The morning had officially begun and Jane no longer had the time to visit her mother until after her squire duties were done for the day. After finishing a few chores, Sir Theodor tasked her with archery practice and she stifled a groan when he told her. She was confident in the art of the sword but the bow and arrow she struggled with. Not only that, but it was something Gunther was consistently better than her at. Although she knew she needed the practice, the ridicule she usually faced while shooting left her weary of the weapon altogether. At the same time, that rivalry with her fellow squire fueled her and usually morphed her disappointment into determination. Today was no exception as she followed her mentor's orders and headed to the training yard with a bow in hand. She rolled a hay-filled target out of storage and set it up along the castle wall. With the sun reaching toward mid-day, she knew the clank of Smithy's hammer would soon cease for his break. Working any forge when the day was hottest was a grueling and potentially dangerous task. She could already feel the sweat gathering on her forehead despite only being in the sun for a few minutes. She stood a few meters away from the target with arrow loaded and bow drawn. After a few rounds, she grew frustrated, because although she consistently hit the target, none struck anywhere near the center. Despite her attempts to correct their trajectory, she was only able to get an arrow in the inner circle once. She was about to make another trip to gather her arrows from the target when she was startled by a voice at her side, "That was genuinely embarrassing." She spun around and came face to face with Gunther. He had on his regular squire attire now, as well as his usual slicked back hairstyle. She hated to admit to herself that she missed the messier hair from earlier. She recovered quickly from these thoughts, "what? Think you can do better?" That was probably the wrong thing to say, because she knew he could do better. Nevertheless, her competitive side got the best of her whenever he was around. "If your last three rounds are anything to go by, I could beat you in my sleep," he snatched the bow from her in a playful manner. She handed him an arrow in feign disinterest and stepped aside so he could shoot. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to know what he did differently in hopes to improve but she didn't want to be caught staring. His weight was slightly forward, his spine straight, and his body fully turned away from her. She felt like he wasn't doing anything different than her, nevertheless, his arrow landed the bullseye when hers did not. He twirled the bow around and held it out for her to take, "Need I say more?" She wanted to be mad at him, but she found she was unable. "Well, at least I don't smell like the hind-end of a horse," she smiled through her insult as she loaded her own arrow. As she drew back, she noticed Gunther's hands raise up in correction before falling back down to his sides. She lowered the bow, "if you have something to say, out with it!" He made her wait as he mulled over his words carefully. However, his response ended up being blunt and to-the-point, "Your form is horrendous." She scoffed, "How can it be horrendous? I do the exact same thing as you!" He let out one of his signature, mocking, laughs. "Well, if you're happy with your wide misses, then I'm happy to get back to stable duty," he made to leave but Jane decided to take his ill disguised bait. "Ugh, fine. I'm listening. What am I doing wrong?" he turned around far too quickly, "I'm so glad you asked!"
He started with criticizing her footing, saying she needed to rotate her legs so that it felt like she was pushing her heels together and her toes apart. It took a bit of bickering before she grasped the abstruse instructions. Next he moved on to her "knobby knees," the comment earning him a deadly glare. He remained unphased and simply continued his monologue as he circled around behind her. "Your legs should be straight," he said matter-of-factly as he lightly kicked the back of her knee, causing her to stumble forward. "You bastard!" she swore under her breath as she quickly righted herself again. The sudden correction caused her back to slam against Gunther's chest, who must have gotten closer to her in an attempt to catch her from actually falling. His arms instinctive went to her waist to help steady them both. She expected him to remove his hands once the small kerfuffle was over but he did not. He traced them upward until they found her arms, where he stretched the one holding the bow outward toward the target. Jane found her mind blank as she allowed him to continue to make slight adjustments to her body's posture and position like a doll. The whole interaction was painfully silent, even Smithy's hammer had stopped it's pounding a while ago. Despite the silence being deafening, Jane couldn't bring herself to break whatever spell had befallen her. Every touch caused a swam of butterflies to attack her stomach. She knew her face must be bright red, but she knew it wasn't from embarrassment anymore. When did he grow so attractive to her? Why did her brain turn to feathers whenever he was around lately? She knew the answer. It was that damn kiss at the ball. She had been trying to deny it but with every passing day it was becoming harder to do so. Especially when he had been acting so nice and... charming... She was snapped out of her thoughts by his breath on her ear. He was pressed up against her back, hands on hers, positioning the arrow toward the target for her. On any other day, she would feel insulted by this amount of coddling, but today she found herself leaning into it, wanting more. She had to admit he smelled terrible due to working the stable all day, yet she couldn't deny the smell of a hard-working man appealed to her more than the men covered in perfume at the ball. His grip tightened on the bow and his body stiffened slightly. The reason was unknow to her yet it helped firm up her mush of a brain. Her mind was buzzing too much to focus on the task at hand. Had he said something that she missed? What was she doing again? Archery? He was too close and her emotions were running away from her. She needed to stop this, to say something, she needed-
"Whenever you decide to breath again, you can release on the exhale," his snarky voice whispered in her ear. She did as he said without hesitation and released the arrow, which landed right next to the bullseye. To her dismay, Gunther immediately released her and backed away, "Oh, so close! Maybe you just aren't cut out for archery, Jane." She let out a distant, dry, laugh. Her mind unable to come up with anything witty in response. Gunther obviously expected a retort from her, so when one didn't come, he awkwardly rubbed his hands together before continuing, "Well, I guess I better get back to the stables before Sir Ivon realizes I'm gone." They both nodded to each other uncomfortably before he turned and left her alone with her muddled thoughts.
