[Bronze Wood] The Arrow's Path (training)

[Akiva Korvashi]

6th Day of Summer 510 AV

Akiva had gotten up extra early this morning. She had left Keorvic behind to do some fishing or whatever it was he wished today, bringing only her newly bought bow and a quiver full of arrows. She wore simple clothes today, boots, tan leather breeches, a white blouse, her traveling cloak, gloves, and a pair of bracers she had bought at a shop the day before. She of course had her daggers at her belt for protection, as she had no idea how to use the bow she carried. Other than that, she had nothing, not Kipps or the backpack she usually carried. Today was a day of learning, she didn't need distractions. After being temped by quite a few field mice and a rabbit or two, she finally made it to the area where they had agreed to meet, at the edge of the Bronze Woods. They had met on a previous day at The Feathered Shaft, as Akiva was gawking at the variety of bows the store sold. She had desperately wanted to learn how to use a bow, being that it would provide for another way of hunting for her, ever since she had learned what one was. She glanced around casually, noticing a few targets sitting off toward the trees and a lot of broken arrows, apparently this was a common training place for aspiring or skilled archers. She sat down in the soft grass beside a tree and leaned her head back against the bark. The wind was dull today, producing a slight breeze at times, but dead mostly. She whistled softly the song that had been on her mind for a week now, waiting for her new mentor to arrive.

[Grayzdo Briety]

Grayzdo spent his money on getting twenty arrows. He headed to the edge of the bronze woods. He just wanted the mizas and then he probably never would see the girl again it didn't bother Grayzdo much though. He headed to the edge of the forest keeping hidden under his cloak he didn't like leaving the city limits.

He hadn't known much of this girl but he knew she had mizas so he was glad to teach her. He managed to find the edge of the woods and he found the girl.
He pulled the hood down on his cloak. "What shall we start with?"

[Akiva Korvashi]

((OOC": Ugh! Why did you have to post while I was posting while I was bored! Lol))

It had been a few minutes so far, and Akiva was already bored. She sighed and picked up the bow and quiver she had placed beside her, putting the quiver over her head and shoulder. She headed toward the targets, stopping about seven meters away from one of them. She looked around, seeing nobody in sight. She didn't really expect to, of course, she was out in the woods where not many people were likely to be, except for other archers. The trees made a distinct line just behind the row of targets, which stood on wooden frames made of probably solid wood and some sort of cloth covering for the main part of the target. She raised the bow in an awkward manner, doing as she thought she remembered some of the archers she had seen on her journeys do, holding the bow with her left hand and the string with her right. She raised an arrow to the bow, holding the feathered shaft to the string as any beginner might do. She pulled on the string a little, testing it. She frowned, the arrow slid toward the ground, making a semi circle in her fingers. She wished her new mentor would arrive soon, she was clueless as to how to do this, but attempted it again anyway. She raised the arrow again, placing the head on the bow. Realizing that holding the shaft to the string wouldn't do anything but keep the shaft wherever her hand went, she placed the end of the shaft on the string, pinching it between her thumb and index finger. She drew the string back as far as she could and aimed it at the target. She released the string and the arrow flew forward...only to land about a meter in front of her. Akiva sighed and went to retrieve the arrow. She placed it the same way she had it before and aimed a little bit higher. She drew the string back again, finding that if she pulled harder, the bow bent more. She guessed this would probably make the arrow fly faster or further, but she wasn't sure. She let the arrow go, and it flew off. This time, it landed about two meters away. She was definitely getting there, or so she thought. She went to pick the arrow up again. Maybe I'm not holding it right, she thought, and tried reversing the roles of her hands. She couldn't pull the string back very far at all. Well that can't be it, she thought, and switched them again. Maybe if I stand up straighter or something, she thought. She had always noticed the funny way those archer men stood when they were shooting their bow. She had always thought they were quite queer looking. So she stood up straighter, imitating the upright style of those she had seen before. She placed the arrow to the bow and pulled back on the string again. This time she noticed she could pull it back further, and didn't feel quite as much tension on her shoulder as she had before. I think I'm getting it... she thought, now concentrated on her task. She pulled back further than she had before, happy that she was figuring it out. Then the arrow slipped out of her fingers. She frowned, unsure of what she was doing wrong. This was getting to be a bit more frustrating than she had first thought it would be. And though it flew most of the way to the target, she was still unsatisfied. She went to get the arrow again, grumbling to herself on her way back to her spot. She tried the same thing she had, only adjusting her grip on the arrow. She decided that instead of using her thumb and index finger to grip the arrow, she would place it between her index finger and middle finger and hold it with all three. Trying this, she pulled the string back, straightened up, and let the arrow go. It flew forwards, hitting a tree behind her target, but not embedding itself in the wood. Instead, it bounced off and landed on the ground. Damnit... Oh well, at least I got closer, she thought, sad that she had missed, and not had the strength to get the arrow stuck in the wood, but happy that she was making progress. She retrieved her arrow one last time and returned to her place under the tree where she sat again, waiting for her mentor to show up, if he would. Just as she had finished her little 'self-training' session, a hooded man approached where she was. He removed his hood, asking what they should start with. Glad that she finally had the help she had been waiting for, she jumped up and walked over. "Well you can tell me what I'm doing wrong," she said, raising her bow and arrow again to show him what she had figured out, or thought she had.

