Penelope sleep in longer than usual the next day, finding it difficult to wake up early like she usually did. Eventually the knight managed to force herself up from her peaceful slumber and headed out to begin her day. Glancing at the sky, she silently noted that she had slept in much too late to accompany her brother on one of his usual patrols. [i]Probably for the best anyways.[/i] The knight thought with a careless shrug.

Now that Crow was feeling better and her brother's intent of tracking down the thieves was wavering, she was much less concerned about him somehow discovering their camp again, which likely meant she could stop going on patrols with him as frequently. At least, she hoped so. Her brother wasn't too pleasant to be around and she'd prefer to use the time for something more productive. The patrols were practically just long walks at this point since Layth was failing to find any trace of the thieves. 

"Hey Penelope!" 

A familiar voice broke her thoughts as she walked and she looked over her shoulder to see Gavin jogging over to catch up with her. Upon seeing his face she was immediately reminded of the promise she had given Crow the night before. The female knight shifted uneasily as she thought about how she had to keep her guard up around Gavin now. Even though she still doubted Crow's words, she intended to keep her word to him, especially after seeing how the situation seemed to bother him quite a bit. 

"Hey." She greeted the male knight as he walked up besides her. 

"Did you just get up? I was trying to find you earlier but couldn't."

Penelope nodded her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah.. Late night so I guess I sleep a little later than normal."

"Oh, right." Gavin mumbled a bit awkwardly as he seemed to recall her telling him about. She expected him not to question anymore about it and go on to why he was looking for her in the first place, however the male knight surprised her as he looked over at her questioningly and asked, "That was your first time meeting him in a while wasn't it?"

She blinked and then quickly shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so..." she admitted reluctantly and shifted her gaze ahead. "He was injured after the last battle so we couldn't see each other for a while." It wasn't a complete lie since Crow had hurt his leg and she didn't want Gavin thinking that they had stopped their meetings temporarily for any reason. She paused before adding, "He's better now though.. Anyways, why were you looking for me?"

"I have some extra time today so I was hoping we could spar a bit." Gavin told her with a hopeful look. "More specifically spar on horseback.. I'm not sure if Bran's going to be taking over in time for the next battle and I want to be prepared if I have to be the captain still."

"On horseback?" Penelope crossed her arms and let out a long sigh. "It's been a while since I've done that.. But alright.. And you know you probably won't have much to worry about even if he isn't ready by the next battle. The barons will handle most of the commanding for the cavalry anyways."

"You're probably right but still, best to be safe rather than sorry." Gavin shrugged. 

"Fair enough." Penelope nodded her head. "Let's go train then." Gavin nodded and took the lead to head over to where the horses were kept. She followed a few steps behind him, still thinking about what Crow had told her. [i]He was probably just paranoid after what happened with Rikki..[/i] she thought with a small frown. As far as she could tell, Gavin seemed to accept that she was with Crow and he had yet to make any advancement towards her. It would be easy to keep her guard up around him if things continued like they were. Her promise would be easy to keep, she just hoped Crow would find his promise just as easy. A small feeling of unease bubbled in the knight as she thought of the female thief, who likely had yet to give up on getting between them. Eager to get her mind off of her, Penelope suddenly found herself anxious to begin sparring with Gavin and picked up her pace slightly.