BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope raised an eyebrow at Crow as he answered her question by saying that he had had another lesson with her father. The knight casted him a sympathetic smile. Knowing her father, she was rather sure that John must have worn Crow out with his training again. Especially since he wasn't exactly pleased to hear about the situation when it came to Elizabeth. Penelope hoped she had cleared the air enough with him but there was still a chance he had taken some of his frustration with that situation out on the viceroy. She was about to respond to him but Naida jumped in first.

Sitting back, the female knight blinked as Crow explained that his training that day had focused on horseback riding rather than swordsmanship. At the mention of traveling out of the kingdom, Penelope shifted a bit uneasily as she was reminded of all that relied on the party going well. After the party, there wouldn't be much time left to stop the king from sending Crow off to Gorm. It seemed he was pushing his training forward as fast as he could to make that happen which only made the knight feel more pressure to make sure things went well.

She took a small sip of her drink, barely registering that she had lost herself in her thoughts until Crow turned back to her. Penelope blinked, snapping her attention back onto the conversation. As Crow brought up the time they had stolen the horses in Younis, a bit of amusement entered her gaze as she recalled it. "Well hopefully we didn't happen to take their favorite one. They certainly had quite a few." she mused.

"You let him steal a horse in Younis?" Cedric blinked, looking rather caught off guard.

"Well.. Sort of. It was my idea and really it was me stealing it rather than him since he didn't know how to deal with horses at the time." Penelope explained with a small chuckle.

Cedric raised an eyebrow at her, processing the information for a moment before letting out a small laugh. "Gods I didn't think you of all people would ever be capable of something like that." He shot her a smile. "The Penelope I remember would never have done something like that. You used to scold me for just taking some time from my guard shift to speak with you whenever you passed by."

Penelope rolled her eyes as Cedric brought up a bit of their past. Of course she remembered those moments. Though she had scolded him for abandoning his post, she had been far from annoyed with him for doing so to speak with her. At least at that time. "Yes, well desperate times, called for desperate measures." she mused quietly with a small shrug. She shifted out of the way as the servants returned with their food, falling momentarily silent and hoping Cedric wouldn't say anymore on the topic. Not only did she not wish to discuss their past but she really didn't want to do so in front of Crow.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I don't blame him xD the feeling will probably be mutual at some point lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Cedric was quick to strike up a casual conversation with her once she had settled in at the table. The topics weren't anything exciting and mainly just about their guard duty. Naida didn't seemed very entertained with the discussion but did jump in on occasion. However, the princess didn't stay bored for long as a broad grin spread over her lips. Penelope noticed, trailing off slightly as she followed her friend's gaze over to Crow. A small smile crossed her lips as he moved over to join them at the table and she gave him a small word of greeting along with Cedric.

As Naida went on to answer Crow, Penelope nodded her head in agreement. "We had four people working on them.. Plus Dimia had already some made." she explained with a small shrug. The knight noticed Crow avoiding Cedric's gaze, especially since it seemed that the male knight's gaze lingered on Crow for a moment before shifting onto her as the viceroy turned to her. Penelope felt a bit of tension but assumed it was mainly coming from Crow due to his dislike of her former suitor.

"I was wondering that myself." Cedric piped in, casting Penelope a warm smile. "You said it was coming up soon right?"

"In a few more days." Penelope nodded before looking back over to Crow. "It's going as well as it can be I suppose. Oliver and Dimia seem confident enough in everything we've gotten done so far at least. I have a feeling that the next couple of days are just going to be a waiting game at this point." The knight let out a quiet sigh at the thought. Perhaps it would be nice to have less on her plate in the coming days before the party but she wanted to be busy to keep her mind off of her worries about the party failing.

Pushing that thought aside, she gave Crow a half smile and glanced him over. "Anyways, what were you up to today? You sure seem tired." she mused. The knight found it especially odd since he had managed to get a full night's rest for the first time the night before so she figured it must have had something to do with his lesson.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Honestly it's cute cx

Somehow just realized I didn't hit post on this xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The two friends had a rather calm walk to the Great Hall. While most of the topics had been rather idle, Naida had been sure to squeeze in asking Penelope to participate in Crow's dance lessons again. It had been far from a shocker of course. With the party only a few days away, the viceroy still had quite a bit to learn in a short time and naturally, Naida wanted to get her involved. Though her friend's antics did cause for some annoyance, she was a bit glad for the opportunity the princess gave her to be the one to teach him how to dance. The only issue was that particular night she already planned to spend it replying to her friends on the warfront.

