[Flashback]An Archer's Craft I: Back to basics (antar)

[Coren]

10th day of fall 510 AV Coren slowly woke up and opened his eyes, muttering a few unrecognizable words in vani and vaguely wondered why in the name he didn't close the curtains in front of his window to keep the sun out and turned on his side, pulling his blanket over his eyes and closed his eyes, ready to fall back into the inviting slumber. Only a few moments later coren's eye shot wide open as he remembered why he left his curtains open. He was supposed to meet Noth for an archery lesson in the early morning! He quickly threw his blankets off him and rushed towards his closet and threw on his clothes as soon as he could. He paused for a moment as he was holding his winterbane robe in his hands, before hanging it back into the closet, no matter how much it irked and annoyed him not having it on. He didn't doubt it would get into his way if he needed to move a lot. He grabbed his leather facemask and put it on as he ran out of the door, skipping breakfast all together, he would get something on the way back, or just ask for a break from antar if he began to get hunger pangs. Coren hurried his way through the still fairly empty streets of avantal, the early ray's of the early sun having barely raised any other vantha from their beds. It didn't take to long before coren arrived at the training hall, the few vantha of the icewatch who where up and about giving him a weird look. A few of them even elbowing their partner in the side and pointing at coren without his almost inseparable cloak. Coren treid his best to ignore them and just quickly walked into the archery range. Seeing Noth still wasn't there. So he just waited at the side for the man to show his face.

[Antar]

Mornings in Avanthal were cold. Really petching cold. Like colder then he wanted to be around and he cursed the day's biting winds. If he was ever to come back here he'd petching ask for a mark of Morwen faster then a starving scavenger started to pick clean the bones of a corpse. Of course, that might only be possible if the corpse was covered over in a layer of ice. He'd never seen an iced over body, but it was interesting enough of an idea for him to see if there were any books in Avanthals library about the subject of anthropology in cold weather climates.

Not that he expected there to be anything really there... but it was enough of a thought to keep him moving in the morning cold. It was a struggle for him to reach the archery range, but when he arrived bundled up as could be with a scarf around his mouth, a cloak around his back, a cowl to, his weapons and most importantly: a really surly temper.

When he entered the range grounds he saw the man he was here to teach being pointed and laughed at like crazy by the local Icewatch members. His presence seemed likewise as much of an oddity, as well as the bag he held over his shoulders with the requisite gear. "Alright Coren, good to see you. Let's skip the formalities and get you on your way to learning how to use a bow for more then a hiking stick to lean on. First thing I'm going to do is walk you through the archery equipment and parts of a bow and arrow. To do that I want you to watch how I restring this bow first."

Noth unslung his bow , and quickly restrung it by bending the wood around by having the shaft run pastthe back of his leg before he hooked the string up to the top notches. Then he stepped out of the center and brought the bow up perpindicular to the ground as he chuffed it upwards until one hand was centered on the grip.

With that immediate task done, he drew an arrow from his quiver and turned it loosely in in his left hand hand before bringing it up to eye level so Coren might see. "Alright, let me explain the parts and make of a bow first..."

Secret :

Noth inhaled a moment and went full throttle into his explanation,"The grip is mounted loosely on the shaft, and the shaft is divided by the grip into the upper and lower shaft. If you look at the lowest part of a bow, and the tip of the lower you shall see a set of notched grooves. The same thing is true on the upper shaft. You always string a bow from the bottom to the top. Never in reverse. You want the stringing to be uniform throughout the life of the bow. Some bows, have small tassles, bits of felt or wool on the string , these are called Silencers and help to muffle the noise of the bow string's 'snapback' by limiting the string's vibration. They're quite invaluable while hunting or when you just need to be quiet. Now in the center of the string, you'll see a bit of extra twine coiled in a sheathe around the central part of the string behind the grip. This is the serving, it's a means of keeping the string useful for longer, and allows you to knock at the same knocking point repeatedly. So what exactly is a knocking point you ask? I'm sorry I was being a little sarcastic there, you didn't ask, but I will explain. The knocking point is the area of the bow's string, could be a half or an inch zone, where you will consecutively place an arrow each time. Sometimes people try to get fancy shots by tilting the arrow , but I'll tell you this, those trick shots don't mean shyke, Coren! You lose more power that way so it's best to discern a single quarter inch point off the bow and learn to fire it from as close as you can to the knocking point each and every time. Now I will quiz you repeatedly until you have this down cold Coren. So tell me what you remember from what I just said because it's really petching cold out here!"

