Crow didn’t bother to raise his head when Penelope and Abraxas joined him and William at the table, and he only acknowledged Penelope’s greeting with a faint nod. He was too busy to give her a proper response. At the moment he was waging an internal war as he struggled to decide whether he would rather eat breakfast now or let himself sleep a little longer before they left for the final leg of their trip to the outer villages. Both options were mutually appealing, but eventually his stomach won the battle when a wench walked by with a platter of delicious-smelling food.

Having made his decision, Crow sat up straight and tuned in to the knights’ conversation, only to be instantly rewarded with an interesting topic of discussion. Apparently, the two men were planning to disguise Penelope as a peasant girl because all Younisian guards were male. This was too good. The thief smirked and turned towards Penelope to poke fun at her, but then stopped when he saw her expression. She looked as if she was unhappy with her comrades’ plan. He frowned, wondering why she would be so upset. It was just a simple disguise; it wasn’t like the dress would sap away her ability to fight.

“I’ll have some dark bread and ale,” Crow said absently when the wench approached him. He glanced at Penelope once more and then turned to the other knights, “The plan you’ve come up with isn’t bad, but disguises will only get you so far.” He paused to clear his throat and then went on in a strange, lilting accent, “You have to talk and act like Younisians, too. I’ve lived on the border long enough to meet plenty of travelers, so trust me when I say that they’ll be able to pick out a fraud in a heartbeat.” He grinned wryly when William raised a surprised brow at him. “Huh, it seems I’m not as useless as you thought.”