The next five days went by almost too fast for the knight. 

The first was mainly spent in the company of Oliver. Though usually silent, Penelope learned he was actually capable of talking a great deal when it came to matters he took seriously. Dimia's presence was also missing that day so it was the first time the knight truly had a moment alone with the nobleman. He pointed out weak points in her initial arguments and showed her where to place information about the war, claiming it'd be more convincing if it was in a certain order. Along with that he also advised her to keep the first half of the party carefree and to save talk of the war for later into the night when most of their guests would have already had a few drinks. 

All in all, Oliver did help the knight feel a bit more confident in what she was going to say at the party and even wrote out notes for her to keep until the day finally came. Penelope found herself studying them a great deal in her free time, of which had a ton of in the days to follow.

After her day with Oliver, Penelope was left with little to nothing to do. Unable to do anything more for the party and having no guard shifts, she tried to keep herself as occupied as she possibly could. On a couple days she managed to snag Cedric for sparing. The exercise helped get her mind off of her growing anxiousness about the approaching party as well as relieve a bit of tension that it had built up in her. Although about two days prior to the party, it had snowed, so force to stay inside, Penelope instead spent the time with Naida. The two snuck a glass of wine before supper and talked casually with each other, wrapped up in blankets to fend off the cold day.

Luckily the knight still had plenty to wear her out. Aside from sparing with Cedric, she also upheld her promise to Naida and was present in the evenings for Crow's dance lessons. They easily became the most enjoyable parts of the days prior to the party. Even though it was really just something else to prepare for the party, she enjoyed the time spent with Crow and found that it usually helped her relax before bed. Not to mention it was really the only way for her to get close to him without raising any suspicion. The knight felt he had progressed a great deal in his dancing though and was fairly confident he'd be alright once it came time for the party.

It was now the morning of the party and Penelope had been up since the first bit of morning light had filtered into her room. Sleep had not come easier to her the night before. She had tossed and turned for quite a while before she had finally managed to fall into a light sleep. The knight was feeling a wide mix of emotions. Mainly nervous and anxious about how the night would go but there was also a bit of excitement in her. If all went well that night, she would likely be able to convince the king and it likely wouldn't be much longer before her and Crow could finally start courting. 

Regardless the mixing emotions—both good and bad—made her stomach churn.

Letting out a long sigh, she stared up at the ceiling, still procrastinating to get out of bed. She knew that she should get moving soon to get breakfast and start the long day ahead of her though. Penelope closed her eyes tightly. "Oh Toreus please let this night go well..." she prayed quietly under her breath. Pushing back the anxiety she had, the knight got out of bed and straightened her appearance out before heading off to the Great Hall for breakfast. She doubted she'd be able to eat much with the current way her stomach was feeling but figured it was best to try and at least get a small bite in before she figured out what she'd be doing the rest of her day from the Lenz's.