"I would Naida but I want to write to Gavin and Olivia before I head to bed tonight." Penelope explained with an apologetic smile.

Naida pouted. "Are you suuureee? Can't you just write them back tomorrow sometime?"

"I'd rather just get it done than put it off." Penelope said with a shrug. She paused and then gave her friend a small nudge. "My days will be slowing down though so I'll be free to help out until the party though so maybe tomorrow night."

"Alright! I'm going to hold you to that!" Naida grinned.

Stepping into the Great Hall, Penelope began to look around for an open table. However just as she spotted one, she also spotted Cedric, who was waving her over to his own table where he sat with a couple other knights. Normally she wouldn't mind joining him, but she was hesitant to since Naida was already with her. Her friend had expressed her dislike of the other knight due to his history. Penelope certainly didn't blame her even though she had chosen to forgive. Letting out a small sigh, she turned to Naida and casted her a small apologetic look.

"I guess I'm going to go sit over there." Penelope announced with a nod towards Cedric. She watched as the princess followed her gesture and frown slightly.

"Oh." Naida mumbled with a small bit of disapproval that she was clearly trying to hide. Looking back to Penelope, she shrugged her shoulders and gave her friend a smile. "Well, I'll go with you then!"

Penelope blinked, mildly surprised that Naida had decided to still sit with her. Happy to have her friend joining her, she smiled and nodded her head before turning to lead the way over to the table of knights. As they approached, Cedric shifted over to make a spot for her to sit besides him. Just as Penelope was about to walk over to it, Naida picked up her pace slightly and slid in besides him instead. It left both knights blinking in mild confusion but things quickly cleared up to Penelope as Naida shot her a small smirk. Penelope realized she had taken the spot to put some distance between her and Cedric, as well as likely hoping to get Crow to sit next to her instead since there was quite a bit more room on the other side. More amused than annoyed, Penelope subtly shook her head and moved to sit down across from her friends instead.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Figured she would once Penelope gave her a bit more information xD

That's probably a good thing lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The rest of their time went by rather smoothly and between their combined efforts, they were able to get the invitations done before supper. Penelope let out a breath of relief and cracked her knuckles, trying to rid her right hand of the ache in it from spending her whole day with a quill in her hand. Naida, who had stopped earlier, leaned heavily against the desk and swept her gaze over the mountain of invitations that had been written.

"Gods I hope that's all of them." she whistled, shaking her head. "We'll all be losing feeling in our hands if we have to write anymore!"

Oliver leaned back in his chair, eying the letters before giving a nod of approval. "It should be plenty."

"Plenty if not extra!" Dimia exclaimed. The noblewoman sent Naida a fake beaming smile. "We wouldn't have been able to get through all of those without your highness, thank you for your assistance today."

Penelope turned her head away as she rolled her eyes at the way Dimia acted towards Naida. However, not wanting to comment on it, she instead rolled her shoulders and rose up to her feet. "I'm just glad we got them all done. This has reminded me greatly of why I picked up a sword rather than a pen." she mused with a shake of her head.

"Here, here." Naida snickered.

The knight smiled a bit amusedly then focused her gaze onto Oliver and Dimia. "I'm assuming the next step is to get them sent out sometime soon, but aside from that, what is going to be next in the coming days?" she asked curiously. The setup for the party had been pretty much as she had expected but the knight wasn't sure what other details there were to work on now that the location, food, music, and guest list had been pretty much completed. She had never fully planned a party before, especially one of such size, but she assumed that the days before it occurred would not be days of rest.

"I'll handle getting the invitations sent off. As for the coming days, it'll mainly be working on making sure you have a good idea of what you'll say to convince people to support you." Oliver explained with a small shrug. "After that, it'll only be small details and making sure everything is coming together as planned."

"But that'll mainly be handle by me so you won't have much to do there." Dimia interjected.

Penelope gave a small nod. Though it seemed like the coming days would be rather relaxed ones before the party, the knight felt a bubble of anxiousness as she thought about how close it was getting. It made her wish that there was more to do to keep herself feeling busy without focusing on the countdown to the day of the party. Not realizing she had fallen quiet in her thoughts, Penelope jumped slightly as Naida suddenly patted her friend on the back.

"Sounds like you'll be prepped and ready to go once the day comes!" Naida said with a grin. "If you're done here, let's go get some supper. I'm starving!"

