The knight brandished her sword and sliced at the wooden target. It had been quite a while since the knight was able to practice her skills. In fact, thinking on it now, she had barely even touched her sword since the fight with Jaxon. Now that she finally had the chance to again, she found it strangely relaxing to brush up on her swordsmanship. After a while, she heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Cedric walking over to her.

"Hey Penelope." he greeted with a friendly smile. 

"Hi." she replied with a small nod as she lowered her sword. "Come to train too?"

"Yeah, I had some time to kill." Cedric shrugged. He eyed her for a moment and then grinned. "Care for a sparring match?"

"I don't see why not." Penelope mused with an amused smirk. "Question is, do you really think you've improved enough to beat me?"

"Well I'm certainly willing to put it to the test." Cedric chuckled. He gestured for her to follow as he began to walk over an open space. Once they reached it, he turned back to her and drew his sword. "Just go easy on me, alright?" he smirked. 

"I'll think about it." 

With that, the two began their sparring match. Metal clashed as they crossed swords and Penelope skillfully dodged away from his attack. Though he seemed to be taking the fight seriously, the female knight could already detect the weaknesses in his stance. He was too focused trying to defend where he thought was going to strike that he ended up leaving other spots much more open. It seemed he really hadn't improved much from before. 

She gave a soft [i]tsk[/i] and feigned an attack at his side before switching last minute to aim higher at his shoulder. Cedric blinked and corrected himself last minute, barely managing to block it in time. While he might have had the size advantage, he certainly wasn't as swift. Penelope smirked a little at his surprised expression an drew her blade away from his, blocking as he gave a counter attack. He moved in again with another attack, trying to gain the upperhand. While he clearly made an effort to push her back, it unfortunately wasn't enough. They were far from matched when it came to skill and she not only blocked him but managed to disarm him as well, knocking the sword from his grip. 

As it landed on the ground, she aimed her sword squarely at his throat and smiled. "You really do need more practice." 

Cedric gave a hapless shrug and opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as a new voice piped in. "I'll say. That was a rather pathetic performance on your part."

The two knights turned to looked over at the source of the voice, finding a slightly younger man with sandy blonde hair watching them with his arms folded over his chest. He held his head high and had his nose slightly wrinkled as he looked at Cedric. Penelope studied him for a moment before she was able to recall seeing him at the ceremony for Crow. If her assumption was right, he was the son of the man who had first voiced his outrage over the promotion of the thief. 

"So you think you can do better?" Cedric grumbled as he narrowed his gaze at him. 

"Well, I certainly wouldn't lose after just a few hits." the man responded with a careless shrug. 

Penelope glanced at Cedric then looked back to the stranger with a questioning gaze. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" she asked warily. While she wasn't exactly quick to defend Cedric, she also did appreciate the way he spoke down to the other knight. Not to mention she knew his family likely weren't very fond of Crow. 

"I'm Alden Fischbach." he introduced himself with a polite dip of his head to her. Meeting her gaze, a new hint of interest entered them as he studied her. "You're Penelope Vermillion, correct?"

"I am... Did you need something from me?" Penelope questioned as she sheathed her sword. 

"Possibly." Alden replied vaguely. "I'd rather discuss things privately... Perhaps over dinner or a drink?"

"What's so private about it that you can't just speak to her now?" Cedric challenged, stepping slightly closer to Penelope. 

Alden eyed him and wrinkled his nose again before looking back to Penelope. Noticing her on guard, he let out an impatient sigh. "My father's a baron and rumor has it you need the support of those right now. We hope to work something out."

Penelope blinked, a bit surprise to learn that he was bringing up her campaign to seek a peaceful end to the war. Although it sounded like she'd have to bargain with them for it, she grew a bit hopeful that it would mean she'd gain another supporter. Even if him and his father didn't seem to be the best type of people, she could care less so long as they supported the end of the war. "Alright. I'm interested. But it'll likely have to wait. I've got matters to tend to in Bellmare tomorrow." she responded. 

"Of course. Perhaps in two days we can arrange something? Say, an evening meeting in my father's study?" Alden asked with a hint of eagerness. 

"That'll work." she nodded. 

"Perfect. I'll have my servant find you when the time comes." Alden said. 

"Very well." Penelope said then glanced at Cedric, who was standing rather tensely besides her. She supposed he didn't take Alden's blatant disrespect very well. He certainly didn't seem like good company but that mattered little to her if it meant the war's end. "Well, if that's all, I'm off. I'll see you two around." she said offering a polite smile as she dipped her head to the two men before turning and heading off. It was near evening now and the knight was quite hungry after missing breakfast so she headed straight for the Great Hall, assuming that dinner would be beginning soon.