Crow smiled as Penelope pressed a kiss to his forehead. Now that they were out of sight of the people and guards that patrolled the main roads, he relaxed and enjoyed the fact that they could get closer to each other without worrying about getting caught by a random passerby. He slipped his arm around her waist as she sat down next to him, leaning lightly against her side. Being with her now, he was reminded of the first night when he’d brought her to this house. Even though she had been frightened by the storm, he counted it as a fond memory, since it was then that they had first talked about getting together again after being apart for so long.

If it hadn’t been for that thunderstorm, she might have never left Gavin, he thought with a faint shake of his head.

When the knight spoke up beside him, he turned his head to meet her gaze. “I know,” he sighed, looking over the small room once more. “It just feels wrong to let it sit here empty.” Part of him wondered if he should just give the place to the next needy peasant who came along, but he wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to do it. Perhaps it was selfish, but this was the house where his mother had raised him. It was too important to him to simply pass off to the first stranger to walk by. If he was going to let it go, he wanted to hand it over to someone who he knew would appreciate it the way he had.

He turned back to Penelope again as she brought up the idea of fixing it up. He recalled her mentioning something about that before, but the plan still brought a smile to his face. “Maybe when my father lets me leave the castle again, we can come back here and do that,” he suggested, holding her a little tighter against his side and pressing an affectionate kiss to her cheek. As he did, his heart skipped a little quicker in his chest, and in the next moment, he shifted to meet her lips passionately. He closed his eyes and rested his free hand against her thigh, leaning into her a bit more as they kissed.

After a bit, he pulled back again to catch his breath, meeting her gaze with a dazed grin. “Sorry, love,” he laughed softly. “I think I even caught myself off guard with that one.” He pressed a couple more quick kisses to her cheek along with a playful one on her nose. “We probably shouldn’t stay here too much longer. We’re already going to get to Wellspring after nightfall, and we’ve still got two more days of travel left.”

Penelope returned his smile and nodded her head, glad that he seemed to like her idea. The knight leaned into him slightly as he held her closer only to be caught off guard as he suddenly kissed her passionately. She blinked in surprise but quickly eased into the kiss, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around him as she kissed him back. Her heart began to beat excitedly in her chest at his touch.

As he pulled back, she returned his dazed grin with a smile and gave a soft giggle at his words. "Well, I certainly didn't mind it." she mused, reaching to brush a loose strand of hair out of his face. Penelope grinned as he pressed a few more kisses to her cheek and nose. At his words, she gave a small nod of agreement, however, not being eager to put distance between them again, she leaned in a touched another kiss to his lips.

"We better get going then." she said as she pulled back. Releasing him from her embrace, the knight moved to get up to her feet, stretching a bit as she prepared for the long walk ahead of then. Penelope turned back to Crow and offered her hand to him. "Ready?" she asked.

Crow met Penelope’s lips briefly when she kissed him and then stood up from the bed, taking her hand as they headed to the door. When they reached it, he glanced over his shoulder to take one more look around the home where he’d grown up. It felt surreal to think that this was the last time he would be coming here in quite a while, and that the next time he visited, he wouldn’t be a peasant anymore. He took a moment to capture an image of it in his mind before turning back to the knight with a soft smile, “I’m ready now.”

He took a slow breath and opened the door, once again letting her pass through first before he followed along behind and closed it after him. As soon as they were outside, he gave her hand a quick squeeze and then dropped it, letting his own hand hang at his side. Even though they hadn’t seen very many guards around, it would have been just as troublesome if a peasant caught them together. After all, his face was known throughout the outer villages, so it wouldn’t take long for a rumor to start that the most infamous thief in Brerra was seeing a knight romantically. It also wasn’t unlikely for such a rumor to eventually spread to the inner kingdom.

