The way Gavin avoided eye contact with him didn’t slip past Crow’s observant gaze. He let out his breath in a soft exhale. Despite his hopes that his new title wouldn’t change the way anyone treated him, it seemed like it already was. When he had told his companions, he had noticed that they looked at him differently too. They had still acted the same around him as they always had, but there was something new in their eyes whenever they had spoken to each other. He still couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew it was a sign that they didn’t think of him the same way anymore either. The news of his relation to the king and his position as the next viceroy had changed their relationship.

Now, Penelope’s friends were treating him differently too. He studied Gavin, who still refused to meet his gaze. It was hard to tell what was going on in the knight’s head, but it was clear that he wasn’t looking at him as the same peasant thief that he had been before. He just hoped the other man’s reaction had more to do with his shock over the new information than it did with the job itself, and that he would return to normal once the dust settled and they were used to his new title.

His eyes wandered to Olivia, who seemed like Gavin’s opposite at the moment. Her face was lit up with unbridled excitement over everything she was finding out. Crow had a feeling that Penelope was right when she had said that her friend would probably poke fun at him about his change in title. He fully expected her to tease him about it for quite a while. As long as she didn’t spread word to anyone else, he could handle that though. He just hoped she had enough sense not to bring it up when her comrades were around.

As the knights continued to converse, he leaned tiredly against Penelope’s side, finding it harder to stay awake now that the discomfort of telling her comrades about his situation had mostly passed. Luckily, Gavin seemed to notice his weariness. The knight stood up and announced that he and Olivia should get going. Crow nodded, yawning sleepily, “Alright. We’ll see you tomorrow before we leave.”

“Congratulations.”

The thief blinked in mild surprise as he looked up at the knight. He wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t expected Gavin to say anything supportive about the job he’d taken, let alone congratulate him for it. After a moment, he offered the other man a smile. “Thanks,” he said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Although, we’ll see soon enough if it’s something worth congratulating or not.”

Gavin nodded and held the flap of the tent open. Olivia got up from where she had been sitting and mumbled a few words of farewell before stepping through the opening with the male knight close at her heels.

As soon as they were alone, Crow turned his head to press a kiss to Penelope’s cheek. “You know, this whole trip has been going a lot better than I was expecting,” he said amusedly. “No arguments with either of our companions, and nobody has attacked me either. I like it.”

Penelope said a word of goodbye to Olivia and Gavin as they exited the tent. Feeling Crow press a kiss to her cheek, she smiled and looked over at the thief as he spoke. It was true that the trip was going rather well. Actually it was going better than even she predicted. Things had gone well with both of their friends, dealing with the knights had been relatively easy, she had gained permission to leave with him from Mia—as well as her support to end the war—and she had gotten to do all of that while having a great deal of alone time with him in between.

"It's certainly one of the better trips we've taken." She mused in agreement, flashing him a warm smile. Feeling a burst of affection for the thief, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. Despite the risk of being in the middle of the battalion's camp, the knight lingered for a moment longer, even moving to rest a hand against his cheek. Eventually, she pulled back and gave him a small smile.

As much as she wished she could stay the whole night with the thief, she knew she had to get going to her own tent. The last three days had really spoiled her in being able to fall asleep and wake up besides him. "Unfortunately, now comes the less enjoyable part since I can't stay here with you tonight." she sighed and touched a kiss to his cheek before moving to stand up. "My tent's five down from yours just in case you need anything."

Crow leaned into Penelope as she kissed him, smiling contentedly against her soft lips. With the trip having gone so well, all of his worries had dissipated, and he was able to fully enjoy the brief moment with her. While the question of how long she would be at the castle with him was still up in the air, the issue was far enough in the future that he didn’t feel an urgency to dwell on it now. For the first time in months, he was able to relax completely in her warm presence, without any looming fears in the back of his mind.

When Penelope eventually pulled back from the kiss, he met her gaze with an affectionate look and reached up to trail his fingers gingerly along her cheek and jawline. He wished she could stay the night with him in his tent, but he knew she had to leave soon so her comrades wouldn’t notice she was gone. If anyone caught her sharing a bed with him, it would be bad news.

In the next moment, he sighed softly and let his arm fall back to his side as she echoed his thoughts. Shifting slightly, he gave her space to stand up and then did so as well, wrapping his arms around the small of her back to hold her close to himself. “I’ll remember that,” he assured her when she told him where to find her if he needed anything. The thief held her gaze a little longer before leaning down to meet her lips in one more parting kiss, pressing into her deeply as he savored the moment.

After a bit, he broke away from her and took a step back. “Goodnight, Penelope,” he smiled at her with a mixture of fondness and exhaustion from the long day. “I love you, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Penelope slipped her arms around him, returning his embrace as he held her close. She smiled at him and leaned in to meet his lips as he kissed her one more time. As he pulled back, she let out a small sigh, feeling reluctant to leave. However, with no other choice, she returned his smile and took a step back as well. "Goodnight. I love you too."

