“I’m sure they were,” Crow nudged Penelope teasingly when she said the drinks had been strong. In reality, he knew the ale this tavern served was quite potent, especially since he had ordered a strong drink too, but he was still surprised it only took two of them to have her stumbling like this. He glanced down at her as they stepped out of the tavern. On second thought, it wasn’t that shocking. She wasn’t as big as him, so even though one drink had only made him a little fuzzy, it probably would have affected her a lot more.

As they walked to the main road, he could tell that she was trying not to lean the fullness of her weight on him. Even though he was more than willing to carry her to wherever they were going to spend the night, he appreciated the thought behind her gesture. He was even a bit impressed that she had remembered his soreness while she was so intoxicated. He smiled to himself, feeling his heart swell with affection for the knight. Her compassion for others never ceased to amaze him.

It wasn’t long before Gavin tried confronting Olivia about what had happened back in the tavern again. Crow glanced back at the knights as they bickered. He found it a bit petty that Gavin would bring the subject up again just to pin blame on someone. It didn’t matter who had started it, in his opinion. What had happened, happened. They just needed to move on from it and find a place to rest, so Penelope could get some food in her stomach and sleep off the alcohol in her system. Knowing that they were probably going to have another long day tomorrow, all he cared about was making sure she didn’t wake up in the morning too hungover to leave her bed.

His eyes flicked towards Penelope as she joined into the conversation as well, quirking a brow in amusement when she compared Gavin to her brother. Knowing the kind of man Layth was, it was quite a brutal comment to throw at the knight. Gavin took obvious offense to it as well, looking away from the others and abruptly changing the subject.

“I know a place we can stay,” Crow offered. “There’s a family just west of here that’s taken me and my thieves in before. I’m sure they’d be willing to accommodate us tonight if we ask.”

Gavin pursed his lips, seeming reluctant to take his suggestion. However, after a moment, he nodded resignedly. “Fine,” he sighed. “Show us where they are.” Even though he still didn’t trust the thief, he seemed to realize that he didn’t have any other options unless they wanted to head all the way back to the woods outside of Aramoor.

Crow nodded, relieved that the knight had chosen to be rational instead of fight with him for once. “This way,” he tipped his head towards a street in front of them that branched off of the main road and then took the lead to guide them to the villagers’ home. Gavin and Olivia followed. The male knight walked a bit stiffly, watching the surrounding alleyways as if he expected the thief to be leading them into an ambush. Of course, there was none, and they made it without any trouble.

Shifting his hold on Penelope a bit, Crow stepped up to the front door of the run-down old house and knocked thrice. He waited for a moment, listening to the sound of muffled shuffling inside, before the door opened.

“Crow?” a deep voice said. On the other side of the door, a lean, ebony-skinned man stared at him in surprise. His eyes wandered to the drunken Penelope hanging off the thief’s shoulder before flicking back up to his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Silas,” Crow grinned at him in greeting. “My companions and I are traveling through Aramoor, and we need a place to sleep tonight. Would you and Zenith be willing to let us stay here with you until the morning?”

Silas glanced over the thief’s shoulder at Gavin and Olivia for a moment before he nodded. “Of course. You’ll just need to give us some time to make room for all of you.” He paused, his confused gaze falling on Penelope one more time. “Just to be clear, you didn’t steal this woman… Did you?”

Crow laughed and shook his head, “No, she just had a little too much to drink at the tavern.”

“That’s a relief,” Silas finally broke into a smile as well. “I can never be too careful with you thieves.” He stepped aside to let them enter. “Come inside. Zenith is in the parlor with the girls. We just finished our supper, but you’re welcome to use our kitchen if you brought anything to cook for yourselves.”

“Thanks,” Crow dipped his head in curt gesture of gratitude and turned back to the other knights. “You heard the man. Come on in.”