[IC] Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

[Rogue Sloth]

“Two years, to be exact,” Crow casted Penelope a wry smirk as he finished piling food onto his plate. The last time he’d been able to eat venison was when they had been traveling through the wealthy parts of Younis on their mission. Since then, he’d never found the opportunity to have it again. He and the other thieves didn’t want to hunt deer unless they could be certain that they would be able to use at least most of the meat, but with no way to store it properly and only four mouths to feed, it would have been a waste to even try. Additionally, most nobles on the edges of the inner kingdom—their main targets on their heists before the war—didn’t seem to eat it often, and when they did, their large family clans always finished off the food without leaving anything leftover that he and his companions could steal. So, he had just come to accept the fact that he would likely never eat it again.

I’m so glad I was wrong about that, he thought with a satisfied sigh as he swallowed a mouthful of the savory meat. Though he disliked almost everything about nobility, he supposed there was one perk to accepting his father’s offer if it meant he could eat like this every day. The flavorful foods that nobles enjoyed were the one thing he had always been a bit envious of. Compared to the bland dishes peasants were able to prepare, the plates of richly spiced entrees with real meat—not the dry, tasteless chicken commoners consumed—were heavenly.

Crow popped another bite of food into his mouth and glanced up as Penelope introduced herself to Hunter. It was quite obvious that the attendant was intimidated by her, and he even seemed to know her family name. The thief smiled softly as she reassured the nervous man that he had nothing to be afraid of, appreciative of her kindness to the servant. It was why he had bothered to invite Hunter to sit with them in the first place, since he’d gotten the impression that the other man wasn’t used to being treated like anything more than a serf.

Perhaps it was possible that Hunter had been avoiding eye contact because he was uncomfortable about being around a known thief, but he suspected it had more to do with the fact that Albin had personally invited him to the castle and was treating him like a royal guest. Even if the attendant didn’t know about the offer the king had made to him, it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to guess that the thief was there for a rather prestigious reason. Of course that would make it confusing for the other man to figure out how to act around him.

Crow turned to Penelope again as she suddenly asked Hunter about arranging an audience with the king. For a moment, he stared at her confusedly until he remembered her experience with Toreus the previous night. After everything that had happened between himself and his father, he’d nearly forgotten that she’d met the Brerratic god and that he’d told her to convince the king to end the war with Younis peacefully. He glanced back at the attendant as he waited to hear what the other man thought about the request.

“Of course,” Hunter dipped his head politely. “The king has retired to his chambers for the night, but I can give him your request first thing in the morning. I’m sure he’ll be eager to hear about your battalion’s progress in the war.” Finished with his small portion of food, the attendant rose from the table and dipped his head in another courteous gesture to Crow. “Thank you for your generosity. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to around the castle.” With that, he turned and exited the room, shutting the door behind him as he left the two alone.

Once he was gone, Crow turned to Penelope with a grin and leaned in to press a quick kiss to her lips before he returned his focus to his food. “Sorry, darling,” he said with a teasing smirk. “I’d give you more of my attention if I could, but I’d like to finish the rest of this food before it gets cold.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope gave a small smile and nodded her gratefully head to Hunter as he agreed to speak to the king for her. She was glad that the attendant was willing to in her request and even more so that she'd at least have until the morning to think over what she was going to say to him. It was her first time addressing the new king directly so needless to say she was a bit nervous, especially after all that she knew about him. Although, she hoped that her father had gained enough favor with him from his recent mission to rub off on her as well.

She watched as he left before turning to look over at Crow. Penelope smiled and leaned in to meet him as he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. The knight gave a small laugh at his words and moved to pick up one of the tarts. "It's fine. It's not every day you get this kind of food so enough it." she mused before taking a bite from the sweet. She let out a content sigh, savoring the sweet flavor before she rose up to her feet.

While Crow ate, Penelope decided to make the most of the time by snooping around the room a bit. The knight stepped over to the small library, sweeping her gaze over a few of the nearby books and their titles. She found it interesting that a couple seemed to be in foreign languages while others were on etiquette and other information that would be useful to a viceroy. The knight pulled out one book that was a recording of the past affairs of Brerra and flipped through the pages, briefly eying it over. "History, etiquette, and some foreign books... There's quite the collection going on here." she mused softly before shutting the book and placing it back on the shelf.

The knight glanced at a nearby scroll and gave a small frown as another thought came to mind. This room was only empty because Albin hadn't been able to taken on another apprentice since the death of Abraxas. Penelope let out a small sigh, feeling a twinge of old guilt as she remembered the young knight. Even though two years had passed, she still carried some guilt of having been the cause of his death. "It's crazy to think the king's offering you the job Abraxas was supposed to have." she mumbled in a quiet voice as she glanced around.

[Rogue Sloth]

“I’m glad you understand,” Crow smirked at Penelope before looking over the table to see what other dishes he could try. Though venison was his favorite type of meat, that didn’t mean he was going to restrict himself from enjoying all the other elaborate foods the kitchen staff had prepared for him. He refilled his empty plate with cooked vegetables and a white meat that looked like it had come from some type of bird—maybe a turkey? Whatever it was, it smelled delicious, so he intended to try it.

Since he had been bedridden and unable to eat for most of his stay in the knights’ camp, his appetite had grown sizably, and he guessed he would be able to finish off his current plate as well as perhaps one more small helping after that. After all, he needed to put back on the weight he had lost during that time. He hadn’t dropped that much in just a couple weeks, but it was still enough to be a bit noticeable on his already lean frame. He preferred to be at his fittest, which meant keeping up a healthier weight than what he had come down to since his injury in Jaxon’s camp.