As if on cue, Dragon's shadow passed over her and he landed on his favorite spot on the wall. She hurriedly perched another arrow on her bow, as if she was just caught doing something shameful. "Mornin' Jane" he called as he finally found a comfortable position. She released her bowstring, unfortunately shooting wide, before responding to him, "The morning is almost over you lazy lizard." She hoped she sounded natural. Luckily he didn't seem to notice her strain and carried on, "unlike you short-lives, I don't need to wake up at the crack of dawn to do... whatever it is you do so early!" She released the arrow, "trust me, I don't think anyone likes waking up so early." "Then why do it?" he asked sarcastically. The arrow pierced the target but barely, "because nothing would get done otherwise." He huffed, "yeah, sure. You all just keep telling yourselves that, alright?" She gave a huff as she placed another arrow onto the riser, "I will, thank you." She wasn't able to release her arrow before Dragon gasped so dramatically her heart skipped a beat. The arrow did end up soaring through the air but missed the target completely. She whirled to look at him, "what in the world? What was that for?" Dragon crawled halfway down the wall until his head was in front of her, "how dare you get married and not invite me!" Jane stood in stunned silence as she processed his words, "what the hell are you talking about?" He shimmied the rest of the way down the wall, "Oh PA-lease, how dumb do you think I am?" She gave him a pointed look, "it depends on the day." He huffed, "that's besides the point, I'm taking about that!" He extended a claw and gestured vaguely to her left arm. With his giant claws, it could be hard to tell what he pointed at sometimes, but she knew exactly what he was referring to today. "Oh, the ring?" she brought the hand up to her chest in a defensive manner. He crossed his arms, "Of course! I know short-lives only wear those silly things when they're married!" She felt hot embarrassment on her cheeks, knowing how the situation looked, "No, no, Dragon, you misunderstand! This isn't a wedding ring, it was just a gift from Gunther," she spoke her words with conviction but she realized how weird they sounded as they left her mouth. Dragon's face morphed into one of pure confusion and deep thought. She worried he'd hurt himself one day pulling those exaggerated expressions. "A gift?" he repeated. "Yes, a gift," Jane sounded far less convincing this time. "From Gunther?" She gulped, "Yes, from Gunther." He landed on all fours and looked at the ring more closely, "So... you're not married?" She let out a nervous laugh and responded, louder than intended, "of course not! Me with that bog-weevil? Never!" He drew back and folded his claws under himself in a cat-like position. "Gunther gave you a ring, that you wear on your left ring finger, but you are not married to him?" he asked matter-of-factly. She groaned and looked away. She took the ring off and twirled it in her hands, "it-it's not like that. I wasn't thinking about the placement. I-I just put it on." She heard him chuckle quietly and she turned to look at him. It didn't take long for his chuckles to become a full on belly laugh. "What?! This isn't funny, Dragon!" she was beyond frustrated. "Oh short-lives," he wiped a tear from his eye, "so simple yet so complicated." After catching his breath he flew off without another word, leaving Jane embarrassed and very worried.
She felt stun-locked as she stood in the training yard, clenching the ring in her hands. Her mind was buzzing in every direction possible. She knew Dragon was most likely off to tell the first person he saw that she was in love and married to Gunther. The no-good, horrible, mean, liar, and cheat, Gunther. The thought of the whole castle talking about her love-life again made her hands shake and her head spin. Why did everyone care so much? Why did she care so much? "Jane are you alright," Smithy's calm yet concerned voice broke through her spiral. "Oh, yes!... well no," she felt foolish not knowing what to say. "You look pale, Jane. Is there anything I can do?" She took a deep breath. Smithy's rationality was helping her return to her own. "No, but thank you, though. The only person who can do anything about this is me, and I will not wait a moment later!" She stormed past him with renewed conviction, "This ends now!"