Robin shrugged.
"It is for Kes," he said, gesturing for the boy to follow. 
He seemed to be trying to think about what to say, causing his hand to run through his own hair and mess it up.
"She's had a bit of a shock," he said, wondering if Kes should be making this announcement.
They'd reached the town center whilst they walked, Robin looking around all the time as he spoke.
"Mum's decided Kes is to marry," he said.
He left the words out there, hanging like daggers above a body. He wasn't sure how to feel about it.
He told him about the family being there, about how their older sisters had been so happy, giggling and crooning as they spoke of men suitable. Kes had been sat frozen, her face draining of colour.
"Of course, she got out of there sharpish," said Robin with an affectionate smile. He might have been a year Kes's senior, but she'd always been his closest sibling. Starling, the only other boy, was 4 years younger, so it was hard for him to talk to him the way he did with Kes.
"Problem is, I'm worried," he said, looking around as they changed direction. "She just looked so...."
Pale, shocked, betrayed. They were all the right words. She'd looked at him, her face stricken. He wasn't sure how shocked his own face was. It seemed that his mother and older sisters were possibly the only ones who were in on it.
He pointed down a path, which lead to the crop fields.
"Look, can you help me find her?" he said, rounding on the boy who was his own age. "I don't know where she's chosen to go and if she wants to stay hidden, I know I'd never find her. If you take the fields and woods, I'll take any spots in the village where I think she'd go."