The next morning was a clear, if a bit chilly. After breakfast Em took me to the practicing range that had been set up slightly off the camp. There were already several creatures there practicing. Fighting with swords, maces and spears, as well as archery, magic, and even regular fist fights. Many paused their training when we arrived and nodded at us, before continuing what they'd stopped. A few of them came to stand by Em's side. They looked like they were high in ranks.
"Alright then," Em said. I turned to look at her. "We need to train you up. These are our head instructors, each of whom have their own special area. We should start with the basics, hand-to-hand combat." She gestured at a faun, who saluted. "This is Nentus. He's the best when it comes to battling without weapons. Have you had any previous training?" They all looked at me expectantly.
"Oh, well... I have been doing capoeira for some time now," I suggested. They all looked very confused. "It's sort of a martial arts. I mean, many call it dancing, but it's more choreographed fighting really. And if nothing else, it has kept me flexible and in decent shape."
~x~
We trained for the whole day. I did hand-to-hand combat with Nentus until lunch (which the house elf brought us) and by then I had gotten a good hang of it. Nothing compared to most of the fighters, of course, but enough to give me a fighting chance (excuse the pun) should it come down to it. After lunch we tried the swords, which was taught by two forest elves, or fae, I suppose. It was much harder than movies make it look, but I managed to learn a basic stab-and-defense. The mace was ridiculously heavy and the centaur just laughed as I failed to pick it up. We moved on from that pretty quickly. Em even wanted me to try learn some magic, but that didn't really work out. I did manage to gather some energy within me, which made me feel stronger and more durable, but I was unable to get it out of my body. Em was slightly disappointed, but she did say magic was generally harder for humans to learn, and most couldn't even get as far as I had.
As we settled for a break and some dinner (brought again by the house elf, who was actually quite lovely and always seemed to know exactly what everyone needed), I had managed to learn quite a bit of hand-to-hand, some basic sword fighting, how to throw a dagger and that a ball and chain is a fricking terrifying weapon and one should never be near it. I almost bashed myself in the head when I tried to spin it. There was only one thing left to try: archery.
The teacher was an elf. Like, a proper elf. Lotr elf. She had long hair with braids and high cheek bones and a regal expression. Her skin was dark though, but that made her look even more stunning. Her name was Narada, apparently, and she could really shoot an arrow.
"You must concentrate on the bow," she said as she drew another arrow. "It will tell you how to shoot. All you need to do is listen." And I watched in awe as she split the previous arrow in two. "Now, lift up your bow."
I lifted up my bow and placed the arrow. I had shot with a bow a few time before and it had been fun, but this time it was different. Somehow. Like my eyes were open.
"You draw the bow," she told me and I complied. She leaned over and adjusted my position slightly, lifting my elbow. "Do not fear it. Respect it, and it will respect you back." I took a deep breath and aimed.
Shwing.
It hit the edge of the target.
I left out a frustrated huff. Narada shook her head.
"Don't be frustrated. It takes time to learn to listen. You must practice your position, your aim and find the best bow for you." She offered me another, slightly longer one. "Try this."
I tried. Not much improvement. I went through several different bows Narada gave me, but none felt right. Finally I decided to pick one for myself. I gazed at the different bows on the stand. A shorter bow had felt better, so perhaps... The one of them caught my eye. It was smaller than the rest, and was almost hiding behind the other ones, as if ashamed to even be there. It didn't look like it fitted with all the other bows, mighty and sturdy, made for war. I picked it up and it felt good in my hand. It was a dark wood, and had engravings on it, forming a spirally braid all over the handle.
"Oh," came Narada's voice behind me. She seemed surprised. I walked back to position with the small bow resting in my hand. I placed the arrow and took a deep breath. It's you and me, I thought to myself. I don't fit here either. And it was almost as if the bow had started to sing. It sang in my ear and I took aim and we released the arrow together.
And it was a bull's eye. Well, almost.
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Haaaaah, I am terribly lacking in motivation to write this, I am sorry....... Oh well. At least the story's progressing.
I made gingerbreads today. Well, the dough. We'll be baking them tomorrow. Nomnomnom.
Your topic for tomorrow: Uhm.... Stars. I don't think that's been used yet?
Pie out.
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