[Coren]

Coren just ignored the weird stares and even few bouts of sarcastic laughter at the fact he showed his face in the training ground and just quickly made his way towards Noth who had just entered the archery range wrapped up in enough clothes that he was almost glad he had forgone his cloak, he could just imagine the stupid lost twin jokes from the more childish people in the training ground right now. “Good seeing too you.” coren said in cheerful common. Accidentally butchering the gramma. But for a few moments he didn't care about it, nor about the few people in the archery range laughing at them, or about the fact that antar was in a fairly bad mood thanks to the fact his fingers and toes where probably feeling as if they where going to fall off any minute. Today he was taking a first step to freedom from his parents and more study time. And absolutely nothing could ruin the feeling he got from that. He took a step closer to Noth and paid close attention as the man took his unstrung bow in hand and told him to watch how he was going to restring it. To coren's faint surprise Noth restrung the bow without any problem, though the man's fingers probably would be numb in the cold weather. A small smug smile crept on his face at that fact. He probably wouldn't be wrong to assume Noth knew his stuff. Or at least practiced enough that doing things like that was like second nature. He really had found a good teacher! Noth just took an arrow from his quiver and held it up for him to see. “Me listening.” Coren quickly replied in common to noth's remark. Before widining his eyes in horror as the man began rattle of the explination in common, figuratively hitting poor coren over the head with terms having something to do with archery. When Noth demanded what he still knew of the lecture he gave them, his sour mood actually being worse then coren had thought at first the poor man just gulped. “Eh.. well..” He stuttered, grasping at straw's to dredge up somemthing form the lecture he understood. “Silencers, little things on bow's string that help silence the sound of it.” He offered, uncertainty clear in his voice and he quickly glanced back to the bow in Noth's hands hoping it would give him some more clue's. “Also the grip, that is on the shaft. And the shaft has little cuts in the top and bottom for the string?” Coren let out a sigh as that was the last piece of information he actually got from the fast lecture. “Please.. repeat? Slower now? My common still not to good.” Coren said in an apologetic tone, really hoping that he wasn't about to set of Noth's foul temper.

ooc: red is common

[Antar]

"Erh. Right, right sorry. Too cold man, just too cold." he muttered as he blew on his hands. The chill of the fall air in Avanthal was the same it was any other season, 'cept maybe winter when Morwen left: Cold as could be. At least the vantha had that mark to keep their blood from freezing.

'Good for Coren, of course, but not for him.' He didn't have the goddess' mark.

Though truth be told: the prospect of meeting her seemed to fascinate him. What would they talk about? Would he ever be able to ask her about the Valt? Would she even respond? He didn't know really. But he did know one thing: Soon, if more victims began to show up, he'd have to approach her to ask to join the icewatch's efforts to nab the creature he suspected was here. Perhaps even Coren had heard about the gruesome spectacle that had happened in the woods out by Frostfawn Hold three days ago, but he wouldn't broach the subject unless the vantha brought it up. He'd just offer a silent prayer to Morwen to see if he might have the foresight to end this quickly.

'But it was still so petching cold!'

The main thing on the trek here had been the wind chill. It had bit into his bones and made his teeth chatter. But he'd have to eventually get used to it. Breathing deeply, he forced his mind to relax and set his bow to lean against the range wall. At least there was a small barrier between him and the elements. Explaining as many times it took for Coren to understand the parts of a bow, the rogue would make himself a resourceI'll let you use Antar to explain the best way for Coren to understand here so it makes sense to him. The next post I'll go onto parts of an arrow. to his friend. Sharing his knowledge freely, and in as clear a manner as possible he would convey the information to the younger lad.