As they walked along the road that would take them further south, Crow passed the time by telling Penelope a few more stories from his life in Myrefall, a few of them being: the time he’d gotten caught by a few local guards when he was a child and got away all on his own; another time when he had been running along the top of a wall in the rain during his teenage years, slipped off, and given himself a bit of memory loss when he’d hit his head on the ground—he pointed out the spot where it had happened as they passed by—and an even more embarrassing time when he’d been spotted by a patrol of knights while bathing in a stream just outside the village border and wound up fleeing from them through the streets before he’d had a chance to put his clothes back on.

Despite the lingering sadness he felt about leaving the outer villages, reminiscing with her about his childhood lifted Crow’s spirits quite a bit. So, by the time they arrived at the inn in Wellspring, he had a grin on his face and was in a rather upbeat mood.

Word of their travels must have spread to this part of the kingdom by now, because the innkeeper didn’t give them much trouble when the thief requested a room for the night. The man merely casted him a wary look as he handed over the key and muttered something about them leaving the room exactly as they found it. Crow wasn’t bothered by his distrust. He thanked the innkeeper politely for the key and then headed down the hallway with Penelope until they arrived at their room for the night.

As soon as he stepped through the doorway, Crow dropped his bag on the floor and collapsed tiredly onto his stomach on the closest bed. “I don’t think my father needed to bribe me to stay in the castle after this,” he groaned into the flat pillow, his voice muffled against its fabric. “I’m sick of traveling. I just want to lay down and never get back up again.”

As they walked, Penelope listened as Crow recounted various stories. She enjoyed hearing him talk about his past experiences, both because she usually found them to be entertaining to some degree as well as because they made her feel closer to him. As a plus, it even seemed to cheer the thief up by the time they reached Wellspring as they spoke about his childhood memories. As the inn came into view the knight couldn't help but feel a bit relieved to see it. She was rather tired after a long day of walking and was glad they had no trouble in getting a room.

She stepped into the room after Crow and closed the door behind her. Turning to see the thief collapse on the bed, she smirked in amusement and shook her head at his dramatic words. She began to take off her armor for the night and let out a small chuckle. "Well, on the bright side you probably won't be traveling anywhere for awhile after this." she pointed out. Setting her armor down neatly, she moved to sit down at the edge of the bed to take her boots off. Once she had, she went ahead and did the thief a small favor by slipping his boots off for him as well, seeing as he had just flopped onto the bed without doing so first.

With that done, Penelope shifted onto the bed and crawled up next to him, laying down on her side so she was facing him. "On the downside though, most of your job will be traveling so I'm afraid you won't be able to just sleep sleep forever." she pointed out to him with a small sigh.

Crow mumbled incoherently against the pillow when Penelope said he wouldn’t have to go anywhere for a while once they got back. Thank the gods for that. He didn’t usually get so exhausted on trips like this, but after being bedridden for nearly three weeks from his injury, his energy wasn’t quite at its peak anymore. Plus, traveling from the outer villages to the inner kingdom twice was quite a long way to walk. He wished they had a cart to recline in like they had on their journey to Younis two years back. Sleeping in the shade had been a much more comfortable way to travel compared to having sore feet at the end of every day.

He turned his head slightly to glance down at Penelope as he felt a tug at one of his boots, and a smile played on his lip as he realized she was taking his shoes off for him. Her thoughtfulness never ceased to amaze him. Feeling a swell of affection for the knight, he rolled onto his side and draped one arm over her as she laid down next to him on the bed. He listened thoughtfully as she brought up the point that he was going to have to travel quite a bit once he started working formally as his father’s ambassador.

“Alright, well then as long as I get a good, long break, I’ll be content,” he compromised to no one in particular. Leaning forward slightly, he touched a gentle kiss to her lips and then smiled. “In all seriousness, I think I’m going to like that aspect of being a viceroy. Aside from the few times I’ve gone to Younis, I’ve never really left the kingdom borders before. I think it will be interesting to finally see the homelands of the other travelers I’ve met in the outer villages.”

He fell quiet for a moment, lulled into silence by both his weariness and his internal musings. “I suppose the only downside is that it means we’re going to have to spend more time apart eventually,” he sighed, tracing his hand absently along the curve of her waist and hips. “Hopefully my father won’t send me off too frequently.”