In addition to the fancy food, Crow also noticed that a dish had been set out with a blood red liquid in it. Curious to find out what it was, he leaned a little closer to see if he could catch a whiff of it. When he did, he noticed that it smelled like fruit. Is this wine? He wondered, eyeing the mysterious drink with interest. He knew about wine from what others had told him about it, but he’d never seen it before in person. Peasants in the outer villages were far too poor to afford anything more than ale, mead, or small beer, and since he had never been a heavy drinker to begin with, he’d never felt compelled to steal any alcohol like this from nobles.

However, there was nothing stopping him from tasting it now.

Picking up one of the goblets on the table, the thief dipped the cup into the dish to fill it with the strange liquid. He studied it for a moment longer before finally lifting it to his lips to take a small swig. The wine was surprisingly tart, which caught him a little off guard because of its sweet smell, but it wasn’t bad. Overall, the flavor just reminded him of grapes, which he supposed made sense since he’d heard that that was where the drink came from. It was definitely richer than ale.

Crow’s attention was drawn from the wine when he heard Penelope speak up from across the room. Turning to look at her, he smiled softly, finding her interest in the library amusing. It was something he couldn’t appreciate in the same way that she could, since he was illiterate. The most he could do was look at the unique patterns on the spines of the books or search their pages for pictures that he could understand, but the words that painted the paper was beyond his knowledge.

At her following words, his smile faded. She always looked so defeated when Abraxas’s name came up. He hadn’t been able to understand it before, but after losing both Charles and Simon, two thieves he had cared about quite a bit, he had a bit more empathy for the knight.

Standing up from the table, he made his way over to where she was standing and wrapped his arms around the small of her back. He held her gaze for a moment before leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. “It’s crazy that he’s offering me a job at all,” he sighed when he pulled back again, trailing one hand up the length of her back as his eyes wandered to the shelves of books. “You’d think my father would want to choose someone who could read at least one of these languages, wouldn’t you? I mean, I know I have a knack for picking up oral speech, but I don’t see how that’s enough of a reason for me to be qualified for a position like this.”

He frowned slightly as he turned back to the knight, “Even if I took the job, there’s so much I don’t know how to do… It’s a bit overwhelming.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope turned towards Crow as he walked over to her and wrapped her arms around him, returning his embrace. She met his lips as he leaned in to kiss her and closed her eyes for a moment as his touch gave her comfort. As he pulled back, the knight gaze a small nod of agreement and looked over at the books. "I suppose it's because there are very few nobles that even know how to speak different languages.. Perhaps along with his other reasonings, he thinks that you'd be able to pick up the written word just as quickly as you've picked up the spoken." she mused.

As he turned back to her, she offered him a small smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "This whole trip has been overwhelming." she sighed softly. From her father finding out about them, to being visited by a god and her mother and now to Crow being offered the position of viceroy, it had been a long three days. Just thinking about it made her press a little closer to him, finding a sense of peace in having him close despite all they had gone through.

"Besides you still have some time to think about it more so don't feel too rushed to make a decision." Penelope advised as she glanced up at him. The knight still figured that he'd eventually choose to return to the outer villages so she was partially relying on him mulling it over for a little while. She needed to time to go and try and convince the king about ending the war before having to deal with returning to the outer villages and her camp when Crow didn't take the position.

Her gaze drifted over to the books again and another thought came to mind making her smile. "By the way.. Have you ever tried to learn reading and writing?" she asked meeting his gaze. "If it's something that interests you and even if you don't choose to take your father's offer, I could always try and teach you a bit of it... Granted I'm not exactly sure how well I'd be able to teach. I'm not exactly a tutor after all."

[Rogue Sloth]

“Maybe,” Crow murmured absently, eyeing the books on the shelves as Penelope suggested that his father expected that he would be able to learn to read quickly. Having never tried it before, he had no idea how long it would take him to master something like that. Amongst all of the thieves in his group, Simon was the only one who had been even somewhat literate, and even after all the time he’d spent poring over books, he’d acknowledged that he hadn’t been able to progress very far. Based on that, it sounded like reading and writing was a difficult thing to learn. However, mastering spoken language was supposed to be difficult too, and he’d been able to pick that up no problem. Perhaps there was something to the knight’s theory after all.

As Penelope went on to say that the whole trip had been overwhelming, Crow nodded in agreement. When they had left the knights’ camp in the beginning, he’d expected the whole thing to go by quickly so he could return to the outer villages again after just a few days. Instead, the journey to the castle had been nothing short of exhausting, and now there was a chance he wouldn’t go home at all. In the span of just one evening, everything had changed. He didn’t even know what to think anymore.

He held Penelope a little closer as she reminded him that he still had time to make his decision. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t help feeling like a heavy weight was bearing down on his shoulders. Although his father had made it sound like he could take all the time he needed to choose a path, he didn’t doubt that the king would be expecting an answer soon. After all, he probably had more important things to do that sit around the castle, waiting for his estranged son to make up his mind about whether or not to take the job. The thief didn’t want to leave his father hanging for too many days. He would have to come to a decision eventually.

Crow was drawn from his thoughts when Penelope spoke up again to ask if he had ever tried to learn how to read or write before. “Never,” he shook his head, looking down to meet her gaze. “It wasn’t really something I thought would be useful to me, since I’ve never needed it before, so I haven’t bothered trying to learn.”

