The Crow and the Dragon

I wandered into the archery range, knowing I needed to practice. It had been quite some time since I actually devoted some time to archery, I had spent a lot more time focusing on my swordsmanship, but to be truly prepared for battle, I needed both.

As I walked in though, I unzipped my fur lined black hoodie and placed it over a bench. I had been far too warm in it, and even warmer with the hood up with had been covering my dark shaggy hair. After taking off the jacket, it was revealed that I was wearing a plain black t-shirt underneath, and then I was also wearing some dark jeans, and finished off with black converse high-tops. A pretty dark look. I clearly wasn't a goth or anything, but I appeared quite dark in appearance.

After putting my jacket down, I picked up a bow. I didn't have my own bow, just my two handed greatsword, Longclaw, which I also wasn't carrying around with me. Since I knew I was coming here, I had left Longclaw locked up in my cabin, just so no-one would get their hands on it. It was my most treasured possession, no-one was touching it. I looked around though and saw a girl. She was definitely a beautiful girl, one who would capture the hearts of many men. It was quite strange though to see her wearing a dress. Not many girls here wore dresses for activities, such as archery. I wasn't complaining, but it was not a familiar sight. Her first couple arrows weren't very impressive, but she was getting better, as if she were getting back into the swing of things also. I imagined my arrows would also end up with similar results.

I looked down to my side to see Ghost, my large white Husky leaning up against my leg, also watching the girl. "Ghost, stay." I ordered him, leaving him by the bench. I walked over to the firing line, and stood a few metres away from the girl. I then took aim and notched the arrow, then pulled the string back. I took a breath, let it go, and then released the arrow. It flew down the range and landed closer to the bullseye than her furthest arrow, but not as close as a couple of her others. I shrugged, that was to be expected. I notched another arrow and repeated, but took it slower this time and it was much more accurate. Still not a perfect shot, but archery wasn't my specialty. Just something I was well practiced, usually, in.

I then realised I wasn't being very courteous, here I was, practicing archery, and there was this girl next to me. I lowered my bow, and then turned to her, "Hey there, nice firing, clearly you're good with your bow." I said to her. It was nothing special, but I wasn't exactly experienced when it came to girls. I was a bit awkward, and the way I said that clearly showed it. Still, I was trying to be nice, and I hoped I conveyed that.

I smiled at her, and laughed at her attempt to curtsy. It wasn't a bad attempt actually, especially with the bow in hand. "Bravo, my lady." I said mockingly, with a grin on my face.

I looked at what she was wearing, and she appeared to be so much more comfortable in what she was wearing, It definitely suited the environment, it seemed more natural than what I was wearing. I had completely black clothing on, well the jeans weren't black, but they were definitely dark. And I had even come up wearing a fur lined jacket. For some reason, I didn't feel excessively hot wearing it all, it seemed natural to me. I felt more comfortable in clothing like that, compared to summery clothing like what Daenerys was wearing. Especially for the current weather, well it was the weather basically every day. Mr D never seemed to have the weather any other way, so for me to be outside wearing what I was, it definitely looked unnatural.

"I'm for England. The norther part, borderline Scotland. But I moved around a lot, and my family taught me how to speak, my mother was persistent on it, so I have this accent. It's more of a posh accent, compared to the normal English accents... What about yours? I do not recognise it." I was also mesmerised by her foreign words. I did not recognise the language, but it sounded beautiful. It flowed so casually from her lips. It was quite an elegant, beautiful language. I wondered what it was. I was going to ask, but I presumed it was the language from where she was from, so when she answered that question I would hopefully have my answer. Still, she had directed what she was saying, or it appeared to be, towards the birds. So I was really perplexed as to what she was saying.

"And if you want any more help with archery, or even sword-fighting, I can help you. You've definitely got the skill for archery, you just need a little bit more help, but so far, you're really good." I smiled at her. I wasn't too sure what to say to her, as I mentioned, I wasn't used to the company of girls. I had my sisters, well, my half-sisters, and I was fine with them, but other girls, I wasn't too good with. I still had never had a girlfriend... I was weird like that. Not many people my age had never had a relationship. That wasn't to say I wasn't interested in girls, I most certainly was, I had just never been close with any, so I had no idea with what to do. It was unmarked territory to me.

I was glad she said she had no idea what posh meant. Sometimes people judged others for being posh or upperclass. I wasn't like that. It was just the people I had grown up around, it was how they had spoken, so naturally I picked up the accent too.

She claimed she had an Italian accent, however I had no idea what an Italian actually sounded like, so hearing her speak like that, for me, that was now an Italian accent. Plus she spoke all those other languages too, which was really impressive. And the phrase she had said before, which I hadn't understood, nor even remembered exactly what the wording was, I wondered which language that had come from. Still, to hear that she spoke all those languages, she was evidently a clever girl. A really clever one at that. I didn't speak other languages like that, I was kind of stuck to English, though I guess I new little bits of some other languages.

"I wish I could speak all those other languages like that, alas I only speak English. I've never really traveled much, so I haven't had a chance to experience all those different cultures, however it sounds really interesting to be able to speak all that." I told her.

I looked at her bow again, and it was strangely intriguing. It was clearly hand-painted, and it was just mystifying, my eyes were just rolling over it. It was beautiful even. However, if she were out in battle or something, that would not have been the bow I would choose, it would be awful if you needed camouflage. But for recreational use, it looked really nice.

I wiped my forehead, I was beginning to show the signs of sweating a little bit. It was really quite hot, I tried to remember what time it was, but I wasn't wearing a watch or anything. The sun was high in the sky, so I guessed it was around noon. What time I had I left my cabin? 10? 11? I couldn't remember. I looked at Dany, again noticing that she was quite beautiful, but she looked quite warm too. I wasn't used to heat like this, still, even after all the time I'd been here, I still preferred the cooler environments, that's where I felt at home. "Would you like to go somewhere a little bit cooler?" I asked her, "I do not mind wear, but it is a little hot right here. We could move over into the shade by the trees for a while and sit down? Or head somewhere else completely?" I didn't want her to just leave, I was interested in this girl, she had a lot to her, and I wanted to get to know her.

I smiled, I was glad she didn't know what posh meant. Many people who believed I was posh, expected a lot of me, or well, to put it more bluntly, expected me to have more. Sadly, I had nothing, I gave everything up. I was smirking at her description of languages. She was clearly just voicing her thoughts, but I found it be cute. I enjoyed hearing about it. The girl was clearly very talented when it came to languages, and she was very good at archery. I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in this girl. However, I couldn't admit to that. I wouldn't know how. Even at this age, I still had never had a real girlfriend. I mean, I'd had little things, but nothing serious. Even the way she walked was so graceful. When she came back, with the grin on her face, I took her by the arm, and in a polite manner, I lead her over to the shade of the trees.

I sat down with her, and released her arm. I whistled for Ghost to come over, and he did instantly, from the moment I looked at him. He came and sat on the other side of me, and I petted him. "It's a lot cooler over here."I mused out loud. Then, in attempt to keep the conversation flowing, I looked over to Daenerys and said to her, "So tell me about yourself, cause so far you've proven to be very interesting. Not like me, I'm pretty boring." I added a grin at the end, but then turned that grin into a friendly smile. So far, I was happy that I had chosen to come over to the archery ranges today, I was definitely enjoying myself so far. I looked back up to the sky, and the sun was in the prime of its day, I could still feel the effects of its heat. It would probably have been better if I had not worn black, but it felt so much more natural to me. And I wondered why Mr. D was allowing it to be so hot today... Was he not roasting too?