The next morning, Penelope woke up early as usual. After learning that the healers had gotten close enough to curing the illness and seeing Crow, the knight felt more energetic and relaxed than she had been in a while. There was still plenty to worry about, they were in the middle of a war after all and Crow could end up being sickly for the rest of his life, but at the very least, she was going to enjoy it the small victory while she could. 

"Are you coming or what?" growled Layth.

Apparently, she wouldn't be able to enjoy it for too long. She had nearly forgotten that she had told her brother she'd go on patrol with him the day before. The male knight stood with his arms crossed over his chest with an impatient look in his gaze as he waited for a reply. Penelope let out a small sigh and nodded her head. It wouldn't be too bad, as she had gotten a bit used to patrolling with him over the recent days, but her brother had never been pleasant company, even if she did care for him. 

"Let's go then." he grumbled before turning and beginning to lead the way out of camp. Today they were headed north near Whitebridge and the border, which was luckily far from where the thieves were actually located. It also meant that Penelope would likely have a rather laid back day. The two traveled in silence for a while, something that was rather common as neither seemed too willing to discuss much with each other. Surprisingly though, the silence didn't last as long as usual and Layth was the one that broke it. 

"I heard you and that physician ran into a bandit last night." Layth glanced over his shoulder at Penelope. "Do you think he was one of those thieves?"

Penelope quickly shook her head. "I doubt it. Those thieves usually don't directly attack attack like that unless they get caught by us.. Plus he wasn't organized. The thieves are more skilled in choosing when to target us, even you have to admit that after they've had quite a bit of success."

"I guess." Layth said with his lip curling up slightly in annoyance. She was glad that her brother seemed to buy her words, afraid that he would be all too quick to turn the patrol around to search for the thieves down near Myrefall if he thought she had encountered one the night before. 

"At this rate, I doubt we'll have to deal with them again before the next battle." she shrugged and focused her gaze ahead. "Speaking of which, have you heard any talk of it yet from our uncle? Mia hasn't mentioned it yet but I think she's still working on plans."

"Only a little. Edward's been trying to figure out where to attack next. I think he has his eyes set on striking a little further south this time since we've managed to secure two victories in the north." Layth responded as he glanced over at her. "We have the meeting in a day don't we? They'll probably speak more about it then."

"Probably." Penelope agreed quietly. Her thoughts wandered to previous battles and what future battles might look like. A moment of silence fell over the two until she looked over at Layth with a curious gaze. "Layth.. I know you don't agree with me but I'm curious, why are you so against being mindful of the villagers in battle?"

Her brother stiffened slightly and shot a glare at her. "Because we're the ones fighting a war. They should be mindful of us and not get in our way in the first place."

"They're just trying to protect their homes." Penelope argued. "We might be fighting but our homes are far from here and safe from the damage of the war. Surely you can understand some kind of desire to protect your home."

"I can which is why I'm out here fighting in the first place. Difference is, I'm trained to fight." Layth snorted. "They just have to understand that they're in an unlucky situation and stay out of our way. It's not like we want the battles to end up in the villages anyways."

"Of course not but clearly it's not something we can completely avoid either." Penelope frowned. "They don't have to be so unlucky, you know. We are trained to fight, so shouldn't that be why we're able to both protect the villagers while also handling the battle? Besides, is it really right to just force them to accept the damage of the war? It'll leave the outer villages in an even worse state than before."

Her brother paused for a moment before shaking his head. "Our job is to win battles, not to needlessly fret about the villages around us." Layth grumbled. 

"Perhaps you need to look past your job title then." Penelope snapped back, feeling a bit of anger rise in her at her brother's lack of care for those affected by the war. "Our father taught us that being a knight means to enforce the law as well as protect those in it, did he not?"

"We're protecting them enough by fighting this war." Layth growled. 

"We're hurting them more by fighting this war. This war was only a decision made by the king not by the people." Her gaze narrowed challengingly at her brother. "Is it really that difficult for you to sympathize with these people? Everytime a battle strays into their village, their home, they do everything in their power to protect it and themselves. Instead looking at them like obstacles, you should, at the very least, start looking at them like allies. They're defending their homes from the Younisian forces just like we are.. Unfortunately they're also having to defend it from us as well, but I'm trying to change that." She let out a sigh and gave him a hopeful look. "You could try to change that too." 

Layth glared at her but remained silent. There might not have been any point in arguing with her brother, as he had never been the most sympathetic person, but she remained hopeful that her words had gotten through to him. The silence dragged on for a moment longer before Layth snorted and shook his head before abruptly turning his back to her. 

"Enough of this nonsense.. Focus on the patrol." He ordered harshly as he began to storm on ahead. Penelope sighed and followed behind him. It seemed that he still refused to listen to her so there was no sense in arguing any further with him for now. Instead, she let a heavy silence fall over them again, this one more tense than peaceful like before, as they carried out the rest of their uneventful patrol.