As she went on to suggest that she could teach him, his eyes wandered back to the countless books. “Hm,” he grunted thoughtfully. It honestly wasn’t something he had ever been interested in learning before, since he tended to prefer spending his time learning skills that he deemed useful to himself. However, she seemed excited to teach him, and he did have plenty of time to kill while they stayed at the castle…

“Alright,” he answered after a pause, turning back to her with a fond smile and running one hand through her hair. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t learn how. I mean, we’ve got all these books here already, so we might as well put some to use.” He leaned down to kiss her playfully on the nose. “Show me what you’ve got, teacher.”

[BuzzingBee]

As he admitted it wasn't something he had tried before, Penelope wasn't very surprised. There were very few peasants that could read and write so even finding a way to learn or be taught would likely have been difficult—although she recalled that Hazel was able to, she doubted the herbalist had the patience for teaching. And of course, since he didn't feel the need to learn, it wasn't a priority to figure out a way to learn.

When he agreed to learn, Penelope smiled eagerly. She didn't really care about Crow being illiterate but she was still excited to try and teach him it. It was nice to share a skill with him, even if it wouldn't be overly useful to him. "Alright... Just know it takes a while to learn so these books probably won't be too useful to us right now." she told him. The knight stepped out of his embrace and swept her gaze over the library as she looked for the blank sheets of paper. Since it was the viceroy's room, she assumed that they must keep blank scrolls and paper for letters somewhere.

Her gaze fell on a small basket on one of the middle shelves and stepped over to it. Looking inside, she grinned as she found a small assortment of blank paper and scrolls along with a couple closed up jars of ink. She grabbed a small stack of paper, a quill and one ink jar before turning back to Crow. "Luckily, it seems like they had everything in here that we needed." she said and reached for his hand with her free hand. Giving his hand a fond squeeze, she lead the way over to the table and set the items down before gesturing for him to take a seat in the chair before pulling up one for herself from the dining table.

Settling in next to him, she grabbed a piece of paper and opened up the jar of ink. "I barely even know where to start.." she admitted thoughtfully a she dipped the quill into the ink and looked down at the blank page. The knight tried to recall what some of the first steps in her education were. However, that was so long ago, most of it was hard to remember. Deciding to just start with the alphabet, she began to write out each letter from a to z, falling into a brief silence.

As she finished she turned to Crow and gave him a small smile. "So for starters, this is every letter in order." she explained. "You'll probably be able to start recognizing them and how they sound pretty quickly... Like.. Let's see.. Give me a word. Any word and I'll show you how to spell it with these."

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow felt a wave of affection for Penelope when her features brightened at his agreement to learn how to read and write from her. Even though he didn’t care very much about the skill itself, he enjoyed seeing her get so excited about the prospect of teaching him. That alone was worth the effort of learning to be literate. He also liked the thought of being able to write to her if they ever found themselves apart for a long time during the war. It had already happened a couple of times, so even though he was going to try his hardest not to go so long without seeing her again, he figured it would be nice to have a way to keep in touch with her if it ever happened in the future.

He stood back as she pulled away from him to look over the various books and supplies on the shelves, watching from a distance as she retrieved some paper and tools that he had seen Hazel use to write in her journal before. It still felt a little strange to imagine himself learning how to use a quill, but he supposed it wasn’t too late for him to give it a try. He took her hand and followed her over to the table by the window, sitting down in the cushioned chair—it seemed all the furniture in the upper levels of the castle was padded for comfort—and waiting for her to pull up her own seat beside him.

As he did, he took some time to look over the things she had put on the table. Having watched Hazel write before, he remembered how the quill and ink worked together. The only thing left was for him to learn how to use them to make meaningful symbols, like the ones he had seen in the herbalist’s journal.

He glanced up as Penelope pulled up a chair beside him and set herself up with a fresh piece of paper. His eyes wandered to her hand that gripped the quill, studying the way she held the tool by letting the shaft rest against the crook between her thumb and index finger. Having learned plenty of other skills that required intricate work with one’s hands, he had learned that the position of a utensil could make all the difference sometimes, so he wanted to copy everything she did to the best of his ability.

When the knight began marking the paper with symbols, Crow leaned forward in his chair and observed her with interest. Every single character she made was different, although some looked quite similar to each other. He had a feeling the hardest part of writing was going to be remembering which symbol meant what. With spoken words, it was easy to tell what someone was saying because he could hear the difference in the syllables and phrases, but seeing that same difference in a visual form was going to take time.

And if I take my father’s job offer, I’ll have to learn the written languages of multiple kingdoms, he thought with a faint wince, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Deciding it was too much to focus on right now, he turned his attention back to Penelope as she explained that she had written out all of the ‘letters’ in order. At that, the thief quirked a brow in surprise. He had thought there would be many more than the ones she had already written down. After all, the Missenar language was full of a number of different articulations—certainly more than the few characters she had just shown him. Perhaps some symbols accounted for multiple sounds? Oh gods, he cringed. This might be harder than I thought.

As Penelope asked him to give her a word, Crow drummed his fingers on the table in thought. After a moment, he met her gaze again with a grin. “Your name,” he decided. “Show me how to write ‘Penelope.’”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope waited as he took a moment to think of a word and shifted to place a new sheet of paper in front of her. As he turned to her and asked her to show him how to write her name, the knight smiled fondly at the thief, warmed that he had chosen her name as the first word to learn. She nodded her head and shifted the paper she had written the alphabet on in front of him while she kept the blank paper in front of her so she could still write.

