Fortunately, because there weren’t as many nobles in the Great Hall this late in the morning, it didn’t take long for Crow to spot an empty table on the far side of the room. He was about to take a step toward it when a subtle motion caught his eye. Glancing back toward Penelope’s table, he hesitated as he saw her wave to him. He was still uneasy about the idea of sitting with Cedric, but he didn’t want to purposefully ignore her either. She had already seen him, so he would look like he was if he still went to the other table now.

“Penelope waved at you,” Preston spoke up unhelpfully at his side.

“I know,” Crow muttered.

“Are you going to sit with her?” the attendant asked.

“I’m not sure yet.”

Preston tilted his head curiously, “Are you avoiding her?”

“No, I just…” Crow trailed off with a sigh. “Never mind.” It was too much trouble to explain that he wasn’t fond of her current choice of company. Instead, he made his way through the crowd, silently deciding that he might as well join her, since the other option was drawing far more attention to him than he would have liked.

Knowing where he was going to be sitting, his attendant walked off to fetch his breakfast from the kitchen, leaving him to approach the table alone. When he reached it, he sat down next to Penelope a little closer than he normally would have. At the moment, he craved her presence more than he cared about keeping a low profile around the other people in the castle.

Across the table, he noticed that Cedric didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic about his arrival as Penelope was. However, he couldn’t care less what the other man thought of him. He was too busy trying to shake off his lingering discomfort from his nightmare to pay any mind to what the knight’s ex suitor thought of him.

“So,” he turned to Penelope, resting his elbow on the table and propping his chin in his hand as he broke the silence between them. “Got any plans for the day?” Despite his efforts to act as he normally would around her, he couldn’t bring himself to fake more than a half smile as he held her gaze. He just hoped she would mistake his subdued attitude for weariness after the long night.