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[assassinrue]

Cassius smiled at her and looked her up and down. "We'll have to find you trousers for tomorrow." He whispered and then led them down an impossibly faint trail through the trees.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Trousers? Averyl was both elated and frightened at the thought of wearing men's clothing. She followed him, careful not to get her dress snagged on trigs.

[assassinrue]

"Have you ever shot a bow before, or held a sword?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl shook her head. "My father was very much against females handling weapons."

[assassinrue]

"Well, we will start with the basics then." Eventually the trees gave way to a small opening. "Wait here." Cassius crossed the opening and knelt by an old tree stump, when he stood, he held a bow and a quiver of arrows.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl eyed the bow warily. "Okay."

[assassinrue]

( I think it's hilarious that "I'm" teaching "you" to shoot.)

Cassius stood besides her, placed the quiver on the ground, took an arrow, knotched it and shot, hitting a board pegged to a tree, all in rapid succession. "What'd you see?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

(Haha, I know!)

Averyl stared at him blankly. "Ahhh.... Not much, honestly. You went too fast."

[assassinrue]

Cassius grinned at her. "Okay, so the basics are that I notched the arrow, pull, back and let it go." Cassius grabbed another arrow and notched it. "This feather right here, the one that's a little different that's the cock feather, it needs to face away from the bow. When you pull back, it's not just your arms, it's in your back too." Cassius pulled back the arrow and let it fly. "Do you see what I did?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl lost herself for a moment admiring the muscles in his arms, and what she could see of those of his back, under his shirt. "Yes... I think."

[assassinrue]

"Try." Cassius passed her the bow and when she gave him a bewildered look he grinned. "Just pull back on the bow, feel the weight of it."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"Okay," she said uncertainly. She adopted the pose he had used and gripped the string. When she tried to pull it back, she grimaced. "It's really heavy."

[assassinrue]

Cassius grinned. "We'll do extra work to build your strength, this is a heavy bow, it was made especially for me." He walked around and stood behind her, putting his finger against her spine, in between her shoulder blades. "Pull again, but this time thinking about using your shoulders to squeeze my finger in between your shoulder blades, okay?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl focused on his finger against her back--at the same time, trying not to think about him touching her--and tried to pull the bow again. She pulled her shoulder blades together, the muscles on her back tightening, and she managed to get the string most of the way back to her cheek.

[assassinrue]

"Very good. Would you like to try shooting?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl bit her lip nervously, the action making her look extremely young, and then nodded.

[assassinrue]

Cassius knelt and gave her an arrow. "Let me see you try, on your own."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl gave him an uncertain look before knocking the arrow and pulling back the string. Her muscles shook a little, but the let the arrow fly. Of course, it missed the target completely, but she still smiled proudly and looked over at him.

[assassinrue]

Cassius grinned. "Very nice, I'm surprised at the distance you were able to get there. Keep trying, just get the feeling of shooting down and then we'll work on aim."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Averyl nodded, perfectly happy to do as he said. She hadn't expected to hit the target on her first try... or her second or third try. She shot about a dozen arrows before her muscles started getting tired. She struggled to pull back the bow, unable to get it all the way back to her cheek.