Crow took the canteen from Penelope when she offered it to him and lifted it to his lips, downing a long draught of water. Once he had his fill, he let out a sigh of relief and set the container down in the grass. He couldn’t feel its effects right away, but he was hoping the water would flush the last of the henbane out of his body so they could keep moving. Regardless of whether he was right or not, it didn’t seem like it would be much longer before he was well enough to walk again. The hallucinations had faded for the most part, he was breathing easier, and his skin tingled slightly as he regained feeling.

“Well, oil doesn’t really dry,” he said in response to her first question, drawing his own dagger. “At least, it doesn’t dry for a long time.” He reached for the pot and dragged it closer to himself, turning his blade over thoughtfully in his hand. “I’ve never done this before either. Everything I know about it was taught to me by Evelyn’s daughter. She just said that to lace a weapon in poison, you just dip it in the solution and try not to let it rub off on anything before you use it.”

To demonstrate, Crow lowered his dagger into the pot and scraped the edge of the blade along the side until it was coated in a thin layer of henbane oil. He held it up, observing the way it glinted golden in the moonlight. It was interesting to him how the weapon was both beautiful and dangerous at the same time. He turned back to Penelope, “My guess is that you can only use it once, since the poison will come off when the dagger strikes something, but I think I have a solution for that.”

Taking a moment to steel himself, he rose shakily to his feet and stepped over to their supplies. He crouched down beside his bag and dug inside until he retrieved his old tunic, glad he had decided to stash his other clothing away when he had switched to the new outfit. Taking the fabric between his teeth, he gave it a sharp tug and ripped off a portion. Once he had that, he moved back to the pot and dipped the torn piece in, letting it soak up some of the remaining oil.

Careful not to touch the poisoned end, he folded the fabric over and offered it to Penelope, “Take this with you. It won’t dry, so you can rub more henbane on your weapon if you need to use it more than once.”