Crow couldn’t help but dwell on Olivia’s prophesy. He never planned to pursue Penelope—at least, he never planned it in earnest—but for some reason, it frustrated him to know that it wouldn’t have worked out even if he did. Maybe it was just his stubborn spirit, but he wanted to believe that he could have made a relationship with her work, even if it were only in theory. Still, he wondered why he cared so much. He already had the knight as a friend, and he also had Olivia to satisfy his other needs. Besides, he wasn’t interested in Penelope in that way… was he? Somehow, he was even more uncertain now than he was before.

The thief listened in to the knights’ conversation again when he heard Penelope’s voice asking Olivia if she should leave immediately to bring news to the king. The other woman just casually shrugged the idea off, saying that she had time to spare. The tension between them was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife. Crow shivered. He was glad Olivia was going to stay, but he also couldn’t wait for her to leave tomorrow. Hopefully Penelope would return to her usual self once the other female knight was gone.

[color=fff79a][b]“I’ll get the fire started then,”[/b][/color] Penelope said. [color=fff79a][b]“The sun will be set before long and it’s already getting chilly.”[/b][/color] Crow felt a pang of disappointment. With her businesslike attitude, it almost felt like she was ignoring him. Had he done something to offend her? He didn’t think his questions had been that intrusive, but maybe she didn’t like the way he had tried to get involved with her problems. Or maybe she was just taking out her irritation with Olivia on everyone. Either way, he hoped her bad mood would lift soon.

“Ah!” Olivia exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement. “I have food at my camp. It’s just west of here. I bought some chicken at a market in the last town I visited. I can go get it, and we can cook it for dinner if you’d all like.”

“That would be wonderful,” Abraxas agreed. “Chicken sounds delicious.”

The woman knight turned to Crow and quirked a brow, obviously awaiting his response. The thief glanced at Penelope before answering with a simple, noncommittal: “Sure.” In truth, he was desperately hungry, and chicken did sound delicious—his mouth even watered at the thought of it—but he didn’t want to upset Penelope, so he acted as if he didn’t care either way.

“Excellent,” Olivia said. “I’ll be back by the time the fire is started.” She turned and headed into the forest. As soon as she was gone, Crow joined Penelope in the center of the camp, aligning some sticks in the pit so they leaned against each other in an upright position to help her get a fire started.

“I haven’t built a fire in a long time,” he said in an attempt to make small talk. He wasn’t really sure what to say to her, but he knew he wanted to talk. “I used to enjoy doing it though. Having control over flames makes me feel kind of powerful.”