“What are you talking about?” Crow rolled his eyes. “I stayed awake. Barely, but it still counts.” As Penelope’s tone turned serious, he nodded and looked forward again, performing another quick sweep of his surroundings. She was right. After what had happened yesterday, they needed to keep a closer watch for mercenaries. He absently brought a hand to his chest where he had gotten stabbed by the dagger. The last attack had been bad enough. If they got caught by surprise again, he wasn’t sure they could survive, let alone fight the ambushers off without adding to their injuries. They needed to be prepared to run if anyone came at them today.

After a while of riding in silence, Crow heard Penelope murmur his name from behind. “Hm?” he glanced back over his shoulder again to see that she seemed to be having trouble staying awake. Her eyes weren’t as wide as before, and she appeared to be forcing herself to sit up straight. He bit back a smile. Even though he knew it was risky for any of them to be so tired, he couldn’t help noticing how cute she looked when she was drowsy.

As she went on to ask him about the outer villages, he drummed his fingers on his leg, taking a moment to think about how to answer her question. “There’s a lot I could tell you about,” he said, peering back at her again after casting a quick look towards William to make sure the knight was too far away to eavesdrop on their conversation. “Let’s see… The outer villages as a whole make up a large portion of the kingdom, based on the maps I’ve seen. I’m most familiar with the villages in the north though, since that’s where I lived most of my life.

“Growing up there was quite the experience. Every village has a unique culture and type of people that live there. Because resources are scarce, most of the people travel a lot between neighboring villages to trade goods, but even in the midst of all of the trading, everyone retains a sense of pride in their own home village and carries on its traditions.

“Honestly, most people take so much pride in their homes that they never move from the houses they were born in. It isn’t uncommon to see three generations of a family living in the same place, assuming the oldest generation lives long enough to see their grandchildren. This is partly because it takes too much time and money to build new houses, but it’s mostly due to the fact that family is held highly by the villagers. With no money or material possessions, family is the most important thing in most of their lives.” He shrugged. “Of course, my experience was very different.

“Since my mother had been shunned from her home village because of the rumors my father had started about her, she was forced to uproot her life and move to Myrefall, where no one knew her name. As you can probably guess, doing something like this is no easy task in the outer villages. She left behind everything she knew—her friends, her culture, and even what remained of her family—to find a fresh start somewhere else.

“Long story short, she managed to find a family that took her in until she had me. She was accepted by them for a while, but eventually, they found out she had been stealing from the knights in the village—she had been a thief ever since she left her home village—and they kicked her out for fear of drawing attention to themselves. That’s why I didn’t grow up with any other family besides her. We were on our own as far back as I can remember.

“I don’t feel like I missed out on anything though,” Crow smiled to himself as he thought about his childhood experiences. “I may not have had a large, close family, but I had more adventures than most peasant children could boast of. Since I had to take care of my mother in her illness, I traveled around quite a bit to steal and barter for the things we needed to get by. I also had a lot more time to use however I pleased, since I had no familial responsibilities aside from bringing my mother basic necessities. I met many travelers from other kingdoms, which was how I learned their languages, and I got to know a lot of the people who lived in Myrefall while I was out exploring on my own.” He chuckled softly. “You know, looking back on it, I think a lot of them were trying to help take care of me in their own way, since they all knew I was the son of a sick, single mother.

“Anyway, I didn’t really start moving around to different villages until after my mother passed. With no one left in Myrefall to tie me down, I went on to live in a lot of different places throughout the rest of my youth. Although, I think a couple of my favorite villages outside of my home town would have to be Farhill and Silverpool.

“Silverpool was the place we stayed near the border, where Evelyn runs her tavern. That village was a great place for me to live, because the people there are the most accepting of thieves that I’ve come across. Incidentally, that was also where I met Eligius, because we were being harbored by the same family. Whenever I was on the run and needed somewhere to hide, that was my go-to village.” He glanced back at Penelope and smirked devilishly. “The knights in the outer villages never found out I was hiding right under their noses the whole time!”

He turned back around in the saddle and leaned a little closer to Penelope as he went on, enjoying the fact that he was able to share his past with her so freely. “Aside from that, Silverpool is a fun place to live because of the local culture. The taverns are always lively, and the villagers host dances every season. It’s nothing like the ballroom dances that nobles put on, from what I’ve heard about those. In Silverpool, there’s a lot more drinking and a lot less formality. Everyone just shows up to have fun and forget about their responsibilities for a day.

“Farhill is one of my favorite villages for completely different reasons. The people there are just as friendly, but they’re more reserved than the villagers of Silverpool. They’ve taken me in on a number of occasions, but only under the condition that I keep my head down while I stay with them. Like the family my mother stayed with all those years ago, they don’t want to risk drawing attention to themselves and having issues with the local knights. It makes sense, because they aren’t far from the town I told you about that got ravaged by the tax collectors.

“Anyway, the reason why I love Farhill is because it’s located in the middle of the woods, next to a lake. It’s absolutely gorgeous during every season. I used to stop there whenever I wanted some peace and quiet in between large heists. I also enjoyed the culture, even though the people aren’t nearly as rowdy as they are in Silverpool. They’re a more down-to-earth bunch who can enjoy a good dance and drink, but prefer to put on community dinners, where everyone contributes the few ingredients they have in order to feed the whole village. They also serve some of the best fish I’ve ever had.”

He looked back at Penelope once more with a bashful grin. “I was thinking… When you come to the outer villages, we should stay there for a while. I think you’d really like it. Farhill is beautiful, and I’m sure the villagers would love you.” He shifted slightly, feeling a bit sheepish about sharing the plans he had been making out loud, though he wasn’t quite sure why. “What do you think?”