Completed [The Stained Pelt] Hitting the Mark (Rinya)

[Jorin Ertihan]

Day 13, Season Winter, 513 AV

Jorin had invited Rinya to the Stained Pelt once more. At least this time, he knew the way there, and he hefted his bow slightly as he adjusted the strap of the quiver behind his back. As the weather took a turn a dip, so did the number of people who came to the Stained Pelt to practice archery. Technically, because he'd purchased a bow there, the proprietor had assured him that he had a year's worth of use out of the practice range.

Jorin hadn't been taking advantage of this, though not necessarily because he thought he'd make a fool of himself, missing every single shot he fired. His face still flushed when he remembered his first lesson with Rinya, here at this exact spot. He still recalled how beautiful she looked, even though she hadn't specifically dressed up that day. And of course, there was the latent desire that had sang across their bond that day. Every moment of that day was burned into his memory.

But sadly, this day was not anything like that day. It was not warm and sunny and bright. The sky was a dull gray overcast, and Syna had not shown her face all day. The air was both cold and biting, and Jorin suspected it wouldn't really get much warmer until at least nearing the end of the Season. Still, it wasn't all bad.

Most of the snow had been cleared away and the range was mostly clear of people. And while the air was quite frosty it wasn't so cold as to be unbearable. In fact, Jorin noted it wasn't even cold enough to see his breath, which was either a good sign that the day was likely to be at least tolerable, or a sign that even colder days were forthcoming.

Regardless, Jorin waited patiently for his wife to appear. It was such an interesting feeling, to be married to Rinya. In many ways nothing had changed. Every night he still came home to Rinya's warm presence - that or she came home to his. They talked, laughed, sometimes went over the letters he'd taught her.

She would give him that happy, carefree smile, the one that he'd only ever seen her give him, and he'd kiss her. But all these things they'd done prior to marriage, when they'd merely been bondmates and mates. What had changed? Nothing physical besides a mark, and yet their dynamic had become different. They'd grown even closer than before, and Jorin found that it was even difficult to sleep without Rinya by his side.

Jorin knew his wife loved her bow. It was the one thing about her work at the Warren she enjoyed: the fact that she could use her bow. Jorin was not a stupid man; he knew her job was dangerous. The Glassbeak attack that near gave him a heart-attack a Season ago was still branded into the back of his mind every time he thought too much about it.

Truthfully, Jorin did not like seeing his wife in danger. But it was her choice of work, and he knew she took great pride in her accomplishments. For all that he worried over her, Jorin would never tell Rinya what to do. All he could do was support her, and hope and pray to the gods that she didn't get hurt again.

As Jorin eyed a nearby target, he decided he'd try to sneak in a shot at it before his wife arrived. If he could land even one shot somewhere on the target, he was sure it would impress Rinya. Or at least so he hoped. But the truth was, not since their fishing trip together had Jorin actually touched a bow.

It was a terrible thing, he knew. For something like the bow, he need to practice every chance he could get. But the truth was, it just didn't feel right doing it without Rinya. In Jorin's head, longbow practice was intimately tied to Rinya. Like kissing or mating, it was one of those activities that didn't have meaning to Jorin, if it wasn't done with his wife.

He supposed it could be considered sappy, but then that was how he felt. Sappy or not it was the truth. And so despite the fact that he could have used the Stained Pelt's practice area any time last season, he ended up not using it much at all. Sighing, Jorin decided to try a few practice shots. At least shake off some of the rust, he reasoned.

Taking a deep breath, Jorin reached behind him and snagged one of the arrows from the quiver. He'd noticed at home that his own bow looked slightly different from the one his wife had brought over from Syliras. It was interesting to see the difference, and it helped to differentiate which was his and which was hers. But in the end it didn't matter; they had long ago discarded any such distinctions. Everything that was Jorin's was Rinya's, and vice versa.

Jorin made sure to keep his feet a shoulder length apart, pointing his right toe at the target like he remembered Rinya teaching him. Stance, apparently, was crucial to using the bow correctly. Though Jorin had to wonder; in actual use of the bow, such as when Rinya was attacking wild dogs or whatever it was she shot at while working at the Warren, would she necessarily always have the opportunity to get into the proper stance?

If not, Jorin wondered how an archer managed to shoot any arrows if their stance was disrupted. Nonetheless that was a thought for another time. Jorin brought his concentration back to the task at hand. Licking his lips to wet them against the dry air, Jorin made sure to nock the arrow carefully, still not quite skilled to the degree that he could do so without the aid of his eyes.

Making sure to set his shoulder, Jorin lifted the bow and attempted to draw the string at the same time in one fluid motion, like how he'd seen his wife do it. But the arrow slipped and fell, arrowhead-first, and embedded itself into the ground at Jorin's feet. With a curse, he bent down to pick it back up, but as he did so, he heard a soft laugh from behind him. Jorin smiled, not even having to turn around.

He could feel the amusement mingle with the love across the bond. It was such a wonderful thing, the bond. He was always warmed by the soft love that was ever-present across it, and it gave him tremendous comfort even during the most trying of days. Turning around, Jorin scratched the back of his head and threw his wife a sheepish grin.

"Uh, well, I guess I'm not nearly good enough to try something fancy like that," he admitted, before walking over and gently placing his free arm around her waist. Drawing Rinya up, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, closing his eyes and just enjoying the sensation of the kiss, slipping in his tongue to deepen the intimate contact.

As was usual with their kisses, it really probably only lasted a few chimes, but felt like it lasted forever. Somehow Jorin knew their kisses would always be that way, full of love and passion, and this one was no different. He was happy to see her, and the kiss had equal parts 'hello' and 'I love you'. Despite the fact that he'd slipped his tongue in, the kiss was primarily loving, though Jorin couldn't prevent a tiny bit of desire slipping in too.

He pulled away before things could get out of hand. It had almost begun to; he was sorely tempted halfway through of just dropping his bow and grabbing Rinya to press her even closer to him and intensifying the kiss. But with a strange sense of disappointment from both of them, Jorin separated his lips from hers and smiled at her, face a bit flushed and breathing somewhat ragged.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach me again," he said. "I'll try to be a good student... and you'll see! I'll hit that target yet."

Jorin gave a little frown as he glanced down at Rinya's own bow. He remembered there was a fancy carved longbow at Beautyfest, unclaimed by any of the ladies. He wondered briefly why Rinya hadn't claimed it for herself.

"By the way, Rinya," he asked. "I noticed at Beautyfest, there was this fancy carved longbow that was one of the prizes. I was just wondering why you didn't choose that for your prize?" Genuine curiosity trickled across the bond as Jorin just patiently waited for Rinya's reply, though he did add, "Of course, um, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

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[Rinya]

Day 13, Season Winter, 513 AV

It was an unusual feeling, having Jorin be the one inviting her to the Stained Pelt. Much more that he would actually beat her there first. Apparently Rinya had a slightly longer shift at work than he did for once. Rinya couldn’t help but feel happy over the fact that Jorin wished for her to teach him further in archery, seeing as he hadn’t mentioned it since their little fishing adventure. When he bought the bow Rinya knew that it was simply for her benefit. The first time they had visited the Stained Pelt together, she had simply wanted to spend time with him but he had surprised her by buying the bow himself. Honestly she had thought he would sit and write poems while she practiced, not take up her hobby as well.

The weather however didn’t agree with her much, but that wasn’t anything new as of late. It was a slow going process but she was gradually coming to terms with winter. Any other choice left her without Jorin and therefore was not a choice at all to her. But the fact there was no sign of Syna meant colder weather was already on the way. Winter had barely begun and Rinya swore that the chill had not left her bones for days. The only time she ever felt warm was cuddled in bed next to Jorin, and that was never long enough in her opinion. If she had her way they would spend all winter there, but that sadly was not a choice either.

Still not even the weather could dim her excitement at the chance to practice archery, especially with Jorin. She never thought she would ever enjoy teaching—though teaching Jorin was very simple as he listened extremely well— it had crossed her mind over the last season or so that maybe she should take up teaching as her next profession. She was already learning how to read and she did not want to spend the rest of her days in the Warren, wandering the cold dark halls looking for trouble. Rinya could not count the number of times in the past two seasons that she had ended up in a dangerous situation, but it wasn’t acceptable to spend her life feeling that way.

