CHAPTER EIGHT. Legends

Leaf knew there wasn't anything in it. Sometimes he tried to go find affection elsewhere, forget about Sweet Cherry Berry, but he never could, try as he might. He wished he could be completely indifferent, like all those cowboys in the films, but he supposed some men just weren't built like that. Sometimes he suspected none of them were, but they talked themselves into it because dudes thought it was a type of wealth, getting a bunch of women, when the exact opposite was true.

One good woman was worth it all.

And now he's got a shadow-monster riding shotgun with him, and it sounds like every apologetic little British bear he'd ever seen on film or television, all sorry and sorries and exclaiming in little beeps and whistles about the things it is experiencing for the first time, as it had apparently never been in a car before as it never had the occasion and now here it is, this thing with no real name, only a species, beeping away at everything it saw like every horizon was a great wonder.

Truth be told, Leaf kind of appreciated the enthusiasm. As a drifter, he proudly showed off America as if the whole thing was his home, because it was, after a manner of speaking.

"So," Leaf said, by way of conversation, "you're called The Yoln?"

"Yes," said The Yoln, nodding enthusiastically.

"You individually or that's the name of your species?"

"I don't follow."

"Well, my name's Leaf," he explained. "But I am a human being."

"Human beans have individual names," said The Yoln sadly. "The Yoln are...The Yoln."

"Do you want a name?"

The Yoln looked startled, Leaf saw out of the corner of his eye, as if such a thing had never even occurred to it before.

"I don't know," he said. 

"If you had a name, any name you wanted," Leaf persisted, "what would it be?"

"Er. Funny you should ask. But. I have always been inordinately fond of..."

Here he whispered and glanced around, as if he would be caught daring to speak of such things, especially to a 'human bean'. 

"Sheila."

He sighed wistfully.

"It is so pretty. A pretty name."

"Uh," said Leaf, just about to argue that Sheila was definitely no name for a dude, but then realized that he had no idea if The Yoln was a dude or not, or even if such things were gendered, because out here in the light The Yoln just looked like an assortment of large wide hat and light overcoat but with nothing otherwise visible beneath, not a face or hands or anything, and for some reason although people would very occasionally do a double-take, for the most part The Yoln moved through the world as well as any human. 

And given the clothing and voice he'd been referring to it in his mind as he but it might be more accurate. 

Leaf cleared his throat, simply at a loss.

"It's a nice name," he agreed.

He didn't really know how to broach the topic of gender, or whether it really made any sense one way or the other when dealing with a sentient shadow, so he said nothing.

"Do you think I could be called Sheila?" asked The Yoln hopefully. "I mean. You could call me Sheila, if that is more helpful for you."

It was clear that The Yoln didn't give a fig whether or not it was helpful for Leaf to have a frame of reference more familiar to him when addressing individuals that made up the larger part of a whole, but that it was something it had quietly yearned for, and wanted for some time.

"Sure," said Leaf, and although the perfunctory thank you from that quarter did not sound all that enthusiastic, there was a lighter tone in the car afterwards.

"I would also like to be a secretary," confided Sheila. "I could sit and take notes."

"You could," Leaf agreed, and when Sheila did not elaborate, he wondered if that's what The Yoln (plural) thought secretaries did all day long.

Sheila's wistful words were the last spoken until they pulled into the rest stop as instructed, and Leaf saw a little sign that said THIS WAY TO SHERWOOD FOREST --->

"Well don't that beat all," said Leaf at the back of his breath. "Wonder what I'm gonna find in here?"

"Oh, one of your heroes," said Sheila brightly, as he moved forward into the deepening forest shadows and disappeared like the Cheshire cat, with no smile left behind to follow.

"One of my heroes?" asked Leaf, telling himself there was no way on God's green earth he would've followed something like this into the dark black shadows of a mysterious forest. "In a forest off the freeway next to a rest stop?"

"Oh, yes," said Sheila, and now Leaf was blind in the darkness, following the voice, careful in his step. "A folk hero of humans."