As this process went on he would begin rubbing the fingers of his hands together, as he used the heat generated by friction slowly restored the blood flow to his limbs. As for the arrow, the rogue would toss it in a light throw towards the side of his feet, allowing it to moor itself into the snow where it didn't pose a danger to Coren, or himself like it would have if it had been kept in his hand.

His body soon took over on autopilot as his mind coached Coren repeatedly on the parts of a bow at a slower pace. As he spoke the rogue also beging a series of arm stretches that he usually did before practicing with a bow. They helped to loosen his arms up enough to make them limber in the cold. At the end of every stretch, He would bring his hands together to try to pull them apart until he could feel the strain. It was an isotonic exercise, designed to help increase strength, but only in a certain position.

It didn't do much at all for overal muscle maintainence or growth, the isotonic strain only worked to allow the body to function better in a certain way. Take the example if one stood near the wall and pushed against it without moving, just contracting the muscles as they worked the tendons slightly. That same exercise would not benefit a person later unless they were in the exact same physical position, even if it was in different circumstances. Like if an opponent was trying to hold you static against a wall with a shield press. An isotonic exercise like that would help translate to one's efforts to push away an opponent trying to contain you.

The rogue paused every few moments in between the exercise to run in place a little, to keep his core temperature up under all the clothing he wore. Finally, after a few reviews were done, the rogue momentarily handed over his longbow to Coren to demonstrate his new knowledge of the parts of a bow, in more detail. On a secondary note, he was challenging the man to use the common language a little more and he was sure at a later date, Coren might teach him something while making him converse little snippets of vani between them.

But not specifically today.

He didn't know the terms in the Vani language. He would have to hope that Coren might know a term or two and repeat them like a parrot after his vanthan friend if he managed to speak a little back to him.

[Coren]

Coren just shrugged his shoulders at Noth's hasty apology. “Apology, accepted.” coren said in a cheerful tone, scratching the back of his head in slight embarasment. Having completely forgotten about the trouble non-marked people had with the freezing cold weather up in the north. “Can't do much about cold, just say when you not feel toe's anymore. Then we will go take a hot drink.” Coren said in broken common, trying to give antar something to look forward to when they where going to finish. And also letting him know that he didn't have to get frostburn when he was teaching him. Antar gave him a thankfull nod at his offer and slowly and carefully began to repeat the massive amount of information that he just had rattled of as fast as he could a few moments ago. And took great care to repeat the names of every part of the bow and what they did. Asking for coren to repeat them and what they where used for a few times after he did it. This routine went on for a while, with antar sometimes throwing in a few unexpected questions about a part of the boy he covered a while ago. The way of teacing was slowly but surely bearing fruit, as coren remembered at least more parts then when they started teaching. “You sure you are still alright antar?” Coren spoke up as antar once again began walking around to try and get warmed up. “I not want you to freeze off limb.” He said in a concerned tone as he slowly looked at the longbow in his hands. “If you want we can go and warm up you bit?” Coren said, not noticing his butchered common.

[Antar]

"I thank you for the concern but no, there's no need to go inside yet unless there's warm tea Coren and in such a case the tea can be brought out here I'm sure."

Taking a brief moment to sling his bow around his back , Antar stopped twirling the arrow and held it out straight towards Coren's nose. Taking care to speak slower as he sometimes shuffled in his boots, Noth figured he'd have to point out the parts of an arrow next. What he was trying to impress was the fact that any archery was a system of individual items which worked together. A constant understanding that an archer's equipment was just as important as his skill. Only when everything was properly brought together did it work out right.

Secret :

In the aftermath of his explanations , the archer would rub his hands together to ward off the chill long enough to exclaim, "Do you think they'd have a bit of warm tea inside Coren?"

