Crow smiled at Penelope fondly as she assured him that they would figure it out. Hearing her say so put him at ease. She was right. They had never been traditional about the way they approached their relationship, by either noble or peasant standards. Even if Albin caused another bump in the road, they would find a way to make it work. They hadn’t come all this way just to give up, after all. One way or another, they would manage to be together, no matter who disapproved of their actions.

“Thanks,” he said appreciatively, rising to his feet from the table. “I’ll see you before supper.” Not wanting to lose any more time that morning, he took his leave from the Great Hall to search for his father. The most likely place for the king to be was in his private chamber, so he headed for the stairs that would take him up to the highest level of the castle, ruminating on the words he would say and the arguments he could use to convince Albin to let him court the knight. Even if he and Penelope could figure it out if he was denied permission, he didn’t want to fall back to doing that unless he had to. So, he did his best to plan out a compelling approach until he knocked on the heavy oak door that marked the king’s room.

A pause followed, and then the panel opened to reveal his father’s personal attendant, Hunter. The servant barely glanced at him before turning his head back into the room, “Your Highness, Lockton is here to see you.”

“Perfect, send him in,” Albin’s voice responded from just beyond the viceroy’s line of sight.

“Of course,” Hunter nodded politely and stepped aside to allow their visitor to enter the chamber.

Crow ambled past him to find his father standing by the table with a stack of papers in his hands. He seemed to have been reviewing the contents before being interrupted, but his features were relaxed, so the viceroy guessed it wasn’t anything pressing. “Ready to go early, I see,” Albin mused with a smile as he looked up from the papers to his son’s face. “I was just about to send Hunter to fetch you, but this is much better. Come over here. I have a few details I’d like to go over with you regarding your journey.”

Crow shifted his weight. Even though he’d gotten to his father as quickly as he could, it seemed like Albin had still managed to outpace him. The king was already working on the preparations for his trip to Younis. “Alright,” he agreed slowly, his heart beginning to race with nervousness as he stepped over to join him by the table. “But I actually came here to discuss something else with you…”

“Is it important?” Albin asked without looking away from the papers he had begun to examine again.

“Well, sort of,” Crow said sheepishly. “I was—”

The king held up his hand, “If it isn’t more important than your assignment, then it can wait until after we’ve finished here. Time is of the essence, boy.”

Crow bit the tip of his tongue. He wanted to have the conversation about courting Penelope as soon as possible, but he could tell that distracting Albin from his work would only irritate him. He sighed. If he wanted to get a ‘yes,’ he would have to play by the king’s rules. “Fine. What do you need to go over with me?”