Closed Chirp Shooting (Ehati)

[Letixia Raigner]

Spring 34th, 514 As Leti walked past the guards posted at the front gates, giving them a nod and a smile, enjoying the spring breeze that flowed through her hair. She had her bow in hand, sword at her left hip, quiver at her right, and shield on her back. Today, she'd chosen to not take her full set of armor, wanting to just enjoy the freedom of the spring air. Her patron had suggested a method of training her archery, particularly by herself. It was quite different from the standard training, and it was specifically designed to be performed in the woods outside of the city. Several chimes later, she departed from the road, stepping through the wild grasses, and leaving civilization for the shade of the woods. Climbing over the rock strewn soil, she made her way around the trees, until she found a suitable clearing. Just as Ser Ranqor had suggested, there were several trees circling this clearing. He'd told her that this training was meant to hone her reflexes, speed up her firing, and simply give her more practice. The practice was quite simple. She was to start in the center of the clearing, simply holding her bow, listening to the woods around her. Waiting, she wouldn't move until she heard a bird sing or call. She would draw her arrow, turn, and shoot at the nearest tree in the direction of the bird's chirp. Whether she hit it or not, she would move to retrieve her arrow, stopping only if she heard another call, in order to shoot once more. She would keep this up until she ran out of arrows and had to retrieve them all at once. Leti made her way to the center of the ring of trees, and gripped her bow properly. Her instinct was to close her eyes while waiting for the bird song. It was difficult to stand there doing nothing, so she tried to give in to her senses. She could hear the wind moving through the woods, some animal scampering through the underbrush. It was all serene, and relaxing. Chirp. Leti heard the call behind her over her left shoulder. She immediately turned, remembering to properly space her feet. Her left foot was forward, and she placed it to the left of center of her target tree. Her right foot was back, and slightly to the right of center. She plucked an arrow from her quiver, set it on her gripped fingers and tried to nock it quickly. She stumbled with this several times, until finally she got the string sorted out. She wrapped her three shooting fingers around the string, one above the fletching, and two below. She raised her bow so her arm was parallel to the ground, consciously not locking her elbow. She sucked in a deep breath, and pulled the string back hard. However, her pull wasn't smooth, and staggered, and slipped from her grasp. Her arrow floundered out of her bow, tossing about ten paces away. Leti breathed out a relaxing sigh. Speed was important, but even more important was making sure she accomplished the basics. Making her way to her arrow, she stuck it in her quiver, and stood there once more, preparing to start again.