There had been talk between her and Jorin of children. It had been hard enough on Jorin to see her in the medical center, and she never wanted to imagine what it might do to her children— assuming they had more than one— to see their mother in a hospital bed. But danger was a part of life and Rinya knew at some point she was going to have to further her training. As much as she loved her bow it was no longer enough. She was going to have to bring up to Jorin about the attack on the Warren, and that wasn’t something that was bound to go over entirely too well. She was not hiding it from him, but considering how he reacted in hospital it was likely that he would worry all the more for her.

Perhaps now more than ever, seeing as things at home had been so enjoyable. They had a routine now, something Rinya never thought she would ever enjoy. Routine in her old life meant daily drills and sore muscles by the end of the day and she would only get to repeat it over and over again. But here… it did not matter who got home first, one of them would start the fire to make their home comfortable for the other. She would smile and he would kiss her, and it was something that never got old. Jorin himself seem to enjoy it even more since the new mark on her neck signified physically that she belonged to him, just as the twin mark to her own on his neck said the same. Having her for his wife—no matter how close they were before—was clearly something he enjoyed.

But Rinya had a plan. If she could get her husband and mate to join her in archery, then perhaps he would be interested in joining her to a self-defense class. She already had taken one lesson from someone else, and while it was hard she had rather enjoyed it. If nothing else at least Jorin would know why she had suddenly decided to take lessons. He would understand in the very least, but seeing as they enjoyed spending as much time together as possible, it was likely he would join her—at least she hoped he would. He was quite the pacifist and it surprised her that he had even taken up archery at all.

As she approached the Stained Pelt, she could already make out his form. It seemed as though he was planning to take a few practice shots before she arrived, so Rinya held back. Her fingers curved over her bow looped across her back to pull it forward, along with her quiver. They were a natural extension to herself and it made the move quite graceful. Jorin on the other hand had just pulled himself up into a proper stance, and even from this distance she could see the improvements he could make. He always seemed to forget to hold his center correctly. He should feel the pull of muscles across his stomach, but her mate didn’t even make it that far.

In a move that—if Rinya had to guess—was copied from her, he tried to lift his bow and pull the string tight at the same time. For her it was an easy movement, something that Favchean had called ‘muscle memory’ if she remembered correctly herself. Unlike Kata however, her muscles were trained in a series of steps, one directly following the other without much deviation. Rinya herself could improvise, but Jorin was nowhere near ready enough for that sort of commitment… and it showed. He lost control of the arrow before the string could even pull fully back and the arrow landed directly into the ground at his feet.

Rinya bit her bottom lip, trying to control the laughter that bubbled up from her chest. He was honestly quite handsome, especially when he didn’t realize he was being watched. The look of concentration on his face, or the curse that escaped him when he failed, but try as she might the laugh escaped. He turned to face her, throwing her a familiar sheepish grin that she could remember all the way back to the first day they met when he had introduced himself—and nearly fallen over the edge of the railing in the process. It was disarming and contagious then, and it still affected her now.

Rinya smiled, shrugging lightly as he admitted that maybe he just wasn’t ready. "Never hurts to try does it?" Rinya mused as he approached her. Much like the routine at home, Rinya knew exactly what was coming next. As he pulled her close, Rinya tilted her face upwards to make it easy for him to kiss her. Rinya wrapped her own free hand around his neck, humming as he invaded her mouth.

It reminded her of their first visit here. They had not been so—intimate yet, but they wanted to be, and it showed. By now one would think she would have a reign on those emotions, but it never failed to flare around him. She could feel his love—and desire—and it sparked hers. But at least they were able to pull away from each other, knowing now they had time… and a home to go back to. It never stopped the disappointment however.

"You’re a fine student Jorin. It’s like anything else… it takes time to learn. Thank you though… for wanting to." It would be easy for him to lose interest in this specific hobby and that wouldn’t have bothered her in the least. If he wasn’t so stubborn he might have let himself as well. However Jorin suddenly inquired as to why she didn’t choose the lovely bow from Beautyfest. Instead of answering right away, Rinya pulled away from him and leaned her quiver against a stump and drew an arrow from it, twirling it around her fingers for a moment.

"It was a beautiful bow I’ll admit, but I already have a good bow. Plus I would have hated for it to have gotten damaged. I would have wanted to use it, and given the fact I actually fight with a bow…" Rinya shrugged. Glancing upwards for a moment at the target in front of them, Rinya took up her own archery stance—a mirror image of his own seeing as her left side was the dominant side. She didn’t bother to spare much of a glance at the arrow to see if she had strung it correctly, she could feel the lay of the arrow between her fingers and the color of the fletchings in the corner of her eye.

Shooting a small grin at Jorin over her shoulder she drew the bow back as she lifted it, feeling the stretch of her muscles across her left arm down her chest and stomach and straight into her right arm. One fluid motion as she touched her right hand to the corner of her mouth in a feather light touch and her left eye adjusted the aim of her bow. "Though I do have a question for you…" Rinya trailed off as she breathed in a slow steady breath, and released it with a woosh—from both her lungs and the bow itself. Her arrow sailed across the field, landing in the corner of the bull’s-eye. Not dead center, but her aim had much improved since her downtime in fall. It left her grinning at him, raising a brow.

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[Jorin Ertihan]

Even without having to tell him, Jorin knew his wife hated the cold. It bugged him just a little that he couldn't do anything to help her with that, except to cuddle with her at night to keep her warm and loved, and to make the fire at home whenever he got there before she did. Still, Jorin was very grateful that she chose to stay with him. He would not have begrudged her decision if she'd chosen to migrate for the season; she was a migratory bird after all. But they both knew he'd be very lonely during the season, and he wasn't even sure he'd be able to sleep without her snuggled up against him.

Fortunately, archery was an activity that got the blood pumping and a good way to fight off the cold. The air was nippy but not bitingly cold, not yet, which was at least a step above some of the sharply cold days he'd experienced in the past. Nonetheless, Rinya was still wearing the new cloak she'd purchased, which Jorin found amusing that a simple cloak could cost that much. He wasn't upset that she'd purchased it - he himself might get a winter coat if the weather kept getting worse - but he thought that it was humorous that a single cloak could cost more than his entire outfit.

Jorin had figured his stance was not entirely correct, and it bothered him because Rinya had so patiently taught it to him before. He should have gotten it right, damn it! In any case, Jorin knew that he'd need the practice he would be getting today, and he just shrugged and nodded at Rinya's statement that it never hurt to try.

Their kisses had become as routine as their cuddling in bed at night. It had reached the point where Rinya even knew it was coming, tilting her face to give him better access to her lips and not reacting beyond humming slightly as he slipped his tongue in. It was clear to him that she enjoyed the attention he showed on her, and he enjoyed it too. Kissing his wife had become so natural to him that he barely thought about it anymore, except to enjoy the sensations.

The kiss ended too soon, as he was sure they both felt, but they had time enough to finish at home if they so chose. Even now, many days after marriage, their passion and love had not died down from the high of that day. In fact it had gotten stronger; while the bond had always had a trace of love floating through it constantly, ever since they married that love had grown, surging across the bond at all times and warming him to the core every time he felt it.

"Yeah, I suppose it does," Jorin sighed to Rinya's statement that it took time to learn. "And of course I'd want to. I love you, Rinya. Even if we were learning basket weaving, I'd want to do it just to be with you," he confessed. His cheeks tinged slightly at the admission. He'd never really told his wife that, he didn't think, although she was a very smart woman and probably guessed it. But the truth was he only picked up the bow to be close to her.

"Not that there's anything wrong with basket weaving," Jorin joked lightly, and then waited patiently as Rinya walked over and leaned her quiver against a nearby stump and drew and arrow from it. Jorin was a bit impressed by Rinya's ability to twirl that arrow around her fingers. Like everything else she did, it was a single fluid graceful action, not like Jorin's clumsy attempts.

Her answer made a lot of sense. It was a beautiful bow to be sure, but she didn't want to ding it up through repeated use, though that of course drove the question of what to do with such fancy weapons. Just... hang it up on a wall somewhere to look pretty? When he was back in Zeltiva, Jorin had seen men 'display' their women like they were part of an outfit, in similar fashion. It was never something Jorin was a big fan of, and he would never do such a thing to Rinya.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed. "Something so beautiful should be protected..." of course, as Jorin said 'beautiful', he was looking right at Rinya.