Penelope blinked coming back to herself and nodded her head as she returned her friend's smile. "That sounds good. Let's go." She turned to the Lenz's and dipped her head. "Thank you for the help. I'll stop by tomorrow to go over what I should say, if that's alright."

"Of course." Oliver nodded.

Penelope casted him an appreciative smile before turning to follow Naida, who had already began to make her way to the door. She picked up her pace slightly and fell in step besides her friend, striking up another casual conversation as the two made their way to the Great Hall for supper.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope decided she might as well let Naida know some things xD

Nice lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

At first the group worked in silence. There seemed to be a tenseness between the Lenz's, though Penelope couldn't tell if it stemmed from personal matters or simply because they were in the presence of one of the royal family members. Besides that, the knight was just simply focused on her work, her mind wandering to the preparations that needed to be done. Once the invitations were delivered, she have to start focusing on what she would be saying to the party attendees. As a lieutenant, she had spoken in front of big groups before but usually it was just to give out instructions or orders that usually came from higher ranking nobles. Addressing a big crowd with the intention of persuading them to back her cause would be much different.

"Sooo, how's Olivia? What did her and Gavin say about the battlefront? Any changes?" Naida asked curiously, pulling Penelope out of her thoughts.

The knight glanced over at her friend and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Not much. Just that there were two battles since I last heard from them. Gavin said they were pretty harsh ones too, even though we did win one." she explained. "Aside from that, he also mentioned that my brother has been causing him a bit of trouble."

"Really?" Naida asked with an amused look.

Penelope nodded her head. "Layth's been trying to get rid of one of the rules I convinced the barons to enforce out there to help protect the outer villagers." The knight paused for a moment, unsure if she wanted to add the part about him also questioning him about Crow. While normally she would avoid risking Naida finding out anymore about their history at the moment, the party was only a few days away and it wouldn't be much longer after that that they would be courting. At least, so long as her father gave his blessing, which she was hopeful that he would. Perhaps she could afford to tell her friend a little bit more about her working with him. She casted a glance at the Lenz's, making sure the two weren't listening. Luckily it seemed they had struck up a conversation of their own so Penelope relaxed and whispered, "Plus he was trying to find out about Collin. He's not exactly a fan of your brother and he thinks I have something to do with him getting the position."

Naida blinked in confusion. "I don't understand. Why would he think that?"

"Well, back when we were on the battlefront, I actually worked with Collin to bring down a group of thieves that had killed our night guards and taken nearly half of our supplies.. Word got out that I had done that and well, a lot of my battalion wasn't approving of what I had done. Especially my brother." Penelope explained with a shrug. "As for why he doesn't like Collin, well that's more due to their past run ins being less than friendly since he used to be a thief and all."

Naida's eyes grew big with excitement and Penelope could already tell her story had only given the princess further encouragement to push the two together. "Well your brother has always been quite the pain in the ass anyways!" she said waving her hand dismissively. "That aside, why didn't you tell me about that before!" The princess grinned and nudged her friend's side suggestively. "Sounds like you two work well together."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "That's the exact reason why I didn't tell you sooner. I knew you'd just see it as another reason to keep trying to get us to court." she said with a small smirk. "I only worked with him at the time because who better to hunt down thieves than a thief? Luckily he was just willing to help due to our trip to Younis and then it just happened to turn out that the king was looking for him. No more, no less."

"Okay suuuree." Naida drawled disbelievingly. She casted her friend a mischievous look. "I still think you two would be perfect together... And more so than that, I think you're already smitten."

The knight blinked, a bit caught off guard by Naida's words. Recovering, she scoffed and focused her gaze back on the invitation she was working on. "I am not. You're just hoping that I am." she said shaking her head.

"Uh huh.. Is that why you were cuddling in my room the other night?" Naida teased.

A blush crossed over her cheeks as Naida brought up their slip up. She had been exhausted from all the running around that night and taking a break after showing Crow a bit of how to dance had been a poor decision on her part. "That only happened because you're the troublemaker that didn't wake us up." she said poking her friend's side. In an attempt to recover from her mild embarrassment, she shot Naida a smirk. "Shouldn't you be focusing on making invitations? You're starting to remind me too much of Olivia."

"Alright, fine. Personally I don't think I quite match up to her but I'll stop for now." Naida snickered as she turned her focus back onto the paper in front of her. Pleased that Naida wasn't pestering her about Crow, Penelope relaxed once more and instead struck up a more casual conversation with her friend as they continued to work.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

True xD

Meanwhile Naida and Penelope are going to get some girl time lol