[Coren]

Coren gave back the longbow to antar as he politely refused his offer to go to the tavern and continue the lesson. Still he kept an eye out for anything that might look like the start of hypothermia, he didn't want anybody, let alone somebody who was actually going to teach him something usefull. When Noth began explaining more about archery, more specifically what the parts of an arrow where and what they did, coren once again paid rapt attention, keeping half an eye on Noth's body for any signs that he was getting sick from the cold. As Noth began slowing down in his explination and coren began noticing that antar's fingers began to shake way to much for his liking. “Well right now we are on the inside” Coren said in a flat tone as he pointed upwards to the roof of the structure they where in at the moment. “They just never bothered making a good floor or making it warm. Since most people here have a mark of morwen. But we could go to the tavern, get some hot drinks, warm you up a bit and then come back to begin practice If you really want to.” Coren paused for a few moments mulling something over. "Or we could take shelter into the barracks right next to the archery range If you think the tavern is to much of a bother." It seemed Noth had seen sense in his words and gave a curt nod at his second offer. "Alright, just follow me then." Coren said as he began to lead the non-vantha outside and towards the barracks so that antar could warm up a bit.

[Antar]

oocPermission to enter barracks front foyer decided by Coren's and antar's player in chat.

At Coren's kind words of concern, Antar merely nodded as the young man lead him into the front foyer of the building next to the range. While part of the range was enclosed from the elements, the building it was close to was what was truly the more impressive of the elements.

It was the Icewatch Barracks, and asking some random person he saw if he could partake of a bit of warm tea the watch kept in the foyer, he was allowed a small cup. No Icewatch man, woman, bear or cub would not let one of avanthal's citizens or visitors freeze to death outside. It was bad manners, and if asked he was here today to train coren at the archery range with the bow. It shouldn't be much of a problem, at least if they kept themselves only inside enough to just warm up. Antar was curious about the barracks themselves, if he did have to encounter anything peculiar , then he might have to come here again to ask if he could assist the Icewatch.

Avanthal's winters were liable to make him cold, since he wasn't gifted with Morwen's mark, Coren had told him that much. He wondered however, if the goddess would be willing to speak to him at all during his time here. Perhaps he should make a special stop?


But such things were another matter then the one he had at hand, which was training Coren in archery. Explaining once in common, and then once again in broken vani Antar would pick up the track of where they left off."Alright, I'm a little better now... and now you've learned the basic properties of an arrow, it is time to discern the types of arrows you may encounter in the field. Each type is made differently with a small alterations from the norm.

The first type of arrow is a basic one which you've seen. They tend to be multipurpose, and useful against anything you might encounter, and may generally be used even for hunting larger game.

Then there's arrows designed for other purposes. I don't have an example of the first one, so please just hear my words and understand them.

Fire arrows, are occasionally one type of arrow anyone who's not touched a bow may know from stories, some thinking they just light the tip down in a fire and let it burn. That's not the case though. Fire arrows are specially made to have a small resoirvoir of oil, along with a kindling strap to begin that ignition process. Much like you'd make a fire out in the woods, a damp oil soaked cloth, or a tinder laced bag of sawdust might be used to help ignite the oil. There are a few varieties of fire arrows but as long as you know they serve a purpose, such as signalling at night, or setting a fire to smoke outa beast's warren. Then you are good on that.

Then there's a nother type of signal arrow, which carvers mold and form to create a 'whistle' as it travels through the air. There's a few variations of this one too. Commonly you find there are carved grooves in such an arrow, causing it to 'spin' in flight to create the whistling sound. Other such types insert small reeds into the notches on the shafts to create the effect with less grooves. Think like a musical instrument and you'll get the picture."

Antar stressed the next words very carefully to ensure Coren knew the gravity of what he was about to say since it would directly come into play later if he took the man out hunting. "Both are useful in hunting to signal another person you have found something.

But what about when your against an opponent specifically in hunting?

That's where broadheads, fishing arrows and game arrows come into play Coren. There's also a rarer sort of arrow known as a 'round head' which is derived into two subtypes. Regular, and armor piercing when your hunting something with a thickened hide or carapace. Though many common armor piercing heads are not round at all but elongated points to make a cone designed to penetrate the armor with ease. It's a tradeoff for more damage against someone though. ''

The fact that 'roundhead' arrows of such a kind were used against armored opponents was left unsaid, though if Coren was observantly inclined he might ruminate some on the implications of that. For the next half minute, Antar took a slight rest to drink more tea, making himself repeat the gist of what he said in the broken Vani he had been learning from Coren, and elsewhere since he had met the man the second time in the library. After such explanations were over and understood, he went onto the next topic at hand. Broadheads are slightly larger width in the arrowhead, usually made of tougher metal, sometimes in an uncommon variety broken into a 'cross' shape where the heavy arrowhead is made with two cutting planes of metal, or rock to deal more damage. It's a wicked deviation you see rarely, but the real worst ones are barbed arrowheads.