She turned and headed out of the tent. As she stepped back outside, she swept her gaze briefly over the area, pleased to notice no one seemed to be hovering near the tent, and began her short walk to her own tent. It was a bit strange to think that it'd be her last time using it for at least two months—if not longer or the last if she was successful in her efforts to end the war. The knight barely dwelled on it though as she was rather tired and ready to lay down for the night

Penelope let out a large yawn, feeling her weariness sink in fully as she stepped inside. She wasted no time in slipping out of her armor and boots, laying them down besides her bed. The knight laid down and pulled the blanket over herself as she shifted to get comfortable in her bed. Despite her tiredness, she found it a bit difficult to fall asleep without the warm presence of Crow besides her. Though it had only been a few days, sleeping next to him had already begun to feel routine. Letting out a sigh, she turned over onto her side and closed her eyes tightly. Eventually the knight drifted off into a sound slumber after a bit of effort.

Being in the middle of the knights’ camp, Crow slept lightly throughout the night. He didn’t trust the nobles to leave him alone, despite the fact that he had a letter from the king permitting his appearance, so he woke up early the next day even though he had been quite tired the night before. Sitting up on his bedroll, he stretched his legs and took a moment to look around the tent as a precaution in case any knights had managed to do anything while he’d been asleep. Nothing seemed to have changed since the night before, but now that he was up, he didn’t feel like going back to sleep.

He yawned and stood up, slipping his boots on and heading out of the tent to see if Penelope was awake yet. When he stepped outside, he shivered slightly against the cool morning air. It wouldn’t be much longer before winter, and the temperature was already dropping quickly. He hadn’t felt it much while he’d been in the animal-skin tent, but now he was beginning to wonder if this season was going to be just as brutal as the last. For the villagers’ sakes, he hoped not. They had barely been able to get through the last one, and he’d heard of quite a few deaths caused by the intense cold. After the last deadly winter and the atrocities of the war, the peasants of the kingdom needed a break from hardship.

Crow’s green eyes swept over the camp as he searched for Penelope’s familiar face, but he didn’t see her anywhere. Perhaps she was still asleep? He glanced back at her tent. It was likely, since the only reason he was up this early was because he didn’t feel comfortable enough to sleep in while he was in the camp of his enemies.

Momentarily, he toyed with the idea of going to wake her up, since he knew he would feel more at ease around the knights—who were already shooting him hostile looks again—if she was by his side. However, he knew he couldn’t go inside her tent without drawing some strange looks. Nobles were so formal. It would have been unusual enough for an unmarried man of the same status to enter a woman’s tent. If he, a ragged thief, tried the same thing, he would surely raise some suspicion. So, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself than he already had, he turned away from her tent and made his way over to the firepit, where he could smell freshly cooked breakfast.

At his approach, the knights who had gathered around to eat shifted away as if he had a contagious disease. He found their discomfort amusing. The last time he’d been here, the knights hadn’t held back from insulting him or spitting at him or otherwise being unpleasant. Now, it seemed like word must have spread that he was to be treated like a guest. He smirked to himself. Though he would be leaving soon, he still had time to enjoy their begrudging ‘special treatment’ while it lasted. Why not have a bit of fun?

“Good morning,” Crow greeted them with a wry grin as he grabbed a plate to fill up with the food that had been set out. “It’s pretty cold today, huh?”

The knights exchanged glances amongst each other, clearly caught off guard by the thief’s forwardness.

He purposefully ignored their discomfort. “This looks good,” he whistled, filling up his plate and then moving to sit down nearby them.

“We have rations here,” one of the knights growled, noticing the amount of food the thief had taken for himself.

“Why?” Crow shrugged carelessly, popping a bite of food into his mouth. “You’ve got enough food stock to last all of you through at least one season.” He casted the knight a sly look. “I should know. I’ve looked through it many times.”

“Why, you—” another knight curled his lip at him, but his comrade placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention and then shook his head warningly.

Crow’s eyes flicked between them with interest. It seemed that some of the knights were barely holding back from swinging at him, while others were trying to remind their more hot-tempered companions that they couldn’t touch him. He wondered how far he could push them before someone snapped. “You know, this is good,” he mused, pretending to talk to himself, although he spoke audibly enough that any of the nearby knights could hear him. “But I think I like the feasts at the castle better. Those dishes had seasoned venison in them.”

The knights’ expressions turned astonished as he brought up the food he’d been given by the king. It was clear that they were surprised to learn he’d been given such lofty accommodations by their ruler. He decided to push just a little more. “Maybe if you give me a good reason to, I could put in a good word for you with the king and ask him to improve your next shipment of supplies,” he said with a devilish smirk.

