Crow nodded, accepting Penelope’s words as she said she could handle the accusations when she returned to her camp the next day. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his lip. Even though he still believed it would be better for her to go back before nightfall, he was grateful to have the additional time with her. With the war going on, they barely saw each other anymore, so he wanted to make the most of their time while she was still with him.

“If you say so,” he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “I’m sure you’ll have no trouble getting away with it.”

--

The rest of their walk was passed in comfortable conversation interjected with occasional silences as Crow and Penelope kept watch for patrols. The thief found the time to be entirely enjoyable, since he hadn’t been able to talk with the knight so freely in years. He was reminded of just how much he liked spending time with her, and he looked forward to a future when they could do so again. As long as the war didn’t drag on, it wouldn’t be much longer until that future came. He could already feel the excitement welling up inside of him at the thought.

Around dusk, he began to notice that the scenery around them looked familiar. They were getting close to the meeting point. His heart beat nervously in his chest as the time was fast approaching when he would find out if all of his companions really had made it out safely or not. He prayed he would see all four of them when he arrived.

As they neared the valley, a thought came to him suddenly, and he turned to Penelope, “I forgot to mention this, but don’t bring up anything about my illness to anyone except Hazel. I haven’t told the others about it, and I don’t want them to—”

“Crow!”

The thief startled at the sound of a voice and turned to see Rikki sprinting towards him from the edge of the valley. Before he could react, she barreled into him and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle in an embrace. “Thank gods! You made it,” she breathed. After a moment, she blinked and jumped back again. “I have to tell the others!” Without waiting for a reply, she spun on her heel and ran back to the valley, calling out loudly, “Everyone, Crow’s alive!”

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Crow watched her go with a shake of his head. “You know, I don’t think she even noticed you were here,” he snorted, glancing at Penelope. He hesitated for a moment and then let go of her hand. Considering the other thieves’ opinions about knights, he still didn’t want them to know he was with her now.

“Well, I guess you should get back to your camp, huh?” he said to her with a halfhearted smile. Even though he had gotten to spend the entire length of the walk with her, he still felt reluctant to part ways. He missed the days when they had been able to sleep in each other’s arms and spend all of their time together. Compared to that, only visiting every once in a while felt like torture.

Suddenly, another idea came to him, and he shifted his weight. “Unless… you’d like to stay with us for the night,” he offered tentatively. “You already won’t get back to your camp until tomorrow. If you stay here, you’ll at least get some sleep in between… What do you think?”