Penelope looked up at him expectantly as she waited for him to say whatever he had been holding back. As he admitted to potentially having spotted a mercenary in Bellmare, the knight's eyes widened in alarm and she stiffened slightly. She shifted uneasily as Crow went on to voice his own uncertainty of what he had seen. She caught the faint tremor in his voice, frowning concernedly as she looked up at him. As much as she wanted to comfort him right away, the knight had to take a moment to think over what he had just told her.
For a moment, she considered what Preston had said about the knight. Since she had never experienced such dreams herself, it was difficult for her to judge whether or not it was even a possibility that Crow had imagined the man he had seen at the market. It didn't make sense to her though. She had seen how badly the nightmares had affected the viceroy upon waking up first hand but once he overcame his initial panic, he seemed fine if not just sleep deprived. And by the time they had gone to Bellmare, he seemed to have been doing better after she had spoken with Tybalt. With all that in mind, Penelope found herself doubting that the man at the market was just someone he imagined. However, she couldn't fully rule out possible paranoia. The man may have actually been there but just sharing similar features to someone else didn't make him a mercenary.
But was it really all that crazy to think there was a mercenary in the inner kingdom? After Toreus and Aeklora's warnings, it sounded like there was still a great danger lurking in the shadows of all this. She was worried about them being under attack for that reason after all and it didn't sound as far fetched to her as Crow seemed to think it was.
Having decided on that much, she stepped forward to wrap her arms around his middle. "You were right to say something." she assured. "I don't think you imagined him... I mean, your nightmares were bad but they only seemed to affect you right after waking up aside from depriving you of sleep of course. The knight that attacked the guard probably imagined him to be an enemy from the war he fought in. If they started to enter your day to day life, wouldn't it make more sense for you to be seeing Jaxon or knights that attacked you rather than mercenaries?" She pointed out, recalling what his dreams had consisted of.
Penelope paused in her words and let out a small sigh. "That doesn't mean he was a mercenary though.. He could have just been a man running errands like you said. Perhaps his looks just made you think he seemed sinister because of our past experiences." Though she was pointing out something that seemed logical, there was conviction lacking in her words. The knight was already leaning towards believing him, reminded of her own worries about the potential dangers his journey to Younis held, but she had to try to keep a level head and remind them both that there was a possibility this man hadn't been more than another customer at the market.
"Personally though, I don't think it sounds as crazy as you might think." she mumbled, pressing a little closer to him as her nervousness sparked up again only this time a bit stronger after hearing possible confirmation of mercenaries in their kingdom. "The mercenaries we face back in Younis had tracked us for a long time, probably to Younis and back, considering how much the first one knew about us and how much further in the last group attacked. Two gods have warned each of us about another threat... Another war and more destruction. That means there's some threat out there that's been in hiding for over two years and it's still coming.
"It might have been before your father settled on peace but he was still planning on how to reach the war's end." Penelope pointed out. "That probably would have gotten in the way of whatever their plan is. The only reason we know it wouldn't stop them as much as peace is because a god told me otherwise. I think it's all too possible that man you saw could have been a mercenary." She shook her head, feeling a chill run up her spine at her own words. "You need to be careful on this trip."
