Out of his eagerness to see Penelope, Crow made good time to their meeting point. As such, he was the first to arrive by a long shot. As time dragged on and the knight didn’t show up, he began to pace the clearing with nervous energy. Part of him was worried that something else had happened to her or her camp while he had been in Black Hollow, but he knew he was just getting worked up over nothing. The sky wasn’t even fully black yet. They normally met much later than this.

Of course, with so much time alone, his mind naturally tried to wander back to the question that had been pressing in on him with increasing urgency: Would he take the Younisian baron’s offer or not? As hard as he tried to think about other things, it was difficult to keep the thought completely out of his head, and he wound up dwelling on it more than he would have liked. It dragged his mood down slightly as he began to worry again about what the knight would think when she learned he was considering joining the enemy kingdom.

So, when Penelope finally arrived in the meeting spot, the thief was overcome with relief. He hurried to meet her halfway, smiling fondly at her playful greeting. When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her and wasted no time in pressing a deep kiss to her lips, letting his stress melt away at her touch. After a moment, he pulled back and grinned at her breathlessly, “Hey, beautiful.” He ran a hand gently through her long hair, holding her gaze as he took her in. While four days hadn’t really been that long to part, he had been spoiled after traveling with her daily, so the distance had been quite tangible this time. He was glad to have her in his arms again.

“Gods, it’s good to see you again,” Crow sighed, pulling her in as close as he could and leaning in to kiss her once more.