“Cur,” one of the knights spat, only to be elbowed sharply in the side by another man. He shot his comrade a frustrated look and then averted his gaze, muttering something under his breath that the thief didn’t catch.

Crow snickered, eyeing them all with amusement. He could tell that many of them were struggling to keep a handle on their tempers after his comment about speaking for them to the king. They probably despised the thought of needing a criminal to do anything for them on their behalf. However, he decided to not to continue prodding at them. While it was fun to get a rise out of the nobles, he wasn’t looking to start a fight, and he had a feeling the situation might escalate if he opened his mouth again. So, he settled down comfortably with his back against a tree and proceeded to finish his breakfast in silence as he waited for Penelope to wake up and join him.

A faint but chilly breeze ruffled the flap of the tent. The noise and bit of cold stirred the knight from a fairly sound sleep. Penelope let out a small yawn and rubbed a hand over her eyes as she felt them adjusting to the light. Now a bit more awake, the knight sat up and slipped back into her boots and armor. Knowing Crow and her would have to leave soon, she headed out of her tent as soon as she was ready and began to look around for the thief.

She also noted the drop of temperature. It seemed winter would soon hit the kingdom and the knight was torn between hoping for snow and hoping for rain. A rainy season wouldn't be nearly as harsh on the people in the outer villages—her battalion included—as a snowy season would be. However, rain meant thunderstorms and she much preferred to avoid those. With any luck, I won't get caught on the battlefield during one at least.. she thought a bit nervously as she glanced up at the sky. She suddenly had another reason for hoping that her time away from the warfront would be longer than just two months.

Focusing back on trying to find Crow, she realized it'd be rather easy as she was quick to notice a few disgruntled comrades. They talked quietly amongst themselves and continued to shoot hateful looks towards a specific direction, one that she assumed was where Crow was. Walking over, she soon found out her theory was right as she spotted the thief finishing his breakfast underneath a nearby tree. Penelope moved to grab a plate of food for herself first though, deciding it'd be best for her to eat before they left.

"I don't know how you can work with that bastard, Vermillion..." one of the knights sighed as she stepped over to the firepit. "I don't know what the king was thinking in letting him leave. Let alone live."

Penelope shrugged her shoulders as she fixed a small plate. "Who knows. I think it just takes a bit of patience.. Something Julien here clearly lacks." she smirked nodding to the hot-headed knight.

"I at least I can say I've never willingly worked alongside a criminal." Julien retorted with a narrowed gaze at her. "You may have patience but you lack any kind of self respe-"

The other knight elbowed him again and shot him a small look of warning. He turned back to Penelope and gave an apologetic look. "Don't mind him. He's just in a bad mood because of that thief."

Penelope gave a small nod to the knight. She took little offence in Julien's words anyways. The knight was more annoyed by his hostility towards Crow than his blatant disrespect towards her. "It's fine. I think most are on edge right now." she mused. "Anyways, I better see when we'll be leaving." She gave a small nod of farewell to the two before turning to head over to Crow.

"Morning." she greeted with a smile as she reached him. The knight moved to sit down besides him and gave an amused look. "I see you've already got some of my comrades riled up.. Though I doubt it would take much."

Crow finished off the rest of his food in silence and set his plate aside, letting out his breath in a content exhale. Though he disliked being among so many knights, he supposed his stay in their camp wasn’t completely without its perks. The tent had been comfortably warm, and the breakfast had been good. Of course, the pleasant accommodations didn’t make up for the lack of enjoyable company—the knights’ cold faces just made him miss his companions all the more—but he was used to taking what he could get. After all, he was going to have to get used to doing so when he returned to the castle and surrounded himself with hostile people.

Luckily, he wasn’t alone for very long. After a short time passed, Crow heard the sound of approaching footsteps off to his right. He looked up and smiled as he saw that Penelope was up and had come over to greet him. Her friendly face was a welcomed break from her scathing comrades, and he wished he could wrap his arms around her when she sat down beside him. However, not wanting to give away their relationship to anyone before he had made a more respectable name for himself, he refrained from moving aside from shifting slightly to give her some space on the grassy patch where he had been reclining.

“Of course,” Crow grinned at her proudly when she commented on what he had done to her comrades. “There was nothing else to do around here while you were asleep, and I had to entertain myself somehow. Besides,” he lowered his voice as he glanced at the knights, who were still eyeing him coldly. “I figured it would be fun to get inside their heads a little before my father sends the news that I’m going to be his viceroy. I just wish I could be here to see their faces when they find out.”

“Hey, look, they’re still here.”

Crow turned to see Olivia walking toward them from the other side of the camp, with Gavin trailing along slightly behind her. The female knight sat herself down on the thief’s other side with a grin, “We were starting to think you left without saying goodbye.”

