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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As they stepped inside the small home, Crow felt Penelope pull away from his side. Guessing she had sobered up enough on the walk to handle herself, he let go of her so that she could move freely. Without having to worry about looking after her as much, he took some time to look around. The house was just as humble as he remembered. The bare walls and ceiling were patched from repairs due to weather damage, and there was hardly any furniture on the inside. The people of Aramoor were especially poor, so for any of them to have real beds or anything more than a few wooden chairs and a table was rare. Instead, they used blankets and mats filled with hay for sitting and sleeping.

He glanced back over his shoulder as the other knights followed him inside. He could tell that Gavin was still just as tense as before, but he didn’t expect anything less. It was unlikely that the knights would have ever stayed in the home of a peasant before, since, from what he understood, they only ever stayed at inns or in group campsites. Since Aramoor couldn’t afford public lodging, and they couldn’t drag a drunken Penelope all the way back out to the woods, this had been their only real choice. Gavin was just going to have to learn to set his ego aside and accept the fact that he was going to need to take help from criminals and peasants on this mission.

“Well, this is a nice surprise,” a feminine voice chuckled. Crow turned back around to see a dark-skinned woman walking towards him from the parlor. Her thick hair was tied back, keeping it from falling into her pretty, heart-shaped face. “What brings you back to our humble village, Crow?” Silas’s wife, Zenith, asked with a bemused smile.

“I like this place too much to stay away for long,” Crow answered her with a grin. When she reached him, he greeted her with a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek. However, when he did, he felt something he wasn’t expecting. He pulled back from her and glancing down at her stomach. “You’re pregnant,” he said with unbridled surprise as he looked up again to meet her gaze.

Zenith laughed, seeming to find his reaction entertaining. “Yes,” she nodded, resting a hand on her swollen belly. She leaned a little closer to him and lowered her voice. “And I have a feeling it’s a boy this time.”

“Gods willing,” Silas, who had stepped over to join them, chuckled. “I love my girls, but it would be nice to have a son around here too.”

“Either way, congratulations to you both,” Crow clapped him on the back. His eyes wandered back to Zenith as another thought crossed his mind. Even though he was genuinely happy for his friends, there was a part of him that was worried for them as well. The ongoing war was hard enough on everyone without throwing a newborn in the mix. He couldn’t imagine the lengths Silas would have to go to protect his wife when she was further along in her pregnancy too. The image made him shudder, and he quickly looked away from her again, not wanting to let the depressing thought ruin the joy of the moment.

Almost as if on cue, a distraction was provided.

“Thief’s back!” a shrill voice cried out followed by the thunder of small footsteps as Silas and Zenith’s two daughters raced across the room from where they had been sitting in the parlor.

“Oh gods,” Crow’s eyes widened as they raced towards him and wrapped their arms around his waist. He had to take a step backwards to keep from losing his balance when they charged into him. No matter how many times he visited the family, their energy always caught him off guard. “Hey there,” he laughed, resting his hands on their heads. “Long time, no see.”

“Did you bring us anything?” the younger girl asked, looking up at him expectantly.

“Letha, manners,” Zenith chided the girl and shot the thief an apologetic look.

“It’s fine,” Crow shrugged. He took a step back to pull away from the two girls and then knelt down, retrieving his coin purse from his pocket. “Here,” he drew four gold coins and held them out in his open palm. “Two for each of you. Just make sure you give them to your parents when you’re done playing with them.”

“No, we couldn’t ask you for that,” Zenith’s eyes widened slightly at the amount of money he was giving to her daughters. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

“You didn’t ask, I’m offering,” Crow glanced up at her with a grin. “This is the least I can do for the help you’re giving us tonight. Besides, I’d be honored to help you cover the expenses of that third mouth you’re going to have to feed soon.”

“Thanks!” the oldest girl said as the two eagerly took the coins from his hand and ran off to play with them.

“Too late now,” Crow winked at Zenith, rising to his feet again.

“You’re too kind,” she shook her head, biting her lip as she seemed to fight back tears. After a moment, she cleared her throat and went on in a soft voice, “I-I’m going to help Silas arrange a place for you all to sleep tonight. Please, make yourselves at home.” With that, she turned and headed into an adjoining room.

