Penelope watched as Crow took his shot at lifting Hartley’s spirits and seeming to do so with much more success than her. She remained quiet they talked and moved to walk up besides Hartley as Crow took the lead. “Crow’s right. And if he still acts like an ass, then just steal from him.” She told the boy with a small wink. Hartley looked over at her and grinned.

“I thought you were against stealing?” He questioned with a small chuckle. 

“I am... Kinda. I’ll allow for some exceptions. If a judgmental father or greedy noble is around, I might be willing to look the other way.” She said with a shrug. 

Hartley’s smile faded as he took on a more serious look. “So.. You don’t think I’m a screw up because I’m a thief?” He asked softly.

Penelope shook her head. “No, of course not... Look our jobs might be total opposites of each other but that doesn’t mean I have to think any less of you. Like a said before, the job doesn’t define the person and it certainly doesn’t define how I see someone either.” She said. Her gaze flickered towards Crow as she thought about how he had more or less been the one to make her realize what she said to Hartley was true. She looked back to Hartley and noticed that the boy’s eyes gleamed at her answer. 

 “Come on, let’s eat.” She told Hartley as she moved to sit down near the base of the tree. The knight dug into the bag and pulled out the food that Lorelle had packed for them. She laid it out to divide it up evenly between the three. 

“You’re a strange knight, Penelope.” Hartley said as he sat besides her. He had a new found interest in his gaze as he looked at her. “I mean.. aren’t you technically a noble?”

“Sorta.” Penelope answered with a simple shrug as she handed him his food. Hartley raised an eyebrow and started to open his mouth to press on. The knight sighed, figuring it was her time to share as the young thief was unlikely to let it go at the moment. “It’s a bit complicated...Dad was a noble but mom was a peasant. The, er, rest of my family wasn’t really happy about that. Actually, they still aren’t happy about that.”

“What do you mean by that? They took you in eventually didn’t they?” Hartley asked confused before taking a large bite of his food.

“Yeah,they did..The head of our family, my uncle, gave us a small home to live in on the family manor. However, they didn’t forget about my father’s affair with a servant. Especially when there was a walking reminder of it.” She said gesturing to herself as she spoke. “So basically the deal is that I get the title of a noble and a decent life but without the family benefits. One of the reasons my father trained me to be a knight was so I could avoid becoming a family servant.” 

“Well, you’re family doesn’t even deserve you then!” Hartley said then frowned and gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry though. That must be rough...” 

Penelope gave a small, reassuring smile and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s really not that bad. I may not have my whole family to depend on nor their wealth but I’ve got a comfortable life. Plus I still have my father and brother.” She said honestly. 

 While the last bit about her father and brother was questionable, Penelope had very little problem sharing that part of her story. She had always held some anger towards the rest of her family for being so cruel and concerned about their nobility. Even her father couldn’t hide the truth of their hatred and disgust for her, though she suspected the stubborn old man still believed that she was buying his story about her mother being another noblewoman. However, it was rare for her to speak of it since most nobles wouldn’t be as understanding of her situation as she felt that the two thieves would.