Penelope met him halfway as he touched a kiss to her lips and returned his smile. "That's good. Seeing all those new places will certainly be something you can look forward to." she mused in agreement. The knight knew the thief enjoyed sightseeing when he could so she was rather sure he'd enjoy the traveling aspect of his job as well. It'd surely give him plenty of new sights to find.

As he mentioned the down side of the travels, she gave a small nod. Unfortunately she was well aware she wouldn't be able to accompany him. She had her duties within the kingdom to worry about and couldn't just leave them, even if it meant she'd be able to travel with him. Additionally, when they did have a family of their own, she was rather sure she wouldn't want to leave them anyways. The thought of it still brought a light blush to her cheeks.

"Hopefully...But hey, at least with the traveling it'll be impossible to get sick of each other." she joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit once more. She smiled at fondly him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "If that's even possible I mean." The knight let out a small yawn and shifted to nestle comfortably against him as her weariness began to take over. "Gods I'm tired." she mumbled as she closed her eyes, beginning to succumb to her tiredness. "Goodnight Crow.. I love you."

“That’s true,” Crow smiled at Penelope tiredly when she said they wouldn’t get sick of each other. Although, right now it was hard for him to imagine that he would ever feel like that about her. They hadn’t been together for more than a few months, so he was still quite infatuated. However, his feelings toward her ran even deeper than that. He was closer to her than anyone else he’d been with before, except perhaps for his mother, but she had passed away so long ago that it was hard to compare their relationships. What he could say for certain was that within the last decade of his life, he had never let anyone in as much as he’d let her.

He closed his eyes, feeling warm as she kissed him on the cheek. As he laid comfortably against her side, it didn’t take long before his exhaustion began to settle over him, and he yawned after she did. Even though he had been enjoying talking with her, he felt ready to pass out after such a long day. “I love you too,” he mumbled as he gave in to the impulse and drifted off to sleep.

--

The next morning, Crow was roused from his slumber by the gentle morning light that flooded in through the window. He stirred tiredly, having slept somewhat deeply in the security of Penelope’s arms, and stretched. His body was beginning to ache slightly from all the walking and hiking they had been doing to and from the outer villages, so he was reluctant to get up. Instead, he burrowed a little deeper beneath the blanket on the bed and nestled his head between Penelope’s neck and the pillow, hoping to snag a little more shut-eye before they got up for another long day of traveling.

Sleeping rather soundly, the knight went unbothered by the morning light that began to stream into the room. She only began to stir when she felt the movement of Crow besides her. Becoming slightly more awake as she felt him nestle his head against her neck, a sleepy smile tugged at the corner of her lip. Still not fully awake and not eager to move away from him, she slipped one arm around him and held him close for a moment longer.

Deciding it was best to try and wake up though, she forced her eyes open and gave a small yawn. Penelope craned her head slightly to glance down at Crow and smiled affectionately. She liked how peaceful he looked resting besides her. Plus it warmed her to have him snuggled so close to her. She wished they could remain like that for the whole morning but she knew it was probably best for them to start getting up. Especially since felt rather tempted to sleep again.

Removing her arm from around him, she rubbed her eyes and then began to pull away from the thief. "Better start getting up." she mumbled, rolling to lay on her back for a moment. Penelope stretched and let out a another, bigger yawn. Feeling slightly more awake now, she pushed herself to sit up and turned to look over at Crow. "We've got another long walk ahead of us so might as well not put it off."

Crow didn’t get as much sleep as he would have liked that morning. Just as he began to drift off again, he felt Penelope shift against his side, indicating that she was awake. At first, he felt her wrap an arm around him, and he exhaled softly, wondering if she was going to let him keep resting. He hoped so. Just thinking about the distance they had left to walk made him feel exhausted. However, it seemed he wouldn’t be so lucky, because it wasn’t long before she pulled away from him to get up.

