BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Makes sense xD

Fighting broke out pretty quickly lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As the two knights neared the top of the ravine, both grew a bit more tense. Olivia walked with a little more care as they reached the camp and Penelope followed her lead. She swept her gaze over the camp as it came into view, quickly noticing it was empty. "Guess we came at a bad time. Looks like they're not here." Olivia muttered quietly as she walked.

"Maybe.." Penelope didn't think so though. The camp might have been empty but she guessed that meant the thieves were merely hiding away from the two intruders. She swept her gaze over the surrounding area, pausing as movement in a nearby tree caught her attention. She looked up just in time to lock eyes with a man who was up in the trees and unfortunately it wasn't the one she was looking for. He didn't give her a chance to fully react. With his cover blown, the thief launched himself out of the tree to attack.

Penelope dodged out of his path and drew her sword to defend herself. He came at her again, his aim clearly telling her that he had the intent to kill. "Damnit." Penelope hissed under her breath as she blocked his blade with her sword. As she looked past him, she saw that Olivia had also gotten dragged into a fight with two other thieves. A small stain of red on her comrade's arm told Penelope that she hadn't been able to dodge as quickly.

"We're not your enemies." Penelope growled to the man she was currently locked in battle with. It was difficult as she was forced to constantly be on the defensive. If they were Crow's comrades, she didn't want to hurt them. "I know Crow! I'm here to warn you guys about what the knights are planning!" She snapped, hoping it would cease the fighting.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I get that xD
I feel like Simon and Penelope would actually get along pretty well if given the chance lol they're both worriers

I'm excited to have Olivia and Penelope meet the group. Even if they do try to kill them at first XD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

"Olivia, I need to talk to you about something."

Olivia turned her head to look over at Penelope, raising an eyebrow curiously. She seemed to hesitate, deciding between either giving Penelope a hard time or just agreeing due to her own curiosity. "Oh?" She finally mused then turned to the male knight she had been speaking with. "Seems I'm suddenly a bit busy.. I'll catch you later, dear." She said with a wink before turning to follow Penelope as she stepped away.

Penelope surveyed their surroundings as she moved off to the side of camp, making sure they were alone before turning her gaze to focus on Olivia. "Crow told me you ran into him the other day... Do you think you could find him again?" She asked in a hushed voice.

Olivia smirked. "Maybe.. But why? Is someone having second thoughts about her suitor? Not that I blame you. The guy's a total stick in the mud."

"What? No." Penelope said giving Olivia a stern look. "The barons are planning to set up a trap to deal with the bandits that stole from us the other day.. I can only assume Crow was apart of that. They're already planning to launch it tomorrow and my brother's leading them out to the village tonight. I need you to find him again and warn him. Please."

Olivia crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at Penelope. "Wait, you're making it sound like you expect me to go alone." She said accusingly. When Penelope didn't reply, the other female knight huffed and quickly shook her head. "No way. I can show you where he is but I'm definitely not going alone. He's not alone, you know. There's no telling what the other thieves are like and while I do enjoy meddling, there's no way I'm going back there alone. I got lucky Crow was the one that found me. No telling if I'll get that lucky again."

Penelope frowned a little. It was unfair of her to ask Olivia to go alone, especially with the risk that was involved. Though, she had been hoping to avoid facing Crow again. The female knight shifted uneasily, wishing there was someone else that could go in her place with Olivia. But there wasn't. I'll just warn him and leave.. It'll be quick. She assured herself. "You're right." She finally sighed with a small nod of agreement. "I'll go with you."

"Good. You're really going to owe me for all of this by the way." Olivia told her with a smirk. "Anyways, let's wait until it's later to go. Everyone will be focused on Layth and his group leaving so we'll just slip away to 'go on a patrol'. I'd also suggest telling Gavin where we're going. Just incase, I mean."

