Twang! archery practice!

[Aello Stromfeather]

Aello pushed tentatively on the frosted glass door, and it swung open gradually.

inside was, to her immense suprise, the archery field. her track record with sense of direction was pretty low, but she had navigated their way to the range pretty easily.

twelve targets were lined up along the back wall, in regular circular ranks.

She looked back to Venessy, and shrugged. it would do.

A few paces carried her to the shooting line, and she drew the bow, waited, aiming for a second, before loosing the arrow.

the alloy shaft thudded into the target, just above the gold.

She looked to her brother, and waited for him to shoot.

[Venessy Stromfeather]

Smiling that his sisters skills had'nt dulled because of the lack of practice that they had both been suffering from; Venessy knocked an arrow and loosed it into the target.
After his shafts had all been loosed, he waited for Aello to finish then paced the expanse of ground and surveyed his efforts; a neat group just below the gold, only two had strayed into the red.

Collecting his shafts he paced back to the line.

[Aello Stromfeather]

"not too shabby. Play for points, two rounds of sighters?" she asked, adjusting the sights downwards a notch.

her next three arrows loosed perfectly, two in the nine, and one in the ten, the final one scraping a line down the side of the second with an ear-shattering clatter.

the pair were fairly equally matched, seeing as they both practiced together, and had done so almost forever.

[Venessy Stromfeather]

Steadying his breathing, he brought the bow up again and exhaled in one long draught; as he relaxed his chest, he relaxed his fingers and squeezed his shoulder blades together.

The two shafts thudded unto the nine, the third cut the ten.

Wincing as his sister shredded one of her own arrows, he risked a glance to his right and grinned.

[Aello Stromfeather]

Aello grinned back, looking at the two identical targets, apart from the one arrow which had been mangled.

she paced up to the target faces, and counted up.

"Nine nine ten, and nine nine ten for you too, as ever."

she inspected the arrow which had been scored right down one side, the fletching ripped.

"No use for most of this one any more, pull the pile out, that might work..." she mused, half to herself, half to her brother.

[Venessy Stromfeather]

His sisters mutterings, as usual, passed him by: looking at the ruined shaft he decided that now was probably the time to bring out his present.
He had kept the two bundles tucked into his belt as they walked, he was actually surpirsed that his usually observent sister hadnt noticed them but he wasnt going to question his luck; reaching underneath his shirt he drew them out.

"Here, I got something for us," pausing to open the neck of one parcel, he reconsidered, "actually, I found these a while back, before we left home." he grimaced a little.

Reaching into the parcel he carefully pulled clear a long dark arrow. The fletchings were striking, black with silver bars across them, however, the head was truly the most striking part: the broadhead was divided into four sections, each highly polished and covered with the most intricate etching, it was as if vines crawled over the whole surface and settled in a small smooth clear space was the initials "A".

Replacing the arrow and passing the package to his sister he said:

"I had he initials done myself, the rest is all mum and dads work."

Plucking his own broadhead out of the package, he examined the head, and there was his own initial;

"Shame they never got to finish them properly."

[Aello Stromfeather]

Aello nodded bluntly, taking the arrow from his hands and turning it over in her own.
she held it vertical and spun it, watching the lights reflect from the fletchings, and from the lovingly-crafted broadhead.

A second's reflection, and she had nocked it, drawn it, and appeared to be about to send it flying into the target, when she lowered the bow and took the arrow from it, replacing it in the black velvet bag it had been presented in, before stowing it back in the quiver.
silently she nocked another arrow, and sent it in its place, avoiding her brother's eyes.

"Perfect tens" she observed, looking almost blankly at the target.

[Venessy Stromfeather]

Aello's prediction had been correct, their scores were perfect and as they drew the shafts out Venessy felt the repetition of long practiced rituals begin to grate on him.

"We cant get any better, I for one am heading off to bed, wouldnt want to show up for the master all tired."

Unstringing his bow and dismanteling it he looked over at his sister; she looked a little smaller and more subdued than usual;

"You coming?"

[Aello Stromfeather]

she nodded, distracted.

"Sure, just be a minute...." she listened for her brother to finish packing his bow away, and heard him head to the door. a few seconds, and it had closed.

she spurred into motion, dismantling her bow quickly, and took one look around the room before opening the door and leaving herself.