Penelope smiled a little more as she noticed him perk up at her suggestion. Though she didn't particularly like that he wouldn't speak to her about whatever was bothering him, she was at least glad her suggestion seemed to lift his spirits up a bit. She nodded her head as he said he could use the help. "We'll do that then." she promised. As his eyes suddenly widened, she raised an eyebrow at him, wondering  what had suddenly hit him.

She blinked as he mentioned his lesson and nodded her head. "You better hurry then, he'll probably chew your head off you take too much longer." she smirked. The knight stretched her arms and stood as he readied to leave. "I better get going too.. I've got a lot of writing to do today. See you later." she said with a small smile before beginning to walk off her own way towards the library. 

Now alone, she quietly studied the sealed letters in her hand as she walked, feeling a bit nervous about opening them. The library wasn't very far from the Great Hall so she reached the large room rather quickly, which didn't give her much time to dwell on her nervousness. She found an empty table and set her letters down there before moving to grab the supplies she would need to make responses. Once she had, she sat down and began to open up the letters, deciding it was time to see if she had made any progress.

The first letter she started out with reading was the one from the barons of her battalion. It was a rather basic response that was written by Mia, who also included details about how Gavin was doing in filling her space as well as how Edward refused to see reason when came to the war but the baroness made it fully clear that she wasn't giving up quite yet. Attached to the main letter was a letter from Bennett. It was formally written support for the war's end that made a smile spread across her lips. That was one more baron backing her than before.

She went on to read the other letters from the other nobles she had written to and found with joy that she had gotten a good number of positive responses. Two barons from the battalions west of her own wrote letters of support and so did a couple of the nobles from the inner kingdom. Of course, with good came bad though. A few letters of protest came in. There was one baron that had replied with a letter clearly filled with rage at her campaign and even demanded that she cease her attempt to call to a peaceful end to the war, claiming that 'if she was too cowardly to fight, she could always stay in the inner kingdom and become a proper lady rather than trying to make their kingdom cower to the enemy'. His scornful words made her roll her eyes and she was quick to merely toss the letter. The baron was a fool and she saw no point in dwelling on his words. The gods had given her a task to do and she planned to see it through to the end, even if she had to go through a few people on the way.

The other downside was that she never received anything from Oliver Lenz. She had really been hoping that the vassal would reply with support but she supposed that he likely ended up ignoring her letter due to his wife. She let out a soft sigh, a bit disappointed since he knew a great deal of other higher ranking nobles.

Saving personal for last, she eyed the two remaining letters which were from Gavin and Olivia. She opened Gavin's first and read over his letter. It seemed things were faring well enough for the male knight as he recounted how he had been adjusting to the new, more permanent position of lieutenant. He also responded to her previous letter with a word of congratulations. An amused smirk crossed her lips as he briefly mentioned the shock and upset that had taken over the battalion at the news of Crow becoming viceroy. He ended his letter by wishing her and Crow well and hoping that her efforts to end the war would pay off. 


[hider=Gavin's Letter]
[i]Dear Penelope,

I'm glad to hear that the ceremony went over well. I mean, as well as one could have expected. Congratulations to Collin—I hear he's going by that now, yes?—and you. Things here have been fine. War remains the same. A stalemate but at least we are no longer suffering from the missing supplies. As for taking over your job more fully, it's been a bit of a strange change. Tomas is encouraging and Mia's trust in me seems to be growing. Especially after the uproar that occurred when your letters arrived. Most people here were not happy to say the least. They were shocked by the news of a thief taking the position of viceroy and protests arose all over camp. Luckily Tomas and Mia managed to calm everyone down. Things aren't quite back to normal but with the war going on, I feel that they'll soon be distracted from who the new viceroy is. Regardless, I wish you and Collin well with your work in the inner kingdom. Hopefully your efforts to end the war will pay off soon.

Sincerely, 
Gavin Hyde. [/i]
[/hider]


Olivia's letter was a bit different. She described in detail the outrage that took over the camp, specifically from Penelope's own brother. Layth apparently had even tried to request a temporary leave so he could try and talk the king out of his decision and it had nearly been approved until Mia and Tomas stepped. Apparently with their efforts, they got everyone to focus back on the war rather than what was happening in the inner kingdom. She was also quick to tease Penelope about the dilemma with Naida that she had mentioned in her previous letter and questioned why it was such a big deal to even keep it a secret from the princess. Olivia ended it with a casual goodbye and mentioned being eager to hear how things had developed since her last letter. Penelope let out a sigh and then smiled amusedly as she finished reading her friend's letter. 


[hider=Olivia's Letter]
[i]Penelope,

You must have written us quick! Is the castle so dull that you already miss us? Anyways, I wish I could have been there for the ceremony, I'm sure it was quite entertaining. Although, things were quite entertaining here when your letters arrived. People were pissed and started demanding the barons write to the king to try and change his mind. Your uncle was on board with that but Mia wasn't. She seemed oddly accepting of the new viceroy. Your baroness is quite strange. Oh! And your brother was quite the mess. He had to try and take it a step further. Instead of just settling for a letter, he wanted to march all the way to the castle to talk the king out of his decision. From what I heard, Edward was even on board with it. Of course, that didn't happen as you can probably guess. Mia and Tomas manage to cool everyone's heads by focusing attention back to Younis. In fact, I hear talk of another battle coming soon. Gavin tried to help them but honestly, no one really takes him seriously right now since they think you'll be back soon enough.
Also, I'm glad to hear that Naida's there to cause you trouble when I'm not. Even if that's not her intention. That's hilarious that she's trying to pair up you and Collin (I heard he's going by this now?? What a pity.. Seriously ruined the one secret about him I did know). I wish I could be there to see you two both floundering with that ha! In all seriousness, why can't you just tell her? I don't even see why you two are trying to hide it now that he's viceroy. Hurry up so I can be the one to tell your brother the news. I can't wait to see his face when he finds out.
Well that's all I have to say. Write back soon! I can't wait to hear how things are going there at the castle. 

- Olivia [/i]
[/hider]


Having gone through all the letters she received, it was finally time to begin writing more. She stretched her arms and then picked up her quill as she began with responses first.