It wasn’t long before the knights came into view below the tree. Crow tensed to begin his decent down, but before he had a chance to move, Gavin spoke up from the ground in a furious voice. He narrowed his eyes. The knight’s hand was resting threateningly against the hilt of his sword. He held out one arm, signaling to Alistair and Rikki to stay put. Gavin didn’t strike him as the type to impulsively attack, but if he felt threatened by Crow’s companions, that patient demeanor of his might not be enough to stay his hand. The thief didn’t want his friends to get injured in an unnecessary fight.

“Ooh,” Rikki casted a smirk at Alistair. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a big man.” She turned towards Gavin, swinging her legs carelessly from the bough she was seated on. “What are you gonna do with that sword, huh? Throw it at us?”

Crow’s eyes flicked concernedly between them and he groaned inwardly. He should have known it would be too much to expect the other thieves to work peacefully alongside the knights. “That’s enough,” he said sternly, shooting her a warning look. “I told you both earlier that you’re going to have to be civil, or I’m not going to let you be part of this.”

Rikki clicked her tongue disappointedly, “That’s no fun.” She shrugged. “But you’re the boss, I suppose.”

It wasn’t the answer Crow had been hoping to hear, but he supposed it was the best he would get out of the knight-hating thief. He lowered his gaze to look at Gavin. “These are my companions,” he explained, hoping to ease the knight’s concerns. “They’re going to be helping us look for the thieves who raided your camp.”

“I only agreed to work with one criminal,” Gavin said irritably.

“That’s just too bad,” Rikki curled her lip. “Because we’ve got a vendetta against the man you’re trying to find, so we’re coming with you whether you like it or not.”

“Easy,” Crow hissed at her, worried that her temper would only cause more trouble for them all. Turning back to Gavin once more, he went on, “Take your hand off your weapon so we can come down.”

“How do I know this isn’t an ambush?” Gavin growled.

“Oh, just do it, you paranoid fool,” Olivia spoke up suddenly with a roll of her eyes. Her dark eyes flickered up to the tree—Crow noticed her gaze rest on Alistair for a moment—before she went on, “They’re not going to attack anyone, so you’d better not attack them either.”

Gavin stared at her in surprise before he reluctantly removed his hand from his sword hilt with an annoyed, “Fine.”

“Thank you,” Crow nodded and then gestured for Alistair and Rikki to climb down from the tree with him. He was glad that the meeting had started off without any bloodshed. So far, so good.

Once they were all on the ground, he made his way over to Penelope and greeted her with a friendly smile. He wanted to close the distance between them completely with a kiss, but he felt slightly uncomfortable with the other thieves’ eyes on him. Rikki was still sore about their relationship, and Alistair had only just learned about it a few days ago. So, instead, he restrained himself and stopped walking while there was still a small amount of distance between them. “I see you managed to convince your barons to let you come with me again,” he said with a grin. “You’re getting good at this.”