“Right, okay…” he mumbled tiredly when she said they needed get ready. Although, he made no attempt to sit up yet. Instead, he took another long moment to lay in the comfort of the warm bed before he forced himself into a sitting position, yawning broadly and giving his head a quick shake to try and clear it. When he felt a little more alert, he turned to Penelope with a mischievous smile and wrapped his arms around her tightly, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Gods, it’s good to wake up next to you again,” Crow sighed. “I hope it won’t be much longer before we get to do this every day.” Feeling more awake, he touched one more kiss to her cheek and then let go of her so they could both get up and get ready for the day. When he’d gotten his boots back on and shouldered his bag, he stepped over to the door and turned to the knight with a grin, “Ready, love?”

Penelope blinked in surprise as she suddenly felt Crow wrap his arms around her. The knight smiled and leaned into him slightly as he held her close and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I hope so too.. I could easily get used to it." she mused softly in agreement, her smile broadening as he pressed another kiss to her cheek. Though she wished the day would be soon, she knew it would still likely be quite a while before they would be able to sleep next to each other every night. After all, courting usually took months if not a full year. Plus they'd likely have quite a bit of time before her father would even approve of their courtship.

The knight let out a small sigh at the disheartening thought but was quick to push it aside for now and focus on the fact that they still had a long day ahead of them. As he let her go, she shifted to the edge of the bed and stretched before moving to put her armor and boots back on. She finished tying on the last bit of her armor and nodded her head to the thief as he turned to her again. "Always." she smiled as stepped over to join him at the door.

Heading out of the room, she followed him down the hallway back to the entrance of the inn. The innkeeper still remained wary of Crow but otherwise gave no issue as he gruffly accepted the key back from them. Penelope turned and headed out onto the road to begin their trip to Sarton. The knight let out a small yawn at the thought of it. Though she normally didn't acknowledge her exhaustion, she had to admit that all this traveling around was beginning to wear her down a bit. She'd certainly be glad to know she wouldn't be going anywhere far for the next two months at least.

Once they were both ready to keep moving, Crow followed Penelope out of the room. He casted the innkeeper a furtive glance when they reached the front of the inn, noticing that the man was still eyeing him hostilely, but made no comment about it. After spending his whole life as one of the most hated men in the kingdom, he was used to being closely watched. As long as the other man didn’t say or do anything to hinder them in their journey, he would leave him alone.

Heading back to the main road with Penelope, Crow trotted up to fall in step beside her. He glanced down at her and smirked as he noticed that she looked just as tired as he felt. It made sense. From what he knew of most knights and nobles, they usually embarked on long trips like these on horseback. She probably wasn’t used to walking such long distances.

Of course, he wasn’t much better off. While he was used to traveling on foot, he never had any schedules to keep, so he could move at his own pace. When he had energy enough to walk from one village to the next, he would do so. When he was feeling tired, he would set up a makeshift camp to rest until he felt ready to keep going. Aside from their mission in Younis two years ago, he never had to push himself like this to stick to any sort of timetable. It was much more tolerable to stop and go without rushing.

Still, Crow snuck another glance at Penelope and smiled to himself. If I’m going to be enduring trips like this, I’m glad it’s with her. Feeling warm with affection for the knight, he walked a little closer to her so that their hands brushed occasionally as they walked.

--

The day passed slowly by, and Crow felt convinced that it was longer than the last. By the time they arrived in Sarton, he nearly swayed on his feet from exhaustion. He lingered by the front of the inn to wait for Penelope while she got their room key, since the innkeeper seemed to have noticed that one of his pieces of jewelry had gone missing and was studying him with narrowed eyes. Of course, there was nothing the man could do to prove that it was him who had stolen the gaudy bracelet—he’d already given it to Alistair during his stay with his companions—but, too tired to deal with the conflict, he chose to keep his distance from the innkeeper regardless.

When the suspicious man finally handed over the key to their room, Crow trailed after Penelope down the hallway with a yawn. “I’m glad we’ve only got one more day of this,” he mused. “I don’t know how much more walking my feet can take.”

