Hazel listened from a short distance away as Penelope recounted everything that had happened after Hartley had left the battle. She could already see the thieves’ features flooding with relief upon hearing that Crow really was alive and recovering, albeit slowly. Rikki’s eyes watered with tears of relief, and she murmured words of thanks to the gods under her breath; Alistair visibly relaxed now that he knew the reason why their leader hadn’t returned to them; and Hartley was grinning from ear to ear.

“I should’ve known he wouldn’t go down that easily,” the boy laughed. “If Crow can steal from Aeklora without getting smote, there’s no way someone like Jaxon could kill him, right?” He shook his head and beamed at Penelope. “Man, every time I run into you two it’s an adventure.”

Hazel casted him a sideways glance, unsure who or what the foreign thief was talking about, before she turned back to the knight with a thoughtful expression. “Yes, that is a problem,” she mused, folding her arms loosely over her chest. If Crow was healing from an injury that had almost taken his life, he couldn’t afford to be dealing with a chronic cough on top of it. If he continued to strain his stitching, he would either take much longer to recover or make his wound worse and be unable to get better at all. She pursed her lips into a thin line. The medicine she had been giving him, while helpful, had proven that it wasn’t enough on its own to cure him of his illness completely. However, it did seem to slow the rate of his coughing, and at this point, it sounded like anything was better than nothing.

“Since we all believed Crow was dead, I haven’t been making any of his medicine, of course,” she said slowly, looking up to meet Penelope’s gaze again. “I’m also running low of a few of my ingredients, but I think I’ve got just enough left to prepare about a week’s worth of doses.” She paused for a moment as another thought came to her before going on. “It will be difficult for me or anyone else here to get it to him while he’s in your camp, so if you’re willing to wait here for a little while, I can prepare it all tonight for you to bring back to him.”

It was strange, but she couldn’t really bring herself to view Penelope as an enemy or even an obstacle anymore. This woman had not only saved Crow from death but had also killed Simon’s murderer. She had seen to the vengeance that the herbalist had been craving for so long, and that was something worthy to be praised. [i]I guess Crow was right,[/i] she thought with a subtle upward twitch of her lip. [i]Penelope isn’t like other nobles after all. She’s something special.[/i]

“If I get help from these three, I should be able to finish the whole supply well before the sun comes up,” Hazel said. “So, what do you say?”