You Found Me When No One Else Was Looking (OPEN)

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When the roles where being handed out at the beginning Edward had shied away from taking any kind of responsibility, despite the fact that he had the training for it. It was part of something that he had given up, or rather, been forced to give up. However, with his recent encounter with his estranged wife he had walked away with a new perspective on life. So he did not want to be a leader, but he would be damned before he took orders from someone else. Island life would not have suited him either, knowing that others were fighting for something important whilst he sat back and did nothing? No, that would not work either.

Working alone however...that suited him just fine.

Edward had made a home for himself in the forest, meaning that he had taken a tent, some bits of wood and created a makeshift shelter in a tree. It was not the best and certainly not what he had been used too, but when it came to survival skills he had been paying attention in class. From his vantage point he also got a good shot of taking out any stray members of the army, which happened often. The soldiers were a superstitious lot but despite that they still needed things that the forest provided, mostly food. This was the perfect opportunity for Edward to strike, he had taken out many this way and continued to do so.

It was his way of staying involved in the war but doing it his way.

He would have continued on like this, on his own if his quiet sanctuary had not been invaded by the arrival of another. At first it had been a shock to the system but over the time, somehow the two of them made it work. After even more time, it was actually quite...pleasant...

Edward sat in the tree, his legs dangling down as he called out, “No your arm needs to be higher, you'll never hit him if you keep dropping your elbow like that.”

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Cinderella frowned slightly at the interruption - not because she took any sort of offence to his criticism, but because she was annoyed at herself for needing it. She'd been here nearly a month and there was still so much she needed to learn. She wasn't exactly a natural at this fighting thing, but she was so desperate to get it right.

"Like this?" she called over her shoulder, lifting her arm before loosing the bowstring she held taut. Archery was still quite new to her, they'd been focusing on how to handle herself if she actually came close to an enemy before she went around putting herself in their sights by actually shooting at them. It was working much better for her out here, with just him to teach her and nobody else to measure up against, nobody else to make her feel like she was terrible and going to get people killed if they ever had to rely on her. She didn't want to hurt people, she didn't, it had taken her a long time to decide to start training, but eventually she'd realised that she wanted to protect the people she cared about far more than she didn't want to fight. At first, she'd thought it was a terrible idea, once she'd started training and turned out to be not very good at it, but it seemed that it was just the way she was being taught - under Edward's tutelage, she was slowly getting better, even if she didn't always think she was.

Finally, finally the arrow hit the target - not in exactly the right place, but at least it had actually come in contact with something other than the surrounding trees.

Cinderella spun round with a wide, happy smile and looked up at Edward proudly, motioning back to the arrow.
"I did it!"

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“Yeah,” Edward called out as Cinderella altered her arms as per his direction.

It had been in no way his plan to take on a pupil in his sanctuary in the woods but one thing had led to another and now here she was. It was so strange to think back to that first day the two of them had stumbled upon each other, to think of the girl he had met back then to the one he was looking at now. War changed people, not always for the best, but he was beginning to see something in Cinderella that was maybe contrary to that. The shy young thing from before was still there, and she was definitely still too trusting and innocent, but there was a confidence growing that he had not been quite able to see before.

He watched as the arrow flew towards the target, almost making its mark. Smiling a little he applaud and said, “Well you’ve at least wounded him. It’s a good start.”

Standing up in the tree he motioned for her to swing over, “Come on, time for a break. I’ve got some rabbit ready for cooking.”

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Cinderella beamed, Edward's praise always made her feel much better about how she was developing. He didn't go over the top, but he was just encouraging enough that she felt like she could really do this.

Retrieving the arrow from the target, she slung both bow and quiver over her shoulder and climbed up to him, depositing the weapons inside the shelter - within easy reach should they be needed - before moving round to where he was.

"Would you like me to cook it?" she offered, partly out of habit and partly because she wanted to help him as much as he was helping her. Not that she really needed to, amost every service she offered seemed to be something he was completely capable of doing himself, cooking and cleaning included. Still, at least if she offered it was one less thing for him to have to do, so that was some help at least, she hoped.