By the time they reached the inn, the knight was more than ready to lay down for the night. Her feet were aching a bit by the time they reached the inn and she couldn't wait to give them a break. The only small issue was that the innkeeper from before seemed more aware that he had a missing bracelet. Luckily he didn't say anything on it, likely knowing there was no way to prove that Crow was the one who stole, and she was grateful for that. She certainly didn't feel like getting into an argument over such a small object that he could likely easily afford to replace.

Penelope took the key from him and began to head down the hallway, leading the way to their room. She looked over her shoulder at Crow as he spoke up, noting that he seemed just as tired as her. "Same here." she sighed, nodding her head. The knight gave him a tired smile. "Although I fear we'll go from being physically exhausted to mentally exhaust once we return." She pointed out giving a small shake of her head.

Briefly focusing back ahead, she unlocked the door to their room and stepped inside. "I'm almost certain how people react to you becoming viceroy will be enough to wear a whole kingdom out." she mused as she stepped over to the closest bed and began to remove her armor. Penelope placed it neatly on the ground before lazily kicking off her boots as she sat down on the bed. A thought came to mind and the knight gave a thoughtful look. "I imagine William's reaction will be amusing...Though I'm a bit worried he might start flapping that big mouth of his about our relationship."

Crow let out a quiet groan when Penelope pointed out that they were probably just going to be worn out in new ways when they returned to the castle. He had no doubts about that. The nobles there already hated him enough—he felt quite certain that they were still hoping he would be hanged for his crimes—so they were probably going to be outraged when he suddenly flew past them all in rank and title. He hoped that none of them would be so angry as to lash out at him about it, but he expected that he was going to be sleeping with one eye open for a while after his father announced his new position to the entirety of the inner kingdom.

When they arrived at their room for the night, Crow stepped over to the bed with Penelope, slipping off his bag and sitting down on the edge to take his boots off. As she made a comment about William, he glanced up at her and smirked amusedly. “He might,” he shrugged, leaning back on the palms of his hands and arching his back in a long stretch. “But nobles gossip all the time. As long as we don’t let anyone catch us together, no one can claim it’s anything more than the petty rumors of a bitter man.”

He yawned again, feeling his weariness try to settle over him a bit more, and shifted to rest against the knight’s side. He pressed a few kisses to her jawline, trailing his hand across the length of her thigh. Despite his exhaustion, he didn’t want to sleep right away. “Do you think you’re too tired to stay up just a little longer?” he murmured, kissing her a couple more times on the neck. “When we get back to the castle, there’s no telling how long it’ll be until we can find time to be alone again.”

Penelope gave a small nod as he pointed out it would all just be gossip unless some actually caught them. Since they were already planning to put distance between each other, she doubted they would have to worry too much about being caught. Thinking on it, she nearly felt a bit more concerned about finding the right time to see him. Especially since it was likely they'd mainly be meeting through Naida.

She closed her eyes as she began to feel him press a few kisses to her jawline. She tilted her head back slightly as he moved to touch a couple kisses to her neck as well, swayed by his words. Though she was tired, it was true that they might not get a chance to be alone like this for a while. The knight would have dismissed his advances in favor of getting as much rest as they could but felt the need to make the most of the time they did have. "I think I've got some energy to spare." she mused, opening her eyes to look over at him with a small smirk.

She slipped her arms loosely around his neck and leaned in to meet his lips in a deep kiss. The knight lingered there for a while, pressing into him as they kissed. Finding a energy spark along with her heart beginning to beat excitedly, she trailed one hand down his side and pulled back from the kiss as she reached his middle. The knight shot him a playful smile and wrapped her arm around his middle before pulling him down onto the bed with her. Laying besides him now, she pressed a playful kiss to his nose.

"Figured I better make sure you're really awake." she teased. Penelope shifted to lean over him slightly and pressed a small trail of kisses along his neck while her hand slipped down to the hem of his tunic.

Crow smiled against Penelope’s skin and pressed one more kiss to her neck as she said she had some energy to spare. Feeling quite tired as well, he probably would have favored sleeping beside her over sleeping with her if it wasn’t for the fact that this was the last night they would have to be alone for an undetermined amount of time. He wanted to make the most of it while it lasted, and if that meant foregoing a little extra sleep to enjoy it, then so be it.

