Crow followed Penelope’s lead as they began to search the tavern for people to question about the group of thieves. In his inebriation, he had to focus hard to walk in a straight line, but he still managed to do so without leaning on the knight for support. He looked around at the different tables of peasant men and women that were around them. It seemed like most of the groups they passed were still far from drunk, since it was still early enough that the sun had yet to fully disappear over the horizon. He was glad about that, but unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Penelope spotted a small table of villagers who looked a bit more intoxicated than the rest.

Hiding his unease, he nodded when she murmured to him. “Okay,” he mumbled back to her, trailing close behind as she led the way over to the peasants. When they reached them, he chose a seat next to the knight and sat down less than gracefully, watching as she struck up a conversation with the men and women across from them. He held his breath when she asked what they knew about the group that had travelled through. He hoped the villagers would be cautious enough not to tell her too much, but after seeing how drunk some of them were, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Right away, he could tell the interrogation was going to be worse than he expected.

The peasants all hesitated quite obviously at Penelope’s question and exchanged nervous glances. One of the women leaned over to a man sitting next to her and whispered just loudly enough that Crow could hear her: “Wha’ were we suppose’ to say? I f’rgot…”

The man elbowed her in the side and shushed her just as audibly before turning to Penelope with a hostile glare, “We ain’t heard nothin’ about any trav’lers.”

Crow groaned inwardly and averted his gaze, so Penelope wouldn’t be able to see the worried expression that he was unable to hide in his intoxicated state. They were only one question in, and the villagers may have already given him away. [i]Not yet,[/i] he thought with forced resolve. [i]They only gave away the fact that someone told them what to say. No one said it was me. I can still work with this.[/i] Recovering from his initial reaction, he snuck a glance at Penelope to see what she would do with the new information.