“What are you talking about?” Crow rolled his eyes. “I haven’t moved from this spot all morning. You just must not have looked hard enough.”

“Oh yeah?” Olivia raised a brow. “Well then, I blame Gavin. He said you wouldn’t be anywhere near our comrades, so that’s why we didn’t check here.”

“It seemed logical at the time,” Gavin muttered defensively, averting his gaze as he sat across from the rest of the group.

“You’re not wrong,” Crow shrugged amusedly. “It’s probably wiser to stay away, but I prefer to stick close and ruffle their feathers instead.”

“Yeah, Gavin,” Olivia nudged the other knight teasingly. “You should’ve known him better by now.”

“I didn’t hear you giving any other ideas,” Gavin snorted, though he had turned slightly red in the face. Seeming eager to change the subject, he quickly turned to Penelope. “So, you’re leaving this morning, right? Do you have everything you need for the trip?”

Penelope gave a small shake of her head as Crow proudly admitted to messing with the other knights. Though she wasn't keen on him poking at the already on edge knights, it wasn't like they didn't deserve a bit of it after how they acted. Looking over at Crow, she smirked as he mentioned wishing he could see their reactions to him becoming viceroy. "You might not get to see theirs but I'm sure the nobles in the inner kingdom will be enough once he announces it." she mused quietly. The knight couldn't even begin to imagine what that would look like once they returned to the castle and the king officially announced Crow's new position.

She didn't get a chance to dwell on it as Olivia and Gavin popped up. The knight looked over at her friends as they approached and smiled at them. Eating some of her food, she listened as the three spoke giving a mildly amused look as she noticed Gavin grow a bit red. As he turned to her, she gave a small nod and swallowed her last bite of food.

"We do. The king gave Crow enough supplies and gold for this trip so I'm sure we'll make it back just fine." she explained with a small shrug.

"That's good." Gavin mused with a nod. He glanced over his shoulder at one of the knights eying Crow hostilely before looking back to Penelope. "I think taking supplies would only piss them off more."

"At this point, him just breathing pisses them off." Olivia pointed out. A thought seemed to cross her mind and she turned to Penelope with a broad smirk. "Speaking of which... I can't imagine how your brother's going to react to all of this."

"I can't either." Penelope sighed.

"He might just collapse from shock and anger." Gavin muttered. He looked over at Crow. "Between you outranking him and eventually courting his sister, I can't imagine him reacting well to it."

Olivia gave a chuckle. "Gods I can't wait for that wedding." she smirked and winked at Crow. "Good luck dealing with your future in-laws."

Crow glanced at Penelope and nodded when she told Gavin that they had enough supplies. Like the knight, he was glad that they wouldn’t have to rely on their camp for anything more. The nobles had already been livid enough when he’d borrowed a tent for the night and some breakfast that morning. Even though he enjoyed poking fun at them, he wanted to get back on the road to the inner kingdom with minimal resistance, if that was still possible. After all, the village of Wellspring was quite far from here, so the sooner they left, the better.

When Olivia spoke up, he glanced between the knights, listening to them talk about Penelope’s brother. The thought of Layth’s reaction to everything that was about to happen brought a faint smirk to his lips. After all the trouble the hotheaded knight had put him through during their previous encounters, it was going to be liberating to be able to confront him again as a superior instead of a captive. He was going to enjoy flaunting his title to the knight quite a bit.

At Olivia’s comment about in-laws, Crow let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’m still not sure how to deal with the family I just found out I have,” he said with a helpless smile. “I’m rather sure my younger brother hates me too. He seemed to believe I’m after his heritage to the throne, even though I don’t want anything to do with it.” He shook his head. “I don’t think I’m ready to add in-laws to the mix.”

“At least if he keeps trying to oppose you, you’ll have the authority to give him a little prison time,” Olivia snickered.

“That’s true,” Crow mused with a grin. However, the expression faded slightly as he remembered what Alistair had said about showing the nobles what it looked like to have power without oppressing others. “Although…” he went on, shifting his weight slightly. “I think I’d rather not go to such lengths to keep him from speaking his mind.”

“That’s smart of you,” Gavin nodded, shooting a disapproving look at Olivia. “Layth may be a pain in the ass, but he has friends in high places. You wouldn’t want to turn them into your enemies.”

Crow wrinkled his nose at that, “Gods, why are there politics in everything in the inner kingdom? I feel like if I even look at someone the wrong way, I’m going to offend their cousin’s grandmother.”

“You’d better get used to it,” Olivia smirked. “There are rules about everything at the castle.”

“Well, they’d better get used to me,” Crow said stubbornly. “Because I’m not about to bow down to their precious traditions. I’ll be accommodating, but I refuse to be anyone’s puppet.”

“Alright,” Olivia shrugged. “But you’re going to rub a lot of people the wrong way if you do that.”

“It’s not like that’ll change anything,” Crow pointed out blandly.

