“He’d better not try it,” Crow snorted, taking Penelope’s hand to stand up. Once he was on his feet, he walked with her to the main cavern, where the others had already gathered by the hearth to enjoy their breakfast together. It looked like he and the knight were the last ones to get up. However, that wasn’t surprising to him since he was still getting over the last of his injury and they had both been traveling for the last week to and from the inner kingdom.

When they reached the group, the thief headed straight for the plate Hazel had prepared for him, eager to fill his stomach with the freshly cooked eggs and dark bread. He said a quick ‘thank you’ to the herbalist for saving them the food and then sat down between Penelope and Alistair, who grinned at him challengingly as soon as he had settled on the ground.

“Ready to lose?” Alistair nudged him with his elbow.

“Calm down, I haven’t even had a bite of food yet,” Crow rolled his eyes sarcastically as he began to dig into his plate of breakfast.

“Well, after you’re done eating, I was thinking we could have a match in the clearing—”

“No way,” Crow interrupted with a shake of his head. “Are you kidding? I’m not fighting you. We’ve already established that you’re the best fighter amongst us, and I’d rather not embarrass myself today.”

“What do you suggest then?” Alistair frowned.

“You could arm wrestle,” Rikki pitched with an entertained grin. She popped a mouthful of egg into her mouth and swallowed before going on, “That way neither one of you scumbags can use any dirty tricks.”

“I like it,” Alistair turned back to Crow with an expectant look. “What about you?”

“Me too,” he agreed with a smirk at his friend. He was just about to make another snide comment to the other thief when a hurried motion caught his eye. Glancing up, he watched with a confused frown as Hazel suddenly made a run for the entrance of the cavern. She seemed to be in a hurry to leave, but he couldn’t think of a reason why. “Is she alright?” he asked concernedly, turning back to the others, who seemed surprisingly calm about the herbalist’s unexpected actions.

“She’ll be fine,” Hartley waved a hand from off to the side.

“Her morning sickness has been hitting pretty hard these past few days,” Rikki sighed.

“Morning… what?” Crow blinked, feeling stunned as the realization began to strike him slowly.

“Oh right, we never told you, huh?” Hartley grinned. “Hazel’s pregnant.”

“She’s [i]pregnant[/i]?” Crow’s eyes widened. “How?”

“Come on, Crow, you don’t really need us to explain that to you, do you?” Rikki snickered.

Crow flushed. “That’s not what I meant. I was [i]trying[/i] to ask: Who’s the father? I mean, Simon’s been gone for almost two months now…” He felt silent as the pieces fell into place in his mind. “Oh my gods.”

“There it is,” Alistair clapped him on the shoulder.

“Hazel was so happy when she found out,” Rikki’s smile softened as her gaze wandered to the opening in the cave, where the herbalist had disappeared earlier. “Simon may be gone, but now she’ll have a piece of him forever.”

“This is huge,” Crow shook his head, running one hand through his hair. “How could you all just forget to mention to me yesterday that Hazel is pregnant?”

“In case you forgot, you were sort of the biggest news last night,” Alistair shrugged. “It just never came up.”

“Still,” Crow muttered, shoving another large bite of food into his mouth and setting his now empty plate off to the side. “You could have at least said [i]something[/i] about it.”

“What did you want us to say?” Rikki chuckled. “‘Hey Crow, glad you’re back. By the way, Hazel’s pregnant now. What’s new with you?’”

“Maybe not exactly like that, but yeah,” Crow rolled his eyes and leaned lightly into Penelope’s side.

“Alright, the next time someone here finds themself with child, we’ll be sure to let you know first,” Rikki chuckled at him amusedly.

“Please do,” Crow returned her mocking look with a sarcastic one of his own. While he didn’t necessarily care if he heard about any big news first, he still wanted to keep up with their lives at least a bit. It felt strange to find out something as important as this weeks after everyone else knew about it. His heart sank as he realized this was just the beginning. Once he moved to the inner kingdom, he would no longer be able to stay as close to them as he once was. At the very most, he could visit whenever his father sent him on assignments that would bring him back to the outer villages and perhaps communicate by letter with Hazel once he learned how to read and write. Aside from that, they would have to drift apart.

The thought left him with a bitter taste in his mouth, and he lapsed into silence, leaning his head against Penelope’s and staring absently at the entrance of the cave as the others continued to chat amongst themselves.