“I’ll take what I can get,” Crow laughed. “Although he’s the first man who’s ever tempted me to drink.” He shook his head, leaning against a nearby tree. While he didn’t really care about what William thought of him, sitting through that many insults was taxing no matter who was saying them. He was just glad the knight was trying to learn the accent now. It was better than when he had been too prideful to even try. On top of that, William was improving rather quickly. Despite a few flaws that Crow had caught, his fake accent was coming along even faster than Penelope’s had, which was reassuring since he would probably need to use it within the next day or two.

When Penelope suddenly lowered her voice, Crow met her gaze with interest. He liked the sound of her plan. If William bought it, they would have a good amount of time to themselves under the guise of scouting for Younisian knights and wild berries. [i]Maybe we could even get away with staying out until nightfall,[/i] he mused. [i]It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that we found footprints and decided to follow them for a while.[/i] The more he thought about it, the more excited he became about the idea.

“Well, I had plans to stay here and get yelled at by William some more,” he sighed. “But I suppose I can push that back for you.” He winked at her teasingly and glanced back at the older knight, who was currently pacing along the far side of the clearing and muttering something to himself. The thief smirked. It looked like William had gained enough confidence in his fake accent after using it to insult him that he finally felt comfortable to practice it on his own.

He turned back to Penelope, “You should probably be the one to tell him where we’re going, since he still doesn’t like me. If he asks why you want to take me with you, just tell him that I know the difference between edible and poisonous berries.” He shrugged. “I do know a few, so it’s not even a total lie.”