“True,” she smirked.

Wanting to make sure they still had time, the thief glanced up at the sky and then turned to Penelope, “We should get going soon. It’s a long walk to Wellspring.”

Penelope glanced over at Crow as he responded to Olivia's comment about in-laws. She wasn't sure how well their marriage was going to go over with her family. While certain her father would come around with time, the others—namely Layth and Edward—surely wouldn't be as accepting. Crow may rise in power but that didn't mean any nobles would want their family to be so closely associated with the soon to be former thief. It was also strange to think that her in-laws would be the royal family, even if it wasn't known publicly.

The knight was drawn out of her thoughts as she heard Crow complain about the politics involved in the inner kingdom. It made her give a faint smirk. She was rather certain he was going to rub everyone the wrong way anyways so she had little concern about him completely bending to the politics and traditions of nobles. Besides, she had found that there were always ways to operate around or inside them without being completely suffocated by the strict traditions.

As Crow turned to her, she nodded her head in agreement. Though she enjoyed being in the company of her two friends, she knew that it was best for them to get moving. "Yeah. I don't want to get there too late." she mused in agreement and got up to her feet. Turning to the other two knights as they got up as well, she gave them a small smile. "With any luck, the next time we see each other, the war will either be over or at least close to it."

"I'm sure it will." Gavin nodded. "And I'll do my best to fill in for you out here."

"Yeah, yeah just be sure to write us. I want to know all about how things go when you guys get back." Olivia said eagerly. She paused and stepped forward to give Penelope a brief hug. "Be sure to tell Naida I said hi too."

"Of course." Penelope promised with a smile as she stepped back from her friend to move besides Crow. Turning to the thief, she asked,"Are you ready to go?"

Crow rose to his feet with Penelope as she stood up, stretching his legs as he loosened up to begin the long walk back to the inner kingdom. He hung back slightly as she said her goodbyes to her comrades and let his eyes wander over the rest of the camp once more. This place wasn’t exactly where he pictured saying goodbye to the outer villages, but he supposed it was fitting. In a way, it was like a small transition into his new life of nobility, since he was surrounded by people who would soon be his equals.

I just hope they don’t cast me as many dirty looks by then, he thought with a twinge of annoyance as he caught sight of a few knights glaring at him from off to the side.

“You too, Crow.” The thief blinked and turned around to see Olivia step over to him with a friendly grin. “If you ever figure out how to write, you’d better keep in touch.”

“You mean ‘when,’” Crow smirked. “I’m sure it won’t be that hard. After all, you learned how to do it.”

Olivia rolled her eyes, “I’m glad I’m not going to be on the sharp end of your tongue for a while.” She smiled teasingly and embraced him too before stepping back to stand by Gavin’s side. The ginger knight just nodded his head in a curt goodbye, which the thief returned.

When Penelope spoke up, Crow glanced down at her with a fond smile, “Just about. I need to get my bag from the tent, and then I’ll be ready. I’ll be back in a moment.” With that, he turned and trotted over to the tent that he’d borrowed for the night, slipping inside to grab the bag of supplies that his father had given him. It looked like everything had remained untouched, so he slung it over his shoulders and walked back over to the firepit, where he’d left the others.

“Alright, now we can go,” he said to Penelope.

Penelope gave a small nod as Crow headed off to retrieve the bag from his tent. While he walked away she turned back to her friends as another thought came to mind. "By the way, Gavin," she began addressing the male knight. "I'm going to try and get that aid to the outer villages started while I work on getting the king to end the war as well. Since I'm sticking around, I figure I better get back to my original plans."

"I'm glad but why are you bringing this up now?" Gavin asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because I'd still like you to be apart of it. And I don't just mean as contributor but more like a co-leader or right hand." Penelope explained with a small smile.

Gavin blinked and then nodded his head. "I'd be glad to." he said with a small smile.

"Great. I'll include any progress in my letters then." Penelope grinned. Though she wouldn't be handing off her plan to him anymore, nor marrying him and working alongside him as his wife,the knight still wanted to include him. He had a great care for the outer villages and she knew he could be quite charismatic. Both traits were reasons why she still wanted her former suitor turned friend around to help out.

Her attention turned over to Crow as she noticed the thief returning from collecting his things. She smiled up at him and gave a small nod before looking to Olivia and Gavin. "Bye for now then guys." she said with a hint of cheerfulness. Giving a small wave goodbye to her friends, she turned and began to head out of the camp with Crow as they began their trip back to the castle.

Despite the rocky road ahead, it was hard for the knight not to be a bit upbeat. No longer going to eventually part from her life, given time to try and rally for a peaceful end to the war, and the day she'd be able to marry Crow seeming slightly closer in sight than before, Penelope found herself rather joyful. Whatever troubles laid ahead barely weighed on the knight's mind. However, she was a bit reluctant to show it. Side glancing at Crow, she could only guess that the thief would find this part of the trip to be the most difficult since he would truly be leaving behind the outer villages now.