Leaf stopped dead.

"You can't be talking about Robin Hood," he said.

"That's the name!" said Sheila merrily, now in his element, as Leaf shook his head.

"How did I get myself into this kind of mess," he said ruefully, and trudged onward.

There was finally a clearing in the forest, and a match was struck.

"Who goes there?" called a voice, and there he was -

all dressed in green, like Peter Pan (who probably also existed somewhere, maybe at the docks in Lake Michigan or something), with the pointy little feathered hat and everything, his bow slung over his back.

"Robin Hood!" exclaimed Leaf, because he was only human, and it was Robin Hood.

"Ah. A fan," said Robin boredly, when Sheila suddenly manifested, and Robin shouted, leaving Leaf feeling a little smug that even Robin Hood was freaked out by such things. "Who goes there?!"

He took a longer look at Sheila, and amended:

"Or what goes there?"

"I am The Yoln," announced Sheila. "But you may call me...Sheila."

Robin narrowed his eyes.

Leaf was very impressed at how handsome Robin was, not for any prurient reason, but that his blond hair and blue eyes were striking and his facial features leaned more delicate. His entire mien, including the little mustache, was the exact replica of those men who had portrayed him on stage and screen.

"Welcome to Sherwood Forest, Sheila, and the fan," said Robin. "What brings ye to these parts?"

"My name is Leaf," said Leaf. "And it is an honor to meet you, Mr. Hood."

"Robin of Locksley," said Robin, bowing. "I believe they started calling me Hood to disparage my criminality."

"It's very brave of you to be here all alone, facing two," said Leaf. "The Yoln is also supernatural."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment, or a threat."

"A compliment. Definitely."

"But I am not alone."

He grinned, and there was that dashing, daring hero of old.

"Robin Hood is never alone."

All around them, now they saw arrow-tips glittering in the leaves, in the trees surrounding them.

"Will Scarlett and Friar Tuck and Maid Marian?" asked Leaf, unable to contain his excitement.

Sue him. It was Robin Hood!

"You really are a fan," commented Robin, but he nodded, and all those named, along with others, dropped lightly from the surrounding trees. "So. What can I, and my Merry Men, do for you this fine evening, Leaf and Sheila?"

"I have been contacted by a mysterious stranger," Leaf began.

Robin crossed his arms and whistled, leaning against a nearby tree.

"It sounds like some love affair or another," he said. 

"I doubt it, and if so, it is a strange commencement."

"Many love affairs have commenced strangely," said Robin, winking at Maid Marian, who did turn out to be very beautiful, with long curly hair, just as promised.

"Yes, but this was delivered by The Yoln, Sheila here, and until that moment, I had no idea that the supernatural existed. Or that you were real, until tonight."

Robin scoffed.

"Of course I'm real," he said. "You have heard of Sherwood Forest, and all my friends."

"But isn't Sherwood Forest in England?" asked Leaf. "What are you doing here, in this little forest off the freeway?"

"I am given to understand that we were brought here," said Robin. "Sentimental fools brought tree saplings from Sherwood Forest, and the tale of Robin Hood, along with them to the New World. Of course, given the popularity of my story - and that is not bragging, just the plain unvarnished truth - it would have found footing here either way, but with the physical example of the forest here, I seem to have manifested, and stayed."

"Humans were not the only creatures that found a better life in the new world," put in Sheila. "Many stayed. But we are here, Robin, to ask if you have heard of anything or anyone looking to induct a human into the world of the supernatural. I was told to bring a message to Leaf, but no explanation, nor source of said message."

"Yes, perhaps," Robin said, ruminating on the problem. "But you received this message from someone, yes? A boss perhaps? Then they would be the ones to ask, not Robin Hood. So why come here, why ask me? What would I know of it?"

"Because," said Sheila, "The Yoln are living shadows, and we share something of a consciousness. There is something here in Sherwood, Robin, and it is related to whoever has introduced Leaf to our world."