Crow rolled his eyes at Penelope when she flicked him. He didn’t like the idea of wasting precious time just because of a cut, but there was no point in trying to argue with her after she had made up her mind. He sighed. It was starting to look like he would still be relying on her in battle after all. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust her, but he wanted to be able to hold his own in a fight too. He supposed he should have known better than to get his hopes up though.

“You’re right,” he said after a moment, meeting her gaze solemnly. “I’ll do what I can, but I won’t push myself too hard, okay?” He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips and then smiled affectionately at her. “I’m glad you’re watching out for me, love, because gods know somebody has to,” he shook his head.

As they had gotten closer to the castle, he had noticed that his mood had gotten more bitter. He felt trapped, and whenever that happened, he always looked for ways to fight back or run away. Since he only had one option in this case, he was starting to get more desperate for a way to fight. If he had been on his own, he probably would have done something reckless by now. He was glad he had Penelope by his side to keep him level headed.

When Penelope went to go collect the arrows, he went with her. “I hope so too,” Crow agreed, navigating through a patch of underbrush to reach one that had struck a tree farther away. He turned to head back to the clearing, but paused as he caught sight of a strange looking plant at his feet. It had a tall stalk with jagged leaves and a small cluster of yellow flowers on top. He crouched down to get a closer look at it, and a smile crossed his lips in recognition. He reached for the base of the plant and gave it a sharp tug, ripping it up from the ground.

He walked back over to Penelope and held it up to show her, grinning excitedly, “Look what I found.”