She wished she could take his hand but since they would be at risk of being seen, she had to settle for just merely walking besides him. "I know we've got a long way to Wellspring but.. I think we could spare a bit of time if there's anywhere else you want to stop by first." she offered softly. The knight gave her shoulders a small shrug. "We could even stop at your home in Myrefall real quick if you'd like... It's pretty much on the way anyways."

Crow adjusted the bag on his shoulders and gave a curt nod of farewell to Gavin and Olivia as he got ready to head out from the knights’ camp. With all parting words having been said, he turned and trailed closely at Penelope’s heels when she led the way back to the road that would carry them to the inner kingdom. He refrained from falling in step beside her until after they passed out of sight from the camp, since he still didn’t want to give away their closeness to any of her comrades who might see them. However, as soon as the tents disappeared in the trees, he was quick to hasten his pace and walk at her side. Her presence always comforted him, and right now he needed a little bit of that.

It had taken until the final walk back to the castle, but he was finally starting to feel the weight of leaving his home behind for good. His eyes swept over his surroundings with a hint of melancholy. Though he knew he could always come back to visit once he was done with his training, he knew it wasn’t going to be the same. He was going to be moving on to a different world, and the people of the outer villages would carry on without him. He wondered what it was going to be like when he did stop by in the future. Would the villagers be happy to see him? Would they view him as just another heartless noble? Would they even recognize him? His heart sank slightly as he imagined being greeted by blank stares and leery questions when he finally returned.

He also worried that even though he and his companions had sworn up and down that they would keep in touch, that they would eventually drift apart as their lives changed. Perhaps they would be able to keep up with each other for a time, but he couldn’t imagine they would be able to go out of their way to see each other forever. If they came to the inner kingdom, they would have to risk getting caught by the skilled knights in the area; and if he went to the outer villages, he would risk being spotted by a local guard and tarnishing his reputation. Such things had never mattered to him before, and they certainly didn’t now, but what about later on? If he was arrested or stripped of his title after he and Penelope were married, he would drag her right down with him. He cringed as he thought about what might happen if he was caught after they had a family of their own. For her sake, he needed to tread carefully.

Caught up in his disheartened thoughts, Crow didn’t realize just how quiet he had been on the walk back to Wellspring. The sound of Penelope’s voice jolted him slightly when she suddenly broke the silence that had fallen between them, and he turned to her with a dazed look. He didn’t answer her right away, as he was torn between his desire to linger in the outer villages for as long as he could and his eagerness to get the trip over with as quickly as possible.

However, after some time passed, he came to a conclusion. Though he wanted to get back to the castle, there was no reason for him to rush through his mourning. “I’d like that,” he sighed, offering her an appreciative smile. “It’ll be good to visit one more time, since I have no idea how long it will be before I can come back.” He reached out to catch her hand and gave it a brief squeeze. “Thanks, love.”

Penelope waited for Crow to respond. She could tell he debating her offer and in no rush to receive an answer, the knight merely shifted her gaze back ahead as they walked. In truth, she wished she could offer more than just one stop in Myrefall. Though it was his home village, she was well aware that he considered all of the outer villages to be his home. It was a pity they didn't have the time to stop through all of them so he could really have a proper goodbye.

As Crow made his decision, she looked back over at the thief and gave a small nod. "Alright, we'll stop by there then." she agreed. The knight smiled at him halfheartedly as he thanked her. It was really the least she could do considering how much he would be giving up for her. Shifting her gaze back ahead, she continued on their path towards the village. It wasn't long before the two reach the village.

Sweeping her gaze over Myrefall, she couldn't help but view the village in a different light than before as well. It wasn't that long ago when she had been certain that she'd be running off with Crow and leaving her life behind for one with him in the outer villages. Of course, they had been planning to leave to Fairhill and not Myrefall but the knight had always assumed they'd occasionally travel around the outer villages, likely to help out where they were needed. Penelope had been preparing to one day view them as her home but now, her true home would continue to be in the inner kingdom.

Glancing ahead, she did have to admit that Myrefall would always hold some significance to her. It was Crow's hometown and the place they had rekindled their relationship. The thought of it made her expression soften. Though she may not have viewed the outer villages as her home, the memories she had there made her fond of them nonetheless. Penelope smiled to herself and then looked over at Crow, her smile fading slightly as she gazed at him sympathetically. "How are you holding up?" she asked quietly.

For the rest of the walk to Myrefall, Crow remained quiet. His eyes wandered over the forest around them as he reminisced about his life in the outer villages. Various memories came back to him—mostly pleasant, since one always seemed to grow fondest of a place right before he left it—and he smiled faintly, finding them especially bittersweet as they headed to the castle. He found himself feeling glad once again that his father had been willing to let him come back one more time before his training would begin.