Rinya had apparently decided to show Jorin how it was done, and Jorin made a point to try to pay attention. As always, even with her heavy cloak, Jorin could still make out the smooth curves of his wife underneath. It was both harder and easier to learn with her. While she was an excellent teacher and he had a vested interest in listening to her, the fact that she was so beautiful tended to serve as a distraction. Jorin coughed slightly and redoubled his efforts to pay attention.

Rinya entered her stance, which was a mirror of Jorin's own. It made it a little more difficult for him to replicate her actions because he needed to remember to flip it around in his head. RInya did not look down at her arrow when she nocked it, clearly comfortable enough with the action that it was automatic. Jorin knew such things came with practice, but nonetheless he rather wished he didn't have to look down every time, though he suspected the arrow would not fly properly if it wasn't nocked correctly.

She tossed him a small grin, which Jorin returned. It really didn't matter what she did, she was beautiful either way, though Jorin suspected he might be rather biased on that opinion. But he liked how easily she smiled for him now, how readily she was able to act so natural and happy with him. But Rinya had already drawn the arrow while lifting the bow, the same action that Jorin had attempted to replicate earlier.

He tried to pay attention to how Rinya did it. It didn't look so complicated. Her muscles under her clothes were obviously straining to maintain the draw of the bow, and he remembered her saying that she would feel the pull in her stomach and chest. He tried to memorize how her body was moving as she lifted her bow while drawing the arrow, and seeing if he could copy it correctly the next time.

Rinya mentioned a question for him as she shot her arrow, and Jorin watched the missile sail through the air to land at the corner of the bull's-eye. It was certainly a lot closer than he expected to achieve for a while, but nonetheless he grinned gamely back at Rinya and nodded.

"Of course! What is it?" he asked, while he leaned his own quiver against the same stump, right next to Rinya's. He didn't bother taking an arrow, instead opting to go with the one he'd accidentally dropped which was still in his hand. Giving Rinya his best smile, he planted his feet a shoulder-length apart once more, taking a few breaths and checking to make sure the stance was correct.

He'd just seen Rinya fire her arrow, so he knew ideally he should just copy her motions. But of course, he had to take it a lot slower. Unlike Rinya's fluid motion, Jorin found himself having to look down to nock the arrow, and then he raised the bow first, the arrow loosely nocked to the string but not pulled back. No fancy maneuvers this time.

When he was sure he was ready, Jorin set his right shoulder and slowly pulled the bow back, feeling the strain in his shoulder muscles as the arrow followed the string backwards. He felt the fletching tickle the corner of his mouth as he held it there for a few ticks, adjusting his aim slightly even though he wasn't nearly skilled enough to know precisely how he was supposed to adjust aim.

Jorin could feel slight strain in his chest and core, but he suspected that he needed more practice because at the moment the majority of the work was being done by his arms and shoulders. He tried adjusting his stance a little more, but the arrow began to wobble slightly so he stopped. He figured he'd just have to adjust during his next shot; they had plenty of time to practice after all and he had Rinya there to tell him what he'd done wrong.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, Jorin eyed the target in front of him, the bull's-eye almost beckoning him. He knew his chances of hitting anywhere near it were almost nil. He'd be lucky if he even hit the target at all. Nonetheless, Jorin took another few ticks, adjusting his aim a little more before releasing the arrow with a whoosh of breath.

His own missile sang across the gap before embedding itself on the far left corner of the target. It was barely a hit; more luck than anything else, but Jorin couldn't help the feeling of ecstasy at finally hitting something. Sure he was about as far from the bull's-eye it was possible for him to be without missing entirely, but he had hit something! Turning to Rinya, he proudly puffed out his chest a little and gave her a huge grin.

"Rinya, did you see that?" he laughed, excited like a small boy wanting to show a friend something interesting he'd done. "I hit it!"

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[Rinya]

It wasn’t a surprise actually, that Jorin had picked up archery for her, but honestly she knew there were only two reasons he continued. One—he was far too stubborn to stop once he started something, and two—it was something he wanted to do with her. As Rinya desired to learn how to read because of him, he tried to find things that she enjoyed as well. Honestly she wished there was something else she could do for him that he enjoyed. Acting wasn’t exactly a forte she could pick up however—she would never be able to face that many people.

"Basket weaving…" Rinya shook her head as she smiled, rolling her eyes. "If there was anything ever so boring." She snarked. Sadly enough however if Jorin ever showed interest in learning such an art she would make a conscious effort to at least try. But really she couldn’t imagine enjoying basket weaving. It was likely she’d get bored, and attempt to distract Jorin as well. "You know, if this isn’t all that enjoyable for you then you don’t have to right?" The last thing Rinya ever wanted to do was subject him to her version of basket weaving.

Jorin simply agreed with her however as he mentioned that something beautiful should be protected. Her face immediately flushed despite herself—he still caused that sort of reaction out of her. Perhaps it was the pure honesty in his voice and across the bond. He always meant it, so it never failed to get a rise out of her. His statement made her think back to her previous thoughts however… she was going to have to tell him about the Warren eventually. Rinya bit her bottom lip, before focusing back on the bow and arrow in her hand.

He was eager to know her question however, and Rinya had no idea how to actually bring the subject up. Actually that was easy—if she wanted to be blasé about the whole thing… which Jorin would not appreciate. He would understand, but her safety was something he always asked for. Even when they had been separated for a week with no contact he would have never wanted her injured like he was. In fact his injuries were the reason she never mentioned it before this—that hadn’t been something she wanted to add to his plate. But with Jorin getting ready to shoot himself she simply stewed over the question and motioned for him to take his aim instead.

Unlike the first time, Jorin had decided not to bother with anything fancy. A good choice—once he got used to this first, then he could certainly move onwards. Reaching down she picked up another arrow from her quiver and resumed twirling it between her fingers. It used to be a habit that drove her father nuts, however Rinya enjoyed it. It rather improved the flexibility of her fingers and required hand to eye coordination as well. But by now it was mostly just a habit she had, like preening her feathers.

For Jorin’s first shot Rinya remained quiet, watching his stance and his muscles closely. As much as she would have loved to of been distracted by his form, if she was going to teach him, she sadly had no choice but to pay attention. If he was going to do this he had to learn to do it well. Archery was not a close combat kind of skill and the basics were very important to start with. He pulled the string tight, using his mouth as an anchor like she did and tried to aim with his dominant eye. The trouble came when he tried to adjust his stance while holding the bow still.

The arrow wobbled against the wood of his bow and Rinya was sorely tempted to reach out and adjust him, but she held back. Jorin stopped after a tick when he realized he wouldn’t be able to adjust on this shot unless he let the string loose. Instead he took his breath and stared down his target before releasing the arrow. Rinya watched the arrow fly and veer off course—but not enough. The arrow stuck into the side of the target on the far left. The arrow itself looked to have only stuck very loosely, but it landed none the less.

Jorin was purely excited however, and she didn’t blame him. She remembered the first time she landed her first arrow… it had stuck only for a chime before falling off from the breeze. But all that mattered was that it had hit. He grinned at her, laughing as his excitement peaked. She was surprised he wasn’t jumping up and down in joy. Rinya just smiled brightly at him, nodded enthusiastically to him. "Of course I did. I’m so proud of you!" And she meant it. She didn’t expect him to hit the target every time now, but considering this was only really their second training session he was doing very well.

Of course she didn’t say that, and Jorin probably knew it too. Approaching him, she leaned close and kissed him soundly. It was better than any words to get how she felt across anyways. Besides, the poor man was always the one to show her affection. It felt like high time she initiated something once and while. But like the kiss before it didn’t progress far, otherwise they would never get anywhere. Still smiling at him, she looked back at his arrow. For several chimes she actually forgot she had a question for him.

Clearing her throat she retrieved her bow, deciding that while she was trying to teach him the extra practice for herself never hurt. Besides it gave her something to focus on while she told him she had been attacked—again. Granted it was at the beginning of the last season but still… it wasn’t something that would ever be easy to tell him. "So I’ve been thinking..." She started, nocking her arrow against the string—this time paying attention to it. A sign that she was a little awkward, but Jorin probably already knew it from the bond.

"Given where I work, I thought it might be best for me to take up some kind of… hand to hand combat." Rinya shrugged trying her best to push it off as a simple idea, but there was no point in hiding why from him—even if he didn’t ask. Sighing, Rinya lifted her bow first, trying to give him another simple example to view from before she slowly drew the string back. Keeping her shoulders squared, Rinya tilted her head ever so slightly to the right so that she could aim with her left eye.