"Ok so to spell my name it's P..E...N..E..L..O..P..E." She went slowly, pointing to each individual letter on the alphabet itself to him before writing them down to spell out her name. The knight also tried to keep her writing as clean as she possibly could. Admittedly, she was a bit out of practice. She hadn't written in quite some time so going slow was also partially so it'd even be legible. As she finished, she turned back to Crow.

"Obviously the letters don't always sound like how they're said... Like for example, E is usually pronounced more like 'eh' and P is usually 'puh'. They all pretty much have that.. Plus there's a few other things that might change their sound but we won't focus on that." Penelope gave a dismissive wave. She didn't want to get into things that were too complicated when he was just barely starting. From what she knew about teaching, you had to start with the basics first. So getting him more familiar with what the letters looked and sounded like seemed like the best first step.

She smiled at him and held out the quill to him. "Ready to give writing a try?"

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow followed along with his eyes as Penelope wrote her name slowly, indicating which letters she was using to make which sounds as she went. As he suspected, it seemed like the symbols did represent multiple sounds, because two of the ‘E’s in her name sounded different than the last one. He looked over the word on the paper with a puzzled expression, wondering how he was supposed to know when the written letters were supposed to be pronounced in different ways, as well as how he was supposed to know which ones to use in different words when writing them out, himself. He sighed softly. It seemed like reading and writing were going to take him much longer than it took him to learn a spoken language.

He looked up at Penelope as she explained how the letter’s names were different than the sounds they made. That made him want to roll his eyes. Of course, it seemed that every part of writing was going to have some sort of trick to it. He wished it was simpler, so he could just learn a few general rules and pick it up from there. Instead, he was starting to think he was going to have to learn a lot of complex rules with exceptions. It was no wonder why Simon had still been barely literate after studying for so long.

As the knight offered him the quill, Crow hesitated for a moment before he took it from her. “I might as well,” he shrugged, looking down at the paper in front of him. “Just don’t laugh if my attempt turns out much worse than yours, okay?” Adjusting his grip on the tool to match the way she had held it before—the position made him use different muscles in his hand that felt foreign to him—he glanced between Penelope’s paper and his own as he meticulously copied down the way she had written her name.

As he’d expected, the lines and curves were a bit sloppy compared to the neat letters she had made, but when he finished, he felt rather pleased with himself. Though he still didn’t understand why he was using the particular symbols for her name, nor how to choose any letters for other words, he had written something that had a meaning for the first time in his life. The thought made him feel surprisingly giddy with excitement.

Looking up to meet her gaze again, he sat up a little straighter with newfound enthusiasm, “How do I write my name?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope smiled at him encouragingly. "Of course. No one's first attempt at writing is perfect." She leaned back slightly as she watched him try to copy the way she had written her name. The knight smiled to herself as she watched him write it out. In showing him how to write, she felt like she sharing a bit of her life with him since she had grown up with such education. Part of her wished she had thought to ask him about it sooner, especially when he seemed to gain a bit of enthusiasm after writing for the first time.

"Here. I'll show you." she grinned, encouraged by the enthusiasm he was showing. She took the quill back and dipped it in the ink again as she shifted her paper closer to herself again. "Well, for Crow, it's C-R-O-W." she explained pointing out the letters to him again as she went over how to spell his name. The knight gave a small smirk. "You might recognize that a little if you've ever looked at your wanted posters." she mused, knowing that his name was always written in bold on them. The knight paused and looked over at him before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

"And if you want to know how to spell your real name," she added softly. "I believe it's C-O-L-L-I-N. People spell names differently sometimes but that's how I'd spell yours." Penelope gave a small shrug as she carefully wrote out his name beneath his alias. Once she finished she turned to him again and gave a small smile. "You'll notice that both your names start with 'C'. It usually has a 'cuh' sound to it.. And in Collin, the only new letter is 'I' which is probably pretty familiar sounding since it's used alone quite a bit, even though that's not how it sounds in your name."

She offered him the quill again so he could try writing his own name for the first time. "Once you get used to how the letters sound, you'll probably be able to start recognizing when you're using them in some of the words you say." she told him as she leaned back a bit in her chair, looking over the papers in front of them.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow eagerly passed off the writing quill to Penelope when she said she would show him how to write his name. He was surprised by how excited he was to learn such a skill, since it had never interested him before. Now that he was actually giving it a try, he found that he was fascinated by the way the letters came together to make words that had real meanings and could be understood by other people in the kingdom. Of course, the peasants had their own written stories too, but theirs were always in the form of pictures drawn with charcoal, since they didn’t have any other means of recording anything. Writing like this was much different than what he had grown up with.

As Penelope demonstrated how to write his alias, the thief leaned a little closer to her with interest. When she finished, he blinked as he realized he recognized the shapes she used and nodded when she said his name was written on his wanted posters. “Oh yeah,” he mused. “I do remember seeing it… I guess I just never realized that’s what my name looked like.” He studied the symbols on the paper a little more closely, finding a strange sense of identity in understanding how his name was written.

The feeling only increased when Penelope went on to show him how to write his real name. His heartbeat quickened with excitement as the letters appeared on the paper, forming the name his mother had given him as a child. He listened absently as Penelope explained a little more to him about the characters in both of his names, though his gaze never moved from the sheet in front of her as he stared down at the ink. He was too caught up in his own thoughts to fully pay attention to what she was telling him.