Crow watched her go until she disappeared from sight before turning back to Penelope. He sighed and slipped his arm around her waist, pressing an absent kiss to her head as he watched Silas and Zenith’s daughters run around the parlor with the coins he had given them. He’d dipped into quite a bit of the money he’d made in Whitebridge to give them that much, but to him, it was worth it. He couldn’t stay in Aramoor to help the family directly during the war, but he could make sure they were able to get by financially. That was the next best thing.

After a moment, he let out a tired yawn and let his arm fall from around the knight’s middle, reaching instead to take her hand. With nothing left to distract him, he was starting to feel the full weight of his exhaustion from the busy day. “Come with me over here,” he said tiredly, giving Penelope’s hand a tug. “There’s some blankets laid out that we can rest on while Gavin works on our dinner.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope seems to forget a lot of things when she's drunk though xD
Gavin finally gave in and let Crow lead something

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“I’m sure they were,” Crow nudged Penelope teasingly when she said the drinks had been strong. In reality, he knew the ale this tavern served was quite potent, especially since he had ordered a strong drink too, but he was still surprised it only took two of them to have her stumbling like this. He glanced down at her as they stepped out of the tavern. On second thought, it wasn’t that shocking. She wasn’t as big as him, so even though one drink had only made him a little fuzzy, it probably would have affected her a lot more.

As they walked to the main road, he could tell that she was trying not to lean the fullness of her weight on him. Even though he was more than willing to carry her to wherever they were going to spend the night, he appreciated the thought behind her gesture. He was even a bit impressed that she had remembered his soreness while she was so intoxicated. He smiled to himself, feeling his heart swell with affection for the knight. Her compassion for others never ceased to amaze him.

It wasn’t long before Gavin tried confronting Olivia about what had happened back in the tavern again. Crow glanced back at the knights as they bickered. He found it a bit petty that Gavin would bring the subject up again just to pin blame on someone. It didn’t matter who had started it, in his opinion. What had happened, happened. They just needed to move on from it and find a place to rest, so Penelope could get some food in her stomach and sleep off the alcohol in her system. Knowing that they were probably going to have another long day tomorrow, all he cared about was making sure she didn’t wake up in the morning too hungover to leave her bed.

His eyes flicked towards Penelope as she joined into the conversation as well, quirking a brow in amusement when she compared Gavin to her brother. Knowing the kind of man Layth was, it was quite a brutal comment to throw at the knight. Gavin took obvious offense to it as well, looking away from the others and abruptly changing the subject.

“I know a place we can stay,” Crow offered. “There’s a family just west of here that’s taken me and my thieves in before. I’m sure they’d be willing to accommodate us tonight if we ask.”

Gavin pursed his lips, seeming reluctant to take his suggestion. However, after a moment, he nodded resignedly. “Fine,” he sighed. “Show us where they are.” Even though he still didn’t trust the thief, he seemed to realize that he didn’t have any other options unless they wanted to head all the way back to the woods outside of Aramoor.

Crow nodded, relieved that the knight had chosen to be rational instead of fight with him for once. “This way,” he tipped his head towards a street in front of them that branched off of the main road and then took the lead to guide them to the villagers’ home. Gavin and Olivia followed. The male knight walked a bit stiffly, watching the surrounding alleyways as if he expected the thief to be leading them into an ambush. Of course, there was none, and they made it without any trouble.

Shifting his hold on Penelope a bit, Crow stepped up to the front door of the run-down old house and knocked thrice. He waited for a moment, listening to the sound of muffled shuffling inside, before the door opened.

“Crow?” a deep voice said. On the other side of the door, a lean, ebony-skinned man stared at him in surprise. His eyes wandered to the drunken Penelope hanging off the thief’s shoulder before flicking back up to his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Silas,” Crow grinned at him in greeting. “My companions and I are traveling through Aramoor, and we need a place to sleep tonight. Would you and Zenith be willing to let us stay here with you until the morning?”

Silas glanced over the thief’s shoulder at Gavin and Olivia for a moment before he nodded. “Of course. You’ll just need to give us some time to make room for all of you.” He paused, his confused gaze falling on Penelope one more time. “Just to be clear, you didn’t steal this woman… Did you?”

