TimeStamp: Spring, Day 61, 512. 8:00 a.m. Although her kill was better in the long run, Makia couldn’t get over the fact that she missed that first shot (reference to The First Spring Hunt). She had been mulling over it for days and finally decided to get some personal training. She woke up later than usual and was thinking of a good place to train. While eating breakfast of some cooked oats, milk and a few sliced red apples, she decided on a place she knew near the Katshika Falls. She fed Trean a few slices of apple, sliced into even smaller pieces so he could swallow, from her hand. Makia threw a few more apples into her pack, along with a bundle of stag jerky, and her Archer’s toolkit. She then hilted her slicing knife into her belt, tied her waterskin to her belt and slung her bow, and quiver full of arrows over her shoulder. She left her home and started her walk up to Katshika Falls; Trean flew behind her then finally perched on her shoulder. She winced as his talons dug into her skin. It took her a while to hike up the steep and rocky hill to get to where she meant to go, slipping occasionally and having Trean fly off her shoulder, then re-perch. She made it up the hill about one bell later and looked down the steep cliff at the huge waterfalls. Adra, she thought, remembering the word for water in the Nader-canoch. After taking in the wondrous sight of the Katshika Falls she surveyed the small field for a place to set up her target. She settled on a rather large boulder and placed the painted straw and cotton target in front of it. 5 feet away at a time, starting at 10 feet, is the range she decided on. Trean flew away onto a branch of a dead tree to watch. Carefully she aimed her arrow, and let loose. The arrow hit the target at blinding speed, but did not hit center. She reloaded and let loose again, over and over until she either hit the center, or ran out of arrows. At 10 feet it took her 6 arrows until she hit the middle, at 15 it took 9, 20 it took 10, 25, it took 14 with 3 not even hitting the target. Trean flew from his perch when that happened and retrieved the projectiles back to her quiver. At 30 feet away from the target Makai used all of her 20 arrows without hitting a single center shot. She cursed herself and tried again, until after the 3rd round she hit the middle. She did this all the way up to 50 feet, and when she finally hit the center at 50 feet, after 12 rounds of firing, it was almost dusk, and she was starving. Makia sat on the boulder on which her target rested and pulled out some jerky and an apple. She bit up some apple for Trean and a small piece of stag jerky, but otherwise he hunted for small mice. She ate about half of her bundle of jerky, wanting to save some for later, and finished the few apples she brought, and then headed back down the hill to get some rest at home. |