The meeting wasn't off to a great start. Almost as soon as Mia opened her mouth she was met with strong opposition from Edward and Layth, who both thought the idea was madness. Bennet was a little on the fence but seemed to still be siding with Edward. Penelope jumped to support her baroness' suggestion and so did Tomas, who was quick to turn on his own idea. With the sides nearly evenly split, the discussion didn't go anywhere very fast. 

Penelope was beginning to worry that Mia would eventually begin to back down seeing as Edward was unrelenting and Bennet didn't seem particularly swayed yet. However, the meeting was unable to reach its end as the flap of the tent suddenly shifted and Nina stepped inside, dipping her head respectfully to the barons and lieutenants. Before anyone had a chance to address her, the flap shifted again and in stepped a shockingly familiar figure. Penelope froze as her gaze fell on her father, who seemed to nearly appear out of thin air. What was he doing here? When had he even arrived? Had she missed word of him coming to join them at the front? A million questions buzzed in her mind but the knight could only bring herself to stare at him in shock. 

"Sorry to intrude. The new supplies had arrived and John wished to speak with you." Nina explained. 

"Thank you, Nina." Mia smiled at her sister. 

John shifted his gaze to look over at his family giving them a small nod. "Penelope, Layth, brother." he greeted with his usual monotone voice. 

"W-What are you doing here?" Penelope finally asked, recovering from her initial shock. 

"I'd like to know that as well.. I didn't hear anything about you joining us at the front yet, brother." Edward mused as he raised an eyebrow. 

"That's because I'm not." John informed him. "I'm here on a mission for the king. I believe your battalion might be able to help me accomplish it." 

"For the king?" Mia questioned curiously. 

"Of course we'd be able to help." Layth boasted, sitting up a bit straighter in the presence of his father. "What is the mission?"

John eyed him for a moment before shifting his gaze to rest on the barons in front of him. "I'm looking for a certain thief. Crow Lockton. Rumor had it he's been spotted near here. Is that true?"

Curiosity fell from the faces of both barons and lieutenants as they all exchanged dumbfounded looks. Penelope looked up at her father, feeling her heart beat a little faster as she took in the situation in front of her. More questions came to mind at the new information that John was looking for none other than Crow. The most worrying one was what Crow's father, the king of Brerra, wanted with the thief and what her father was planning to do once he found him. The silence was broken by Mia erupting into a short laugh which confused John. 

"What?" John questioned narrowing his eyes. "Is my information wrong?"

"Far from it." Mia smirked as she looked over at him. "The thief you're looking for is in this very camp... We were actually discussing what we should do with him until you showed up."

"It appears I've arrived at a perfect time then." John mused with a small nod. "Well then, I'll take over all dealings with this thief for the time being. You are all relieved from making a decision on his fate."

"Hold on," Edward grumbled. "That thief is in our camp. He's still our prisoner. We should have some say in this. Or at least get credit for his capture."

"What capture?" Mia snorted. "He was stabbed by another thief and the only reason he's here now is because Penelope wanted to repay him for saving her life." 

Penelope shifted nervously as she felt John's gaze shift onto her questioningly at the mention of being saved by a thief. While she agreed that Crow had been far from being 'captured', for once she wished that the baroness would have just let Edward try to take credit for Crow being trapped in their camp. Fortunately, John didn't bother questioning her about it at the moment and instead focused his gaze back on his brother. 

"Any grievances you have, you may take up with the king himself." John replied a bit curtly. "If you desire the credit of having this man in your camp, I will be sure to mention it in my report. Other then that, I stand by what I said. The thief's now under my care... Now then, can someone please escort me to where you are keeping him?"

"I-I can." Penelope volunteered a bit quickly. She was hoping it was an opportunity to try and find out more information about why the king had sent John after Crow. Her father merely gave a small nod and she rose to her feet to lead the way to Crow as there was no resistance to her offer to be the one to take him. As they walked, a tense silence fell over them. They hadn't been on the best of terms when they had parted and now his sudden appearance was finally sinking in, Penelope found it hard to speak.

"Would you like to explain what Mia meant about you wanting to repay this thief?" John asked a bit gruffly as he broke the silence. 

Penelope flinched at the question and lowered her gaze.  "There was a band of thieves that took nearly half of our supplies... We thought it was this one but I found out it wasn't so I convinced him to work with me to catch them... We found them and launched an attack. The leader of the thieves was about to strike me from behind but this one got in the way before he could.. he saved me so I figured it was only right for me to save him in return."

John shook his head. "It sounds like you're getting careless again... I knew I shouldn't have let you pick up a sword again.." He muttered. 

The female knight felt a flash of annoyance at his words. She wanted to argue with him and point out that being a knight was never a safe job. However, she couldn't. John had just popped up and she didn't want to start arguing with him when this was the first time they had seen each other in months. So instead, she swallowed it down and focused on the more pressing matter. "What does the king want with this thief anyways?" she asked glancing over at him. 

John hesitated before shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know." he muttered. His gaze focused in on the tent they were approaching. "Is this the tent?"

"Yeah." Penelope nodded. 

"Stay outside then.. I'd like to speak with this thief alone first." He ordered before picking up his pace to head into the tent. Penelope blinked and opened her mouth to argue but before she could, he disappeared inside. The female knight let out a nervous sigh and slowed to a stop outside of the tent. There was no point in arguing. Her father was clearly intent on speaking to Crow alone. She supposed she'd just have to wait to learn from Crow what John was planning to do with him. The thought made her anxious and she struggled to keep herself from pacing as she waited for her father to finish speaking with the thief.