Crow laughed and shook his head, “No, she just had a little too much to drink at the tavern.”

“That’s a relief,” Silas finally broke into a smile as well. “I can never be too careful with you thieves.” He stepped aside to let them enter. “Come inside. Zenith is in the parlor with the girls. We just finished our supper, but you’re welcome to use our kitchen if you brought anything to cook for yourselves.”

“Thanks,” Crow dipped his head in curt gesture of gratitude and turned back to the other knights. “You heard the man. Come on in.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow thinks she's cute xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As soon as Crow’s eyes fell on the female knights, he could tell that something was off. Penelope was leaning heavily on her friend’s shoulder, and Olivia was looking a little too pleased with herself for his liking. Did she get her drunk? he wondered as he walked over to them with Gavin. His suspicion was quickly confirmed when he saw Penelope raise her hand in a wave and smiled at him in a manner that seemed different than the way she usually looked. He shook his head. Perhaps the two had had a little too much fun, after all.

When he reached them, he blinked in surprise as Olivia passed her stumbling friend off to him right away. He hurried to wrap his arms around her as she practically fell into him, worried that she would just collapse if he didn’t support her. After checking to make sure that she was at least somewhat stable, he looked up again as Gavin began to chide Olivia for getting Penelope drunk. He didn’t often side with the knight, but in this case he agreed that it had been foolish of her for getting so carried away. They had come to the tavern to find out if the thieves had passed through, not play games and get intoxicated.

In hindsight, it’s not like we did much better, he thought with a wince as he realized that even though he and Gavin hadn’t gotten drunk, they hadn’t done the best job of gathering information either. In fact, they had drawn quite a bit of attention to themselves as well with their fight. He let out his breath in a discouraged sigh as he realized that he was in no position to judge the female knights for drinking when he’d done just as poor of a job with the interrogation as they had, and he’d been sober.

Crow’s thoughts derailed when he suddenly felt Penelope reach up and trail her hand along his jaw. He turned to look down at her, thinking at first that she was trying to get his attention. However, he quickly realized that wasn’t the case when she continued to drag her fingers across his face and commented on his beard being scratchy. He laughed and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead, finding her absent words somehow endearing.

“I’m glad you like it,” he smiled at her amusedly. “Shaving it all off was becoming a hassle, so I figured I’d try something different.” He shrugged and then took on a mischievous look. “Plus, now I can do this.” Leaning in a little more, he drew her close in a tight embrace so she couldn’t pull away and nuzzled his cheek playfully against hers.

Off to the side, he heard Gavin clear his throat. “We don’t have anything else to learn here, so we should get going,” the knight said, eyeing the thief with contempt.

“Fine by me,” Crow said, straightening his posture. The thought of supper and sleep were too alluring for him to argue with the knight, whom he was certain was only rushing them to separate him from Penelope again. Adjusting his hold on her, he shifted so that her arm rested across his shoulders and his hand was pressed sturdily against her waist. Once he felt like he had a firm hold on her, he glanced down with a teasing smirk, “Come on, lightweight. Let’s get you to bed.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow has no idea that Penelope is drunk xD

That was good timing! I got home like twenty minutes ago lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow could already tell he wasn’t going to like this interrogation. As he sat down at the table of peasants with Gavin, he could see the knight eyeing him suspiciously from the corner of his eye. It seemed like even though he had relented and given the man his pick of the villagers to question, he still wasn’t going to be given any grace. He let out his breath in a quiet sigh of exasperation and glanced across the tavern at Olivia and Penelope, who seemed to be enjoying themselves much more than he was with Gavin. It felt unfair that he had to get stuck with the uptight knight while they were drinking and generally having a good time.

Fortunately, the men at their table didn’t question his gloomy behavior, since they were all drinking to wash away their own sorrows. In fact, they didn’t even greet him or Gavin when they sat down to join them. The only one who interacted with them at all was a wench, who came over to ask if they wanted anything to drink. Seeing an opportunity, Crow turned to her with a dull expression, “Two mugs of your strongest ale, please.” He caught sight of Gavin giving him a questioning look, but he kicked the knight beneath the table before he could open his mouth to say anything and ruin his act.