"I'd rather leave him out of this.." Penelope mumbled. Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Too bad. Look, if anyone starts asking where we are or if something goes wrong, it'd be good to have someone know at least that we left camp." She insisted. "You don't have to tell him everything, just enough to keep from anyone figuring out where we went."

"Alright." Penelope agreed reluctantly. "I'll speak to him before we leave."

"Great. I'll meet you by your tent at sunset."

---

The day went by rather smoothly. Penelope spent most of it with Mia and Tomas, going over plans for an attack on the Younis forces before she presented them to the other barons. The three eventually ended their meeting as it grew later in the day and allowed for Penelope to set out to speak to Gavin about covering for her and Olivia. As she walked through the camp, she was quick to notice Layth and his group preparing for their nearing departure. They had gotten commoner clothes from a village nearby and most were already dressed, with their weapons hidden. The female knight felt uneasy at the sight and picked up her pace as she hurried to find Gavin. She soon spotted the male knight and walked over to him.

"Hey Penelope." He greeted her with a small smile. "Finally get out of your meeting?"

"Yeah." She said and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "But now Olivia and I are going out on a patrol for a bit."

"Do you need me to cover your guard shift?" Gavin asked her, taking her hand in his.

Penelope paused. "Maybe.. It shouldn't take too long but if I'm not back in time could you?"

"Of course." Gavin said. He gave her hand a small squeeze. "Be safe."

Penelope looked up at him and gave a small nod. She let go of his hand and said goodbye before moving to go meet up with Olivia. The sun was sinking quickly in the sky so they needed to get moving. The other female knight was waiting by her tent as planned and gave a smirk as Penelope appeared.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah.. Lead the way.." Penelope mumbled, feeling anxious at the thought of having to face Crow again. She glanced around, making sure they were alone before following Olivia as she lead the way towards Crow's camp. The two knights kept alert as they traveled further from their campsite and closer to the ravine.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yeah I figured they'd probably get into a fight with them. xD it's going to be one of the reasons Olivia will refuse to go alone to warn Crow, because she figures they might run into some trouble with the other thieves

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Cool! I'll get it started then :D
Ok!

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The two female knights headed out towards where breakfast was being served together. Ahead, Gavin spotted them from where he stood besides a few other knights quickly dismissed himself to head over to the two. "Morning." He greeted offering a small smile. Penelope looked up at him and returned his smile, then without warning, pressed a deep kiss to his lips. It clearly took the male knight off guard and Olivia let out a low whistle.

Penelope finally pulled back. She had been hoping to reaffirm that she had made the right decision through kissing Gavin. There was a small spark that she savored, choosing to ignore the fact that her heart was hammering anywhere close to like it had with Crow. "What was that for?" Gavin asked dazedly.

"Nothing.. Just.. happy to see you." Penelope responded giving him a soft smile.

Olivia snickered quietly from behind her and rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm off to get food. Catch you later, Penelope." With that said, she disappeared leaving the couple alone. Gavin, having recovered from her passionate kiss, looked back to Penelope.

"That watch must have been pretty hard on you, huh?" He said with a small frown. "Your eyes even look a bit red.."

"It was a long night." Penelope told him with a shrug. She felt a small bit of panic at him being so observant and quickly tried to think of a way to change the topic. The last thing she wanted to do was reflect anymore on what had occurred the night before. "Come on let's go get some breakfast."

Switching to focus on food, Gavin easily moved on from asking about how the watch went and joined Penelope as they grabbed a bowl of the porridge that the camp was serving. The night before didn't even feel like it actually happened as she was able to continue on with her day as if nothing had changed, sitting besides Gavin as they enjoyed their meal together. The only reminder was the dull ache in her heart that she had yet to fully shake off.

As she finished her food, she spotted Tomas making his way up to the two. The other lieutenant smiled warmly as he approached. "Hey, sorry to interrupt you two but uh, I need to borrow Penelope. There's a meeting about to start." He said with an apologetic look.

