“A-are you serious?” Rikki stammered as she stared at Crow with round eyes. She and the other thieves had arrived back at the camp while he and Hazel had been gone. As soon as he had returned with the herbalist, he had gathered them to tell them the truth about his illness, that he’d had it since the previous winter, and that he hadn’t wanted them to know about it, but the symptoms were becoming too apparent to ignore. Now finished explaining everything, he stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, avoiding their concerned and confused gazes as they took a moment to process what he had said to them. “I knew something was off about you,” Simon shook his head. “You’ve been acting strangely ever since the last battle.” “You should have said something sooner,” Alistair growled. “We could have handled it. You should know us well enough by now to understand that.” Crow shot him a glare, “I know you all well enough to know that Simon would insist on taking over my responsibilities as leader, Rikki would get worried and spend all her time doting on me, and you would throw yourself into unnecessary fights to keep knights away from our camp while I try to recover.” His gaze swept over them as they said nothing in response to the accusations. “You know I’m right about this. I didn’t want my illness to be the cause of everything changing around here.” “Are they really such bad changes though?” Rikki spoke up this time. “Everything we would do would be for you, Crow. We all care about you, so if you’re sick, we’re going to do everything we can to help you get better.” “Yeah,” Alistair crossed his arms. “Why can’t you just accept our help?” The thief shifted his weight, lowering his gaze again, “I didn’t want to burden you all with this. I know you want to help, but there’s nothing you can do. Hazel is already working on finding a cure. Apart from that, I just need to get more sleep and stay out of battles. Please don’t change your routines for me. It will do nothing to change the outcome of my illness.” “He has a point,” Simon spoke up, glancing at the others. “As upsetting as this news is, we have more pressing things to think about, such as the location of our next permanent camp.” “Exactly,” Crow nodded, glad that at least one of them was seeing reason. “I want you all to focus on looking for a new place to set up, preferably close to the border so we can respond quickly when battles happen.” Behind him, Hazel cleared her throat and lightly kicked his heel with her boot. Crow sighed. “So [i]you[/i] can respond quickly when battles happen,” he corrected himself reluctantly. “Also, since I can’t risk running into a patrol right now, I will unfortunately have to stay here while you three search. Try to be back by dusk to report what you find.” “Of course,” Simon nodded. “We should leave post haste to cover as much ground as we can before the end of the day.” He turned to the others. “Come on then. Let’s get going.” Alistair joined him as he turned to head out of the valley. Rikki casted a final worried glance back at Crow before hesitantly following after the other two. Now alone with Hazel, Crow let out his breath in a sigh. He could already tell that Alistair and Rikki weren’t going to be as sensible as Simon about everything he had just shared with them. He just hoped the blonde thief would be able to convince them not to waste their time by trying to take care of him unnecessarily. He preferred that they leave him alone to rest and go on with their routines as if nothing had changed. It would be a much more efficient use of their time and energy. “Now what are you going to do?” Hazel asked, drawing his attention. “I’m going to take my healer’s advice and get some sleep,” he shrugged, heading over to his bed. “Wake me if you need anything.” -- Crow slept through most of the day, only getting up twice to eat lunch and supper that Hazel had prepared. Eventually, day turned to night and he got up one more time in wait for the other thieves to return to the camp. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long before he saw all three of them head down the hillside to join him and the herbalist in their temporary camp. “How did it go?” he asked as they sat down around the fire he had built. “Surprisingly great,” Alistair answered, plopping down heavily across from him. “We found a promising spot that’s not too far from our old camp.” “Really?” Crow raised a brow in mild surprise. “I’d have thought it would be better to stay far away from the ravine, so the knights don’t find us again.” “You would think,” Rikki chimed in with a grin. “But this place is perfect. It’s really hard to find. We only noticed it on accident.” “Where is it?” Crow asked with growing interest. “Do you know that drop-off in the river just northwest of Myrefall?” Rikki said. “Of course. The one with the waterfall, right?” “Right,” her grin broadened. “It’s behind the waterfall.” “What?” “There’s an old tunnel system behind the water,” Simon clarified. “We didn’t have a chance to explore them thoroughly, but it’s more than large enough to house all of us and store away any future supplies we steal from the knights.” “The best part is that the tunnels will be easy to defend if we’re ever found again,” Alistair said. “If we all memorize the layout, we’ll have a huge terrain advantage if we ever need to fight off intruders.” “I doubt we’ll even need to do that,” Crow shook his head. “I’ve lived in this area for years, and I never knew these tunnels existed.” “So, you think they’ll make a good camp too?” Rikki asked excitedly. “We can all head over there tomorrow,” Crow nodded, moving to stand up. “Good work, you guys. Let’s all get some sleep, so we’re well-rested for the move in the morning.” “Sounds good to me,” Alistair yawned, climbing to his feet as well. The others followed suit, and the four thieves headed over to their mats as they got ready for bed. Crow laid down on his mat and drew his blanket over himself. Despite the long naps he had taken throughout the day, he still felt just as tired now as he had been in the afternoon. He closed his eyes, but before he could drift off, he felt a familiar pressure against his side. Looking down, he saw that Rikki had curled up next to him again, and he frowned. Her formerly comforting presence had the opposite effect on him now that he was with Penelope again. An image of their accidental kiss that morning flashed through his mind and he blushed, feeling another harsh pang of guilt. He couldn’t let her sleep beside him anymore. It was too risky. “I’m sorry, love,” he said softly, feigning a wince. “With this illness, it’s difficult to sleep while you’re pressed against me like that.” “Oh,” Rikki frowned sadly, shifting to lay fully on her own mat. Meeting his gaze across the gap, she offered him a halfhearted smile, “Goodnight, Crow.” “Night,” he murmured tiredly, closing his eyes again. Now that he didn’t have to worry about the female thief getting too close to him while he slept, he was able to drift off into a pleasant slumber.