It felt like a whole different world was opening up to him as he began to gain a faint comprehension of the words. All of the scrolling letters he’d seen in books before that’d had no meaning to him would soon reveal their secrets. His lip curved upward in an amused smile as he realized he finally understood why Simon had been trying to learn to read and write before. Written books were like foreign languages—When he’d learned the tongues of Gorm, Waithen, and Medora, he had no longer been confined to communicating in his native language, but when he learned how to read and write, he would no longer be restricted to the spoken word. It was an empowering feeling.

When Penelope passed the quill back to him, he took it from her without hesitation this time. Resting the blackened tip on the paper, he decided to write out his real name first, finding more of a desire to memorize that word, since it had more meaning to him than his alias did. His eyes flicked between the letters Penelope had written and the ones he was trying to copy down as he marked the paper with painstaking effort, wanting to improve his ability to write the symbols legibly. When he was done, he lowered his hand and looked down at his name, pleased with the result.

In the next moment, he suddenly turned his head to meet Penelope’s lips in a deep kiss, feeling a strong burst of affection for her for teaching him how to write his own name. He lingered for a while before he pulled back again with a grin. “This is a lot more useful than I was expecting,” he said, reaching out with his left hand to rest on her thigh beneath the table. “Thank you, love.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope watched as Crow wrote out his name for the first time. She noticed how he took extra care to write out the letters so they would be legible. It would take time for him to get used to using a quill as well as how the letters were shaped but seeing him so focused made her feel a swell of affection for the thief. He seemed to be growing more enthused to learn the written language and she was plenty eager to teach him.

As he finished writing out his name, she smiled and was about to make a comment on his progress but didn't get a chance to as he suddenly pressed a deep kiss to her lips. She blinked, caught off guard at first, but quickly relaxed into the kiss, closing her eyes as she returned his passion. When he pulled back, Penelope smiled at him and leaned over to press an affectionate kiss to his cheek. "You're welcome. I'm glad you think so." she said as she looked fondly at him.

Seeing his response to taking the first steps of learning how to read and write made her wonder if she could possibly teach in the outer villages. Sure she wasn't a skilled tutor in the least and still had a lot to figure out about passing her knowledge on to the next person, but perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea. It'd give her another way to help out the villagers if they wished to learn. Maybe I could even figure out a way to work sending out tutors to the outer villages in my plan as well... I'm sure Gavin would be willing to take it under his care.. she thought as she looked down at the papers in front of them.

A knock suddenly sounded from the door behind them, breaking her thoughts and making Penelope jump slightly. She shifted slightly away from Crow and turned her head to look over her shoulder as the door opened. The knight didn't have enough time to put much distance between her and the thief, nor cover up the papers in front of them, so her heart began to beat a bit anxiously with worry about who was entering the room. However, she relaxed slightly as the familiar figure of her father stepped in and quietly closed the door behind him.

John glanced between them before walking over. "I was just coming to get you, Penelope. I've finished making our sleeping arrangements for the night." he paused and his gaze shifted to the paper. His gaze narrowed and he looked at them questioningly. "What are you doing?"

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow smiled as Penelope kissed him on the cheek and turned back to the paper in front of him to practice writing out his alias. As much as he would have liked to write his birth name, he knew he would probably be using the name ‘Crow’ more often once he got better at writing, since he didn’t want to give out his actual name to any more people than the few who already knew it. It was simply safer to keep the name ‘Collin’ between himself and Penelope, so no one else could find out about it.

However, he had just barely touched the quill to the paper again when a knock suddenly sounded at the door to his room. The thief spun around in his chair just as the door opened, only to see Penelope’s father step inside. The sigh of the older knight made him relax, since he’d been momentarily worried that Hunter had come back. It wouldn’t have been good if the attendant had caught him sitting so close to Penelope, since they didn’t want to tip him off about their relationship.

Despite the fact that he knew he could trust John, Crow supposed he should have been a little more attentive as the other man commented on the papers between them. The thief’s eyes flicked to them for a moment before returning to John’s face, and he hurriedly snatched the two sheets off the table to hide behind his back in one hand. It wasn’t a very subtle move at all, but he didn’t want the knight to see what they had been writing, since his real name had been on the papers.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he averted his gaze off to the side. “Penelope was just teaching me how to write,” he mumbled in response to the question.

“I see,” John mused, knitting his brow as he studied the thief with a confused look, as if he wasn’t sure why he was trying to be secretive about something like that. His eyes wandered down to the thief’s torso like he was trying to see through him to look at the concealed papers as he added, “Who’s Collin?”

Crow blanched. It seemed he hadn’t hidden the papers quickly enough to hide what they’d written on them after all. He glanced at Penelope as he fumbled to think of a lie, but apparently, his initial reaction had been enough to give the sharp-witted knight his answer.

“I see,” John said again before the thief could make up an explanation. He turned to Penelope, moving on abruptly from the subject. “If you’re finished here, our sleeping quarters have been prepared for us. Come with me, and I’ll take you to them.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope stiffened slightly as she noticed Crow hurry to hide the paper from view. Unfortunately, it seemed he hadn't been fast enough as her father asked who Collin was. She glanced helplessly towards Crow, unable to say anything in time to cover for the accidental reveal. The knight looked back at her father as he went on to address her about their quarters being prepared. She stumbled to answer him at first, still a bit thrown off by his sudden discovery of Crow's name. She wasn't sure if it was information she could trust with her father. Though he seemed tolerant of Crow, there was still a chance that could change in time.

