Crow was relieved to hear that the other knights hadn’t given Penelope too much flack for disappearing overnight last week. He had been a bit concerned that she would suffer some consequences because of her actions, but it sounded like everything was returning to normal for her as time passed. Like her, he hoped she wouldn’t need to put herself at risk again, especially for his sake. She may have been able to hide her true intentions from her comrades once, but they could only be fooled so many times before they figured out something else was going on. He didn’t want her to ever find herself in trouble for his sake.

As she asked him about how he was feeling and about the progress of their camp, he ran his thumb over her hand comfortingly. “I’m feeling a lot better, actually,” he said with a smile. “We found a new camp pretty soon after you left, so I’ve been able to get plenty of rest. I haven’t even come close to passing out all week.” His smile broadened into a grin as he went on, “Speaking of our new camp, it’s actually closer to Myrefall than the last one. Simon, Alistair, and Rikki found an old tunnel system behind a waterfall just northwest of here. It’s well hidden, so I’d be surprised if the knights find us ever again.

“The tunnels are interesting too,” he continued. “They’re carved deep within the ground, so we have plenty of storage space for future raids, and they’ll be easy to defend once we learn the whole layout better. After Simon finishes mapping everything out, I think that’s our next goal.”

Leaning against Penelope’s side, he paused for a moment before asking his next question, “Have your barons discussed when the next battle will be? I’m guessing it won’t be long now that they’ve got their supplies back along with the ones we took from the Younisians.”