Completed arrowhead

[Kuza]

arrowhead winter 9 512 Antinous Training Grounds Squires were ridiculous. They always seemed so immature, even when she was one herself. They liked to huddle around in little cliques depending on who they had as their Patron Knight was. A lot had been pages when they were 10, evolving into squires at 13 in the same groups and with the same people. Kuza came late, at 15, and never really fit in - no one wanted to be friends with a Myrian. She still became a knight with them, though. With her Prowess mark and warrior heritage, she caught on quickly. They were especially annoying her now, though, a group of boys standing in the corner, pointing and giggling. Did they want to provoke her? And really, shouldn't they be training? Why did some squires like to think that the training grounds were actually gossip grounds. It was ridiculous. Kuza took out her bow. She was practising in plate armour today - light armour was nice, but there were times when she wouldn't be wearing it, and she still had to practise. Plate armour was bulkier, and it was a bit harder for her to move, but she didn't mind. Today, she chose, instead of a target, to shoot at a dummy. It seemed more realistic for her to attempt to shoot at different parts of the dummy, and she wasn't the only one to ever try. She still didn't think much about shooting in one of the specialized training areas because she just didn't think she was good enough at shortbow to really try.

[Kuza]

Kuza pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it on the bow, and pulled back the string, all while she adjusted to her plate armour. She stood in an open stance, and pulled it back enough so her index finger reached the corner of her mouth and the feathers and string touched her nose. This was her anchor point, and she always shot from here. She aimed the arrow at the 'heart' of the practise dummy, and began her 'meditation' for shooting, focusing on her breathing and keeping her bow hand from gripping the bow too hard. Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release. She missed her target. The arrow hit low and left, hitting where the hip would be instead of the heart. At least she made it on the dummy. It was better than missing completely, and she was better, which was still excellent anyway. She picked out another arrow and notched it on the string, pulled it back to her anchor point, and aimed again. This time, though, she aimed more up and right than she did before, her goal to make up for her shooting low by adjusting her aim. Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release. She was still too low, hitting the stomach instead. It was a good target, the stomach, but not where she had been aiming. Kuza had a system for shooting now, and it seemed to work better than thinking about each step. She just let her instincts work out the little bits of each shot, and it seemed to improve both her speed and her aim. Although, not thinking directly about something always seemed to improve things for anyone, and suddenly thinking always seemed to mess things up. The problem suddenly became obvious to her. She had forgotten to take in account the wind speed, and that was throwing off her aim. Of course!

[Kuza]

She tried again, adding the wind speed into her mind equation now. It was blowing to the left, but not very hard - more than a breeze, but less than a gust. She grabbed an arrow at random, not taking her eyes off of the dummy, and notched it to her bow, pulling back the string to her anchor point. A little bit of aim, a little bit of meditation, a little bit of repetition... Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release! She hit her target! Kuza couldn't stop the smile from her face when she saw the arrow hit the approximate point where the heart was. Her own heart was beating hard, and she ran up and collected the arrows, even though she still had a few in her quiver. Onlookers might have found it weird when she kissed the arrowhead of the successful arrow, but she didn't care. Now it was time to start over the process.

[Kuza]

She felt elated, and she thought that somehow she fulfilled her namesake, even though it was a single shot that just hit the target in the right spot, she still felt like she could finally feel that she was progressing. But her practise wasn't over with one lucky shot. She wasn't a pro now that she hit her target. She still had a lot of work to do. Kuza pulled out another arrow, notching it on the bow and pulling the string to her anchor point. She focused on where she wanted to aim, felt the wind speed - it was going faster now, she'd have to aim more left - and tried to keep herself from breathing too quickly. Repetition was a good training strategy, at least when you were starting out. She'd seen musicians use it, too, repeating a passage of a song until they had it perfect. Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release. She was aiming for the stomach now, but she missed the target completely. The wind had seemingly slowed right before she shot, and she didn't adjust. All's well. She was going to be here for a while, no reason to stop now. Kuza grabbed another arrow, notched it, and pulled it back to her anchor point. Her elation had been replaced with determination, and she was going to get this stomach shot, (on purpose), if it were the last thing she did. Repetition, meditation, repetition. Inhale, exhale, focus, release. She hit the basic area of the stomach, but not where she was aiming. It was more to the side than the center, but she didn't care. It was close, and it'd damage someone if she shot them there anyway. But she wasn't all grins now. It was close, but not close enough.

[Kuza]

She picked another arrow, and kissed the arrowhead before notching it. She pulled back, pulled back until her anchor point. The fact of her bulky armour affecting her shots had only just occurred to her, and it also occurred that from her 3 years of squire training in both light and plate armour, she was adjusting herself naturally. That was a good thing to have as instinct. She aimed, and took notice of the wind. It had slowed considerably now, so she'd only have to aim a smidgen to the left and a little bit upwards to account for the natural arch of the arrow. Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release. She made this shot, too. Maybe her kisses were good luck, which was a ridiculous theory, but who cared? She hit her target, and that was awesome. She did a little fist pump before shooting her last arrow before she went to grab something to eat - her stomach was growling, and it was an unpleasant feeling. Kuza grabbed an arrow, notching it to the bow and pulling, pulling, pulling back to her anchor point. Repetition was key. That's what she seemed to be focusing on today - repetition. Repetition was key to learning something, whether it was memorizing Syliran history or the Valterrian. Now, she meditated. That was important, too, but meditation for archery lasted a lot slower than normal meditation, not that it mattered. She decided to play fun, and aimed for where the mouth would be. That would always be something interesting to see, someone shot in the mouth by an arrow. Gruesome, yes, but interesting. Inhale, exhale, focus, focus, release. She missed, of course. Her growling stomach had been a distraction. She'd have to work on that later, clearing out distractions, but for now, she collected her arrows and went to find something to eat. -fin-

[Accolade]

Kuza

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Meditation	+ 5 XP
Short bow	+ 5 XP
Observation	+ 3 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Repetition is key to learning
•	Practicing archery in plate armor
•	Always account for the wind
•	Hard work and training will always pay

Notes :

Nicely done Kuza!

The Sylir has spoken

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