"Penelope! Are you up yet? Mia's requesting for us." 

The next morning she was awoken by the sound of Tomas' voice outside of her tent. She blinked and slowly lifted her head, wondering why the baroness was getting such an early start on the day. Usually their meetings were held later in the morning, causing for the knight to worry something had gone wrong. "I'm up.. I'll be out in a second." She responded before hurrying to get her armor on once more. She stepped out of the tent and turned to face Tomas, who gestured for her to follow him as he began to walk towards the center of camp. 

As she followed him, she noticed that quite a few of other knights were up as well. She eyed them curiously, noticing how many were forming small groups. [i]Patrols..[/i] The knight faltered at the thought and turned her head to look over at Tomas "Uh.. What's going on?" She asked, hoping he would prove her assumption wrong.

"Mia finally came up with a plan to handle those thieves... It involves quite a few patrols it looks like.. I don't know the details yet. She sent me to get you first." Tomas explained with a shrug. 

Well that wasn't good. A feeling of anxiousness swirled in the knight as she thought of Crow. By the looks of it, the patrols would leave well before it was even noon, meaning that she wouldn't be able to wait until their meeting at night to warn him. She glanced ahead, seeing Mia come into view as they reached the large tent. Penelope wondered if she'd be able to slip away from camp to try and warn him before the patrols left. It seemed unlikely since Mia had requested for her but she had to try. 

"There you two are." Mia said waving them over as she stood besides the other two barons and Layth. 

"So, I see you've already started your plan... Without informing us." Edward muttered accusingly. 

"Well your lieutenant seemed to approve of it, so I assumed I had your approval as well. Unless you don't trust his judgement." Mia responded sharply. 

"We'll handle those thieves before the end of the day, uncle." Layth assured. Edward sighed and gave a small nod. 

"So what exactly is happening?" Penelope asked, hiding away the concern she felt as she crossed her arms and looked to Mia for an answer. 

"I'm curious as well." Bennet agreed raising an eyebrow at Mia. 

"We're sending out a large number of patrols. Five will head north towards Whitebridge and Grimsby where the thief was spotted in battle while another five with scour the south past Myrefall, where Layth had captured him before. A few patrols will head inland  towards Norcest as well. Between these three locations the thieves are bound to be somewhere. We'll focus on tracking traces of them down.. Any signs of people camping or passing through the forest will be thoroughly examined." Mia explained to the group. "Our patrols will leave no stone unturned."

"Won't we be spreading our forces a little thin with that many patrols." Penelope spoke up, allowing for a hint of worry to cross her face even though it wasn't for the safety of the camp. 

"I understand your concern Penelope but the camp will be fine. We'll still have enough knights here to keep things running smoothly and I doubt we have to worry ourselves with any opposition from the Younisians for today. The last few days have been peaceful enough." Mia told her with a small smile.

Penelope shifted uneasily, trying to find a way to poke holes in Mia's argument without causing for any suspicion to grow. However, she wasn't able to and merely fell silent once more, giving a small nod of agreement. Layth shot her an overly confident smirk as he held his head a bit higher, seeming pleased that Mia finally seemed to be siding with him. He turned back to the barons and looked at Bennet and Edward expectantly. "Those bastards won't have anywhere to run today."

"And we should be able to retrieve our supplies if all goes accordingly." Bennet said, sounding pleased. 

"Let's not waste any more time with this discussion then." Edward said gruffly before turning to Mia. "We're all in agreement. Let's start sending out the patrols at once."

"Of course." Mia said calmly. She gave Layth a wave of dismissal that he seemed to understand the meaning of as he dipped his head and hurried off. She turned to face Tomas and Penelope. "Tomas, I'd like you to lead a patrol near Whitebridge and Penelope..." She paused and let out a small sigh. "I trust you but given recent events, it might be best for you to sit this one out." 

Penelope blinked in surprise as Mia hinted at the time she had 'lost' Crow when he was in camp. The baroness hadn't held it over her before but perhaps that was just because she hadn't been focused on trying to catch the thieves like she was now. The female knight paused, thinking the situation over for a moment. She certainly didn't want to push to get on a patrol since it would make things difficult to sneak off to the thieves' camp and staying in camp only to leave would make her a little suspicious. However, if she did get caught sneaking out, it seemed she'd be able to make up a believable story about wanting to redeem herself by catching the thieves on her own. [i]Perfect.[/i]

"I understand." She mumbled with fake reluctance as she lowered her gaze away from Mia. Mia rested a hand reassuringly on her shoulder before moving on to dismiss the abrupt meeting so the patrols could begin to make their way out. Tomas headed off to join a patrol while Penelope turned to head back towards her tent. She walked briskly, trying to not bring any attention to herself while also attempting to hurry. She wouldn't have much of a chance to beat the patrols out, especially since it seemed some of them were already beginning to leave as Layth went around giving them instructions. 

She ducked quickly into her tent and took off her armor, hoping that by traveling lighter she'd be able to get ahead of the patrols heading in the right direction. Penelope grabbed her cloak and flung it over her shoulders before stepping out of her tent. She was just about to make sure she wasn't being watched when she saw Gavin walking up. The male knight frowned as he noticed her outfit. 

"I hope you're not here to try and stop me again." Penelope said cautiously as she met his gaze. 

"No.." Gavin said then paused. "You're going to warn him right? Let me help you."

She looked at him with unbridled surprise. Quickly recovering from it, she shook her head. "No. It's best if you don't get involved. I can do this on my own."

"But-"

"I don't have time to argue with you Gavin. I'm sorry but I don't need your help." She stated impatiently. Penelope swept her gaze over their surroundings, making sure no one else was looking before she turned sharply and headed off into the forest. She pulled her hood up over her head and picked up her pace as she raced towards the thieves' hideout. She casted a glance over her shoulder to make sure Gavin or anyone else wasn't following her before focusing on making sure she didn't run into any of the patrols that had already left as she hurried to warn Crow.