Crow eyed Penelope curiously as she suddenly became distant. He wondered what she was thinking about. Had the storm gotten worse after he fell asleep and kept her up? He frowned. That had to be it. He felt a pang of guilt for not staying awake longer to see if there would be thunder during the night. After sleeping with her, he had been too tired to think about her fear of stormy weather, but he wished he had at least tried to consider her feelings. [i]Selfish.[/i]

He opened his mouth to apologize, but she spoke first, asking him if he was ready to keep training. He blinked. Her casual expression caught him off guard. He hadn’t expected her to recover so quickly. “Yeah,” he replied, his eyes sweeping over her inquisitively. After a moment, he determined that she seemed to be alright, so he relaxed again.

“I can’t wait,” he smirked back at her. “Maybe this time I’ll beat you without my ‘dirty tricks,’ as you like to call them.” He leaned a little closer to her and went on teasingly, “Although I think you liked the trick I used yesterday.” Nudging her playfully, he chuckled and looked up at the castle ahead of them. It was quite close now, since they had covered a lot of distance since it had first appeared beyond the tree tops. It seemed like his estimate had been accurate. Unless they were delayed somehow, they would only have one more night before they reached the curtain wall; one more night before they would find out if their efforts had been enough.

He shifted his weight as uncertainty crept into his mind, wishing he knew more about Younisian folklore. He wanted to believe it was all rubbish that had been invented to deter thieves, but after hearing Hartley’s story about the palace servant, he wasn’t so sure. He cast Penelope a sideways glance. She was relying on him to succeed. Whether the rumors were true or not, he had to find a way to take the staff. He couldn’t let her down just because of some overprotective goddess.

“This looks like a good place to stop,” he said as they passed into a clearing. Turning back to her, he grinned. “Ready to lose to me again?”