“Trust me, I was tempted to.” Penelope remarked sharply as the two ran from the remaining knight. She let Crow take the lead and was caught off guard when she heard the new voice. She barely had time to consider it as Crow suddenly tugged her in that direction. She followed his lead and kept up as they tried to lose the knight and follow the lead of this stranger. As the hooded man came into view, Penelope felt a hint of reluctance, exchanging the look with Crow. 

She remained tense as they followed the man into the darkness and fell silent as they waited for the knight to pass them buy. She tried to even out her breathing during that short time. She looked over as the conversation between Crow and Hartley began. She was admittedly surprised by how young he appeared to be. 

Young or not, she felt rather frustrated with this new thief to find out he had been the one to frame Crow. Admittedly, she did feel a hint of pride at his compliment of her fighting skills. “Thanks.” She said with a small smile that faltered slightly as kissed her hand and introduced himself. She was about to introduce herself until Crow stepped between them. She glanced over at him, a little surprised by his rush to get out. She felt her cheeks flare up at Hartley’s assumption and averted her gaze to the side. 

Penelope blinked at Hartley’s boldness as he maneuvered up to her side and placed his hand on her waist. It certainly wasn’t like Crow’s occasional remarks, especially since his were often just jokes. She leaned away from him slightly and walked on through the tunnel.

“So what’s you’re name?” He asked with a smile. “I don’t believe I was able to catch it earlier.”

“It’s Penelope.” She replied offering a polite smile in return. 

“Ahh a lovely name.” Hartley mused with a wink. “You know, I’ve got to ask, where’d you learn to fight like that?”

Penelope paused for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. “Father worked as a guard at one point.” She responded and added with a smirk, “So I picked up a few tricks.” 

“I noticed.” Hartley said, leaning in a bit closer to Penelope. Penelope gave an awkward laugh and looked around elsewhere. 

“Yeah haha... I wouldn’t have had to do anything at all if someone hadn’t been stealing in the first place.” She snorted, quickly changing the topic as she shot an annoyed look over her shoulder at Crow.