[Grayzdo Briety]

He watched the girl and felt impatient he wanted to hurry cause he was getting thirsty and his waterskin didn't have much water left. He guzzled down the remains of it and wiped his mouth the back of his hand.

Grayzdo knew the mistake the girl made. "Your problem is you are holding onto the arrow too tight." He took a deep sigh and licked the edges of his mouth for any drips of water left then said "Originally you were holding on too soft." He got a little closer to the girl and then said "Try shoot the arrow into that tree over there that doesn't have any leaves on it." "release the arrow like you are releasing part of your body and soul."

[Akiva Korvashi]

Akiva put another arrow to her bow, drawing it to the best of her ability. She aimed for the tree he had targeted for her. She was extre careful with her grip, making sure she didn't hold onto it too hard or too soft. She still wasn't sure she had the basic postures right, but it felt right to her. She aimed slightly high on the trunk, took in a deep breath, and released the arrow. It flew through the air toward the tree. At first she was pretty sure she was going to miss it completely, but at last the arrow shallowly buried itself in the mid-section of the trunk with a very upward angle to it. It fell out moments later. "I can't seem to get it to go very far very fast. Maybe it's the breeze?" she asked skeptically. She generally took fairly well when learning new things. Afterall, at only two years old, look what all she could do. That was quite the amount better than any human that age she'd ever seen. All they did was crawl around and say very basic words or phrases. Still, she needed improvement, and that's why this man was here, even if he did seem to be quite impatient.

[Grayzdo Briety]

"No it ain't the breeze" He said he stood up straight and stopped sitting down he looked over her shoulder to see her technique she had been trying from a different view. "Archers get mixed results all the time the next ten arrows I shoot may all go perfect and the next 50,000 horrible." He took a step back from her. "All I can say is try again."

[Akiva Korvashi]

She sighed, confused about what to do, if trying again was all it took. She felt like she was doing something wrong, but she had never tried this before. Of course it would feel wrong, as a beginner. It had always felt that way with new things for her, learning to use daggers, learning to play her wooden flute, learning how to hunt. She was sure she would eventually master this art. She pulled out another arrow, and put it to her bow, raising her bow to aim. She drew the bow as far back as she could, aiming toward the middle of the tree trunk he had pointed out before. She tried squinting one eye, thinking maybe that would help her aim, but she found that it only confused her more. She corrected her aim, letting the arrow loose. It flew toward the tree, burying it'self in the wood just short of her mark. It looked to be a bit shallow, but it didn't fall out. "I did it!" she exclaimed, jumping from one foot to the other in joy. She looked back to her mentor, "Is that right? Did I do it right?" she asked, still overjoyed.

[Grayzdo Briety]

"Yeah you did it fine." He fired off a arrow which hit several feet above Akiva's arrow. "[color=#80000]Now go ahead and try to get above my arrow."[/color] He sighed and said "Pretend your attacking someone a bit taller."

[Akiva Korvashi]

Akiva watched as he shot an arrow higher on the tree trunk, telling her to aim even higher. She wasn't quite sure she would ever meet anyone or anything that was that tall, or at least not that she planned to anger or kill, but she would do it anyway - if that meant getting better at this. She pulled another arrow out of her quiver, raising it to her bow as she brought her bow up to aim. She then angled the bow a little bit further up than the spot she wanted to hit, knowing that her last few arrows had hit just short of where she had expected them to. Her target was about two or three feet above his arrow. She let go of the arrow, following it with her eyes as it flew through the air, and failing to keep up with it. It hit about a foot over his arrow, not quite as high as she had hoped, but still higher up thank his. It was just slightly angled up, and didn't fall out. She couldn't tell how far in it had gone, but it was definitely deeper than the other arrow had been. She looked back to him calmly, not showing how proud of herself she was. "How's that?"

[Grayzdo Briety]

"Pretty good but not great try again." He fired off two arrows one to knock the shallow one off the tree and the other to knock the higher one off to make room for more arrows.