Crow nodded as Penelope said they should meet again in four days, “Alright. I’ll see you then.” He followed her out of the tavern and headed south towards the ravine, walking briskly in spite of his weariness at the prospect of sleep. After such a long day, he expected that he would have no trouble at all falling asleep, even with his injuries. Now that he and Penelope were on decent terms again too, there would be nothing weighing on his mind that would keep him up. He intended to get plenty of much needed rest that night.

Fortunately, his trip back was short and uneventful. He climbed down into the camp to see that Rikki had gone to bed sometime during his meeting with Penelope. He yawned and hung up his cloak. It was no matter. He planned to tell everyone about the extra patrols in the morning anyway, so he had no reason to talk to her now. Besides that, he was too exhausted to stay up any longer. Even if she had still been up, he probably wouldn’t have stayed out to converse with her anyway.

Finally finished with everything he had needed to do that night, he headed into the shelter to get some sleep.

--

The next morning, Crow awoke late again. He sat up tiredly on his bed mat and looked around to see that the other three had already gotten up. Curious to find out what time it was, he climbed to his feet and headed out into the camp, where Alistair and Simon were sparring with short swords. They were too busy to take notice of him, so he went to dig through their food supplies in search of something to eat for a late breakfast. Selecting a couple of oranges, he ambled over to the log and sat down to eat as he slowly woke up.

However, as he examined the camp, he noticed that Rikki didn’t seem to be around. He frowned, wondering if she had gone to refill some of their water. After all, her leg was still wounded so she couldn’t have gone far. She had said she planned to stay in the hideout until she recovered. [i]It’s probably nothing,[/i] he thought, shrugging off his momentary concern and popping a wedge of orange into his mouth. [i]I’m just on edge because we just got back from a battle.[/i]

Once Simon and Alistair had finished sparring, they sheathed their swords and came over to join Crow to find out how his meeting had gone. Like Rikki, they were just as protective of the villagers and were eager to get an update on the latest information about the knights’ activities.

“From what Penelope knows, there won’t be another battle for a while,” Crow explained. “So unless the Younisians attack, we should be in the clear for a few weeks at least.”

“Thank the gods,” Alistair gave an exaggerated sigh.

“Hm,” Simon merely grunted. He was reluctant, but he seemed to be accepting Penelope’s help a bit more now, which was relieving to Crow.

“There’s just one other thing you all need to know, but I’d prefer to wait until everyone is here,” Crow went on, glancing between the other two thieves. “Do either of you know when Rikki will be back?”

“Could be a while,” Alistair shrugged. “She was getting kind of stir crazy after being cooped up at camp for so long, so she said she was going for a walk.”

“What?” Crow paled. “She’s out by herself?”

“Yeah,” Alistair knitted his brow, confused by his leader’s reaction. “Is that bad?”

“I don’t know… maybe,” he anxiously raked his fingers through his hair. “Penelope said the knights were going to start sending out more patrols to hunt us down. I don’t think they know where we are, but it’s dangerous for any one of us to be out alone right now.” He looked up to meet Alistair’s gaze. “How long has she been gone?”

“I-I’m not sure,” the thief stammered. “Not too long, I think.” He turned to Simon for help.

“She left shortly after we started sparring,” Simon answered more clearly.

“Good,” Crow said. “She couldn’t have gotten far then.” He stood up, meeting their gazes determinedly. “We need to find her and bring her back before she gets spotted by a patrol.”

Alistair and Simon nodded, and the three thieves hurried to gather their weapons in preparation to search for Rikki.