered close to Jimbo, feeling a need for his warmth at that time.

Samuel had Al and M, who were dancing ahead of them, laughing and playing like small children.

"I love your friends." Robin said as they neared his treehome.

"You can see them?" Samuel asked. 

"Can you see mine? I think you can."

"But Methusaleh is alive."

"Yes, Samuel, as all life is ever alive, but not necessarily of the same vibration or frequency. Some are still of the earth, but some are of the spirit and can become solid for a time to do the work needed of them."

Samuel thought about that. That would explain much. He hadn't been able to use his detective abilities so much on this journey, but it was all beginning to add up and make sense. And the picture it pointed to was a much larger one than he could ever have imagined.

Robin understood his thoughts.

"It's all right, my friend, even the greatest of minds are nothing next to that of the Ancients. Those who have come before and gone to the Allness."

With those words spoken he entered the base of the tree home and everyone followed him up to their sleeping berths, where they all went to bed immediately, each seeking the solace of their own thoughts and to what the morrow would bring.