The next morning, Crow woke up to find that he wasn’t alone. Preston sat at the table in the room, thumbing through one of the books on the table. The viceroy sat up, resting his weight on the palm of one hand while he used the other to rub the sleep from his eyes. As he did, he noticed that the attendant had already set out new clothes for him at the bottom of the bed.

“You’re here early,” he commented, studying the boy curiously.

“You’ve been waking up early,” Preston replied with a shrug as he looked up from the book.

“Touché,” he yawned and slid down from the bed, pulling his linen shirt over his head and tossing it aside to change into the day clothes the servant had so neatly laid out for him. When he finished getting dressed, he glanced at the boy again. “I didn’t know you were literate.”

“I’m not,” Preston closed the book he had been looking at and gently set it back down with the others on the table.

Crow frowned, “Then what were you doing with that?”

“I just like the art,” the attendant shrugged. “A lot of the books in this castle have detailed illustrations. They’re interesting to look at.”

“I see,” Crow smirked amusedly as they headed into the corridor.

Preston hesitated for a moment before he added, “I like to draw. I’m not nearly as good as the artists who made the pictures in those books though.” He looked up at the viceroy a bit sheepishly. “I just use charcoal on stone… Looking at the work of people who are better than me gives me reason to try to get better.”

“Oh really?” Crow raised a brow. He’d had no idea that his attendant had such a skill. Since the peasants in the outer villages didn’t have much time to develop hobbies, he’d never met anyone else of his own class that had dabbled in art before. “You should show me some of your drawings sometime,” he went on with a grin. “I’d like to see what you’ve made.” Even though he didn’t know anything about art, he had enjoyed looking at pictures in books when he was a child, so he could at least appreciate them to a degree.

Preston’s eyes widened in obvious surprise. “Alright, I will,” he nodded, standing up a bit straighter. The eagerness in his voice made Crow wonder if anyone had ever asked to see his work before. However, sensing that it could be a sore spot for the boy, he decided not to ask.

They spent the rest of the walk talking idly until they reached the Great Hall. As soon as he stepped inside, Crow scanned the room excitedly in search of Penelope. He couldn’t wait to see her again after spending all of yesterday apart and was elated when he spotted her at a table with his sister. He didn’t bother to wait for Naida to wave to him before he made his way through the crowd to sit with them. The princess would probably just assume he was eager to see them after being alone before anyway.

“Morning, Collin,” Naida greeted him cheerfully when he reached the table.

“Morning,” Crow smiled back at her, relieved to finally be among friendly faces again. He moved to sit down next to his sister, but then paused when he noticed that she was resting her hands at her sides, preventing him from getting close. He rolled his eyes as he caught the devilish look on her face but said nothing as he stepped around to the other side of the table to sit next to Penelope instead.