For Crow, the morning came all too soon. He arched his back in a lazy stretch when Penelope roused him from his slumber. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he could hear William preparing the horses, and he didn’t want to be woken up for a second time by the ill-tempered knight. Sitting up, he offered her a weary smile, “Morning.” He took a moment to wake up a bit more before he climbed to his feet and gathered his things, slinging the bow and quiver over his shoulder and securing the staff with the strap.

Ready to go, he stood off to the side while he waited for William to finish what he was doing with the horses. The knight glanced in his direction once but otherwise ignored him. He shook his head. It seemed like even though the thief was willing to try to look past their differences, the knight was still set on treating him like a prisoner rather than a comrade. It was going to take quite a bit of convincing to get him to stop looking at him that way.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Crow offered with a forced smile, hoping to continue to break down the wall between himself and the knight. “We can all leave faster with two sets of hands working instead of just one.”

“You would just get in my way, thief,” William grunted, tightening the belt of his horse’s saddle without looking up.

“I’m not that useless,” Crow muttered, rolling his eyes. However, he could tell that William didn’t want him around, so he didn’t push the matter.

Bored of standing around with nothing to do, he wandered over to Penelope instead, knowing she would make better company than William anyway. “Hey there,” he said, walking up from behind her. He flashed her a grin, “Well, I had a great night. I met up with this gorgeous woman in the woods and we slept together under the stars. It was pretty romantic.” He winked at her playfully. “How was your night?”