Recovering from her surprise, she gave a small nod to John and then look over to Crow. "Guess I better get going. I'll see you sometime tomorrow then." she mumbled softly before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. She was still a bit hesitant being physical with the thief around her father but since she wasn't quite sure when she'd be able to spend time with him again, she had to at least give him one parting kiss. With that, she stood up and walked over to join her father as he turned to lead the way out of the room.

As John closed the door behind them, he turned to look over at Penelope. She shifted a bit uncomfortably as she noticed him studying her for a brief moment before taking the lead to head down the hallway. It left the knight wondering what was on his mind. Perhaps it was because of her clearly having known Crow's real name already and not saying anything. Or perhaps it was because of something else.

Luckily she didn't have to wait long to find out as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "So, would you like to explain why William is suggesting that I keep a close eye on you two?" he asked. "He seems to be a bit.. overly suspicious." Penelope flinched. So it seemed William had approached her father after all. Though it sounded like he hadn't tried to give away anything other than that John needed to keep a close eye on the thief being around his daughter. She hoped it wouldn't progress any further then that.

"Exactly how long has this been going on Penelope?" John asked narrowing his eyes as her reaction seemed to answer his question. "How many people know about this?"

"Not as long as you're probably thinking... Yes it did start back then but we parted ways for two years.. It's a long story" she explained, lowering her voice as she moved to walk closer to her father. "William only knows about back then not now but he's suspicious... And aside from him, only Gavin...and Olivia."

Her father pinched the bridge of his nose as he learned about the others knowing of her relationship with Crow. "And Mia's suspicious. She mentioned thinking you two were friends to me when we spoke." John muttered shaking his head disapprovingly. "I swear that boy better use his head and take the king's offer. At this rate, you'll both be in bigger trouble than you'll be able to handle." Her father focused his gaze back ahead as he lead them to their quarters for the night. Penelope let out a small sigh and trailed behind him without arguing. Her father seemed a bit frustrated with them so she figured it was best not to push him too much by explaining how she trusted both Gavin and Olivia or how she was certain they could eventually throw off William and Mia.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow silently cursed as John went on to speak with Penelope. Far too many people were learning more about him than he was comfortable with. Now, there were three knights who knew his name aside from Penelope, when he had managed to keep that piece of himself a secret for more than a decade. He didn’t like it. After going all of his adult life by the alias, ‘Crow,’ he preferred to keep his real name to himself—well, and Penelope, since he trusted her too. It was unnerving to know that there were others who had found out about it through his own mistakes. He needed to be more careful about bringing it up in the future.

As Penelope spoke to him, Crow nodded wordlessly, still reeling from the fact that yet another noble had learned his name, and met her lips in a quick kiss. “Goodnight, love,” he finally managed to say as she got up to follow her father out of the room. Watching them walk away, he waited until the two knights were gone before he leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair with a groan. He was getting far too complacent in a castle that was filled with his enemies. Just because Penelope was there with him didn’t mean he should be letting his guard down as much as he was. He needed to remember to stay more alert.

Standing up from the table, the thief put out the lantern that had been lit there and made his way over to his bed, deciding he might as well go to sleep since there wasn’t anything else for him to do now that he was alone. He kicked off his boots and pulled back the layers of sheets and blankets to lay down. Despite his warnings to himself about keeping his guard up, he was immediately distracted by just how comfortable the massive bed was.

As he settled down on the mattress—it felt like it was filled with feathers and animal hair rather than the straw that was used in the beds at the inns—he let out an involuntary sigh. Expensive luxuries like this were the very things he hated about nobles, but he couldn’t stop himself from enjoying the softness of the mattress or the smooth, silk sheets or even the pillows—gods, he’d never slept on any bed with more than just a thin, straw-filled sack to rest his head on, and he’d used to think that was luxurious. Above that though, the bed was actually warm.

At this time of year, he’d always needed to sleep wearing the clothes on his back because the blankets and animal skins he used on his own bedroll weren’t enough to keep him warm. However, between the protective walls of the castle and the layers of blankets on top of him now, Crow found that he actually had to take off his clothing to keep from getting too warm. It felt strange to be so comfortable using only the parts of the bed by itself, but it wasn’t a bad change.

He closed his eyes, burying himself in the layers of blankets and pillows as he enjoyed the feeling of the silk sheets against his skin. Laying in a bed as comfortable as this, it didn’t take long before he drifted off into a contented slumber, though he still slept lightly out of habit.

--

The next morning, Crow was roused by the sound of a knock at the door, followed by the jostling of the door handle. He moaned sleepily and rolled onto his stomach, not wanting to move from the comfortable bed unless he had to. Instead, he just cracked one eye open to see who had come to visit him this time. When he did, he spotted his father’s attendant, Hunter, making his way over to the table on the left side of the room to clear away the leftover food, of which there wasn’t much, thanks to Crow’s ravenous appetite and the help of the others.

The servant seemed to catch him watching and dipped his head in a courteous gesture, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Crow yawned lazily in response, turning over to lay on his back again. As he did, he realized there was the smell of fresh food in the room. Suddenly more awake, he sat up on the bed to see that Hunter was setting out platters of breakfast food. Already, his mouth began to water as he recalled how good the dinner had been the night before. Assuming his father intended to continue feeding him only the best dishes, whatever the attendant was putting up for him now had to be good.

Enticed by the prospect of eating more delicious food, the thief pushed the blankets off of himself and slipped off the mattress to gather his clothes that he had left piled at the foot of the bed the night before. However, he had only just put on his pants again when he realized Hunter was eyeing him from the other side of the room. He turned to meet the other man’s gaze, shifting his weight slightly as he asked a defensive: “What?”

