“I love you too.” Penelope murmured after he touched one last kiss to her lips. As Crow let her go, she stepped away and made her way over to her horse. Reluctantly, she pulled herself up into the saddle and settled in. The knight casted a glance over towards the departing group, her gaze following them for a moment as she silently prayed for them to have a safe journey. Pulling her gaze away, she changed directions from them and began to head further west. While parting was hard, she intended to waste no more time in getting both to Crow’s old companions as well as her own.

—- - -  - - -  — — - - - —

It had been such a long time since she had traveled alone that she had forgotten how quiet it was. Without any chatter or even the presence of others, the sounds that were normally just vaguely in the background became much easier to hear. The wind blowing the trees, the few birds still around despite the colder weather and even the sound of her horse’s hooves against the ground all seemed amplified. Over all, it just made the journey seem much more dull though she did find a bit of peacefulness in it. 

She also found that traveling alone was much quicker. At least, it felt that way. With no one else around and solely focused on getting to her destination, she set a fairly steady pace. She only took a small break to let her horse drink and graze by the river about halfway through. Once she felt they were both ready to continue, she hopped back on her stead and carried onward. Eventually she rode off the main trail and into the woods, recalling where the old waterfall hide out was. It may have been a while since she was last there, but she had been around it plenty enough to memorize the route. All she could do was hope that the group of thieves were still living there. 

It was early evening when she had arrived, the sun just beginning it’s descent. Penelope stopped her horse near the river side and tied it to a nearby tree. Looking around the area, it seemed quiet as a usual forest would but that didn’t mean anything. The waterfall had always been a rather secure spot for the thieves, largely because it was so well hidden and because the noise of the water could drowned out their talking from behind. [i]Here’s to hoping they didn’t have to move for some reason… [/i]she thought as she began to approach, keeping her guard up. Though she trusted that the thieves wouldn’t be aggressive towards her, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be aggressive towards a knight.  She didn’t want to chance one coming back from a hunt or something and only seeing her from the back. The last thing she needed was to be stabbed in the back before she had a chance to tell them about Crow.

Penelope made her way cautiously up the back of the waterfall and peered into the cave. “Hazel, Alistair, Rikki?” she called out as she stepped into view.