The following days went by slowly for Penelope despite the work she had to focus on. First and foremost was the replacing of Bran. Mia seemed to approve of the choices she presented her, though was a bit wary about promoting Gavin due to his inexperience. Penelope, rooting for her friend to get the position, spoke to Bran himself about it and got him to weigh in on the matter during the meeting between the barons. In the end, the barons settled on giving Gavin a chance after hearing Bran's support for him. The male knight was admittedly thrilled to receive the temporary job and immediately put all his focus in taking over the duties Bran previously had. 

Due to this, he was usually more busy than before which meant Penelope was unable to spend as much time with him as she was before. Still, the two often joined each other for dinner, making a bit of time during their usually busy days. Between not seeing Crow for so long and spending more time with Gavin, it nearly felt like how life would have been if she had never run back into the thief. Though not particularly bad in any way, it felt rather lonely to her now as she continued to miss Crow. It made her hope that the day they could finally be together in Farhill would come sooner rather than later. 

Penelope also started going on patrols with Layth again. Though it was unlikely that the knight would actually find the thieves, she couldn't help but worry due to Crow's current state. She might have been powerless to do much about the illness herself but she could at least try to keep him and his comrades safe from the other knights. Over the course of four days she began to wear down Layth's resolve in finding the thieves and tried to get him focused on the threat of Younis instead. While he didn't completely give up, Penelope did notice most of his patrols stuck closer to the border than before. It wasn't much but it at least made her hopeful that his stubbornness to find the thieves was dying down for now.

The fifth day finally came and the knight felt her stomach churn nervously. She remained hopeful about the last batch of medicine and with any luck, Crow would be feeling better. After going on a long patrol with Layth again, she returned to camp and headed off to find Jane as the sun began to sink. It was nearly time for them to leave. 

The knight stepped over to Jane's tent, finding the physician scrambling to gather her things as she walked in. Penelope raised an eyebrow. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah. A meeting with Roger just ran a little late. His wound hasn't been healing properly because he refuses to listen to me so I spent more time treating him that I thought I would." Jane explained shaking her head. She finished packing and slung her bag over her shoulder. "I swear, some of these knights are no better than children."

"That's true." Penelope mused with a smirk. 

"Don't say that like you're innocent." Jane laughed. "I still remember you wanting to charge out of the bed when we first met two years ago... You have a near death experience and yet I could barely get you to stay still. You know, for most people, it's a wake up call to be more careful with their life not more reckless."

Penelope blushed a little and averted her gaze. She had forgotten about that. Most of the time, she was careful in handling her wounds, especially serious ones. But back then, the knight had had only one thing on her mind and that was finding out any way she could to prevent the war so she could get back to Crow. An image of him came to mind and she let out a long sigh, wondering how she had ever been able to go two full years without seeing him when almost three weeks was torture enough.

"Oh I'm just teasing." Jane waved her hand dismissively, mistaking Penelope's prolonged silence for embarrassment. "You're not so bad anymore. You actually listen to me most of the time."

"I try." Penelope said with a small smile as she pulled herself out of her thoughts. "Are you ready to go now?" She asked, eager to find out how Crow was doing. 

"Yeah, let's go." Jane nodded.

The two noblewomen headed out of the camp and towards Myrefall. They chatted a bit but Penelope's focus was mainly on getting to the tavern to meet with Hazel. She hoped that the herbalist would bring them good news about how the herbs had worked. If she did, it likely meant that she'd be able to see Crow soon once they were able to arrange a meeting away from the physician and herbalist. The thought was something that made her heart beat excitedly as she remained hopeful that the medicine had worked.