Penelope gave a small wave goodbye to the two before heading out of the tent. She let out a small yawn almost as she soon as she stepped out, weary from both a long day and having barely slept the night before as well. The thought of finally laying down for a full night's rest sounded quiet heavenly and she quickly picked up her pace as she headed off to her tent. Once inside, she wasted no time in settling down for the night and found that sleep came easily to her. She was out cold almost as soon as she closed her eyes. 

---

The next morning came quick and the female knight slept in late, giving her just barely enough time to grab a fast breakfast before hurrying off to her meeting with the barons. As she headed into the tent, she hoped Crow was faring better than the previous day and that he'd be ok with his guards until her night shift rolled around. Gavin would take the morning shift as usual but after him was a different knight named Philip, who was a younger, less experienced knight with what Penelope nearly considered child-like innocence despite all the death and brutality he had seen in the war. She doubted the young knight would give Crow much trouble, even if the thief gave him some. 

As she settled down in her seat, she glanced around the tent to see that everyone had arrived. For a brief moment, her gaze locked with Layth's and the two siblings silently glared at each other before Penelope finally pulled away to look towards Mia as the baroness cleared her throat to get the attention of the others. 

"It's come to my attention that the thief is becoming quite the problem since some are unclear," she glanced at Layth. "what the rules are for interacting with him while he heals...However, I've been speaking with Edward on this matter and I believe the best solution is to figure out what we're going to do with him."

"Obviously we should kill him! No other punishment is fitting." Layth growled. 

Penelope shifted in her seat. The meeting had just barely begun but it was already seeming disastrous. This was the last topic she was hoping them to discuss. She just hoped that there would be enough controversy over what to do with Crow that it would carry over into another meeting. He still needed quite a bit more time to heal before they could work out a way for him to escape.

"There has to be a better option than killing." Penelope snorted. 

"I have to agree with that." Mia suddenly mused. "After speaking with him, I think it wouldn't be honorable to kill him. We no longer have to worry about our supplies being taken or being put at a disadvantage with Younis thanks to his interference... Plus my lieutenant is still alive." she glanced at Penelope before looking to Edward. "It'd be cruel of us to kill him after all of that."

"Don't tell me you're getting soft on a thief!" Edward growled. "Are you trying to say he shouldn't even be punished?"

"Don't forget that he's stolen from us before." Bennett added with a narrowed gaze. "Just because he gave your lieutenant some information doesn't mean he's working for us."

"Gentlemen, please." Mia sighed. "I merely meant that he shouldn't be killed. I never said he shouldn't be punished for his other crimes."

"Well, what kind of other punishment is there?" Edward grumbled. 

There was a moment of paused before Tomas shifted in his seat and suddenly spoke up a bit hesitantly. "Well, there's plenty but for someone as infamous as the thief we're dealing with... I think it's important that we make sure he isn't a threat to us after this." the older lieutenant gave a small frown as if not particularly pleased with his own idea. "I've heard of thieves having their hands cut off or otherwise mutilated before.. We could do that."

Penelope blinked in surprise at the rather cruel suggestion and only felt more horrified as she noticed the lack of immediate arguments against it. As her gaze swept over the others, she noticed that a moment of silence had fallen over as they contemplated his words. Even Layth, who had been so set on killing Crow, seemed to be considering this new option that Tomas had presented them. Feeling her heart race with fear for Crow, she shifted a bit nervously. 

"Is that a bit... brutal?" she mumbled, unsure what else to say. She couldn't argue too much without drawing further suspicion and distrust. 

"That's what makes it so fitting." Layth smirked coldly. "A handless thief is practically a dead one anyways."

"And it'll assure that he won't be taking our supplies again." Bennett mused in agreement. 

"Have we reached a decision then? I quite like this idea myself." Edward added in with a nod. 

"Possibly." Mia said with a small nod. Edward and Bennett looked over at her with questioning gazes, clearly a bit upset that she hadn't agreed to it quickly. The baroness simply shrugged her shoulders. "I wish to think it over. Let us sleep on it until tomorrow. We'll have another meeting in the early morning to make our decision. If it is unanimous, then the thief will lose his hands. Agreed?"

Penelope eyed Mia, guessing that the baroness would use that time to go visit Crow again like she had mentioned. Still, things were looking rather bleak for the thief and she had no clue how she was going to help him. Lost in her thoughts as she tried to piece together a way out of the mess Crow was going to be in, she barely paid attention as the meeting rolled on after Edward and Bennett agreed to Mia's terms. She was just vaguely aware that they had moved on to talking about the supplies that would be coming in any day now.