Her vision narrowed down the sight of the arrow so that she could focus on the target before her. Instead of adjusting her stance, Rinya shifted her left arm upwards ever so slightly before she breathed out the air in her lungs and released the arrow itself. It cut through the air, landing with a resounding thud directly next to her other arrow on the outer ring before the bull’s-eye. Her mind was distracted… with a sigh Rinya turned to face Jorin, not so much disappointed with the landing of her second arrow as she should have been.

"While we were… separated.. last season, there was an invasion of sorts on the Warren." Rinya made a slight movement of dismissal as she put the bow back down next their quivers. "I wasn’t allowed to shoot back then, due to my arm. It’s part of the reason I bought that dagger… I had to use one instead of my arrows. Seymantis and I ran into the intruders and if I hadn’t had that dagger…" She probably would be dead. And she didn’t have to say it, the implication was clear. Granted knowing hand to hand combat might not have saved her, but it certainly would have given her more of a fighting chance.

But Rinya finally drew her eyes up to look at him, pursing her lips for a tick before sighing again. "But I was wondering if you’d like to join me… in the hand to hand combat." She flushed again, trying to shrug off the suggestion. He didn’t really need the training, but she wanted him to go for some reason—even if he didn’t pick up the same combat training she did.

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[Jorin Ertihan]

Jorin was glad to know that at least his wife agreed with him that basket weaving was not exactly the epitome of fun. He grinned at her rolling of the eyes, giving away that he thought it was just as boring as she did. To be fair, Rinya had noted once before that some aspects of her job were not particularly engaging. For example, he still remembered when she told him about having to move a bunch of weapons one-by-one from one level of the Warren to another. That sounded like oodles of fun.

When Rinya mentioned that he didn't have to continue practicing archery if he didn't want to, Jorin just shrugged. "It's growing on me," he grinned. And the truth was, as long as all he was shooting at was targets and trees, Jorin was fine learning this new skill. But he didn't want to think about the fact that some would use it against other people. It was for the same reason he continued to learn the quarterstaff; though it was harder to justify a bow as a self-defense weapon.

Nonetheless, he didn't stress over it. Simply having the skill did not automatically make him a murderer. In the end it still came down to intention. Jorin did not intend to use his skill in archery to shoot at more than at most animals. And so that conviction comforted him enough that he did not stress about the fact that it could be used against people.

He could feel Rinya's eyes on him as he attempted another shot. The bond was quiet, probably because she didn't want to distract him during his shot and cause him to miss. Not that he needed Rinya's help to miss; he seemed to do that just fine on his own. When the arrow managed to stick itself loosely into the target, Rinya's enthusiasm matched Jorin's own. He grinned as she told him she was proud of him, happy to have done something right.

There was still a long way to go before he could even approach Rinya's skill. He had hit the target... once. And that was after a lot of preparation and in a strictly controlled environment. And his target was large, clearly marked, and stationary.

Rinya had decided to initiate intimate contact this time, approaching him and leaning in for a kiss. Jorin helped, closing the distance and pressing his lips soundly against hers, enjoying the sensations of love and trust that passed between them. He was quite sure, even if there hadn't been a bond, those feelings would still transmit. By far, kissing was one of their most effective forms of communication, and he was glad that Rinya had gotten comfortable enough with him to want to initiate such contact with him.

When the kiss broke, Jorin felt the usual disappointment. He rather liked kissing her, and would have preferred to keep doing it, but of course they weren't there to press their lips against each other. But when Rinya got back onto the topic of the question she had wanted to ask, Jorin felt the nervousness coming from her. Was it that big of a deal? He cocked his head curiously as he waited for her to explain what she had meant. She had even paid attention to the arrow she was nocking to her string, looking down at it rather than simply feeling the difference in the fletching with her fingers.

Jorin raised a brow when she mentioned that she wished to learn hand-to-hand combat. He knew, of course, that her work at the Warren could be dangerous, but the fact that she felt her current combat skills were not sufficient... Jorin wasn't sure how he wanted to react to that. Of course, he wanted Rinya safe; if her current skills were not enough then he had no problems with her improving them. But, the fact that she needed to...

Jorin tried to pay attention to Rinya's stance, to see what he'd done wrong (and more importantly, what Rinya was doing right) so that he could correct it with his next shot. But it was difficult. Jorin's mind kept going back to what Rinya had told him. About wanting to learn hand-to-hand. There was more to it than just general danger, he could feel it. And so he missed most of the shot, and it seemed Rinya was distracted as well since her second shot was less accurate than her first one.

And then she told him. Apparently, during their week of separation last season, there had been an attack on the Warren. Jorin could feel the blood drain from his face. If Rinya had gotten hurt during that... he wouldn't have known. The bond had been blocked. Worse, he would have gotten hurt during that ill-fated visit to the Kendoka and Rinya would not have been there. So many things went wrong that week.

Jorin knew that Rinya had picked up a rather vicious-looking dagger at one point. He didn't really feel comfortable around the weapon, though he knew his wife would never use it on him, it still was pretty much the epitome of the sort of weapon he'd never want to learn. Nonetheless, after her story, he could understand why she had to pick it up. Between his wife being hurt and some attacker being hurt, Jorin was willing to admit he'd far rather it be the other guy.

So that was what Rinya wanted to ask him. Whether he wanted to join her in learning hand-to-hand combat. He could hear Sorhyn's voice echo in his mind. "Unarmed combat is only useful if you lose your weapon," he had said. "In a straight-up fight, an unarmed opponent is always at a disadvantage against an armed opponent. Even a small knife is better than nothing."

But of course, in a fight, nothing was certain. There were a hundred different ways an opponent might disarm you, and once your weapon was gone, unarmed fighting style was all you had left to defend yourself. In that situation, having training might make the difference between life and death, and Jorin was not so naive as to not know this.

"I... will admit I'm not altogether happy with the fact that you even need to learn unarmed combat," Jorin confessed with a sigh. "That attack... if something had happened to you... Rinya I'm not sure what I'd do."

He gave a light shrug. "I picked up the quarterstaff because it had no edges or blades. Purely for self-defense. I suppose... I suppose I could also learn hand-to-hand as well. Purely for defense, of course." Jorin grinned. He figured Rinya was learning it for the same reason, but the truth was even if she was learning it for offense as well, he wouldn't be too bothered. Just because he was pacifistic in nature didn't mean he needed his wife to be as well.

Jorin walked over to his quiver and picked up another arrow. He tried to twirl it between his fingers like Rinya did, but ended up missing and dropping it, again. He really needed to stop doing that, Jorin decided. But Rinya just made it seem so easy, when she did things like that, and while intellectually he knew it was the product of endless repetition, he still thought he could copy it better than he obviously did.

"Hey, I'll get it one of these days!" he insisted, with a glare that had no heat or anger in it as Rinya laughed again. After bending down to retrieve his errant arrow, Jorin pursed his lips and tried to readjust his stance, giving the target a baleful look like it was at fault for not being where his arrow had gone.

Looking over at Rinya, he attempted to pick up cues from her face and the bond to see if he was doing it right, but his wife was canny and kept the bond quiet and her face blank. When it became clear that she wasn't going to just tell him what he was doing wrong, Jorin sighed and tried to analyze his own stance to see what he was missing.

If he remembered correctly, his back should be straight and his shoulders a bit further back, so Jorin tried that, sensing the change in how his body stood when he did so. It was interesting to him, to see how different it was to do this with Rinya as opposed to learning the quarterstaff at the Kendoka. He certainly hoped that if they went to the unarmed school, they'd go together as well. It was certainly a lot more pleasant that way.

Taking a deep breath, Jorin raised his arm and set it, then drew the string back with the arrow nocked. He tried to nock it without looking down, but had missed the mark and was forced to look anyway. It would take quite some time, he realized, before he could do this the way he had observed Rinya doing it.

Squeezing his left eye shut, Jorin tried to aim better this time. The arrow had veered to the left, so he tried to aim a bit further to the right, hoping to compensate for the apparent miscalculation of last time. At least this time, as the fletching reached the corner of his mouth, Jorin could feel more of the tension in his stomach and core, like Rinya had indicated it should. That was the good news. The bad news was he still didn't know if he was aiming correctly. In truth he was just taking a wild guess.

