“Just… around,” Crow murmured absently, averting his gaze once more to look about the surrounding village. “I have a few places I want to visit before we move on. It’s for personal reasons, so don’t ask me why. I’m not going to tell you.” He glanced back at her, paused for a moment, and then went on hurriedly, “Come on. There’s only so much daylight left before we need to get back to William.” With that, he turned away again and walked down the road, keeping his eyes focused straight ahead.

Gods. Why was she suddenly so distracting to him? All she had done was put on a simple peasant dress, and now he couldn’t even think straight. He let out a quiet huff. It must have been because he hadn’t seen a beautiful woman in so long that she was having such a strange effect on him. Of course; that had to be the problem. Once he got used to seeing her in commoners’ clothes he would be fine again.

Having worked out his dilemma, Crow felt much better. He glanced back at the knight, casting her one of his characteristically impish grins, “Sorry if I worried you, love. I was a bit distracted earlier. It’s the first time I’ve been close to home in over a year, after all. I suppose I was just a little caught up in the moment.” His green eyes swept over the buildings that lined the road. “I’m assuming you’ve never been to this village before, right? You [i]have[/i] to visit the tavern here. They make exceptional honey mead that you can’t buy anywhere else in the kingdom—you know what? I’m not even going to give you a choice in the matter. Come on.”

He reached for Penelope’s hand and led her towards a building with a faded sign over the open door that—to any literate person—read: ‘The Black Dagger.’