Tranquility (Chronicles of Narnia fan fiction)

Chapter 19

It had been a few days since the "almost-kiss incident" as Natalie liked to call it. Forty-seven hours, thirty-eight minutes, and fifteen seconds to be exact, but really, who was counting? Now Natalie was just being silly. Lucy and Caspian joined Natalie and Edmund that morning after breakfast even joined them in their warm up jog. The group silently ran along the beach together, the weather that day much too cold to spend excess energy speaking. Natalie found it a bit disconcerting how easily it seemed for them. She concentrated on the crunch of the frosty snow beneath her feet, not the burn in her lungs and pain in her calves. She had never run for more than thirty seconds straight without stopping, never had the need to. The chilly weather was making it hard for Natalie to concentrate on her jogging though. She rubbed her hands together and blew on them, trying to warm them with her breath. That was a difficult feat considering how out of breath she was with all the running. "It's... freezing out here!" she griped.

"You'll warm up in a second," Edmund informed her, glancing over. Caspian and Lucy were quite, they didn't look tired, but they did look cold. Natalie wasn't fairing much better, her nose and cheeks were rosy red and he could see she was panting from the jog. Clearly the cold weather was making it harder on her. They had only been jogging for five minutes but maybe they could continue later when they were warming from the rest of the activities. Edmund led them over to the practice courts and they finally stopped jogging once they got there. "Come on, Nat, get up, you have to stretch first, you know that," Edmund said, putting his hand out to her. Natalie had all but collapsed on the floor after they got there, sitting against the door by the wall. She didn't complain, just nodded and accepted his hand, letting him pull her back up.

The sudden movement caused her to tumble slightly, at the same time she reached over to catch herself, Edmund caught her as well. They both held onto each others arms, being pressed close together. They separated quickly, identical blushes on their cheeks. Caspian grinned at them but said nothing. He did however nudge Lucy who nodded in agreement. She gestured for him to follow her. "Caspian and I are going to go practice some archery!" she called to her friend and brother.

"Alright," Edmund nodded. Blinking in confusion as Lucy almost literally pushed Caspian out of the sword arena and out toward the target range in the back. He shrugged and turned to his student and smiled. "I guess it's just us two again," he mentioned.

"I guess so," Natalie said, trying to sound nonchalant as she walked over to the wooden swords. She grabbed two and handed one to her 'master' and then walked over to the center of the ring.

"Eager to get started then?" Edmund smiled, swinging his sword in a quick flourish.

"Yep," Natalie said simply. Edmund instructed her to practice the footwork and poses he taught her while he countered them in a mock fight. They moved slow, swinging, thrusting, and slashing their swords in wide archs and gentle movements. It was slow but Edmund tried to put in a surprising move to see what she would do, though for the most part she would miss the opportunity to counter-attack. That changed after a few misses though, and Natalie finally managed to successfully counter each attack Edmund sent her. He moved a bit faster then, trying to see if he could inspire her to move with her instincts. Natalie saw the attack coming from the corner of her eyes, she dodge and use her sword to block his attack quickly, reacting faster than even she was aware she could. Sure, he was moving slower than he would have been in a real fight, but for someone who had never used a sword it was quite a proud moment for her.

"Nicely done!" Edmund's eyes twinkled. Natalie beamed at him and nodded. She bit her lip when he stepped a little closer, 'encroaching' on her personal space, not that she really minded that much, anymore anyway. "Problem with staying still like this, is people can take advantage of you..." he warned her, giving her a look.