Crow eventually managed to drift off to sleep, though he couldn’t remember when it had happened. One moment, he was laying on the ground with Penelope in his arms, and the next, he felt warm sunlight on his face and someone’s hand on his shoulder to wake him up. He sat up and blinked against the light, disoriented from his fitful sleep. After a moment, he slowly realized that Penelope was the one standing over him. He yawned and looked up at her, about to greet her but then pausing as the events from the day before came back to him.

[i]Everything is confusing now,[/i] he lowered his gaze. He wished William had never found and confronted them. It was all so much simpler when they were in their own world, ignoring all of the problems of the future. Now, with someone on the outside to bring up the barriers they were going to face, he felt like he was being constricted.

Forcing himself to meet Penelope’s eyes, he offered a tired smile and greeted her as he was already going to, “Morning.” He didn’t want Penelope to know how torn he was feeling. He didn’t want her to worry about him or think that he was having second thoughts about their relationship.

[i]Would she really be wrong though?[/i] a disdainful voice whispered in the back of his mind. He swallowed. As much as he wished it wasn’t true, the problems that had come up the day before were tempting him to run from it all. It had always been his first instinct to leave whenever he encountered difficult situations.

[i]But this is different,[/i] he tried to reassure himself. [i]I love her. I can’t leave just because I don’t want to deal with the repercussions of being with her. Besides, going on without her would be so much worse than dealing with a few more knights.[/i] The thought gave him renewed confidence that he was making the right decision. He just needed to focus on how terrible it would be to go back to his old life without her by his side rather than the troubles that were going to come from being with her. He sighed. Even though his old life was lonely, it had been a lot simpler than what he was going through now. [i]I’ve gotten myself into quite the mess, haven’t I?[/i]

Standing up from the ground, he stretched and gathered his things, heading over to join the knights as they prepared for the next leg of their journey. He naturally gravitated to Penelope’s side and reached to take her hand. “How did you sleep?” he asked quietly, keeping his voice down so William wouldn’t hear him. Judging by the fact that his night hadn’t been the greatest, he guessed that she probably hadn’t slept much better, and he wanted to see how she was feeling.