Crow settled down at Penelope’s side, leaving a small gap between them even though he would have liked to close the distance completely. Again, he thought of the irony of their situation; about how Naida was pushing them to be together when they secretly were very much in love. He wished they could just admit it, so they could stop skirting around each other, but until the uproar in the castle settled down and the other nobles accepted his new position among them, they would have to keep it to themselves. After all, he had no intention of dragging her name through the mud, especially since she was working so hard to gain the respect of high-ranking nobles to end the war.

When Naida mentioned that she had been hoping to see him, Crow looked up at her curiously and then down at the box she revealed to him. He leaned forward slightly with interest, trying to get a better look at it. No one had ever given him a gift like this before. Occasionally, he and the other thieves would steal things and pass them off to whomever they thought would appreciate them the most—as he had done with the gold bracelet that he had given to Alistair—but this was an actual [i]gift[/i], neatly and intentionally packaged in a small box. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, suddenly feeling a bit bashful that they had gone out of their way to do something like this for him on their trip.

As the two noblewomen spoke with each other about who was responsible for the decision, Crow snuck a glance at Penelope. Finding out that she was the one who had picked out the gift, he was even more curious to see what it was. A smile threatened to take over his lips, and he turned away, relieved that the servants were coming back with their food at that moment. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself, since he had never been in a situation like this before, so watching his and Naida’s attendants test their breakfast gave him a little time to stall.

He turned back to his sister when she pushed the box over to him, telling him to open it. “Alright,” he let the persistent smile free as he reached out to take the package from her. Though he was eager to see what was inside, he took a moment to look over the box itself first. It was a bit of a habit he’d developed throughout his life as a thief, examining containers to guess what was hidden within. When he’d been on rushed raids, it had been a useful skill to pick out boxes filled with valuables without having to waste time opening them first. Of course, he didn’t care about the value of the gift Penelope and Naida had chosen for him. It was just hard to let go of old habits.

This particular box was thin and didn’t weight very much. If he had actually found it on a raid, it wouldn’t have been something that caught his eye. He glanced at Penelope again. Whatever she had found probably wasn’t overly valuable, but knowing that just made him more eager to find out what it was. [i]She knows I’m not interested in expensive things,[/i] he thought with a burst of affection for the knight.

“Gods, just open it already,” Naida laughed from across the table. “With the way you’re acting, you’d think the box was the whole gift.”

“Patience,” Crow said sagely as he fingered the edge of the box. “You can learn a lot about the contents of a package if you take the time to look at it.”

“You can learn a whole lot more if you open it,” Naida snickered.

Crow rolled his eyes. “Just let me do this my way, okay?” he prodded her arm teasingly. “I find it fun to try and figure out what’s inside before I open it.”

“Then what do you think we got you?” his sister grinned challengingly.

Crow looked down at the box again and tilted it slightly to the side. “Well,” he mused. “It sounds like there are two things.” He paused, taking a moment to think before he went on. “Just based on the shape, I think one of them is… a book?” He looked up to search Naida’s gaze. She was biting her lip to suppress a smile.

“No,” he smirked. “That’s not it.” He drummed his fingers on the table, studying the box intently. He was certain that one of the objects was book-shaped, but what would the second one be…? Suddenly, a grin spread across his mouth as he had an idea.

“What?” Naida eyed him curiously. “You think you figured it out?”

“I know I did,” Crow said confidently. “It’s a writing journal and a quill, isn’t it?”

Naida gawked at him, “How did you know?”

“I’m a thief,” he winked at her slyly. “Figuring out what’s hidden inside containers like this is part of the job.” That, and he just happened to recall the journal and quill Hazel always carried with her for her work. But he chose to keep that detail to himself.

“Show off,” Naida stuck her tongue out at him.

Crow shrugged. Now finished with his guessing game, he finally opened the lid on the box and looked inside. When he did, he let out a whistle. “This is nice,” he commented as he pulled out the journal and traced his fingers over the leather cover. It was clearly well-made and had a paper smell to it that he found rather pleasant. He glanced down again and laughed amusedly when he saw the quill Penelope had chosen for him. It was made of a feather from a crow’s wing.

Lifting the quill from the box, he spun it between his fingers. “My namesake,” he grinned at the knight. “I like it.”