BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope listened as Otto explained the difficulty he had in securing a room. It wasn't difficult for the knight to guess that most of the larger rooms had been taken up by other parties that were traveling from the warfront. She supposed they were lucky enough to get a room with three beds. Her gaze drifted over to the food as the servers approached. The knight mumbled a word of thanks as her stew was placed in front of her. The savory smell of it enticed her appetite and she wasted no time in digging into her food. However, as she did, Otto spoke up again after he had finished placing in his order.

"By the way, lieutenant," Otto glanced across the table at her with his usual unreadable expression. "they did have single bed rooms, if you wished to get one of your own."

The knight paused at his suggestion. It was clear that the baron wasn't exactly including her as part of their group but he didn't seem to hold any particular malice towards her so the knight didn't mind. Besides, his suggestion wasn't a terrible one. The room would be crowded enough with the six and while she was concerned about the mercenaries, it wasn't like she would be their target. Plus her options of where she would be sleeping that night were limited anyways, considering she could only share a bed with Naida or sleep on the floor. With too many others around and being in a formal courtship, she wouldn't be able to share a bed with Crow, even though she would have liked to. "I'll think about." she mused with a small nod.

"You don't have to, Penelope." Naida piped up with a smile. "You can share a bed with me. I don't mind!"

"I appreciate the offer but I still recall sharing a bed with you in the past after a night visiting the tavern in Colchester." the knight smirked and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I woke up with bruises after the amount you kicked me in your sleep."

"That was only because I went to bed drunk." Naida huffed and waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm not sure I want to find out if that's true or not." Penelope laughed before taking another bite from her food, ignoring the looks that were still coming from Rayner at the way the she spoke to the princess.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice! I liked it :D

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope nodded her head in greeting to Preston and Percy as the two joined the table before focusing back over to Naida as she prompted Crow. However, it seemed the viceroy wasn't paying attention as he didn't reply. The knight didn't think much of it until Naida had to call his name three times before a nudge from Preston finally brought the viceroy back to them. She eyed him, curiously wondering what he had been thinking about so intensely that he had completely zoned out of the conversation. He had seem fine the whole trip so she doubted it was anything concerning though so she was quick to let it go. Perhaps he had just been thinking about the parley that would eventually take place. Regardless, the knight wasn't going to question him about it at the moment.

As he finally went on to answer Naida, she smiled at him amusedly as he threw her words back at her. "Well we do." she shrugged, smirking up at him. "We've made it this far after all." And the knight had never pictured them getting to where they currently were until recent anyways. Though they'd be parting for two weeks soon, she was still undeniably happy with the route her life was taking her.

"It'll suck if you have to stay longer though." Naida sighed. "Then I won't have anyone to hangout with but him... Plus the sooner it ends the sooner Olivia can come back too!"

"Yes and I fear the day I have to handle both of you at once again." Penelope teased with an exaggerated shudder.

Naida rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to protest but got distracted as her gaze flickered away. The princess smiled as the baron walked over to rejoin the group. The baron moved to take a silent seat next to his son, but People noticed his gaze briefly flicker across the table to briefly glance at Preston. Though he didn't say anything, Penelope had a feeling he disapproved of the servant joining them as an equal. However, if he did, he didn't say anything and instead looked over to Naida as she addressed him. "Hey Otto, get everything taken care of?" she asked.

New World, Old Friend [Bee + Buzzingbee]

For a brief moment, she was certain that it was him. He seemed to stiff up with shock at the sight of the tattoo and it sent a burst of hope through her. However the hope was short lived as he questioned what she was showing him. Her gaze lowered disappointedly, feeling her hope sink with it. It had been foolish of her to think that there had even been a chance of running into her old friend, especially like this. At some point, she needed to accept that the John she had known and cared for was long gone. She let out a soft breath of disappointment, still reeling from the sharp sting of her shattered hope.

"My bad. I.. I thought you were someone I used to know." Juliet admitted as she retracted her arm. She glanced down at the tattoo and traced over the inking with her finger. "He had the same name as you. And you look a helluva lot like him. Must just be something with the name John." She added with a half hearted joke. Recovering from the blow, she shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner and lifted her gaze with a renewed smile. He might not have been the John she was hoping for but he was still someone new to potentially welcome into their community and that was enough to lift her spirits.

"Anyways, I'm from the community not far from here. I'm the leader of it actually. One of my people saw you in the area and I figured we'd better introduce ourselves." she explained, flashing a friendly smile. "We're trying to rebuild what was lost and it takes people to do that so I like to extend invitations out to the survivors I do come across."

"That is if you're not an asshole of course." Adrian grunted, his gun still raised. "We don't just take in anybody."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Hooray xD

Meanwhile Penelope's realizing she might not have thought everything through lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope nodded her head in agreement with Crow as he pointed out that a trip to Gorm would have been even longer for them. The mission she received from Toreus aside, she was glad that the viceroy wouldn't be leaving for such a long trip, especially after they had just begun courting. While she knew there would likely come a time when they would have to be apart longer than just the two weeks to Younis, she was hoping they would have a decent amount of time together before that happened. She was pulled from her musings as the wench went on to address her.

