While Penelope and Naida spoke, Crow dug into the supper Preston had left for him on the table. He pondered how he would go about bringing up his interest in courting the knight when his father seemed to be focused solely on the preparations they needed to make for his trip to Younis. Interrupting the king when he was working seemed like an unproductive way to go about it, but he couldn’t think of any other option when he and Albin rarely talked about anything other than his job as the new viceroy. Forcing a casual conversation just to slip in what he actually wanted to talk about wouldn’t work either. His father was just as sensitive to foul play as he was, so he would know right away that his son was trying to get something from him. He didn’t want to come across like he was trying to be manipulative.

Caught up in his planning, he didn’t realize right away that Penelope had roped him back into the conversation with Naida. His sister waved a hand in front of his face when he didn’t reply. “Hello? Anyone in there?” she called mockingly.

“Sorry,” he startled and casted her a sheepish look. “I was thinking about something. It’s not important though.” Turning to Penelope, he wracked his brain to remember what she had said until he managed to pull the words from his echoic memory. “I don’t know yet,” he admitted with a shrug. “It’s all happening so fast, I haven’t had time to process the fact that I’m leaving Brerra again.” He returned her smirk. “But it’s definitely a plus that I’m not risking my life for a damn walking stick this time.”

“Technically, you didn’t last time either though,” Naida pointed out. “Since you did steal it without dying.”

[i]That’s debatable,[/i] the viceroy thought, thinking back to his encounter with Aeklora. He still wasn’t entirely sure if he’d died for half a second back then or if it had all just been a vision. He probably wouldn’t ever know. However, he couldn’t tell his sister the truth about what had happened at the Younisian castle that night without sounding like a raving lunatic, so he said instead: “I guess you’re right.”

“Anyway,” Naida stood up from the bench. “I just wanted to come over and say hi. Braden’s mad that he was left out of father’s council meeting again, so Willow and I are trying to cheer him up.” She casted them an impish grin. “I’m going to get my brother plastered. See you both later!”