With a whoosh of breath, Jorin released the arrow, watching it fly across the span before sailing past the target and embedding itself in the snow-covered grass behind it. He sighed and groaned. He supposed it was too much to hope for that he'd hit twice in a row, and while he'd been trying to compensate for the fact that the arrow had struck too far to the left, he'd ended up over-compensating and missed the target entirely.

He glanced over at Rinya and gave a little shrug. "I guess you can't get them all," he sighed in disappointment. "I think my aiming's really off. I guess I know what I'm going to have to work on today, besides my stance that is," he added.

After a brief pause, he smiled and said, "How exactly were you planning on learning unarmed combat?" he asked. "I... I believe the Kendoka has a sister school for unarmed combat. Were you going to take lessons there? I'd be happy to join you..."

Truth was, Jorin really didn't like the idea of Rinya being struck, even in sparring. That said, he had no interest or desire to strike her himself, but at least if he was the one sparring with her, he knew he could hold back and be gentle so that she didn't get hurt. Though, knowing his wife, Rinya would probably not like that very much and insist he not hold back for her sake. Jorin suppressed a sigh. He'd just have to cross that bridge when he got to it.

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[Rinya]

Jorin suspected something that much was obvious as she informed him of her desires to train in another form of combat. Her one lesson in Kata thus far was not much and it wasn’t even in sparring, but it gave her an idea of the rigorous training she would likely have to go through. Her body was fairly toned now but it lacked proper form. But as she guessed, the further she spoke of the topic, he went white and there was tension forming across the bond. He could guess at all the bad things that could have come from that one day… the mistakes that could have been made.

He avoided looking at her dagger at all costs, which Rinya knew made him highly uncomfortable. Deep down she really should train in the dagger as well as hand to hand combat, but even for her the dagger was a little crude for her tastes. She kept it out of sight when she could for both their sakes, keeping it by the door with her bow and quiver when she came home. It would be harder on her to train on such a weapon, the amount of blood the little dagger could draw was almost frightening—and blood was generally not something she was afraid of.

Rinya even left out the fact she might have killed the man she stabbed. She hadn’t been able to see the damage she caused, just the amount of blood drawn. They had never told her what happened to the men, much less the wounds caused. But judging by the hit she had to of landed and the blood—it had been quite bad. Rinya did her best not to think about it period and she shook her head slightly while refocusing her effort back on Jorin and his training. "I didn’t really ever think I would need to, but I promised you I would be careful." It was not a promise she intended to break. In the past she had not thought much of her meaning to others—but it was impossible to ignore his.

He moved to fetch himself another arrow and Rinya watched him with keen eyes. At some point over the last season Rinya had come to accept that perhaps he needed her just as much as she needed him. There was no specific moment she could pin point—it was just there. Jorin lifted the arrow and attempted to twirl it around his fingers as she did… failing miserable. She could feel the laughter bubble up from her chest and Jorin did his best to glare at her, which also failed terribly. Rinya just grinned brighter at him, choosing to instead not say anything at all.

He moved into stance again and Rinya simply crossed her arms over her chest. While she had no idea what he was thinking, she could see the results physically. His back straightened and his shoulders aligned themselves properly. One eye closed and a deep breath was drawn as he aimed. He adjusted his aim far too much however and Rinya saw it instantly. It was amazing what a slight adjustment could do for one’s aim, but Jorin took it the movement too literally.

As he released the arrow, it sailed off and landed firmly in the ground. Rinya shook her head gently before looking back at him. "That’s alright. Aim is actually the hardest part—at least in my opinion." Reaching down, she grabbed her bow and then proceeded to pull five arrows from her quiver. He suddenly had another thought, questioning her how she planned on actually learning hand to hand combat. Blinking at him for a moment her face re-heated again. "Well that was the idea, but I know you’re not much for combat at all. I just…" Rinya shrugged weakly.

For some reason it was just hard to say she wanted to spend more time with him, as if he ignored her or something. They could not spend all of their time together, no matter how much she might have preferred it. Instead Rinya just approached him until she stood directly next to him, taking hold of her arrows in her bow hand and reached up to gently tilt his head back to the target.

"I’m sure your math mind already knows this, but the arrow does not fly in a straight path, no matter how it looks. The problem lies in the slightest tilt of your bow." Rinya stroked his cheek once with the back of her hand before she stepped away, adjusting her hold on her bow and arrows at once. "Aim is a fickle thing. Yes a strong enough gust of wind could affect your arrow. But it’s a matter of your eyes and arrow meeting the same target. The steadiness of your arm helps too." Rinya shot him another grin before she slowly adjusted herself into the basic stance.

With her feet firmly planted in the ground, Rinya decided it was high time to practice her next attempt in archery, practicing a rapid shot with as much accuracy as she could manage. Her lower half would have to remain nearly perfectly still, while her upper half would have to adjust. The arrows held in her hand along with her bow were pointed tip downwards, the fletchings upwards for easy access. It wasn’t easy to hold both at the same time, but she had already learned that rapid fire was much easier without the quiver.

Lifting her bow, Rinya adjusted her left arm to hold the extra weight of the bow and arrows. Accuracy was the hard part here for her; she was used to having time to aim between shots. It was mostly instinctual nocking for her—luckily that was the easy part. Taking a deep breath, Rinya set her sight on the target before her. Pulling the first arrow to the string, she pulled the string tight in one fluid movement and released it in the next. The moment it landed to the right side of the target, her right hand came up to pull another arrow from her left hand, sliding it into place with the string and pulled it back to her mouth.

The moment the fletching touched her mouth she released the arrow without her usual steady aim. The muscles in her arms were already beginning to burn from the effort of the instant pull and release. The third arrow was drawn before the second landed the target—this one closer to the bull’s-eye—and Rinya drew another steady breath as she pulled the string tight. Her bow arm was fairly steady, though internally she had to keep tabs on it as the slight weight difference with the removal of each arrow could easily affect her aim. As it was the target was stationary and each of her arrows was landing in a different section.

The third arrow landed high and barely stuck, but Rinya did her best to pay no attention to it as the fourth arrow was already being nocked against the string and pulled taunt with instant release. The arrow sang as it landed near the bull’s-eye as well, but her bow arm had begun to shake slightly, and her right arm was already sore. There was still one arrow left however and Rinya did not hesitate or slow her pace, ignoring the burn in her core as she pulled the last arrow taunt and released it like the others. It landed in the grass next to his, and Rinya couldn’t help but laugh slightly. The entire five arrows took about half a chime, which all things considered was much faster than her usual shooting. Four out of five—two of them near the bull’s-eye—was impressive to her.

"This is going to take a lot of work." Rinya mused and shook her head slightly, rubbinger her right hand across her left bicep as she turned to face him. "Alright, let me fetch the arrows and then it’s your turn to work on aim." Rinya placed her bow back down and moved to retrieve their arrows. They were all alike having come from this shop anyways, so she didn’t bother to keep anything separated.

"I’ll have you fire once more on your own, and then I’ll correct your stance."

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[Jorin Ertihan]

"Thank you, Rinya," he sighed gratefully. "I know you'll be careful, it's just... that job is so dangerous, I just get so worried. What if something happened to you..." Jorin sighed, and gave her a small smile. "But I love you. And I trust you. I'm sure you'll always find a way home to me." And despite his worries, he said the words with complete conviction. Rinya would find her way home to him. Half of making it true was believing it was true.

After Jorin's failed attempt at hitting the target, he listened gratefully as his wife assured him that aim was the hardest part. Then she started to mention something about him not being into combat at all, but cut herself off and did not finish her comment. Jorin just shrugged, feeling her hesitation. Perhaps she thought he wouldn't be interested in an offensive art because of his generally pacifistic nature?

"My love," he noted calmly, "if the things that happened to both of us during our week of... separation taught me anything, it was that Mizahar is an inherently hazardous place. In a frequently dangerous world, being unable to defend oneself is often the prelude to disaster at best." He sighed.

"Ideally I'd love to live on a Mizahar that didn't need combat arts, of any kind. But... we don't live in such a world." Jorin did not sound particularly depressed by this. As far as he was concerned, there was no point in mooning over things one could not control. "So we deal with the world we're given. That said, even though I won't pretend I'm some huge fan of fighting, it is much more tolerable when I have someone I care about to learn with me." Jorin grinned brightly at Rinya, giving her a playful wink. He was sure she knew what he was saying.

