Penelope let out a small yawn as she surveyed the treeline. She had taken over an extra guard shift since it was the least she could do after missing a battle. Her return back to camp had been messy to say the least. Luckily her brother and friends had made it out of the battle alive—though Layth had received a rather nasty wound on his left side that would likely leave him off duty for a while—and now it was just a matter of repairing all of what had been damaged. Mia seemed relieved that Penelope was back. It was clear to her that the baroness was now stressing a bit as their battalion was at a rather severe disadvantage until they received more supplies. 

The female knight let out a long sigh and ran a hand through her hair, feeling worry grip at her. They needed to locate Jaxon before anymore damage could be dealt. If the murderous thief chose to keep attacking the battalion like they had, it wouldn't take long for Younis to over power them. The thought made her shfit uneasily. She couldn't let that happen. 

Before her worries could spiral, some rustling caught her attention. The female knight blinked and moved to rest a hand on her sword warily eying the treeline. It wasn't long before she caught sign of moment and Gavin stepped into view. The male knight was walking at a brisk pace with a determined expression on his face. His dark gaze finally landed on Penelope and he visibly relaxed as relief flooded his features. Penelope blinked as she watched him hurry over to her. She hadn't seen him since they had first arrived at camp, which made her wonder where he had been all this time and what had caused for him to look so tense. 

"Thank gods you're on guard duty tonight." he sighed as he reached her. 

"Why? Gavin, where have you been? I haven't seen you since we first got back to camp." she gave him a confused look. "Did something happen?"

"You could say that." Gavin clenched his jaw and looked down at Penelope. He hesitated for a moment and then met her gaze. "After we got back to camp... I was angry. I mean, our camp is devastated after this last battle and we weren't even here for it." he shook his head. "I..I went after Crow."

Penelope's eyes widened at his words and she felt her heart beat anxiously. Had he done something to Crow in his state of anger? 
She wasn't sure but the mere thought that he might have made her fearful. "You what?" she question with a twinge of both nervousness and frustration. "Gavin, what did you do?"

"Penelope, I didn't hurt him." he said, catching the hint of accusation in her voice. "I managed to track him down and I started following him.. I was just going to confront him about my suspicions again but it turns out I didn't even have to." He crossed his arms with a hint of confidence in his voice. "I caught him meeting up with whom I'm assuming is Jaxon."

The female knight stared at him for a moment, caught off guard by his words. It was a big leap to go from crafting together theories to outright claiming he had seen Crow speaking with the very criminal they were looking for. Either way, she didn't buy it. "Gavin," she sighed tiredly. "how do you even know it was Jaxon?"

"They talked about some sort of alliance and that he was apart of his group. I wasn't close enough to hear all of it but I'm certain the man he met with has to be linked to the raid and Crow is working with him. I'm telling you Penelope, he's a lying criminal who's responsible for the deaths of our comrades." Gavin insisted fiercely. 

Penelope frowned a little. "Maybe you just misunderstood the meeting? We've never seen Jaxon before... Crow wouldn't turn traitor like that.. He hates Jaxon and he wouldn't betray me like that." Not to mention Jaxon had killed one of Crow's companions. The idea of the thief working alongside the very man that killed Simon seemed rather unlikely to her. 

"I'm certain I didn't. I confronted him about it right after and he threatened me." Gavin growled. "He wouldn't tell me a thing about what they had talked about in further detail. He's guilty Penelope."

"Look.. I'll speak with him about it when we met into two days." Penelope sighed. 

"He's just going to lie to you." Gavin shook his head vigorously. "He said he'd deny it tooth and nail. That you wouldn't believe me. Penelope, please, think about it. When have I ever lied to you?"

Gavin's tone turned a bit pleading as he looked at her hopefully. It caused the female knight to shift uneasily again, wishing there was a clear answer to all of this. She didn't think Gavin was lying—she had never known him to be a liar after all—but she couldn't bring herself to believe he was right about Crow. Surely there had to be another explanation. "I'll keep that in mind when I talk to him. I still think there's just a misunderstanding going on here though." she said and reached out to rest a hand on Gavin's shoulder. "You should go get some sleep now. You've had a long day and there's plenty of work to be done around camp tomorrow." 

Gavin hesitated, opening his mouth slightly as he wanted to continue to insist his story but seemed to decide against it for now and merely nodded his head. "Fine.. Good night Penelope." he took a step closer to her and sighed. "Just please consider my words." With that he turned and headed off towards his tent, leaving Penelope alone with the rest of her guard shift.