Elizabeth grew up sparring with Robin and, even though the boy would never admit it, she got the better of him almost every time.

Today, however, she was lost in thought. Her advances were slow and her deflections tacky. It was enough for Robin to know something was up and when she lunged at him but missed her mark by a mile, he had to ask.

"What's on your mind, Beth?"

"Mmm?" She met his eyes and lowered her blade. She hadn't heard his question, his words as inconsequential as the wind.

He laughed and leaned against the wall, analysing her every movement carefully with a small grin on his face. "You were so lost in thought that even the prospect of beating me didn't break you from your trance. Care to share?"

"It's nothing." She knew he would find her silly and more likely than not laugh right in her face. He tilted his head to the side, eyes wide as he pleaded. "Curse you." Elizabeth spat, knowing that he knew she couldn't resist him when he looked at her like that.

Robin laughed softly as she claimed a shady spot next to him. His smile faded when she looked at him, sensing the severity of her thoughts. "What do you remember about your mother, Robin?"

The boy to her left shrugged, staring off into the distance. A frown etched itself onto his face - Elizabeth hadn't meant to upset him. She regretted asking such an insensitive question and was about to take it back when he spoke. "Nothing really. She died when I was little and Father doesn't like to speak of her." Finally, he looked at her again, the heaviness from a moment ago gone like the breeze that had ceased around them. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just..." She felt silly now. There had to have been a reason that the demon dog - Wrolf - hadn't killed her when he had the perfect opportunity to, but whatever that reason was, it wasn't what she had been thinking. It couldn't have been.  "Nothing."

Elizabeth had no memories of her parents, she didn't even know their names. It was incredibly lonely not to know where one came from when everyone else had some sort of connection. But then there was her, with no family whatsoever. She would have loved to have a family - a little sister perhaps, one she could teach to fight and hunt. She pushed the thoughts away, knowing it was no good to dwell on the impossible. Besides, her family was dead, Coeur had said so multiple times.

"How terrified did that Merryweather girl look?" Robin broke the silence with a chuckle.

Elizabeth agreed with a short laugh. "What was she thinking? Wandering into the forest like that. She clearly wasn't warned about the big, bad, bandits." She gestured to Robin's injured hand. "Although being attacked from the roof of your carriage should give you some idea as to the..." She searched for the most offensive word she could find. "Skill, or lack thereof, of said bandits."

Robin rolled his eyes but a smile played around his lips as he stepped away from the wall and into the sunlight. "Yeah, well, at least I did something. Unlike some who choose to sleep on the job."

"If you're referring to that demon dog knocking me over, you have another thing coming. Do you have any idea how scary that was?"

"Aww, Beth." Robin cooed. "You know I was always going to save you." He unsheathed his blade. "Couldn't let my favourite girl be mauled."

"My knight in leather armour." She rolled her eyes, pulling her dagger from her sleeve and pointing it at him.

She took a moment to notice how the sun hit his eyes and made them glow all shades of golden brown, the shimmering colour was only accentuated by the dark bags beneath his eyes. She watched as his curls jumped with every step he took and how his jacket hung off of him but was tight enough to make out the muscles beneath.

So absorbed in imagining what it would be like to wake up in his arms, Elizabeth didn't notice him pointing his blade at her and before she could react, he yelled. "Again!" And their next round of sparring began, clearing her mind of all thoughts including the dog and the Merryweather girl but doing nothing to quell her longing for the boy in front of her.