"Oh, stew and a honey mead for me, please." she responded after a brief moment of thought.

"I'll be right back with those then." The wench nodded and dipped her head respectfully to the group before turning to walk off.

Penelope moved her gaze away, noting that the group was still getting quite a few stares from the nobles that were frequenting the inn. A small smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth as she considered how out of place she likely looked amongst the decorated nobles she was surrounded by. Though her own armor was decorated to display her title as lieutenant, it was still the same armor she wore on the warfront and it still bore small scratches and dents that faintly echoed the battles she had participated in. It certainly didn't match with the more pristine uniforms Naida and Ranyer wore that clearly had yet to see a fight.

"So, Penelope, I've been meaning to ask, but does Mia even know you're on your way back to the warfront?" Naida piped up with a curious look.

Drawn from her thoughts, she looked over at her friend and shook her head. "Well...No she doesn't. The last time I wrote to anyone on the warfront was when I was telling Gavin and Olivia about the party. She gave me two months to do what I could to convince the king so I imagine she'll be slightly surprised to find out I've returned so early." she said with a small smirk of amusement.

"She'll probably be impressed too!" Naida laughed. Her friend paused and she gave a small frown. "How long are you going to stay out there?"

Penelope paused. Having been too caught up in her last minute plans, she supposed she hadn't thought about how long her leave from the inner kingdom would be. As eager as she was to reunite with Crow after the two weeks, she began to wonder if she would be able to. "I'm not sure.." she answered honestly. "As long as they need me, I suppose but that could mean anything depending on how things go from here on out." She shrugged her shoulders a bit haplessly and shifted her gaze away as she noticed Percy and Preston walking over to join them.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Probably xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope rolled her eyes playfully at him as he corrected her. "Of course." she snickered, mirroring his smirk before her gaze flickered over to Otto. She gave a small nod to the baron as he went ahead of them to step inside before she turned her focus over to the half siblings. The knight gave a mumble of agreement with Crow's words as he pointed out it was too late to change methods of travel. She shot the viceroy a smirk as he turned back to her and nodded her head.

"Alright, let's go then. I know the tantrums you're capable of throwing on an empty stomach." she snickered. Despite her teasing words, there was also a fondness in her gaze as she looked up at him. Her smirk faded into a smile and she moved to take his hand in hers before heading into the inn. Naida trotted up to follow on the other side of her glancing around as they stepped inside. The princess eyed over the tables as they stepped into the dining hall, pointing out an open seat once she spotted one.

Offhandedly, the knight noted that the inn was rather busy. She found it a bit strange at first, but then supposed Sarton was a common stopping place for the nobles traveling to and fro the warfront. Not commenting on it, she instead focused on following Naida over to the empty table and also ignoring the occasional glances she and Crow received. Although it was difficult for her to decide if was because of their newly public closeness or simply because of the viceroy's sudden appearance.

She slid onto the bench across from her friend and rested her elbows against the table, letting out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well it's nice to finally sit down on something that's not a horse."

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

True cx

And Penelope was grateful for that lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope smirked faintly as Naida rather bluntly claimed the other three knights to be poor company. Luckily it didn't seem like anyone took offense and it they did, they hid it with ease. What slightly caught the knight off guard was how Otto jumped in to offer his company up to the princess. She assumed he was just trying to help keep her occupied but regardless, the knight hadn't expected him to intervene, whether it was to help them or simply cater to the princess. Either way, Penelope wasn't one to complain. Needing to be on full alert, she was glad that she wouldn't have the distraction of her friend trying to keep a conversation going.

With that in mind, the knight stepped over to her horse and untied him from the tree before mounting him. As the others fell into position, she guided her horse to do the same, falling in on the open side of the viceroy. She fell into a silence as she kept her head up and her eyes focused on looking over their surroundings, watching with more care than before.

---

Despite her concerns, they had a rather easy trip to Sarton. There was no signs of danger or any other hitches in their travels. Penelope had remained on guard the whole time so conversations with her had been minimal though she did occasionally chat with Crow and Naida whenever something came up. Although it wasn't often, especially for the princess who's attention managed to be held by Otto for the most part. The knight had occasionally caught snippets of their conversation as he thoroughly went over survival knowledge for the rest of the trip. And for that, she was grateful to the baron.

As Otto lead them to the inn they would be staying at, the group drew their horses to a halt. She directed her stallion into a stop and carefully climbed down from the horse. Now that they had made it to the village, she felt herself relax a little bit more. In a more densely populated area and in their own kingdom, she doubted the mercenaries would strike at that moment so she let her guard down a bit more. As her feet touched the ground, she let out a long sigh and rolled her shoulders. It had been a long time since she had ridden for such a long distance so naturally she was feeling a bit stiff.

"Thank gods we finally reached the inn." she mused as she turned towards the building. After a long day on horseback and being on guard, she was eager to fill her belly and settle in for the night.