Hunter blinked and turned away, seeming embarrassed at having been caught staring. He busied himself by setting up the last plate as he replied, “S-Sorry. It’s just… no one told me you were injured.”

Crow looked down at the bandages around his torso and shrugged, “I’m fine.” Sliding his tunic over his head, he made his way over to the table to get a closer look at the arrangement of food that had been laid out that morning.

“I can alert the court physician,” Hunter went on, standing aside to let the thief freely circle the table. “At the very least, he can look you over to make sure your wound doesn’t get any worse.”

“Mhm,” Crow grunted absently in response, too distracted by the rich-looking breakfast to pay attention to what the attendant was saying. “Say, is that wine?” He asked abruptly, pointing at another dish of red liquid. “There was some last night too, but I’m still not completely sure what it is.”

“Yes, it’s wine,” Hunter answered with a nod. He studied the thief for a moment longer before seeming to realize that his focus was solely on the food. “I have other matters to attend to for the king this morning, so I’ll leave you to enjoy your breakfast. If you need anything else, please, come and let me know.” He dipped his head again and turned to exit the room, leaving Crow to work on the small feast in peace.

[BuzzingBee]

The next morning, Penelope shifted comfortably in her bed as she began to stir. The knight sighed, feeling reluctant to get up as she was quite comfortable. She was also reluctant because of the anxiousness she felt about facing the king. Meeting Toreus was still fresh in her mind and his words of warning rang through her head as she thought about what she was going to say. If she had just chosen to meet with the king on her own terms, perhaps it would have been quite as nerve wracking but since this was a request made by a god, the weight on her shoulders felt quite heavy.

"I hope you're not planning to stay in bed all day." John mumbled from across the room as he stood up from his own bed.

She sighed and slowly pushed herself to sit up. "No.. I was just thinking.." she replied as she reluctantly moved to get up.

John studied her for a moment. "About telling the king to back out of the war?" he asked. She nodded silently and John crossed his arms over his chest. "The gods are on your side. I'm sure it will go fine."

"They might be on my side but that doesn't mean they're going to help." Penelope pointed out. She shifted a bit uneasily and looked over at her father. "You've dealt with him quite a bit, right? Do you have any tips about how I could convince him?"

"Unfortunately I have." John grumbled then shrugged his shoulder. "My tip would be to target what he cares about... Which is money and power from what I know. Surely the war is costing him quite a bit after all so go after that and keep confident." Her father paused and gave her a stern look. "And be careful around him, Penelope... I don't think he has anything to gain from you aside from a normal status report but I'd still advise never letting your guard down around him. That man is a viper."

She met her father's gaze and gave a small, feeling a bit unsettled by his words of warning. She knew her father had never been particularly fond of Albin but he was getting a bit more vocal about it than she was used to. Perhaps it was because of being reminded of Albin's past or because of her involvement with his estranged son. Regardless, the knight figured it was likely best to keep her father's words in mind when it came to speaking with the man.

Once they were both ready, John lead the way through the castle back up to the viceroy's room where Crow was staying. It seem he intended to go over a bit of information with both of them about their stay in the castle and since Penelope would likely be leaving at some point to speak with the king, he wanted to get over with quickly. He knocked on the door and then stepped inside. The older knight's gaze fell on Crow and his small feast. "Morning." he muttered as he stepped into the room.

Penelope walked in after him and closed the door behind her. As she turned to look at Crow, she smirked noticing the king had arranged for another big spread. "Morning. I see the king is still making sure you're 'well fed'."

[Rogue Sloth]

Whether his father was really trying to reconnect with him or not, Crow was quite pleased with the meals he was being provided with during his stay in the castle. It was obvious to him that the king was trying to get on his good side, and he couldn’t deny that it was working at least a bit. Still, good food and a comfortable bed weren’t going to make his decision for him. He liked the luxuries, but they were superficial compared to everything he had in the outer villages. His friendship with the other thieves and the meaningful work they were doing to help the villagers meant much more to him than anything he could gain by taking on a noble title.

He was just about to fill up his plate with a second helping of bread and fruit when another knock sounded at the door. Looking up from the small banquet, the thief brightened as his eyes fell on Penelope. Of course, he noticed that John was with her too, but he still wasn’t entirely sure how to act around the older knight, so he focused on her instead.

At her comment about the large breakfast, Crow laughed. “He really is,” he said, rising from his chair to meet her halfway in a warm embrace. “I have to say, meeting my father isn’t at all the experience I thought it was going to be.” He glanced back over his shoulder at the dishes of food. “He’s certainly figured out the way to my heart.” Turning back to Penelope, he stepped back from her and let his arms fall back to his sides, though he took one of her hands in his as he did.

“You both should have some,” he offered with an eager grin, looking between the two knights. “It’s too much for me to finish alone, and I wouldn’t want food this good to go to waste.” Fixing his gaze on Penelope once more, he shot her a playful wink, “Besides, I always enjoy the chance to spend more time in your company, love.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope smiled and wrapped her arms around him to return his embrace. She intertwined her fingers with his as he took her hand and gave a small nod. "No kidding.. He found your weak spot that's for sure." the knight said with a small chuckle. As he offered for them to join him, she gave a small nod, smiling at his playful words. "Well, I can't say no to that." she mused.

