Penelope grinned as Crow clicked his tongue disappointedly as she brought up the wager from Bellmare. At his teasing words, she rolled her eyes playfully at him in response. “Thank the gods I was able to get out of that.” she laughed amusedly. Looking away, the knight focused back on doing what she had planned before Crow had spoken up about separating a day early. Though in a better mood after joking with him, the knight was still quick to return to surveying their surroundings to make sure the group wasn’t being followed by anyone suspicious.

As the ride went on, she kept her guard up and chatted with Crow as they rode but also used the moments of silence in between to think over her argument for the barons to act defensively at the warfront. She wanted to act quick once she returned to her battalion and that left little time to plan aside from on the road. It would likely be easy to convince Mia, especially since she had accomplished getting the king to try for peace between the kingdoms. It was the other two barons that concerned her. Namely her uncle and brother. Surely at some point word would come out about her newly established relationship with the viceroy and once it did, the knight was certain the two would refuse to listen to her even more than they already did. She just hoped such information wouldn’t come to light until after she had the chance to ask for them to plan defensively. 

As the group arrived in Wellspring, the knight felt more than ready to relax for the night. The travel and poor sleep the night before wore on her even though she had made it through most the day without issue. She dismounted her horse and dropped to the ground with a hint of soreness in her step. She thanked Preston as the attendant gathered her horse along with the others before moving over to join Crow and Naida. Penelope gave her back a stretch, earning a somewhat satisfying pop in response before turning her attention onto them, listening with amusement as Naida was less than impressed with the journey thus far. 

“It’ll get more interesting once you’re in a foreign land. At least, the scenery will change a bit.” she assured her friend as she recalled her own trip to Younis in the past. As Crow turned to her, she gave a weary smile and nodded her head. “Hopefully. If not, at least I’ll know I can sleep in my own tent by tomorrow night.” she mused with a small shrug. 

“Tent?” Naida echoed from besides them with a small frown. “I thought you were traveling with us all the way to the border.”

“Slight change of plans.” Penelope shrugged. “I decided I better just head straight back to my battalion since there’s a lot I need to do once I get back.” 

“Oh,” Naida pouted slightly. “I guess that makes sense. But I wish you would have told me sooner! I wasted a day being quiet when we could have been spending time together!” 

Penelope gave a small chuckle at her friend’s words and gave a hapless smile. “We were both tired. I think we spent the day just fine. But now that we’re here, let’s go get supper. I’m famished and I’m certain you’re probably still disappointed we missed out on a warm breakfast.” she smirked as she turned addressing Crow with a teasing tone. The knight reached to take his hand in hers, moving to stand a little closer to his side before beginning to lead the way into the inn.