As they stepped inside the small home, Crow felt Penelope pull away from his side. Guessing she had sobered up enough on the walk to handle herself, he let go of her so that she could move freely. Without having to worry about looking after her as much, he took some time to look around. The house was just as humble as he remembered. The bare walls and ceiling were patched from repairs due to weather damage, and there was hardly any furniture on the inside. The people of Aramoor were especially poor, so for any of them to have real beds or anything more than a few wooden chairs and a table was rare. Instead, they used blankets and mats filled with hay for sitting and sleeping.

He glanced back over his shoulder as the other knights followed him inside. He could tell that Gavin was still just as tense as before, but he didn’t expect anything less. It was unlikely that the knights would have ever stayed in the home of a peasant before, since, from what he understood, they only ever stayed at inns or in group campsites. Since Aramoor couldn’t afford public lodging, and they couldn’t drag a drunken Penelope all the way back out to the woods, this had been their only real choice. Gavin was just going to have to learn to set his ego aside and accept the fact that he was going to need to take help from criminals and peasants on this mission.

“Well, this is a nice surprise,” a feminine voice chuckled. Crow turned back around to see a dark-skinned woman walking towards him from the parlor. Her thick hair was tied back, keeping it from falling into her pretty, heart-shaped face. “What brings you back to our humble village, Crow?” Silas’s wife, Zenith, asked with a bemused smile.

“I like this place too much to stay away for long,” Crow answered her with a grin. When she reached him, he greeted her with a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek. However, when he did, he felt something he wasn’t expecting. He pulled back from her and glancing down at her stomach. “You’re pregnant,” he said with unbridled surprise as he looked up again to meet her gaze.

Zenith laughed, seeming to find his reaction entertaining. “Yes,” she nodded, resting a hand on her swollen belly. She leaned a little closer to him and lowered her voice. “And I have a feeling it’s a boy this time.”

“Gods willing,” Silas, who had stepped over to join them, chuckled. “I love my girls, but it would be nice to have a son around here too.”

“Either way, congratulations to you both,” Crow clapped him on the back. His eyes wandered back to Zenith as another thought crossed his mind. Even though he was genuinely happy for his friends, there was a part of him that was worried for them as well. The ongoing war was hard enough on everyone without throwing a newborn in the mix. He couldn’t imagine the lengths Silas would have to go to protect his wife when she was further along in her pregnancy too. The image made him shudder, and he quickly looked away from her again, not wanting to let the depressing thought ruin the joy of the moment.

Almost as if on cue, a distraction was provided.

“Thief’s back!” a shrill voice cried out followed by the thunder of small footsteps as Silas and Zenith’s two daughters raced across the room from where they had been sitting in the parlor.

“Oh gods,” Crow’s eyes widened as they raced towards him and wrapped their arms around his waist. He had to take a step backwards to keep from losing his balance when they charged into him. No matter how many times he visited the family, their energy always caught him off guard. “Hey there,” he laughed, resting his hands on their heads. “Long time, no see.”

“Did you bring us anything?” the younger girl asked, looking up at him expectantly.

“Letha, manners,” Zenith chided the girl and shot the thief an apologetic look.

“It’s fine,” Crow shrugged. He took a step back to pull away from the two girls and then knelt down, retrieving his coin purse from his pocket. “Here,” he drew four gold coins and held them out in his open palm. “Two for each of you. Just make sure you give them to your parents when you’re done playing with them.”

“No, we couldn’t ask you for that,” Zenith’s eyes widened slightly at the amount of money he was giving to her daughters. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

“You didn’t ask, I’m offering,” Crow glanced up at her with a grin. “This is the least I can do for the help you’re giving us tonight. Besides, I’d be honored to help you cover the expenses of that third mouth you’re going to have to feed soon.”

“Thanks!” the oldest girl said as the two eagerly took the coins from his hand and ran off to play with them.

“Too late now,” Crow winked at Zenith, rising to his feet again.

“You’re too kind,” she shook her head, biting her lip as she seemed to fight back tears. After a moment, she cleared her throat and went on in a soft voice, “I-I’m going to help Silas arrange a place for you all to sleep tonight. Please, make yourselves at home.” With that, she turned and headed into an adjoining room.

Crow watched her go until she disappeared from sight before turning back to Penelope. He sighed and slipped his arm around her waist, pressing an absent kiss to her head as he watched Silas and Zenith’s daughters run around the parlor with the coins he had given them. He’d dipped into quite a bit of the money he’d made in Whitebridge to give them that much, but to him, it was worth it. He couldn’t stay in Aramoor to help the family directly during the war, but he could make sure they were able to get by financially. That was the next best thing.

After a moment, he let out a tired yawn and let his arm fall from around the knight’s middle, reaching instead to take her hand. With nothing left to distract him, he was starting to feel the full weight of his exhaustion from the busy day. “Come with me over here,” he said tiredly, giving Penelope’s hand a tug. “There’s some blankets laid out that we can rest on while Gavin works on our dinner.”