When they eventually reached Myrefall, Crow shifted to walk a little closer to Penelope. His eyes swept over the dilapidated old buildings and fields full of farmers, and he felt a pang of nostalgia. Of all the villages in the northern part of Brerra, this one held the most significance to him. It was the place where he’d been born as well as where he’d lived nearly half of his life. Though most of the people he’d known during his childhood were dead by now—nearly all of them had caught and succumbed to the same illness as his mother—he still caught occasional glimpses of familiar faces as they walked. He wondered how many of them recognized him anymore.

At the knight’s question, he turned toward her with a shrug. “I’m not really sure how to answer that,” he admitted honestly. “But I think I’m faring alright.” He glanced off to his right, where a group of farmers were reclining in the shade to escape the afternoon sun. Nudging Penelope’s side, he gestured in their direction. “See that boy over there—the one with the light hair? His name is Dwight. Back when my mother passed, his parents were some of the people who helped me out.”

He turned back to her with a smile as he recalled the family’s generosity. “Since it wasn’t safe for me to stay in my mother’s home alone, they took me in on occasion and gave me food and shelter. A lot of the families here did, actually… I was passed around quite a bit.” He chuckled at the memory. “Since so many people die young here, it isn’t uncommon for children to be orphaned. I think the villagers see it as a communal job to care for any that wind up on their doorsteps. They certainly never turned me away, even though many of them knew I was a thief. They’re honestly the reason I survived past my adolescence.”

Penelope gave a small nod as he replied and was about to return to glancing around the village when he nudged her. Turning back to him, her gaze followed his gesture over to the farmers reclining in the shade and swept her gaze over the boy he had pointed out. The knight listened as he recounted being help by the family and others during his childhood. While it was warming to hear how the villagers looked after each other, it was also saddening to know orphaned children weren't an uncommon occurrence.

Though Crow seemed to be looking back fondly on the memory, it was difficult for the knight to imagine bouncing around various households with no familial ties. Sure her family wasn't always the most loving, or accepting at times, but she at least still had them and a home with them. Still, she could understand the gratefulness he must have felt towards the villagers that helped him survive while he was still young.

"Hearing about how everyone takes care of each other out here never ceases to amaze me." she mused, glancing at passing villagers. It certainly wasn't an aspect that one would be able to find amongst nobles. Of course, orphaned children weren't very common. If there was a case where a child lost their parents at a young age, usually they had other family to go to and gold to fall back on. However if a child was truly alone, she doubted anyone would help care of them, aside perhaps from the servants of the household.

Penelope looked up at Crow and smiled at him. "Hopefully Hazel can help make orphans a less common occurrence around here... And if that medicine from the court physician really works as well as he thinks it will, we can figure out a way to get it to Hazel and the people here." she added on an optimistic note.

When Penelope commented on the villagers’ willingness to help each other, Crow nodded in agreement. The communal mentality of the people here was one of the reasons why he loved his home so much. No matter how hard things got, he knew he could always count on the fact that there were always people around who would take care of him. It had mattered much more when he’d been young and didn’t have the life experience to make it on his own, but even now, he occasionally found himself in situations where he needed the generosity of others to get by.

Thinking about it now, he could recall a number of times when he’d had to take cover in the homes of peasant families while local knights had been hot on his trail. If they hadn’t hidden him from the guards, he might have found himself in chains again. He shuddered at the thought. Though he was skilled in escaping from knights, he wasn’t perfect. Especially with such a high price on his head, he had needed all the help he could get to stay away from bounty hunters remain a free man.

As Penelope went on to talk about Hazel and the court physician, Crow turned to her with a hopeful look. “Hazel is already planning to make more of her medicine to give to the people here. Since Simon passed, that plan was put on hold, but I think she’s getting ready to pick it back up again soon. She definitely seems eager enough.” He lapsed into a brief silence as he pondered over the physician from the castle. Eldon had been quite confident that his poultice would work, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the old man really did have a cure. Somehow, the thought brought a twinge of frustration to the thief.

He absently lifted a hand to his chest, where the disease usually pained him. If Eldon had a cure for his illness, then that meant it had been curable since the start. It also meant the people of Myrefall had been dying for no reason. He clenched his jaw slightly. It upset him to know that there could have been a cure at the castle all along, and the only reason he was being treated now was because he was the king’s guest. The peasants of the outer villages deserved just as much respect. It didn’t matter that they were of a lower class; their lives still had just as much worth as his, if not more. They should have been receiving treatment too.