"I'll pass for now." John shook his head. Penelope glanced over at her father before turning to step over to the table to with Crow. She wasn't sure why John didn't want to join them since she was rather sure he had yet to eat breakfast yet. Perhaps it still had to do with a matter of his pride and Crow being a thief,though he didn't seem bitter when he spoke. Either way she didn't question it and sat down besides Crow.

"Anyways, while you two eat, I better go over a few things you need to know while we're staying here." John went on taking a step to sit down in the other empty chair. "For now, you're the king's guest, which means you're free to wander the castle... Aside from a couple rooms that are outbounds of course. The guards have been alerted to this. They're not supposed to do anything more than watch you, provided you don't cause any trouble of course."

His gaze shifted over to Penelope for a brief moment before looking back to Crow. "That being said, Penelope and I will be your guards until a decision is reached. The king has made his intentions clear enough so it's more so for your own protection rather than restriction."

"Tybalt didn't insist on other guards taking over?" Penelope asked curiously after swallowing a bite of her food.

"He did but I denied him and told him to take it up the king himself if he had that big of an issue with it." John explained with a shrug. "The king's trying to win him over while still trying to keep their relation a secret. He knows I won't say or do anything against that. And I'm sure he won't have much issue with me involving you in this, seeing as how you came here with us." John paused for a moment and then looked back over at Crow. "So, if Penelope is busy and you need assistance at some point, come find me."

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow glanced at John with a shrug when the knight denied his offer to eat the food the king had given him. He didn’t really care one way or the other if Penelope’s father joined him, since he’d just wanted to extend the invitation in case either of the knights were hungry. Casting a fond smile at Penelope, he walked with her over to the table and sat down again, filling his empty plate with a second helping of rye bread and fruit. Perhaps it was just the atmosphere of the room, but it felt like even the simple food had a richer flavor than the bread and fruit he ate in the outer villages.

Everything in the inner kingdom is fancier than what we have, he thought as he popped a grape into his mouth and chewed slowly, letting the flavorful juice of the fruit coat his tongue.

He looked up again at John as the older man announced that he had something to tell them while they were staying in the castle and listened attentively as the knight went on to explain what his privileges were. It wasn’t that surprising to learn that his father had chosen to give him free reign of the castle grounds, especially since it was so obvious that Albin was trying to convince him to take the job as the next viceroy. However, hadn’t been expecting to be allowed to wander without the company of the royal guards. Apparently, the king had decided to give him even more freedom than he’d thought.

As John continued on to tell the thief that he and Penelope would be acting as his guards, Crow sat up a little straighter with interest. While he felt rather certain that he could take of himself if any of his enemies decided to try and come after him while he was staying here, it was nice to know he’d have a couple extra sets of eyes watching his back. Plus, if Penelope was one of his guards, then that would give them the chance to spend even more time together, which was something that he was grateful for.

“Alright,” he nodded when John finished speaking. Leaning back in his chair, he lifted his glass to his lips to take a sip of the wine. Though the flavor of the drink had caught him by surprise initially, he found that it was starting to grow on him now that he knew what to expect. Just one more thing nobles get to enjoy that peasants never do, he mused thoughtfully as he set the goblet down again. Offhandedly, he wondered if he could find a way to take some of the drink with him back to his companions in the outer villages when he returned.

‘If’ I return, he silently corrected himself with a faint wince. It still felt strange to him that there was even a chance that he wouldn’t go back to his home, but he didn’t want to make up his mind yet. Just because he knew he would have preferred to return to the other thieves didn’t mean that was the best choice for both him and Penelope. He could tell she was excited by the prospect of getting to be with him without giving up her status, and he didn’t want to shut down the opportunity without giving it some serious thought first.

Suddenly, the thief’s thoughts were interrupted by yet another knock on the door. He looked up again to see that Hunter had returned, along with another man he didn’t recognize. The attendant looked between the three seated at the table, only to quickly avert his gaze when he realized John was with them. “Ah, good, you’re all here,” he muttered hurriedly. Turning towards Penelope, he lowered his head slightly in a respectful gesture, “I told His Highness about your request, and he agreed to have an audience with you at midday today.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope gave a small nod to her father's words as he finished explaining to them about the current setup. She was grateful that her father had managed to work her into being one of Crow's guards. It would certainly make hanging around him much less suspicious and if they ran into William again—which she had a feeling they would—it would provide them with a decent cover. William could suspect them all he wanted but without any sound proof, he wouldn't act recklessly and say something about their involvement with each other.

She snuck a glance over at her father. He had likely taken that into consideration too after hearing from William. It struck her that he was probably familiar with having to sneak around. Now that she thought about it, him and her mother likely had to go through similar challenges with keeping their relationship a secret. Though, perhaps not quite to the same degree as her and Crow due to his criminal record.

Her thoughts were broken as another knock came from the door. She sat up a bit straighter and shifted slightly away from Crow. The next moment, the door opened and in stepped Hunter followed by someone else. She watched as he averted his gaze almost as soon as he noticed her father had joined them. John didn't seem to think much of it though and merely watched the attendant as he waited for whatever news he had brought. As he turned to address her, the knight felt her heart being to beat anxiously again at the thought of—not only facing the king—but the consequences that the gods warned her about if she failed.

Coming back to herself a bit, she casted Hunter a polite smile. "I see. Thank you, Hunter." she said gratefully. Her gaze shifted to rest on the other man that had came with him, curious as to what other business he clearly must have come for since she doubted he was just looking for her.

John had also been studying the second man and then looked back to Hunter, focusing his gaze on the attendant. "Did you need something else with one of us?" he asked.