"No worries." Gavin mused with an assuring smile. Penelope said goodbye to Gavin before getting up to follow Tomas as he lead the way over to the large tent where the barons and other lieutenants were waiting for them. Upon stepping inside, she felt the room heavy with focus and seriousness. Her eyes landed on her baroness, Mia Chandler, who was leaning back in her spot at the table with a thoughtful expression. On her right was Penelope's uncle, Edward, who had a rather enraged expression. On her left was Bennet, who didn't seem to be paying much attention. Across the table sat Layth and the other two chairs remained open. Hearing them enter the tent, her gaze flickered up and she smiled. "Good. We're all here. We can start. Sit you two, sit." She gestured to the two open chairs. Penelope took the middle side next to her brother while Tomas sat in the open one on her other side.

"Today we're discussing what to do with those bandits that took some of our weaponry." Mia announced to the others. Penelope felt her heart begin to beat anxiously. "Layth informed me of this yesterday and also gave a.. decent plan." Mia was clearly reluctant to give the male knight praise, even narrowing her eyes slightly. With a small flick of her wrist, she gestured for him to explain it to the others.

Layth had a pleased expression and sat up a bit straighter. "My plan, is that we set a trap for them. We'll pretend to agree to their ransom and then ambush them when they go to collect the gold. We'll have a few of our knights disguised as commoners so that we blend in, that way they have no way of seeing us coming." He explained. "We'll make an example out of them. And get what was stolen from us back."

"Good!" Edward said with a nod of approval. "That'll teach 'em. And it'll save us time from having to try and track them down ourselves. They can just come to us."

"So long as the knights can act as believable commoners, I think it'll work.. better than wasting our gold." Bennet mused.

Penelope hid away the alarm that she felt at Layth's plan and the approval it got from their higher ups. Crow wouldn't fall for that. He'll be fine. She tried to ease her worry but was unable to. Even if the thief could see through the trap, Penelope couldn't just leave it to chance. She had to try and talk the others out of this.

"It's not bad.. But can we afford it?" Penelope spoke finally, drawing all eyes on her. "We're fighting a war here so can we really afford to be chasing after common criminals? It would be much easier to just give them the gold and get the swords back, without risking any men or taking any focus off the real battles at hand here."

"I was concerned about that as well." Tomas agreed. His gaze flickered to Mia, clearly waiting to hear her opinion. However, before that could happen, Edward snorted loudly. His gaze was narrowed and focused on Penelope.

"We can't let such behavior go unpunished!" He declared. "If we did what you suggest, we might as well just give them the rest of our supplies."

"Edward, teeemperr." Mia said with a hint of warning. She turned to look back at Tomas and Penelope, giving them small smiles. "I understand the concern. I was worried about that myself but there is some truth to what Edward says. I don't like to involve myself with chasing criminals but if we paid them, it would be inviting them to steal from us again. It's better we deal with this now while we have a bit of time and strength to spare before the upcoming battle."

"Exactly." Edward grunted. "I would have thought that the person who dealt with the most infamous thief would understand this."

Penelope shot a defensive glare at her uncle before looking back to Mia. This was bad. It made sense to Penelope why they wanted to handle it this way but it meant they'd be trying to kill the bandits, more specifically Crow who she was rather certain had been apart of the raid. She tried to think of a way to argue against it, to make them back down and just forget about the stolen items. But she couldn't think of anything fast enough.

"So we're in agreement then." Mia mused, receiving a general murmur of agreement from everyone in the room except Penelope. "Great, then we will set up the trap for the bandits tomorrow. Layth-" She paused looking hesitant. "will be in charge of putting together the ambush team."

"You should all leave during the night as well. I suspect they're watching us or at least checking in to see when the gold will be placed there so we need to hide our plans to the best of our capabilities." Edward advised.

"Agreed. Don't speak too much about this plan either. We can't have them catching even the faintest wind of what we're doing... I don't want a single one of them to get away with this." Layth growled determinedly.

