“Ah ah,” Crow held up his hand when Penelope asked for his name. “I said that in return for your story, I would tell you something about myself. Well, I told you that something already. If you want another detail about me, you’re going to have to spin an even better tale.” He smirked at the knight. Of course he wasn’t about to give his actual name to her. He was still avoiding telling her anything personal about himself, and his real name fell under that category. Really, the only reason he brought it up was to bait her attention. If she was focused on prodding him for that information, then hopefully she wouldn’t notice when he began making subtle preparations for his escape. He just had to keep her distracted.

Crow rocked back on his heels, “You know, your story was still quite good. I suppose I can at least tell you the origin of my current name since you entertained me. That should be fair enough, right?” He paused to clear his throat and then began his own tale: “My career as a professional thief really took off when I was twelve years old. I had been stealing long before, but I hadn’t made a name for myself until then. Anyways, the people in my village were finally taking notice that their valuables were going missing, but no one knew who was taking them.” He grinned proudly. “I was quite a clever child, you see. I never left a sign of my presence, so it was almost as if the objects were vanishing of their own accord.

“One day, I decided to rob a group of local knights who had fallen asleep on duty. I took their swords right out from the sheaths on their hips.” He laughed at the memory. “I must give partial credit to the strong liquor they had been drinking, but I still think it was quite an accomplishment for a child. They never even realized I had been there until I was long gone! Of course, they were humiliated that they had lost their weapons while slacking off, so they made up an extravagant tale that they had been attacked by a flock of crows and lost their swords in the skirmish. They used a black feather they had found when they woke up as proof.

“Naturally, I wasn’t about to give a few birds the credit for [i]my[/i] work, so I began introducing myself to others as ‘Crow’ and dropping black feathers at the homes of all of the people I stole from. It didn’t take long for the villagers to realize the knights were lying. They were so embarrassed to have been robbed by a child that they left the village and were replaced by another set of guards.

“Eventually, I stopped leaving feathers after my nightly runs, but the name stuck,” Crow shrugged. He rested his chin in his palm and smiled up at Penelope. “So, have I managed to pique your interest yet?”