“This war’s even got you down, huh, thief?” one of the men finally spoke up as the wench walked off to take his request.

“Yep,” Crow shrugged dolefully, propping his elbow on the table and resting his cheek against the palm of his hand. “Things aren’t much better in the northern villages.”

“Wait, you recognize him?” Gavin interjected suddenly, grasping at the tail of what he seemed to think was a lead. His eyes flickered to the thief for a moment before returning to the villagers. “When was the last time he was here?”

Crow narrowed his eyes at the knight, picking up right away on where he was going with the question. However, before he could speak up, another man answered the question first, “It’s been a while, huh?” He turned to his companions, who nodded in agreement, before meeting the knight’s gaze. “He and some other thieves tried to help us out during the war before things got so bad, but it’s been a few seasons now since I last saw his face around here.”

“See?” Crow turned to Gavin smugly, leaning back in his chair as the wench returned with their drinks. “It wasn’t me. Now would you stop trying to accuse me of something I didn’t do and focus on the real enemy here?”

“I’m still not convinced there’s another enemy at all,” Gavin glared at him and took a sip of his drink, wrinkling his nose slightly at the strength of the ale.

Crow scoffed and shook his head, lifting his mug to his lips as he downed a draught of the bitter liquid. He fought back the urge to make a face as well. Since he didn’t like to get drunk, he usually didn’t order ale this potent. However, it was for the sake of blending in with the people of Aramoor, so he couldn’t give away his distaste. Setting the mug down again, he looked up at the villagers across the table, “I don’t suppose any of you blokes have seen a group of travelers pass through recently, have you?” He jabbed a thumb at Gavin. “This moron lost his coin purse, and he’s convinced that one of them stole it.”

Gavin shot him a cold look, to which the thief just winked slyly in return. The story was already out, so there wasn’t much the knight could do about it.

“Come to think of it, I did see some men come through last week,” one of the peasants stroked his beard in thought. “There were about five of ‘em.”

Crow and Gavin turned to him with interest. Jaxon’s group was much larger than just five men the last time the thief had seen it, but he supposed that only a few of them could have come into town for some drinks. “Is that so?” he said, leaning forward in his seat. “What did they look like?”

“I don’t remember,” the man shook his head. “I just remember that they were speaking a strange language. Nothing I’ve ever heard the likes of before.”

“I see,” Crow frowned. If the travelers had been speaking another language, it couldn’t have been Jaxon’s thieves.

“I take it these weren’t the men you’re lookin’ for?” another villager said, noticing his expression.

“No,” he sighed, lifting his mug again.

“Interesting,” Gavin said dryly, swirling the remains of his half-filled glass. “Another dead lead.”

“It was a longshot that we would hear anything about them in any village,” Crow shot him a glower. “They could have traveled through the forest without stopping.”

“Sounds like an excuse to lead us around in circles while your friends make off with our supplies,” Gavin growled.

Crow groaned and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head back as he raked both of his hands through his hair, “Gods, what is it going to take to get it through that thick skull of yours that it wasn’t me?”

“You can say that as many times as you want, but I know the truth,” Gavin said stubbornly. “You just don’t want Penelope to find out what kind of man you really are, so you can keep up your ridiculous charade. Unfortunately for you, it’s only a matter of time now before she realizes it for herself.”

“I’m too sober for this nonsense,” Crow muttered, downing another sizeable portion of his ale.

“You might as well give up now,” Gavin went on, a bit looser with his words now that he had finished off most of his drink. “Your game is over. I’m going to show her that you’re no different than any other criminal and make sure you get what you deserve after what you did to our comrades.”

“Good luck with that, since I didn’t do anything,” Crow snapped. His eyes flickered towards the villagers, who were now getting up from their table to get away from the fight, and he felt a pang of embarrassment as he realized that he and the knight were causing a scene. “You’ll see when we find the thieves we’re looking for,” he went on in a more tamed voice, downing the rest of his drink and setting the empty mug on the table. He could feel the alcohol dull his senses, but he was still self-aware enough to think straight, so he stood up from the table and glanced over his shoulder at the door.

