It was surprising how easy it was to fall into old routines. Despite it only being her second day back with her battalion, Penelope found herself quickly adjusting back into her life on the battlefront. Waking up that morning it almost felt like she had never even left. The only thing that told of change was a small sense of loneliness. She was already missing the luxury of being able to see Crow nearly every day, even if it wasn’t for longer than one meal. Luckily the lieutenant had plenty of work to keep herself busy. 

After getting ready to face the day, she headed out and grabbed a bite of breakfast alone. She hadn’t spotted either Gavin nor Olivia so she decided to sit by herself. As she sat quietly munching on her bread, she became more aware of the glares aimed at her from a few of her nearby comrades. It wasn’t difficult to guess why. Penelope raised her head to narrow her eyes on a specific group of three that kept shooting distasteful looks her way, only turning away to whisper amongst themselves. Gossip spread through the camp like wildfire and Penelope had no doubt that word about her new courtship had gotten out based upon the looks she was receiving. 

The knight rolled her eyes and focused back on her meal, attempting to ignore the looks. Their glares were harsher than the ones she had received at the castle but she supposed part of her could understand why. The battalion had been hit multiple times by the thieves and even if it wasn’t to the same scale as the raid Jaxon had pulled, it was clearly enough to leave long lasting grudges. Not to mention that being so far from the castle lessened the influence that the king’s decision carried. It would take much more time for them to fully accept the new viceroy as well as their lieutenant who—in their eyes—had turned traitor. 

“I hope you’re ignoring them.” came a calm voice that was clearly sympathetic. 

Penelope blinked and turned her head to see Tomas stepping over to her with a half smile. “I’m sure they’ll get over it eventually. All that’s happening is just shocking.” he said with a small shrug. 

The female knight hesitated before letting out a long sigh. “I know. It’s just going to be a real pain until they do.” she responded. Penelope paused and eyed Tomas, suddenly finding herself curious about his opinion on the matter of her courtship. Mia had been too difficult to read but her values often aligned with those of her older lieutenant’s. “And what are your thoughts on my courtship?”

Tomas blinked and then gave an amused smile. “My thoughts are that it is none of my business.”

Penelope smirked a little, finding that she appreciated that mentality. “Alright, I can respect that.” she chuckled then paused with a small frown as she thought about her baroness. While she cared little about what the general public may have thought about her, she did care about her higher up’s opinion. Mia’s hesitancy to side with her at the meeting the day prior quickly popped up into her mind. Perhaps that had stemmed from newly founded distrust. “I just hope Mia feels similarly.”

“I’m sure she does. Mia’s a fair person and you haven’t committed treason, despite what some others may think.” Tomas mused with a pointed glance towards the gossiping knights. He shook his head in disapproval before turning back to her. “Speaking of her, we should probably head to the tent. It’s almost time for the meeting.”

Penelope supposed the older lieutenant was right. Besides, Mia had never been outwardly upset about her relationship with the new viceroy so the knight could only hope that meant she either accepting of it or at the very least, ignoring it. She nodded her head with an appreciative smile and got up to join Tomas as they made their way towards the large tent at the middle of camp. 

The two lieutenants had lapsed into a short silence until Tomas awkwardly cleared his throat. “By the way Penelope…. if it’s not too much to ask, I’d highly appreciate it if you’d not let your new suitor find out it was me who suggested cutting off his hands back when he was our prisoner.” he said with a small cringe. “Or if he already knows, send him my apologies.”

Penelope blinked in surprise. With all that had gone on, she had nearly forgotten about how close Crow had come to losing his hands and that the idea had stemmed from Tomas of all people. She might have held a grudge towards the lieutenant if he hadn’t ultimately turned on his own suggestion to support Mia with working with the thieves instead. With no harm done, she smirked amusedly at his words and nodded her head. “I’ll be sure to keep your secret.” she assured with a small chuckle.

Tomas let out a subtle breath of relief and nodded his head before leading the two into the tent. Inside, the three barons and Gavin had already gathered. Penelope moved to take up a seat besides Gavin and turned her head as the tent flap shifted again as Layth pushed through. Her brother shot her a cold glare as he moved to sit on her other side. Expecting nothing less from her brother after their conversation the other day, Penelope turned her head away from him to focus on Mia as the baroness spoke up. 

“Now that everyone’s hear, let’s pick up where we left off.” Mia spoke clearly, her gaze shifting onto Penelope. “I have taken your suggestion into further consideration, Penelope, and I think it would be worth it to act defensively for the sake of ending this war peacefully. But I worry the toll it will have on our people. To act only defensively will be taxing. It will allow Younis to hit us much like they would a training dummy. I’m still not certain I can sign off on this idea.”

Penelope frowned slightly and shifted in her seat. She opened her mouth to argue but wasn’t able to say her piece before Edward spoke up. 

“Our troops are strong and we must act to support the king’s decision.” Edward grunted. Despite speaking in favor of the idea, the look on his face was bitter. He glanced towards her before looking back to Mia. “We can handle it.”

“Why should we? The king never said we had to stop attacking. This peace isn’t even guaranteed! Especially with our current ‘viceroy’.” Layth jumped in with a narrowed gaze.

Edward turned on his lieutenant with a warning glare. “His lacking experience is why we must show support at the warfront. The king may not have ordered it but surely he would approve of it.”

Penelope glanced between the two Vermillion’s with a flabbergasted gaze. She pulled her eyes away from them to exchange a glance with Gavin who looked equally surprised by her uncle’s words against Layth. It was a stark change from the man who had been so rigidly against her proposal only a day prior. The meeting had only begun but it was already proving to be far more interesting than she could have planned as Edward suddenly shifted to side with her.