Jorin could feel a warm, fuzzy feeling when Rinya touched his face and gently turned it toward the target, telling him about the parabolic nature of the arrow's path to its target. He had, all the way back to their first lesson, considered that, though he thought that at the distances most marksmen shot, the arc was so minimal as to be nearly straight. Apparently he'd underestimated the arc of the shot significantly.

But while a part of his mind was concentrating on Rinya telling him how his eyes and the arrow should meet at hte same target, another part was concentrating on the feeling of the back of her hand stroking his cheek, and he felt a soft, warm feeling spread through his core. Normally he only felt it when they had their soft, gentle kisses, but now they were able to transmit this even with the simplest touch. An affirmation of their love in the simplest of things.

Before he could muster up a response, she'd stepped away, and Jorin watched in curiosity to see what she'd do next. He figured she might maybe fire an arrow somewhat slower, to try to show him what she meant about aim, but instead she did something rather different. She... was carrying several arrows in her bow hand? Jorin had never seen Rinya do that before.

And then she did something amazing. She fired one arrow, then quickly transferred another from her bow hand to the string, barely taking time to aim before she loosed another one, and another, and another. She was rapidly firing the arrows, one after another, and they sang across the the air before landing with small thuds onto the target one after the other.

Around thirty ticks later, Rinya had expended her arsenal. Which was quite impressive to Jorin, who had taken twice that amount of time to fire a single arrow. And she'd hit with four of the five she'd fired, only one of which sailed off to join his in the grass. An impressive display, and Jorin couldn't stop the whistle he let out at what he'd just observed.

"Wow, Rinya! That was incredible!" he enthused, as she waved it off as needing a lot of work. It didn't matter to Jorin, though, that her arrows didn't all hit the bull's-eye. He was impressed because he knew that if he tried, it would be a miracle if he hit the target at all. Actually...

When Rinya fetched Jorin's arrows, he gave her a mischievous smile, waiting for her to pick them all up and depositing them near their quivers. Jorin walked over, quickly grabbing five arrows of his own - ignoring Rinya's incredulous look - and walked over to the target. He could feel her skepticism across the bond and truthfully, he didn't hold out much hope himself.

But he'd discovered that the best way he learned to do things was by, well, doing them. And this definitely looked like a technique he wanted to see if he could pick up. There were so many applications! OK, granted, Jorin couldn't think of any right now off the top of his head, but he was sure there were some. In any case, it looked impressive. And if he could manage to hit even once it would be an accomplishment.

Besides, he was firing five arrows. That meant he had five times the chance to hit! ... right?

Jorin decided he didn't want to think too hard about it. The more he thought, the more the fact tht this was probably a bad idea would get to him. Instead, Jorin steadied himself as he saw Rinya do, planting his feet firmly into the ground as he eyed the target and brought his bow hand up with the arrows in the same hand. He noted with some concern that now, with the arrows in the hand, the arm was weighted differently.

And he also quickly realized that with each expended arrow the weight would steadily decrease, which would throw off his aim even further. Still, too late to back out now. With a determined look, Jorin drew back his first arrow, unfortunately still needing to look down to nock it and thus wasting some of the time he was supposed to be saving. Nonetheless, once nocked, Jorin drew the string back, feeling the tickle on the side of his mouth and only waiting a few ticks before releasing.

Without even looking to see where that arrow went he transferred another one to his waiting hand, and tried to see if he could nock it without looking thsi time. He'd done this a few times now, and he really needed to learn to feel it out instead of looking because he realized if he took twice the time to nock, it would waste any time he saved by firing rapidly. Sadly, after a few ticks of fumbling he was forced to look again. Practice, it just took practice.

Drawing the second arrow back, Jorin loosed it again after only a few ticks. He noted with disappointment that the first arrow was not sticking in the target, but this was supposed to be rapid fire, so he didn't have time to think about it or wonder where the arrow had disappeared off to, or by how much he'd missed.

Instead as the second one flew off to join the first, Jorin quickly transferred a third, noting absently that indeed, his already-poor accuracy was being severely diminished by the reduction of time to aim, not to mention the changing of the weight for his right arm throwing it off still further.

But Jorin did not give up hope, even as the third arrow sailed high and dry, landing short of the target. He still had two more shots left, so with grim determination he transferred his fourth arrow, pulling the string back and quickly releasing, and not really watching as it flew off wildly to the left. Jorin almost laughed out loud, but kept his mirth at his own awful shooting down as he nocked the last arrow. Last shot. Last chance.

Jorin took a quick breath, the strain in his arms and chest now burning and he realized that beyond the fact that one needed good aim to do this sort of technique, one would also need a toned body. Already he could feel his core protesting, but thankfully bells and bells at the Kendoka had trained his muscles to withstand a decent amount of punishment. If he had to he could still go for at least a bell or two without tiring significantly.

Regardless, it wouldn't be rapid fire if he took too much longer firing his last shot, so he took quick aim and released the arrow, watching in disappointment as this one sailed off to the right. Not a single one of the five arrows had struck its mark. Not that Jorin was entirely surprised by that result. Turning to Rinya, his face and the bond was quiet for a brief moment, before they both burst into laughter.

"W-well," Jorin managed to stammer out between laughs, "I guess I should be grateful they all went in the same general direction!" Jorin never felt bad when Rinya laughed. Even if she was laughing at him he knew it was never with cruelty. And besides, he was laughing at himself too. It was something his mother always used to say, that one should never trust anyone who was not capable of laughing at themselves every now and then.

When they'd both calmed down a bit, Jorin cleared his throat and chuckled slightly. "Well... that was probably not the right way to work on aim," he confessed with an embarrassed grin. Rinya would definitely know he was trying to copy her, and he didn't know if she'd be upset or proud, or both, that he'd done so. Or at least tried to.

"Um, anyway, my stance. Right..." Jorin remembered his wife had told him she wanted to correct it. Given how horribly he'd fouled up the rapid fire, it was rather clear that his stance needed a lot of work too. Along with a number of other things.

Jorin walked over to the target, retrieving as many arrows as he could find. He counted it a minor miracle he was actually able to locate all five he'd shot; the first one he didn't even see where it had gone and it took some searching, and Rinya's sharp eyes, to finally find it stuck in a tree a few feet back.

He walked back with the five arrows in tow, carefully placing them back into one of their quivers - their arrows being the same meant neither of them cared about whose were whose - and re-entered his stance. Since the goal of the lesson was to correct it, Jorin tried to get as comfortable and natural with the stance as he could, planting the feet about a shoulder-length apart, right toe pointed at the target while his back straightened and his bow shoulder set. He lifted the bow, nocking the arrow somewhat quickly for the fact that he still had to look down, and then drawing it.

He could certainly feel the strain in his arms and shoulders, and in his chest and core. But, he figured that there was probably still something wrong with the stance since his shoulders were still bearing the brunt of the strain, which if he remembered correctly, Rinya had indicated was not supposed to be the case.

"Rinya, my love, I'm not sure I'm doing this right," he noted, his voice just slightly strained from the fact that he was still drawing the arrow. "I can feel the strain in my chest and core like you said, but I mostly feel it in my shoulders and arms..." Jorin wanted to shrug, but that wasn't possible in his current state, so he just gave her a quizzical glance, silently asking her what he had done wrong.

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[Rinya]

Jorin noticed her hesitation over the idea of him coming with to learn hand to hand combat. While it wasn’t entirely over the fact that he was pacifist—while she could understand that if he said no for that reason—it was more the unnerving need to do more things with him. Rinya was not afraid that he would get bored with her and look to someone else to keep him company, but she was thoroughly unsure if her need to be by his side was the bond, or her love for him… or even a combination of both. And perhaps it also seemed easier to learn things when he showed interest as well.

Regardless of the reasons Jorin pressed on to explain that while he wished the world they lived in didn’t need combat, it was an unfortunate necessary evil to survive. Especially given the fact that it was twice now that Rinya could have lost her life, or Jorin could have very well been killed in simple training. In the very least he was interested in learning together—apparently it was easier on him as well. The grin and wink he shot her caused her to roll her eyes in her own playful way, giving a gentle snort to the comment. "Well if it makes it that much easier on you, then by all means…"

Her attention to his cheek had been simple—and partly purposeful—though she could have very well just asked him to look at the target. The spread of his feelings however told her everything… that he got the idea that touching him wasn’t just because she wanted his attention somewhere. It was something he was probably still learning about her, that it was easier to touch and show affection that it was for her to say it. He knew how bad she was with words, but her touch affected his emotions now more than ever. Or maybe that was just her imagination, an aftereffect of still denying how he felt about it that withered over time.

