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Who: Natalia and Asch
What: A stalker and a willing stalkee.
When: Afternoon?
Where: South training grounds
Summary: Natalia is going to get back into practice with her bow, and Asch comes along to watch.
Rating: T, just in case.

As they reached the training grounds, Natalia could see there were several targets set up. Back before their journey, she had already been practicing on moving targets, and they had fought many battles during their journey. Though some still targets would be a good start to ease herself back into it. Hopefully, her muscle memory would start working once she got to it.

Natalia strung up an arrow and aimed it briefly before shooting. It was no surprise when it didn't land in the bulls-eye, but she strung up another one, determined to be splitting her own arrows by the end of this training session.

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Asch followed Natalia to the training grounds, seating himself on the grass not far off, though keeping a safe distance as she made her way to the archer's position and began to shoot the targets. It was something of an honour, really, to be watching her like this; Natalia so loved to be perfect, strong and able to do anything. To see her out of practice was both strange, but wonderful.

Almost more than anything, he loved seeing her determination when she sought to improve herself. Whether in her royal duties or in the field of battle, she was the strongest woman he knew.

Natalia was starting to understand why she wasn't doing as well as usual, to her annoyance. She glanced down at her bare fingers. The fact that she hadn't practiced in a while was already bad enough, and the lack of proper equipment was not helping. She had not shot without a glove since the very beginning of her training.

She hadn't recalled seeing any gloves at the weapons shop, though that was to be expected. Natalia turned to face Asch, a little embarrassed she had come all the way out here without the proper equipment. "Is there an armory here as well?"

Asch's brows furrowed at that, shrugging his shoulders. "Your archery equipment would probably be either at the odd-and-ends shop or the clothing store. They're both in the plaza we visited earlier, and everything's free, same as before."

Normally he'd have hidden his annoyance about potentially having to make a second trip, but since it was Natalia, he was merely concerned. Rising to his feet, he stepped over and took one of her hands, examining it. "If you're not careful, your entire arm will be bruised by the end of the day."

Natalia was touched by his concern, truly, but it was unfounded. She had healing artes at her disposal, after all. A simple Cure, or even a Heal, would take care of any bruises. It was just the matter of not having a proper glove, but being a master of Lanvaldear-style archery, she could adjust well enough until they went back to the village.

Though she... rather liked the feeling of her hand in his. "Thank you, Asch, but I will be fine. I'll look for my equipment when we head back, but for now, I can still shoot."

"...It's fine. Just be careful." Asch paused briefly, then released her hand, stepping back to let her go back to practicing. He didn't like her getting hurt, but she'd always loved archery, so he couldn't tell her to stop practicing. It wouldn't be fair, anyway.

"I will." Natalia stepped back into position and aimed again at the targets. Instead of shooting, however, she adjusted her stance a little, then moved her arms just slightly away from the bowstring. All the little things she remembered from training to help her shoot more accurately.

Intent on watching her more closely, Asch leaned on the nearest tree, shaded by the overgrown branches. There was little to do except watch her (while keeping an eye on the weather in case the rain persisted) and he knew nothing about archery, so he couldn't offer much advice. Really, though, he just wanted to watch her. It had been far too long since he'd seen her, and even though he'd never wanted her to suffer here, her presence wasn't exactly unwelcome.

Just... a cause of discomfort. But that would've been the case no matter what the circumstances were. Natalia was a comfort and a curse to him nowadays. It gave him something to work on, if anything. She didn't deserve his neglectful unease.

There was a steady cycle as Natalia shot steadily, changing just a little about her stance every few arrows, and when she was out of arrows, going to gather them up. Then the cycle repeated. At last, when she finally shot three arrows into the bulls-eye with quick succession (yet without splitting any, fortunately and unfortunately), Natalia decided perhaps it was time to finish up for the day.

As she gathered up her arrows and turned, she instantly flushed with realization and embarrassment. She had been so caught up in her archery, she had all but forgotten that Asch was there as well! She must have been so rude, ignoring him for such a long time! Still, walking over to where he was, Natalia couldn't help but ask, "What did you think of it?"

Natalia might just have to call for attention a bit more loudly than that; about halfway through her practice session, Asch dozed off against the tree, indulging a little in the warmth of the sunny day and the shade of the branches. He wasn't bored, honest!

A little indignant (he was the one who requested to come along, after all!), Natalia reached out to shake Asch awake, then paused. He looked so peaceful like this... She was almost reluctant to wake him up. Instead, she gently brushed a lock of red hair away from his eyes, then withdrew her hand, a little surprised at herself.

He did look rather peaceful, resting quietly with a little smile on his face. As she brushed back his hair, though, he stirred; he'd been trained for years to waken at the slightest thing, and physical touch, however light, was one of them. His time with Guy had relaxed him a little, but only at home. When she withdrew her hand, he opened his eyes, looking up at her. "...Natalia."

...Wait, had he fallen asleep? Was she angry? She didn't look entirely pleased.

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