Crow smiled when Penelope kissed him on the cheek, glad that she seemed just as excited by the news as he was. “Gods, traveling alone is going to be [i]so[/i] much nicer than that,” he sighed in agreement. After being stuck with other knights every time they had to go anywhere together, it was going to be a great change to be able to go to the outer villages alone. On top of that, his father was giving them money to stay at the inns along the way, which meant they wouldn’t have to sleep in the woods at night like they normally did. Aside from the less than thrilling reason for their departure, he couldn’t wait to go on the short journey with her.

When Penelope said she would be ready to leave whenever he was, Crow nodded. “Hopefully my father will have preparations made for us quickly then,” he smiled at her fondly, already eager to get going. However, at her following words, his smiled faded a bit. He shifted uneasily at the thought of John finding out about the trip after the older knight had caught them in the middle of a less than decent moment the night before. Penelope was probably right that her father wasn’t going to be happy to find out that they would be alone for a whole week. In fact, he wouldn’t have been surprised if John tried to force his way into the group. He just hoped his father would see no reason to let him go with them.

“Yeah,” he murmured thoughtfully, pausing for a moment before standing up from the bench. “My father will probably have the supplies sent to my room, so I should go back to wait for them there.” He waited for her to stand up and then turned to head to the door. However, before he even made it halfway, the door opened on its own to let someone else into the room. Crow raised a brow in surprise when he recognized her.

“Naida?” he said bemusedly.

“Hey, Crow,” his sister grinned at him, her voice straining slightly with excitement. “Father just told us the news—well, more like Braden and I pestered him until he admitted it.” She snickered proudly and then hurried across the room to stand in front of the thief. “I knew you’d take the job! You tried to pretend like you wouldn’t, but I didn’t buy it for a second!”

Crow rolled his eyes amusedly, “Alright, fine. You win, but I really did take the time to consider both options.”

“Yeah, but you still took it,” Naida smirked victoriously. She reached out to clasp his hand in both of hers. “Oh, this is so exciting! I’ve got [i]two[/i] bothers now. I can’t wait to show you around. We’re going to have so much fun!”

Crow blinked as he realized his sister didn’t seem to know that he was leaving. “Father told you I accepted the job, but did he tell you anything else?” he asked.

“Well…” Naida blushed embarrassedly. “He might have, but I got so excited that I sort of… left before he finished talking.” She shuffled her feet before going on in a hurried voice. “But what do you expect? He can be so long-winded sometimes. I didn’t want to stick around and listen to him keep jabbering on about formal stuff. I wanted to come and find you.”

Crow laughed at that. Naida reminded him quite a bit of himself before he’d gone to prison three years ago. It was interesting to see how similar they were despite their vastly different upbringings. “Of course,” he smirked at her. “But if you’d stuck around a little longer, you would have heard him tell you that I’m going back to the outer villages for a week before I formally take the title.”

“What?” Naida frowned. “Why would you do that?”

Crow glanced at Penelope before giving a shrug. “I’ve got my reasons,” he answered vaguely. “But right now, I need to go back to my room to wait for the supplies that Father is having prepared for us.” He gestured at Penelope. “She’s coming too, because he wanted me to have a guard while I’m near the battlefront.”

“Oh,” Naida seemed to deflate a little at the knowledge that both her new brother and close friend would be leaving soon.

Crow thought for a moment before an idea came to him. “Why don’t you walk with me?” He suggested. “Penelope needs to speak with her father anyway, and I don’t think I’m allowed to walk around this place without accompaniment yet.” He turned to Penelope with a smile. “You could come and meet me in my room once you’re ready. How does that sound?”