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“If you wouldn’t mind,” said Edward shrugging his shoulders.

He never liked to press anything with the girl, it seemed that from the things she said of her past that she had had too many people telling her what to do. Especially when it came to household chores such as cleaning and cooking. It may have been a terrible childhood for her and Edward was always guilty when he suggested she cooked because…well…she was a really good cook. There was nothing he loved more than home cooked meals and it just was not the same when it was cooked by the person who would then be eating it. Not to mention his culinary skills left a lot to be desired, it was edible, it just did not taste great. He remembered a time where someone was going to teach him how to cook…how long ago that was now…

“I picked some of those herbs you said you wished you had last time we had rabbit,” said Edward reaching up to where a tin was and holding it out to Cinderella, “And I managed to grab some wine the last time I was at the camp.”

For the cooking. Not for the drinking. He was taking it one day at time.

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Though Cinderella had grown a lot in the past few months, and she was a stronger, more confident person, she was still the same girl in a lot of ways. She still felt somewhat taken aback when people did nice things for her, even if it was something that they would benefit from as well - after all, the herbs would make her cooking taste even better for him as well - she was incredibly touched that people would take a moment out of their day to think about her. It was something she didn't necessarily want to lose, being grateful for other people's kindness, or kind to them in turn, was something that she felt was quite important.

She reached out and took the tin and the wine with a bright, delighted smile.
"Thank you so much," she told him sincerely, turning to the small area of the shelter where she did the cooking, "these should help it keep a little longer as well, if we have any leftovers."

Humming to herself, she set about preparing the rabbit to cook.

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It was so calming listening to her hum whilst she worked. She had a sweet voice and if he sat back and closed his eyes he could almost imagine they were in a real kitchen, away from the war, away from living in the wild, it was nice to feel a little close to home sometimes. The governess used to hum, he would catch her walking down the corridors humming to herself, it did not sound nearly as sweet as Cinderella but it had been just a little comforting. Then of course, there was Snow White.

It was not a hum with her though, more of a whistle.

That brought him out of his daydream and sitting up a little straighter he asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

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He spoke just as she was setting the rabbit onto the fire, so she shook her head cheerfully.

"No, thank you, it should be ready soon," of course she still went to busy herself tidying away the herbs and setting aside what she'd used so it could be taken down to the stream to wash, but she was quite content to get on with those tasks - since cooking and cleaning came so easily to her when she was used to doing it on a much grander scale than this, it hardly seemed recompense at all compared to everything he did to bring food in for them, to keep them safe and to train her to do the same, so she didn't like to let him help when he already did so much.

"I was thinking," she started shyly as she got out the plates "Perhaps tomorrow I could try hunting myself... it would be good practice for me?"

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“That…would be very dangerous,” he said with a concerned expression.

Realising how that might have sounded he immediately followed it up with, “I don’t doubt that you could bring in some successful kills, only that these forests are still swarmed with Wayron soldiers and if you were to go hunting then…there is more opportunity for them to take a shot at you.”

Looking down at the ground, unable to meet her eye because he knew he was disappointing her, “your skill is growing day by day, but I would prefer it, for now if you did not stray too far from the camp…I would not be able to live with myself if anything bad happened to you.”

He found that he meant what he said and was just a little surprised by it. How close he had grown to the young girl that had stumbled across him.

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For a second, her disappointment was obvious, but she quickly covered it up with an understanding smile. She was too used to doing what she was told, too used to having to ask for permission to do anything, so it was almost instinctive for her to accept his word.

"Well... of course, if that's what you think is best," she nodded politely, dishing up the meals "maybe later on, when I am more skilled..." she knew he was only looking out for her, told herself that he'd let her go when she was truly ready, after all, he knew best when it came to fighting and wars, so while she had been hoping for a different answer, even the hidden disappointment didn't last long, and she merely resolved to work harder so that the next time she asked, he would say yes.