As the knight leaned in to meet him in a deep kiss, he met her with rivaling fervor. His heartbeat quickened in his chest as his weariness from the trip was replaced with a strong desire for her instead. He trailed his hands over her upper body, pressing into her with newfound enthusiasm as he focused on the feeling. He was so caught up in the moment, in fact, that he didn’t realize what she was planning until he felt her use her arm around his middle to pull him down with her onto the bed.

Her spontaneity drew a laugh out of him, and he rolled his eyes playfully when she kissed him on the nose. “I am now,” he said with a grin, closing his eyes as she began to kiss his neck. The feeling of her lips against his skin made him shiver with anticipation, and he shifted on the mattress to let her pull his shirt over his head. When the clothing was removed, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned up to kiss her again, pulling her closer to himself as he did.

After a bit, his demeanor changed slightly as he grew both passionate and tender in his touching. He shifted to push her back on the bed, so that he was the one leaning over her now, and slipped away from her lips to press a series of kisses from her jaw to her collarbone. “Now let’s find out if you’re awake,” he said breathily, casting her a teasing wink as he began to slide off her clothing…

--

Crow rolled off Penelope and flopped onto his back, holding the knight against his chest and panting softly as he caught his breath. “Gods, I thought I was tired before,” he yawned and shook his head, fighting not to let himself pass out. “This is a whole new level of exhaustion.” He looked down at her and smiled absently, tracing his hand over the curve of her back. “But that was so worth it.”

Penelope looked up at him and smiled dazedly at his words. "I've got to agree with that." she chuckled. Though exhausted, being with him certainly wasn't something she regretted, although she was a bit worried about sleeping in late the next morning. However, the knight could barely focus on that thought as she strained to keep her eyes open, knowing that once they closed there was a high chance they wouldn't open again until morning.

She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek and then let out weary yawn. "I don't think I can stay up any longer though.." she mumbled. Curling up against his side, Penelope nestled her head against his and draped an arm over the thief as she settled in for the night. Finding the battle of staying awake growing more difficult, she slowly shut her eyes and let out a content exhale.

"Good night... Love you.." she murmured before succumbing to her weariness and falling into a restful slumber.

----

As Penelope had suspected, she wasn't quick to wake up the next morning. The knight had been sleeping like a log and very little bothered her. However, as the morning light began to trickle into the room from the window, it managed to directly hit her face. At first the knight was unfazed but eventually the uncomfortableness of the bright light on her closed eyes began to stir her from her sleep. She let out a groan and moved to bury her head into Crow's chest.

Though she wanted to keep sleeping—especially since she was now comfortably resting against Crow again—she knew that the strength of the light probably meant that it was time to get up. Penelope let out a reluctant sigh and forced her eyes open. Pulling back from Crow, she moved to press a kiss to his cheek. "Morning." she mumbled with a sleepy smile.

When Penelope mumbled that she couldn’t stay up much longer, Crow felt a bit relieved. Knowing that she wasn’t expecting him to stay awake to converse with her or anything, he felt much better about giving in to his desire to fall asleep. He yawned again and closed his eyes, his grip on her slackening slightly as his willpower began to fade.

“Night,” he managed to murmur in return to her before he slipped out of consciousness.

--

Although Crow slept soundly, his mind was quite active during the night, filling his slumber with a number of fleeting dreams about his fast-approaching life in the inner kingdom. Some of the dreams that passed through his head were great and exciting—imaginings of marrying Penelope and of finally achieving the life they’d always wanted—but others were disheartening, such as one in which he wound up narrowly escaping a mercenary hired by the nobles who wanted him dead.

So, by the time he woke up the following morning, the thief felt rather dazed and not quite as well-rested as he’d wanted to be. He shifted lethargically as he felt Penelope bury her head against his chest, hoping that she would drift off again so that he could get a little more restful sleep before they got up for the day. Unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn’t be so lucky, because it wasn’t long before he felt her stir again and move away from his arms.