“I wonder if being the viceroy means I’ll have the authority to send physicians to the outer villages,” he mused out loud, letting his eyes wander over the people around them. “The Creeping Death isn’t the only sickness to plague these villages, and the peasants here have no way to seek remedies outside of the charity of herbalists like Hazel.” He looked back at Penelope with a frown. “The physicians at the castle seem much more capable. If they would just lay their pride down enough to treat people of a lower class, they could prevent many of the deaths that happen in our kingdom every day… I just can’t imagine how I could get them to do it for free, since no one here can afford to see a healer.”

Penelope looked over at Crow and gave a small shrug. "I'm not sure you'll just be able to order physicians out here as you'd like too but your title will certainly care some weight." she mused. An eager glint sparked in her gaze and she smiled at Crow. "But that's exactly why I need to get started on organizing my plan to get help out here. The villagers might not be able to afford to pay for a healer but a noble or two easily could."

Her gaze swept over the village as her expression turned a bit more serious. "I want to help as much as I can out here and not just with repairing damage from the war." she sighed then gave a determined smile at Crow. "If I can get enough people involved and raise enough gold, I'm sure we could convince a physician or two to visit the outer villages.. Perhaps even take on an apprentice or two during their time out there so that the villagers have a healer of their own to turn to when the physician ultimately returns to the inner kingdom."

She shrugged her shoulders. The knight had a few ideas already brewing on how to achieve that but first off, it was going to take quite a bit of gold. Penelope had been saving away her coins before she left with her battalion so that they'd have a reasonable starting point. However, it still wasn't enough. After all, one noble alone couldn't afford to fix one outer village let alone all of them. She still held onto her belief that she'd find others who cared enough to contribute as well as convince those that didn't.

"I'll figure it out somehow... I'm hopefully that we might even get the king to see reason in at least some form of change." she mused with a sigh as she looked ahead as they neared his old, worn down home.

Crow chewed on the inside of his lip in thought as Penelope said he probably wouldn’t be able to send physicians to do charity work in the outer villages. She was probably right. He didn’t know very much about the different kinds of roles in the inner kingdom, but as far as he had ever heard, the king was the only one who ever ordered anyone else to do anything outside of the castle. Whenever there were traveling noblemen, they were always out on assignment from the king, never anyone of a lower rank. Though his title would carry weight, it likely wouldn’t be enough to accomplish the things he wanted to do.

However, the situation didn’t look totally bleak. He studied Penelope with interest as she went on to bring up her plans to get more nobles to join her efforts in restoring the outer villages. If she could convince enough people to participate, they could do quite a lot of good for the peasants who couldn’t support themselves. Of course, he knew they wouldn’t be able to stop the high taxes that the former king had set and that his own father had raised, but their efforts would definitely help out with the other difficult aspects of village life. He could already feel excitement and determination bubbling up inside of him at the thought.

“I want to help too,” he said, meeting her gaze seriously. “I’m not sure what sort of wealth my father plans to give me, if any, but I don’t need much.” He shrugged. “I’ve lived on practically nothing my whole life. Honestly, I could get by on just a few silver coins every season, especially since it seems like food and shelter are already part of the deal when you live at the castle. I’d much rather give what I have to the villagers than hoard it for myself when I’ve got no use for it.”

Crow turned to look forward again as they approached his childhood house. He walked slightly ahead of Penelope to open the door for them, letting her in first before he followed after her and closed it behind him. Once he was inside, he took a moment to look over everything. It all looked exactly like he’d left it, which wasn’t surprising since there was nothing valuable enough to attract bandits. He stepped over to the bed and sat on the edge. Glancing down, he spotted the tear in the mattress that Jaxon had caused when the killer had nearly stabbed him in the chest with his sword. He gingerly traced the frayed fabric with his fingers. If he had more time, he might have wanted to patch it, but it wasn’t important enough to delay their trip any more than they already were.

“I still haven’t figured out what to do with this place,” he mused contemplatively. “I suppose there’s no point in holding onto it any longer if I’m not going to be living out here anymore though.”

Penelope smiled and nodded as Crow insisted on helping out as well. She figured the thief would want to pitch in as well, after all she was certain his care for the outer villages greatly outweighed her own. Even though he was leaving them, they'd always be part of him since it was where he was born and raised. She looked ahead as they reached his childhood home and stepped inside as he held the door open for her.

Her gaze swept over the inside of home. It felt a bit strange to be visiting it in broad daylight after having usually seeing it during the night. Penelope watched Crow as he stepped over to the bed and sat down. Walking over to join him, her gaze briefly fell on a tear in the mattress that he was looking at. The knight was a bit curious where it had come from but she didn't get a chance to ask as he spoke up again.

"I suppose so." she agreed with a small shrug. She stepped in front of him and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead before moving to sit down besides him on the bed. "I see no reason to hurry to a conclusion though. I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with it eventually." Penelope leaned back on the palms of her hands and looked over a few holes she noticed in the decaying home. "We could even plan to fix it up a bit before you make any final decisions."