Completed [Fletcher's Corner] Hitting the Mark (Elna)

[Kovac]

Timestamp: 50th Day of Fall, 512 AV It was Kovac's turn to monitor the Yasi range, a duty shared by all archery instructors, but one he had seemed to draw more often then the others since his return from Thunder Bay. Maybe they slighted him for volunteering to help rebuild Water Reach instead of staying in Skyinarta, maybe it was still the fact that he was only half-inarta. Regardless, the mongrel Avora's bitterness had been somewhat assuaged during his time away, so he took the discrimination in stride. The archer strolled the ranks of the middle range, where most of the less skilled Yasi were plying their bows. Kovac was not particularly fond of Yasi, and his snarky manner and mildly abusive words ensured they felt the same about him. But, One on one, Kovac tended to be more patient, and had success in teaching, as long as the student was willing to learn. Not since he had worked with Rista, herself a half-breed, had he found a youngling worthy of putting his time into. So, while he gnawed off bites from a strip of over-cured meat, the archery instructor monitored the shooters, calling one out a time or two when they broke a rule or did something so wrong he could not let it pass. Kovac paused behind one older girl getting ready to shoot. He had noted she was not using a range bow, having brought her own, along with her own arrows. To Kovac, she looked very much like the other ginger children, her bright red locks and fair skin classic Inarta. She did wear copper earrings, which shone dully in the cavern's light. Folding his arms across his bare chest, the Avora watched the girl ready her first arrow.

[Elna]

It was hard for Elna not to feel embarrassed at these things. In any group learning session with other Yasi, she was often the oldest of the bunch. Many fourteen year olds had already had their castes decided for them and being surrounded by all the younger Yasi was a reminder of how she had fallen behind in life. She never let it stop her from doing it, it was just something that tended to get to her.

She stood in front of the target, reciting safety rules and steps in her head. "Keep your bow pointed down until ready to fire. Make sure no one is in front of you, even if they are to your side" She glanced her eyes form side to side making sure it was safe, then raising her bow after doing so. She drew her bow back slowly and carefully. "Don't over draw the bow, an overdrawn bow is already 7/8th's broken". She focused her eye straight down towards the middle of the target. She let go of the string and the arrow instantly flew forward, hitting the bottom left of the target. She let of a frustrated blow out of her lips, she arched it to low. She pulled out another arrow and lined it up quickly looking for a safe shot. She pointed her bow up higher then the last time, a lot higher. She was overcompensating, a fact she soon realized as she watched her arrow go up high and fall short of even hitting the target at all.

[Kovac]

Kovac watched in silence as the girl loosed her first shot. She followed the rules, unlike many of the younger Yasi. Her form was not bad, needed tweaking for sure. The first shot was low, and she corrected solely based on aim, which she over exaggerated. It was a viable method, when one had a stationary target to zero in on. In the wild, targets moved at the first shot missed. "Red," He lifted his voice behind her, "...your shoulder is dropping." He stepped up to stand beside the teenager. "Grab your things and come with me." The half-blood turned and headed towards the far range, the one with walled lanes for individual training. Kovac did not look behind him to see if the older Yasi was following him. He swung by the fletchers table where he snagged up his bow and quiver before heading to a lane near the end where the adjacent lanes were also empty. Turning to the student, the archer gnawed another bite of the cured jerky. Speaking around the bite of dried meat, he asked, "What is your name, kid?"

[Elna]

"Red" was about the weirdest nickname she could have heard. She almost didn't realize he was referring to her, red hair was so common she might not have responded if he wasn't directly behind her. He told her to follow him, not giving much time before he started walking off on his own. She picked up her stuff in a rush and asked another student to collect her arrows form the target when she had the chance, then scampered up behind Kovac.

Thoughts ran in her head at what he might want, hopefully he wasn't kicking her out of the class. Such thoughts faded a bit when he grabbed the bow, he wouldn't be garbing equipment just to escort here out. The place he stopped was pretty much uninhabited. Plenty of space not to worry about others. She snapped back to attention when he asked for her name "It's Elna…Sir" . She had a hard time reading his intentions, he took all the effort to take her to this more private spot, but his eating while talking made it seem like he wasn't that invested in what was going on.

[Kovac]

"Sir?!" Kovac chuckled. "I don't get that often! Well Elna, You can call me Kovac." She was respectful, which was something to be said with the often outspoken Inartan youth. "I want to tell you why I pulled you over here. I watched you shoot. You kind of suck," He grinned, holding up his hand to ensure her that his thought was not finished, "...But I saw something in you that shows you have potential. I think you can be a good shooter. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't waste my time with you. You have the head for shooting, you just need to know the techniques." She was a bit old to start at this level, but Kovac had a hunch about her. The archer put his hand on her shoulder. "Draw your bow, no arrow, I just want to see your form."

[Elna]

He was laughing, that was probably a good sign. At the very least it put her slightly more at ease. Apparently the lack of quality in her shooting was quite obvious, but considering where her arrows were landing it was hardly surprising. What was surprising was the amount of trust he was putting in her, it was rather refreshing having someone think she could have a future. She turned her head in embarrassment as she found her self smiling and turning a little red.

He then told her to draw her bow. It was an odd request, one she knew was against the rules, even when not dry firing. He hesitated to do it, thinking he was probably testing her with a trick request. "Really?" she asked out-loud while pondering whether or not to follow the order. No one was around, perhaps it was ok to bend the rules in this situation. "Ok," she responded "But just so you know I do understand it is normally against the rules."

