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]I just hope they don’t cast me as many dirty looks by then,[/i] 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.