“As you say,” Crow said with a lavish bow. He turned and began following the river as it branched off to the left. As they walked, he grew more and more certain that it was the right way to go, but he also had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. He frowned and looked down at the rushing water and then faltered slightly. Now he remembered what was bothering him. He and Penelope were on the [i]east[/i] side of the river, while the village was on the [i]west[/i] side. That could only mean…

[color=fff79a][b]“Just as I was starting to dry off, too,”[/b][/color] Penelope said, walking towards the water.

Crow stared after Penelope but didn’t follow her. As much as he hated to admit it, rivers unsettled him quite a bit. He had never learned how to swim properly, so he avoided any and all fast-flowing water when he could. Rivers were especially treacherous. They could look calm from the surface, while they could be hiding swift currents below that could easily sweep a man off his feet. Honestly, if the events from earlier hadn’t happened so quickly, he probably would have drowned himself in a panic when Penelope had knocked him into the rapids. He really didn’t want to risk that again.

But he couldn’t let her know that.

“Hang on,” he called to the knight, starting after her. His eyes flicked uncertainly towards the water, but he quickly covered his discomfort with a playful smirk. “The river is a bit wide here, so why don’t we go a little further and see if we can find a shallower place to cross? I wouldn’t want to make a lady go wading into deep water like this.”