She never figured it was an important rule anyways, more something to keep the younger Yasi from playing around and not taking holding a deadly weapon seriously and treating it as a toy. This along with confusing the other archers, making preventing them from collecting there arrows while you fool around. However with no one around these rules really didn't matter as much, provided she wasn't dry firing. That was always one of the most stressed rules.

She kept her bow pointed down as she walked up to the line and pulled her string back, getting into a stance. She didn't realize it but her stance was quite off from a correct one. Her elbow was a lot lower then it should have been, and her side wasn't quite facing the target like it should. Her status as a beginner was quite clear when broken down on the basic level like this.

[Kovac]

Kovac could see trepidation in Elna's darting bright blue eyes. She was a rule follower to a T. Maybe Kovac needed to teach her more that just archery. "Yes, yes...against the rules. I get that you know the rules. Right now, I am the rules. just draw your bow. I know you won't dry fire." Kovac was not angry, and he spoke with a smile. She was uptight, and he needed her to relax. The Yasi drew her bow, raising it as if to fire. Kovac could see already that she needed some work. The instructor had her hold her stance, walking around her. His finger ran along the ridge of muscles from one shoulder to the other, taunt and as she held the bow extended. He expected to feel more definition. The archer's finger stopped at her left shoulder. "Too high, don't shrug your shoulder, relax it." Kovac's finger continued to trail down Elna's left arm until it closed over the hand gripping the bow. "You are holding too tight. gripping it too hard will cause the bow to rotate. Let it rest against the crook of your hand and loosely curl your fingers around it." Kovac released the Yasi's hand and stepped behind her to the other side. His finger rested on the elbow of her right arm, cocked back holding the string. Kovac pressed lightly down on it to gauge the tenseness of arm. By now, Elna's muscles were quivering visibly. Looking down at her feet, he nudged her back foot. "You should be able to draw a straight line from the tips of your toes to the target, remember to line them up." Finally, the Avora released Elna, patting her on the back. "Alright, you can relax. Shake out your arms and shoulders. When you are ready, string an arrow and give it a shot, remember what I said." Elna could follow rules, now Kovac would see if she followed directions.

[Elna]

By the way he was reacting, Elna's commonly stressed attitude was showing clearly to her instructor. Not only that but apparently it was showing up in her stance as well. Everything was to tight, like she was trying to hard. As his comments made her aware that she was pushing the front of her feet hard in to the ground as well, as if she was afraid of being knocked down. She was gritting her teeth as well, obviously the bow wasn't going to fall out of her hand if her jaw wasn't tight enough.

She took the suggestion to relax to heart. She took deep breath and closed her eyes letting her body hang very loosely, making herself about as limp as she could while still standing. After calming her body down in this manner, she raised up her arms slowly to stretch them. She then brought them back down in slow fluid shakes.

She run an arrow out of her quiver and readied it into her bow. She pointed it up to the target and drew back, doing her best to stay calm and not put any pressure on herself. She released the string and the arrow flew forward, hitting just out side of the lower left hand side of the eight ring. The results may not have been all that better, but it certainly felt better. It was more natural, it just plain felt good.

[Kovac]

Kovac scratched his chin as he watched Elna ready herself for another shot. The archer could see her relax, the Yasi's shoulder's lowered, no longer shrugging, even her feet no longer pressed forward into the floor. The young inatran released her arrow, the flight more true than her first shot, the aim was just off a bit. "Good. Could you feel the difference? Let the bow work. If you are too tense, its like you are working against it." He raised his own bow. "One more thing. Once you release, don't drop your bow. Its follow through, even the slightest drop of the bow as the arrow leaves could throw it off. Don't drop the bow until you see the arrow strike the target." Kovac lowered his bow again. "Shake your arms and shoulders out a moment, then line up for another shot." He instructed. Kovac looked over the young red head again. She was certainly near the age of apprenticeship. "Who are you going to apprentice with Elna?" He asked, drawing one of his own arrows and nocking to the bow, nudging Elna aside so he could stand at the line. Kovac fell into his familiar stance, raising the bow and drawing the string in one fluid motion. Only a tick passed as he set his aim and the arrow was streaking to the target. It hit the bulls eye with a solid thunk.

[Elna]

"Yeah, I could feel it," she answered with mild amazement "it was a lot more…natural" She listened attentively to his directions. It all felt like very valuable information, things she wished she had known earlier in life. She loosened her self up once again. Then he asked about apprenticeship. She was a bit taken aback by it, it was kind of a sore subject. Even so, it was something she knew she had to deal with. "I…I don't have one lined up. I have been working on finding one, but nothing has really worked out. Kind of getting down to the wire at this point, I'm almost working age."

She let out a sigh as Kovac took his shoot. It hit perfectly, right in the center of the target and he made it look effort less "Wow" she said softly to herself. It was impressive, but the kind of thing that reminded her of her own ineptitude. It broke her focus for a short while, as she got lost in thought. She shook her head to get herself back into what she was doing.

She raised her bow up quickly and fired it. The shot was off, way off. It wasn't even in her own lane, getting stuck in to the ground far in front of the target to her left. It was easily her worst shot of the day, no question. She was tense, even more then before. Thinking about her future stressed her out and she was falling back into all the problems she had before, only this time she didn't have the patience to focus. She let out a groan and apologized, "Sorry about that, I wasn't really thinking straight with that one."