When the knight reached the Great Hall, she quickly noticed that Crow wasn't amongst the scarce few there that early. It was difficult to say whether the viceroy had already beaten her there or if he was lagging behind her. Penelope didn't wonder about it for long as a different person caught her attention. She smiled tiredly as she spotted Naida flagging her down excitedly. Despite how early it was and the distance between them, the knight could already tell her friend was practically overflowing with eagerness. 

"Morning Naida, you're here early." she mused as she moved to slid in across from her friend. 

"Of course! Did Collin not tell you? I'm going to Younis with him today!" Naida said estaticly. 

Penelope paused. Though she was fairly certain Crow hadn't mentioned it, part of her wondered if she was perhaps just too tired to remember. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at her friend. "Well that's great! Good luck with your first mission out of the inner kingdom then." she said.

"Thanks! Gods I can't wait to leave!" Naida groaned exaggeratedly. 

Penelope gave a small laugh and continued to converse with Naida. They talked mainly about the trip they were about to embark on and she even answered a few questions the princess had about what Younis was like. It had been two years ago and the knight had only been there for a short time so she wasn't able to answer most of them in detail but she felt like she was able to give a decent idea of what the kingdom was like. It was hard to say if it was still like she remembered it though now that the war had been going on for some time. Perhaps their outer villages were beginning to look just as poor as the ones of Brerra. 

Breakfast went by fast for the two. Naida ate quickly as she was eager to get out of the castle and begin their trip. Penelope wasn't looking to keep up but due to how early it was, she ended up not finishing off most of her breakfast simply because she wasn't all too hungry at the moment. Satisfied with the small portion she had eaten, she got up to follow the princess out of the  dining chamber and returned to her room to collect her supplies. Since Naida had her own supplies already prepared for her, she accompanied Penelope the whole way, the two chatting casually.

Once her room was officially emptied, Penelope made her way to the stables with her friend to get her horse ready. The two split off to go to their own horses. With the courtyard and stable clear of any sign of the viceroy, she realized she must have beaten him out of the castle that morning after all. However, she didn't dwell on it. In fact the knight wished she would have known she could have gotten a couple more minutes of sleep that morning instead of waking up as early as she had. She yawned and rubbed a hand over her face as she tried to focus on the task at hand of putting away the supplies in her saddle bags. 

"Penelope."

The voice of her father made the knight jump slightly. She turned her head to see the older knight walking over to her. "Oh morning father.. What brings you here?" she asked curiously. 

"I just came to see you off and wish you luck with your return to the warfront." John replied with a small shrug.

Despite the casualness of his tone, Penelope couldn't help but stare at him mildly surprised. She had taken off a number of times for various missions, even the for the war, but her father had never bothered to see her off before. Half the time she was lucky to get a simple goodbye if their paths happened to cross prior to her own departure.Thinking on it now, their relationship had improved greatly since they had been visited by her mother. For once it felt like her ever stoic father was opening up a bit more to her and for that, the knight was grateful. "Oh ok.." she said with a dip of her head. The knight paused in her words and hesitantly stepped forward to give her father a quick embrace. "Thank you, father... for everything by the way." she mumbled.

John seemed a bit stiff at first, surprised by the hug but wrapped an arm around his daughter and patted her back. He gave a small grunt to her words, as somethings would never change, and then added, "Just be safe out there, the war isn't over yet. And when you see your brother, tell him I wish him well also." As she stepped back from him John crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a stern look. "And try not get into any fights with him. I saw how he felt about the new viceroy back when he was still a thief.. I can't imagine it going over well that someone of his blood is being courted by him."

"Well I promise not to start any." Penelope replied and gave her shoulders a shrug. "But you know how he gets so I can't say I won't finish them."

As John shot her a disapproving look he let out a sigh and glanced around the stable. "Speaking of, where [i]is[/i] your suitor?" he grumbled.