Rinya however was barely conscious of Jorin actually watching her attempt at rapid firing her arrows. Her mentality was so caught up in the moment, the focus of the entire technique, that when he exclaimed that what she had just done was incredible she simply turned bright red and shook her head furiously. "No no, I’m nowhere near where I want to be with this. It’s going to take a lot of time and practice… especially when I upgrade to moving targets." Rinya was not used to such… support when it came to archery. Normally she was either alone, or her father was much too critical about everything she did.

Rinya cocked an eyebrow however as she returned with the arrows to his smile. Usually that kind of smile was aimed at her, but she knew this time around it wasn’t actually directed at her. He had something in mind, but couldn’t figure it out—until he grabbed five arrows of his own. "Uhh… Jorin…" She wasn’t bound to actually stop him, but he had a hard enough time shooting one arrow—he wasn’t likely to land all five. She couldn’t even land all five. But the idea didn’t deter him in the least; he just ignored her subtle warning and moved to get into stance.

Rinya crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head to the side as he watched him. This was going to be a challenge for him, but none the less it was practice of sorts. Way too advanced for his level but they both knew that. Jorin’s first shot went terribly off kilter, flying past the target and embedded itself into a tree further back. Well… in the very least it stuck. Glancing back, she watched the rest of his arrows stray—nowhere near as badly as the first one however. All in all, Rinya was impressed that he at least tried.

She couldn’t have stopped the laughter however as Jorin turned to face her. All of his arrows had missed the target terribly, but it was a hilarious try in the very least. "Most went in the same direction." His one arrow was sticking out like a sore thumb embedded in the tree quite a ways away. "Yeah… aim deteriorates the faster you shoot. At that point you’re just hoping to unload enough arrows to stop whatever is approaching you—or whatever you’re hunting." Rinya giggled out, attempting to take deep breaths in order to calm herself down. "But it was certainly a good first try." Rinya smiled gently at him. In the very least he hadn’t given up, just moved on to the next task in line.

He fetched his arrows, putting all but one away after she had pointed out the solitary arrow that had really strayed and slowly put himself into the stance they had been practicing all day. His voice strained as he pulled the string back to his mouth and did his best to hold the stance. Rinya hummed slightly to herself as she approached him, trying to find the weak points in his frame. His back looked fairly straight, but he was slightly twisted at the waist. Rinya realized that it was because his foot was actually pointed at the target. Shaking her head she gently tapped his right foot with hers. "Don’t point your toe to the target. "

"Imagine a line between you and the target. Your toes should touch that line, not pointed to the target." Rinya explained. Reaching out and tapped his elbow down until it was in line with his shoulder instead of rising upwards and then she reached out to pull his shoulders back again. "Some find it easier to lean forward, if you want to try. Just lean your domanent leg forward, but don’t move you toes. You should only lean forward slightly. It usually only helps the closer you are to your target however."

Rinya stepped backward from him, knowing well that his muscles were probably aching by that point from holding the stance for so long. "When you’re ready." She encouraged, hoping this shot would be more successful than his last few shots.

white

[Jorin Ertihan]

"Well, like I said, I love spending time with you," Jorin replied to Rinya's comment about it being easier. Truthfully, while it would be easier, the simple fact that Rinya would be there was the defining feature that finally convinced him. Sohryn had indicated in the past that some degree of unarmed combat was necessary for proper usage of the quarterstaff, so he knew he'd have to learn eventually. In that case, he'd much rather do it with Rinya than with a stranger or alone.

"Moving targets? That was supposed to be used on moving targets? I can't even hit a stationary one!" Jorin laughed. He wasn't upset or angry, but Rinya could probably feel the incredulity across the bond. Jorin was beginning to see just how much of a raw novice he was if it was this difficult for him to even hit a stationary target once. He'd need a lot of practice to get good at this; good thing he enjoyed spending time with Rinya so much. He knew his wife would be all-too-happy to continue teaching him.

Jorin really hadn't expected to hit anything with his extremely crude facsimile of his wife's much more controlled rapid fire. Rinya, of course, denied that it was anything special, insisting that she had a lot more work to do before she could consider the technique complete. To be fair, she had missed one of her five shots, but then Jorin had missed all of his. At least his wife had the graciousness not to stay on the subject, though Jorin knew that she would never go beyond light teasing anyway.

In any case, Rinya herself admitted that at least most of them went in the same direction. Except for that one arrow that went way off; Jorin wasn't even sure how it had gone so severely off-course.

"I'm just curious, Rinya," he asked, "Did you see how that one arrow managed to land itself in that tree? I... I couldn't really see." Jorin's cheeks tinged red as he confessed he was basically firing blind, but when he'd been rapid-firing he was too concentrating on making sure his form matched Rinya's as closely as possible to really see beyond a quick glance at the target. Normally, he'd aim very carefully, but since he had to fire rapidly he didn't even have time to see where his wayward arrows even went.

But he hummed in agreement to Rinya's statement about unloading arrows at a target. It made sense: shoot enough arrows at the target and one of them is bound to hit eventually. Jorin was not entirely convinced one well-placed shot wouldn't do better than five poorly-placed ones, but then he supposed a skilled archer could probably land hits even with the rapid fire. And he knew his wife was quite skilled already and bound to get even more skilled as time went on.

Rinya commented on Jorin's stance, noting that his foot should not be pointed straight at the target. Jorin nodded and flushed with embarrassment. It was a holdover from his quarterstaff training, where the quarterstaff stance did require the practitioner to point the toe at the target. He would have to remember not to do that when using the bow. At Rinya's suggestion, he imagined the line between himself and the target, shuffling the foot until the toe was pointed at it.

Jorin could feel the muscles in his core shift slightly at the adjustment, and the strain was now more evenly distributed in his body. Rinya also noted that some people found it easier to lean forward on their dominant leg, though he hadn't seen Rinya herself do so. She did mention it was mostly only helpful when one was close to the target, though Jorin was not sure what constituted 'close' when it came to archery. Was twenty feet 'close'? Ten?

Nonetheless, Jorin tried, leaning just a bit forward on his right leg while, at Rinya's suggestion, trying to keep his toes steady. It was harder than it looked, because the bow and drawn arrow made his body balance differently. He wasn't sure if it helped or not; the strain on his body felt mostly the same and the slightly bent leg meant that for him to quickly get out of the stance because, say, a hungry Nightlion wanted to eat his face and he needed to run, he'd have to do yet one more thing.

Sure it was only half a tick, but half a tick might be just enough time for the Nightlion to pounce on him and make a nice meal of him. That said, if Jorin was facing a Nightlion he was probably dead anyway, but still... in any case, the ache was now deep in Jorin's muscles and he could feel slight beads of sweat forming on his brow. It was heavy work, keeping the string taut, and so he couldn't stop the feeling of relief when Rinya encouraged him to fire the arrow.

Jorin took stock of the target, eyeing it carefully. Having had his stance corrected by his wife, Jorin could finally feel the strain down to his core, which was good because it meant his entire body was participating in the act of firing the arrow, not just his arms and shoulders. Rinya had indicated that despite the relatively short distance, the arc of the shot was still significant enough to warrant taking into account. At that advice, Jorin chose to lift the bow just slightly, seeing as a few of his shots had apparently fallen short.

He took a deep breath, squeezed shut his left eye, and loosed. The arrow flew in a graceful arc and landed with a little 'phut' in the grass, just shy of the target. Jorin cursed, then gave Rinya an apologetic look. He was just not having any luck today, and now his arms and shoulders were simply burning with the strain he'd put them through. Still, he wouldn't give up.

"It just takes practice..." he sighed, as he walked over to retrieve the arrow. When he came back, he just smiled at Rinya and rubbed his shoulder absently. Giving her a quick grin, he carefully placed the bow against the trunk and slid the arrow into one of the quivers - actually Rinya's but it didn't actually matter - and walked over to her.

Rinya had shown him over the course of seasons that the best way they communicated was not via speech. Whether as a bird or as a woman, Jorin always communicated with his wife best through the bond, and through touch. Even the simplest touch carried more information than a thousand words. So he reached out and gently stroked her cheek, smiling softly at her.

