As Crow made his way back towards the thieves’ camp, he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure the knights hadn’t followed him. As far as he could tell, the forest was clear. He slowed his pace slightly to a steady jog, blinking in realization as it clicked in his head that he had just run without getting dizzy for the first time in months. His heartbeat quickened with excitement. When he had heard the sounds of the nobles coming towards him, he hadn’t even thought twice before taking off at such a speed. It had just felt natural, like it used to before he had gotten sick. He felt a shiver of elation at the thought that he was recovering so well. All that was left now was for him to get rid of his persistent cough and he would be good as new.

Enjoying the freedom of being able to run again, he picked up his pace once more, weaving effortlessly through the trees on his way to the river. He expected the trip to be easy, but after a while, he noticed his breaths were beginning to come to him a bit more labored than they normally did. Perhaps he was a little out of shape after going so long without moving at this pace? Inhaling deeply, he tried to offset the weariness in his lungs by taking in more air, but it didn’t seem to help. Instead, he felt a slight twinge of pain in the left side of his chest that convinced him that his shortness of breath was probably linked to what remained of his illness rather than his own endurance.

Not wanting to risk pushing himself past his limits, he slowed to a walk and focused on steadying his breathing until the pinprick in his chest faded away of its own accord. He smiled to himself, turning the dagger over in his hand and untying the owl feather he had attached to it earlier. All things considered, he was doing much better than he had been since the second phase of the illness had started long ago. Compared to when he used to pass out from running, dealing with a bit of pain and panting was nothing. He wondered offhandedly how well he would perform in a fight if he tried to spar with anyone now. At the rate he was improving, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was near to his natural capabilities again.

[i]Maybe I can convince one of the others to test me tomorrow,[/i] he thought, dropping the now untied feather behind him and sheathing his blade at his waist. The thief yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he saw the waterfall come into view up ahead. He could think of a way to get one of his companions to spar with him in the morning. After staying out much later than he normally did to see Penelope, he was exhausted and ready to get some sleep.

Moving quietly so as not to disturb the others, he slipped inside the cavern and headed over to the supplies to drop off everything he had taken with him where he had found it. Even though he knew he was well enough to travel, he didn’t want Hazel to know he had snuck out again, since she was still under the impression he couldn’t function on his own.

Once he had placed everything back where it had come from, he stepped silently over to the sleeping area and laid down on his bed, drawing his blanket over himself and closing his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.

--

The next day, Crow got up around mid-morning. Over the course of the past ten days, he seemed to be returning to a somewhat normal rhythm of rising and falling with the sun, something Hazel had attributed to his steadily improving health. He filled his stomach with a quick meal that Rikki had left at his bedside—he wasn’t waking up quite early enough to join the others for breakfast yet—and then climbed to his feet to go outside and look for his companions.

The first person he happened to find was Hazel, who was kneeling on the riverbank near the camp entrance to wash some freshly picked herbs in the water. She looked up as she saw him walking towards her. “How are you doing today?” she asked. “Any better?”

“Well,” he exhaled, sitting down heavily at her side and taking some of the plants from her basket to help her clean them. “I haven’t had any coughing today. Although, I did just wake up, so I don’t think it really counts.” He nudged her teasingly. “Give me a little longer, darling, and I’ll have a better answer for you later.”

“As long as you’re not getting worse, that’s all I care about,” Hazel muttered, ignoring his cheeky attitude.

Crow rolled his eyes and set aside the herbs he had just washed, reaching into the basket to take another handful. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “So, how did your meeting go last night?” he asked airily, feigning ignorance while trying to coax her into telling him about her conversation with Penelope. With the limited time he’d had with the knight, he never got the chance to ask her more about it, and he still wanted to know the rest of the details.

She glanced at him furtively out of the corner of her eye before answering his question with a shrug, “Same as always. The physician thinks we should just keep trying the medicine you’re currently taking. Hopefully, with time, it will start to work the way we want it to.”

Crow eyed her warily. “I see,” he said, turning away again. “I hope it does.” [i]She’s testing me,[/i] he thought with a pang of annoyance. [i]She’s trying to see if I react to her withholding information from me.[/i] Well, he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of catching him in his own lie. He took a stabilizing breath as he forced himself to keep a neutral expression. “So, if I just keep taking this stuff, I’ll get better?” he asked, twirling the stalk of an herbal flower between his fingers.

Hazel wavered for a moment, pursing her lips together before giving a curt nod, “That is the hope, yes.”

“You keep saying that,” Crow set aside the herbs in his hand and turned to her with a frown. “Hope. Why do we need to ‘hope’ that I’ll get better? Isn’t this the cure we’ve been looking for?”

“In theory,” Hazel said slowly, avoiding his gaze as she inspected the leaves of a plant. “These are the herbs you need to heal. However, there [i]is[/i] a small chance that nothing will change.”

“What?” Crow stared at her in unbridled surprise. “You mean there’s a chance I won’t ever fully heal?”

“Technically, yes,” Hazel grimaced as she gave him the bad news. “From what I understand, if the herbs don’t thin your blood enough to remove the clots that formed in your lungs, you’ll have to live with them and keep taking this medicine to cope for the rest of your life.”

“Well, that’s just great,” the thief muttered, drawing his legs to his chest and folding his arms over his knees. “And here I thought we were finally on track to curing me of this wretched disease.”

“We still are,” Hazel narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t discount all of the work I’ve put into this medicine for you. Just because there’s a possibility that you won’t be cured doesn’t mean you should give up all hope.”

“I know,” he shook his head, keeping his green eyes fixed on the river rather than meeting her gaze. “I’m just getting tired of dealing with this illness. I want to feel like myself again.”

“I understand that,” Hazel’s voice softened slightly. “And with any luck, you will. Just be patient.” She reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. “By the way, my meeting with those nobles wasn’t all doom and gloom. I spoke with your knight. She’s going to meet with you in the clearing north of our camp two days from now at nightfall.” She offered him a comforting smile, seeming to have given up on baiting him into revealing that he had snuck out last night.

Crow nodded, forcing a slight upward curl of his lip. Normally, he would have tried harder to convince her that the news was unexpected and exciting, but after finding out he might be chronically sick, he didn’t feel like putting in the effort. “Thanks for letting me know,” he said mutedly. “It will be good to see her again.”

Hazel studied him for a moment and withdrew her hand from his shoulder. “Look at it this way,” she said, leaning forward to wash another handful of herbs. “Not even two weeks ago, you thought you were going to die. Now the worst thing that might happen is that you have to keep taking this medicine for the rest of your life. I’d say that’s a pretty damn good outcome of contracting a fatal disease.”

Crow just grunted in response, bringing a hand up to rest his head against as he continued to stare out at the water. He knew she had a point, but it didn’t change the fact that he was disappointed with this update. After the last remedies had brought improvement to his health, he had thought for sure that meant he was going to be cured. His expectations had inflated, and it was going to take some time for him to bring them back down.

Suddenly feeling restless, he stood up and brushed off his pants. “I’m going for a walk,” he said. “I’ll be back in time for lunch.”

“Okay,” Hazel nodded, casting him a quick glance before returning to her task. “Don’t go far.”

“I don’t plan to,” he said, nodding curtly in goodbye before turning to head into the forest north of the camp. After finding out he might never recover from his illness, he needed some time to clear his head.