“We should see if the others heard anything more useful than we did,” he said, looking back down at the knight.

“You’re never going to let go of this story about mystery thieves, are you?” Gavin shook his head as he rose to his feet as well.

“Not as long as I’m convinced it was them,” he shrugged.

“Touche.”

Crow shot him one more glare, but held his tongue. He had much more of a reason to believe that Jaxon was behind the raid than Gavin had to believe it had been him. However, knowing that anything more he had to say would just fall on deaf ears, he decided to save his breath. Instead, he turned his back on the knight and headed to their meeting spot near the tavern entrance to find out what Olivia and Penelope had learned from the villagers they had spoken with.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh no xD
I feel like they're gonna have to stay an extra day in Aramoor

Okay! I'm gonna start on my reply now, but I'm leaving in 45 minutes for my next trip, so I probably won't get done until I'm home tonight around 11:30

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I have a feeling that Crow and Gavin aren't going to get much done xD

Also, I might not on much until tomorrow, because I'm about to go to a movie, and tonight I have a Christmas party at a friend's house who lives almost 2 hours away from me cx Road trip~

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow’s eyes swept over the village as they walked along the main road. Aramoor was in bad shape, but fortunately, the damage didn’t seem to be too much worse than when he and the other thieves had left it behind long ago. He just hoped the villagers’ luck would continue to hold out, so they wouldn’t follow the same path as the towns to the east that had succumbed to wars past. He felt a pang of sadness as his gaze landed on a fresh graveyard. Part of him wanted to come back and set up camp near the southern village after his mission with the knights, but now that Penelope’s life was on the line, he couldn’t bring himself to travel away from her and go to bed every night wondering if she was still alive. As long as she was on the battlefront, he intended to stay close to her.

Eventually, the group reached the small tavern and stepped inside. Crow lingered by the doorway as he looked over the diminutive crowd that sat around at the tables. Unlike the Wild Lion in Whitebridge, there was a heaviness to the air that weighed of hopelessness and despair. It was clear that the villagers here were not drinking to celebrate the victories of their kingdom, but to escape from the harshness of the war. It was a desolate sight.

The thief glanced at Olivia as she commented on the dullness of the atmosphere. He couldn’t tell if she was genuinely oblivious of the pain in the village, or if she simply didn’t care. He was just about to turn away again to look for a good target to question, but then froze when the knight decidedly said that she would be going with Penelope. Before anyone had a chance to protest, the two were already on their way to a table of peasants, with Olivia dragging her friend along rather mercilessly.

Crow and Gavin exchanged an uncomfortable look, seeming to realize at the same time that with the two women gone, they were now going to have to work together too. The thief was more than capable enough to handle an interrogation of this nature on his own, but the knight wasn’t a skilled enough liar to handle the task. If Gavin was going to get anything done, he was going to need help, and Crow was the only one around who was up for the job.

A tense silence passed before Crow eventually cleared his throat and looked away, busying himself by selecting a table to approach. “Alright, let’s get this over with,” he muttered, taking a step towards a group of three men whom he had chosen as his targets.

“Not so fast,” Gavin narrowed his eyes. “We’re going to talk to them.” He tilted his head to indicate a different table than the one the thief had been eyeing.

Crow shot him a cold look, “If you’re going to fight me on every decision, we’re not going to get anything done.”

“Is there a problem with the group I picked?” Gavin asked accusatively.

“No,” Crow curled his lip. “It doesn’t matter who we speak with. I just don’t like your attitude.”

“Well, you’re just going to have to get used to it, thief, because I’m not as inclined to trust a criminal as my comrades seem to be.”

“It would save us all time if you would just get off your high horse and let me help you,” Crow rolled his eyes.

“You mean; let you lead us on a wild chase of a band of thieves that might not even exist?” Gavin snorted. “Not a chance.”

“You know, you’re infuriating enough that I’m actually feeling tempted to do just that,” Crow snarled, shoving past the knight to walk to the table he’d selected. “Come on. Stop wasting my time, and don’t get in my way.”

“I could say the same to you,” Gavin growled, following after the thief as they headed over to start their interrogation.