The meeting soon ended with everyone on the same page except for Penelope. The female knight stepped out of the tent, her heartache was suddenly numbed by the worry and fear for Crow's safety. Even though things had changed between them, there was no way the knight could allow herself to just stand back while he was in potential danger. She couldn't stop them from agreeing to Layth's plan so she'd have to find another way to help him. She stood back for a moment, mulling it over. At first, she considered trying to weasel her way into Layth's team but realized that idea wouldn't work well. Layth would likely be reluctant to have her join and not to mention, it would potentially put her in a position where she'd be caught and labeled as a traitor for helping Crow.

I can't be there... So I need to warn him somehow before it happens.. Penelope thought. Her gaze landed on Olivia in the distance who was flirting with another knight, seemingly enjoying herself in his company. A plan sparked in Penelope and she quickly began to head over to Olivia, the one knight who had ran into Crow.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I'll get a reply up after work but I'm thinkig maybe the knights decide to set a trap or put together a patrol to go after the thieves. Penelope would definitely get involved (maybe Gavin and or Olivia too) so she can try and help stop it/warn Crow about it.

That's all I have and maybe a battle or two in the near future. Did you have any ideas of how you want this to go??

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Poor Crow.
Penelope's not doing too much better lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope lowered her gaze at Crow's hoarse words. She nodded silently, only looking up again to see him leave just as quickly as he came. As he disappeared from sight, the knight was left alone on her watch yet again. First, a sniffle escaped her and then before long she crouched down to bury her head in her hands as she was unable to stop herself from silently crying. Damnit.. It's been two years. She thought wiping away a couple tears. I have Gavin now.. I have a good job.. It-it shouldn't hurt this much..

Yet it did. It nearly made the knight think about actually chasing after him and changing her mind. But there was no sense in that. So instead, she just let herself feel the grief over losing Crow all over again. She hoped that by doing this, it would eventually fade away like it had before so she could focus back on the life laid out in front of her.

---

As her watch slowly drew to an end, Penelope pulled herself back together, hoping that no one would pick up on the slight change in the knight after her sudden reunion with Crow. She soon her footsteps approaching and turned her head to see Alan appear to take her off her shift. "Mornin' Penelope." He greeted with a tired yawn.

"Morning." Penelope muttered. She gave him a small dip of her head before abruptly walking away as he took her spot. She felt his questioning gaze rest on her back as she left but in that moment, Penelope didn't quite care about what he thought. The female knight just wanted to retire to her tent. Which she was luckily able to do without anyone getting in the way. Once inside, she immediately took of her armor and settled down for the night.

She wrapped herself tightly with her blanket and closed her eyes, willing herself to try and forget the events of the night. She soon drifted off, falling into a light sleep.

--

"Penelope~ Time to get up and tell me how your shift went~" A familiar and teasing voice came from close by, stirring her from her slumber. Penelope groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She turned her head to see Olivia was the one that had woken her up. The other female knight had a wide smirk on her face and was looking expectantly at Penelope. It took her a moment but soon the events from the night before came flooding back to her. She nearly thought it had been a bad dream but Olivia's expression told her it wasn't.

Feeling a flash of anger, Penelope glared at the other female knight as she sat up. "You had no right to do what you did." She growled.

"What?" Olivia faked a frown. "I just thought you'd like to see an old friend! Plus you have to admit that the two years out of prison did him some real justice."

"Olivia, I left him behind for a reason. You should have just stayed out of it."

"The poor guy thought you were dead." Olivia shrugged. "Anyways tell me what happened! Come on! You know your secret's safe with me."

Penelope deflated a little at Olivia's words. She really wasn't that mad at what she did. It was just hard to accept the situation that had occurred. It just would have been easier to have never reunited with Crow, then she wouldn't have to feel like she was losing him all over again. "I.. I don't feel like talking about it, Olivia.." She mumbled with defeat as she stood up and began to walk towards the exit of her tent.

"Uh oh." Olivia mused with a knowing smirk as she followed Penelope out into the camp.