“Not yet,” he groaned when she greeted him, rolling onto his side and pulling the blanket over his head. Though he could tell that it was about mid-morning by the light coming in through the window, he didn’t want to get up yet. After all, it wasn’t that far of a walk to the castle from Sarton, right? He could sleep in a little longer if they just ate lunch without stopping or hitched a ride with a traveling merchant or something. Either way, he didn’t want to leave the warmth of the bed until he absolutely had to.

Penelope shook her head as the thief didn't respond well to being woken up. Perhaps if it were a bit earlier she would have just let him sleep in a little longer. However, they needed to get back on the road, especially since it was their last day of travel. It was bad enough that they had slept in rather late anyways. The knight stretch for a moment, shaking off her own sleepiness, before focusing back to Crow.

Looking over at the thief, she quickly realized he likely need a bit more of a push to get up than just mere words. It seemed to be an especially difficult morning for both of them to wake up and Crow obviously wasn't as strict as her when it came to keeping on schedules. The knight folded her arms over her chest for a moment as she thought over her options on how to get the sleepy thief up. After all, she didn't want to risk delaying them for too much longer and was afraid that she'd be tempted to go back to sleep as well if she let him rest.

Smirking, the knight got up from her spot and shifted over to lean over him for a moment. She then moved to flop herself directly on top of the thief, albeit a bit awkwardly since he was on his side but that was fine since she figured it was enough to keep both of them from falling asleep. Penelope rested her chin on his shoulder. "Come on, it's our last day of travel, we shouldn't make ourselves late now. You'll have time to catch up on more sleep once we're back at the castle." she said, poking his cheek.

For a moment, Crow thought Penelope was actually going to let him keep sleeping in that morning. As his complaint about getting up was followed by silence, he let out his breath in a sigh of relief and settled down more comfortably beneath the blanket, pressing his cheek against the soft pillow under his head. It didn’t take long for him to start drifting of again, so by the time the knight decided to rouse him, he was already half asleep again and not at all prepared for the attempt.

When her weight suddenly landed on top of him, he gave a rather undignified yelp of surprise. His flight instincts kicked in, and he scrambled to pull the blanket down from his head so he could see what was going on. However, as he realized it was just Penelope, he let out his breath in an irritable huff and rolled his eyes. Well, any hope he had of going back to sleep was gone now. He supposed he might as well get ready for the final leg of their trip back to the castle.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get back at her first.

“Fine, fine,” he relented as she poked him on the cheek. Shifting slightly as if he was getting ready to climb out of the bed, he waited for her to give him the space to sit up. However, in the next moment, he quickly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back down on the bed and rolling over so that he was on top of her. In the process, he managed to entangle both of them in the blankets.

Holding her down with his weight, he grinned at her mischievously and tickled her stomach. “This is for so rudely waking me up,” he said with a cheeky laugh.

Penelope gave a victorious grin as she felt him beginning to move to get up. Satisfied that she had gotten him up, she shifted off of him to give him space to sit up. However, she barely sat back when he suddenly reached out and grabbed her. The knight didn't have time to react as he pulled her back down to the ground and rolled on top of her. She blinked a bit dazedly as she went from looking down at him to now looking up at him as he held her down.

The knight erupted into giggles as he began to tickle her. "Hey!" she protested, squirming beneath him. "I tried to wake you up nicely first!" Penelope laughed and grabbed his hands in an effort to stop him. She grinned up at him a bit breathlessly as she remained still for a moment. Studying his face, from the way he looked at her to his grin and messy hair, the knight felt a burst of affection for the thief as well as a sense of heavy disappointment as she knew this would likely be their last time waking up next to each other for a while.

Her features softened and she leaned up to press a tender kiss to his lips, letting go of his hands as she moved to wrap her arms around him. "I know we'll get to wake up next to each other every day someday soon but gods, it certainly isn't soon enough." she sighed softly as she pulled back from him. She gently brushed a strand of hair out of his face and then let him go. Shifting in the tangled mess of blanket around them, she smiled at him halfheartedly. "Come on. Now that you're up we should get ready to go."