Then he snagged her waist with his other hand, drawing her up close and leaning in for another soft kiss, this time opting to just enjoy the contact of lips for a tick before invading her mouth once more. It was just such an enjoyable act, something they only permitted with one another. And it always amazed Jorin just how much he could tell his wife with such a simple act.

When the kiss ended, he embraced her, which both served to make him happy to feel her warm body pressed against his and also to allow the sore muscles of his arms and shoulders more time to recover. As he did so, he closed his eyes, and nuzzled his nose in the crook of Rinya's shoulder, taking in a few breaths of Rinya's scent. The same scent he smelled every night, the same one he couldn't go to sleep without.

"I'll get better at this," he insisted, mumbling into her hair. "One day, you'll see. With your help, I'll get better..." And for once, Jorin's confident words matched his feelings. With Rinya's help, he knew he'd improve. It just took time.

After another few chimes, Jorin released his wife, though he kept one arm around her waist. Grinning, he asked, "So what gave you the idea to fire arrows like that anyway?" he wondered. "Oh! Can I see you do it again? I know the technique is way too advanced for me, but I still like seeing it..." Truth was, he simply liked seeing his wife in her element. No nervousness or discomfort or fear. Pure Rinya, and he loved it.

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[Rinya]

"I love spending time with you too." Rinya mumbled, her face turning a bright pink as she said it. She wasn’t sure why she was so shy about the whole thing, considering the fact how intimate they were and were petching married. Admitting to the fact she wanted to spend even more time with him should have been easy, but she just felt shyer than ever. It seemed a little ridiculous so Rinya cleared her throat and shook her head ever so slightly. Only Jorin was capable of causing her to turn red over such a simple admission.

She couldn’t help but laugh however when Jorin exclaimed in a surprised tone that the targets would eventually be moving. Rinya bit her bottom lip, nodding innocently at him. "Well stationary targets will only get you so far you know. The real test is moving targets my love." She teased. She didn’t even want to point out that the stationary target they were aiming for was actually considered quite close. But she could easily remember her younger days when she couldn’t hit anything either. Of course it was easier to be patient with Jorin compared to putting up with her father’s orders.

"Well I think you might have veered your bow a bit with that first shot. In the very least it stuck very well to the tree." Rinya smiled gently at him, not at all surprised his first rapid fire arrow veered so drastically. The speed at which one pulled the string back and then let it go could cause the bow arm to flex slightly. Instead of preparing the bow arm for the arrow’s release as they aimed, the muscles in the arm itself were not trained for such instant reaction. And that was what rapid fire was—training for speed instead of strictly accuracy. Later down the road she would learn to be able to do both—though rapid fire would always have less accuracy than taking one’s time.

Jorin took to her instruction to stance as easily as he could while holding the string taunt. She supposed she should have explained that close would probably be anything within fifty feet—depending on the skill of the archer of course—but for the moment she figured it would just be better to let him try it. Rinya herself preferred to keep her back as straight as possible, but that came with time and practice of course. Rinya could see it physically affecting him however, the slight shake of straining muscles and sweat building across his skin. Jorin lifted the bow just slightly in an attempt to improve his aim he released the arrow.

Unfortunately the arrow fell short again, landing in front of the target with a soft sound as it penetrated the soil below it. He shot her an apologetic smile and moved to fetch the single arrow from the ground. "Stance is important of course, but honestly it just takes time to learn proper aim. I don’t think there is really much I can do to help with that—seeing as every person is a little different." Rinya shrugged helplessly. Just the fact that Jorin was taller than her affect his shot differently to hers. Plus she wasn’t actually a teacher of archery, so the most she could do was offer him basics and hope that it was enough.

He leaned his bow against the trunk right next to hers and Rinya tilted her head a little as she kept her eyes trained on him. Between habit as a bird and just the fact that he never failed to intrigue her interest she watched him, feeling her face tinge red once again as he simply reached out to stroke her cheek. His love always filled the bond, but it was moments like these that she knew she wouldn’t have required the bond to know that he loved her. It actually surprised her that it took her so long to just accept it—considering his attention to her before they had admitted to loving one another.

Much like before Rinya found herself reacting instinctively to him as he drew her in close. Her left arm came to wrap around his neck and her right hand came up to rest directly over his heart. The feeling of his heart beating against her hand always brought reassurance, even when she wasn’t upset. Though Rinya would never deny his kisses either, they never failed to cause a reaction out of her. Enjoying the gentle feeling of his kiss as it shifted into something slightly more passionate caused her to groan slightly. He was terribly good at distracting her without actually trying.

The kiss didn’t last nearly as long as she would have liked, but Jorin didn’t release her. Instead he just clung tighter to her, his face nuzzling along the side of her neck along her shoulder. Rinya didn’t say anything, just stroked her left hand along the back of his neck in a slow repetitive motion that gave away how easily content she was. Jorin mumbled to her that he would get better at archery with her help. Rinya didn’t doubt it—even without her help he would. As Jorin often said—he never did anything by half. "Of course you will." Rinya said it with conviction, absolute faith that her husband would progress.

Jorin finally released her and Rinya lifted her head to look up at him. "Well it wasn’t so much of an idea… it’s generally a technique used in hunting. One good arrow can take most creatures down—most. But sometimes the target requires more than one arrow. It’s intended with enough practice that each arrow should land its target and bring it down." Rinya shrugged slightly. She herself had only ever hunted rabbits or small game in Syliras.

Rinya couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows as he asked her to repeat it. "Well I’ve only really practiced it once before…" Just a few days before hand actually. But she did need the practice and like always she could never really refuse Jorin. So she leaned up to press another quick kiss to his lips before untangling herself from his arms to fetch her bow and quiver.

Rinya swung the quiver up around her shoulders before approaching the target again. Rolling her shoulders slightly, she gripped her bow in her left hand as she took her time to line herself up with the target. There were several different ways to rapid fire her arrows, each more difficult than the next. The easiest but slowest method was to simply draw each arrow from her quiver, the next being holding the arrows in her bow hand. She had done that already however and she wanted to practice with nearly all three techniques. The last was to actually hold an arrow between the fingers of her string hand, but Rinya found she could not even hold the arrows and pull the string back at the same time.

It was likely she would not bother to try and master the last technique. She hated anything that could interfere with her aim as it was. Reaching behind her, she pulled one arrow from the quiver, and planted her feet firmly into the ground. Pulling in a deep breath, Rinya nocked the arrow with ease—feeling out the fletchings with her fingers to twist the arrow itself until the notch could fit along the string. Rinya took a moment, gathering her mind to focus her left eye on the target before her. And then in one smooth movement Rinya drew the fletching back until it touched the edge of her mouth and immediately released the arrow.

Instead of paying attention as to whether or not the arrow hit, Rinya kept her left eye zeroed in on the target. Her fingers came back up behind her to snag another arrow between her fingers, twirling it across her skin until she felt the fletching line up with the string and she repeated the single fluid motion of pulling the string back. Keeping her mind only slightly on her stance, her shoulders even with her legs down to her feet, elbow down as she pulled the string taunt—and let the arrow fly.

Once again there was the dull thud of the arrow hitting something, whether it was target or ground she knew she couldn’t pay attention. She simply repeated the motion as best she could. Pulling arrow after arrow from the quiver and gently twisting it through her fingers until she could nock the arrow and let it fly the moment she reached her anchor. She lost count of the arrows, continuing to fire them off one at a time until her muscles could no longer take the strain. Her shoulders burned, along with the muscles across her chest all the way down to her stomach.

With a slight huff Rinya lowered her bow arm, rolling her shoulders again as she winced. She had become so focused on the target she hadn’t been paying attention to the strain of her muscles until it was nearly too late. Rinya knew better of course, she could seriously injure herself if she pushed too far. By the looks of it most of her arrows landed the target. They scattered across the target with no particular order—though three of them did land on either side of the target. It looked as though she had shot off about ten arrows, though she had no idea how long it had actually taken her.

Glancing back at Jorin, she grinned weakly at him as she pulled the quiver off her shoulders and laid both her bow and quiver back against the trunk. "There are several ways to pull this off—though no matter which way I do it the muscles certainly feel it." Rinya sighed softly before trudging towards the target to receive her arrows. "You need the practice more than I do however." Rinya made her way back to Jorin, holding out a single arrow as she waggled it at him.

"Break’s over." Rinya smirked at him, raising a brow.

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