Crow averted his gaze as Penelope began cleaning and redressing his injury. He hated how crippling his fear of blood was. The laceration in his palm hadn’t even been that bad, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at it. It wasn’t like it was anything new either. He had had plenty of wounds in the past that were far worse than a meager cut. He would have thought it would get easier with time, but instead he almost seemed to be getting more sensitive to it lately.

He gritted his teeth as Penelope poured water from her canteen onto his hand. The cold water stung, but it also felt cleansing. He glanced back and noticed that she had positioned herself in a way that would prevent him from seeing his injury while she worked on it. She must have caught his uncomfortable expression. He blushed. Even though he knew she was only trying to help, he found it embarrassing that she would have to go to such measures to protect him from something so small.

[i]I can’t keep letting this fear control me,[/i] he thought with a new resolve that surprised himself. He was tired of being paralyzed whenever he saw blood. It was causing them both more trouble than they needed at this point in their journey. They already had enough to worry about without him becoming a liability every time they got into a fight. He had to do something about it.

Crow blinked, realizing Penelope had finished bandaging his hand. He shook his head when she said he should take it easy on his training, “We don’t have time to worry about that. You told me it takes a lot of practice to learn how to use a bow, right?” His stubborn green eyes met hers. “If that’s true, then I’m going to need all the practice I can get.” He softened a bit as she kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll help you get them. I think I saw where the second one went.”