Barbed arrowheads are exactly like they sound like, studded with hooks that are designed to tear at the surrounding flesh with its tines. Don't ever pull one out if you get it with it. Wrap it securely in place, and get to a doctor quickly for surgery.

That only leaves us with Game and Fishing arrows.

Fishing Arrows are a wonderful tool, they're good for catching fish just below the surface and are secured to your bow by a length of rope, and especially useful on long voyages to cure boredom... unless you're shooting them at anything you should be using a harpoon for.

Game arrows are smaller, almost tipped with a 'bean bag' , or swaddled in cloth layers glued together to cushion the impact instead of the normal arrowhead. They're used against small game to stun them, so you don't spoil the meat by piercing an intestine. Meat from a small source becomes very easily tainted by intestinal slop if you're not careful. Bird, mammal, squirrel- it doesn't matter. Only problem is that game arrows don't always work, the wood of the shaft sometimes pierces at the wrong angle and enter the animal. In fact, that brings us back to the most basic of arrows: The one's where the arrowhead is nothing more then a sharpened point. You'll find them used by people needing to make their own gear or weapon."

Pausing for breath, Antar took another sip of tea and explained everything again, both in common and broken vani. "[color=orange]As for safety equipment, that, if you know anything is decided upon the individual. Normally, leather armor, with padded armor underneath may be enough to reduce the effects of penetration in an injury if you have the unfortunate circumstance of getting shot with an arrow. To protect yourself from the string's snap back, a full leather glove, or a short leather bracer in hotter climes will help stop your skin from being flayed by a bowstring. Don't let your naivete fool yourself on three things: An archer is only as good as their equipment , and secondly that equipment together forms a system you must learn to use efficiently. The third thing is this: know if something goes wrong; your own equipment may prove just as dangerous to you or the person next to you as to what you wanted to first aim at."

Eyeing Coren appraisingly, like he was in the presence of a schoolteacher, Antar questioned him. "Tell me a little of what you just learned in your own words, and then we shall get you to the range to begin working on the basics."

[Coren]

Coren kept a watchfull eye on Noth as he drank his warm tea and was slowly warming up again. Sure they where out of the wind and most of the cold inside here in the foyer of the barracks and he was drinking something warm, but he didn't know very much about being under cooled aside that it happened when people became to cold and that people with morwen's blessing where immune to it. So it was just to make sure that if anything went even a bit wrong with Noth right now he was able to notice it and drag him to the doctor if he wanted or not, he didn't want a visitor to avanthal die in the cold just because he was a bit unobservant. As Noth claimed he felt a little bit better and wanted to start the lecture up again coren gave him a small nod. “Well if you think so, just keep drinking that tea just be sure.” Before leaning against one of the walls and paying rapt attention to the explanation about what types of arrows noth knew about, what they looked like and what the uses for all those different types of arrows where. As the man continued to try and explain, using both common and vani. Though the vani was so garbled and sometimes even completely wrong that coren almost got a headache from it Still, he didn't want to interrupt Noth's lesson just to break that fact to him. He would tell him that after the lesson was done. When Noth mentioned armor piercing arrows coren sorely doubted they where only used to hunt for animals with a thick hide or a tough carapace. There couldn't be that much animals worth hunting that needed armor piercing arrows to be brought down. Coren didn't need to think very long about what other things they could be used for, their goal was clearly obvious. As Noth took a small pause to catch his breath and drink some more tea. Coren mentally tried to sum up the arrows noth had just summed up. He had mentioned round arrows who where used to break through armor. Fire and whisteling arrows who where mostly used to send signals to each other, though fire arrows had some other applications and lastly he had mentioned broad heads, fishing arrows and game arrows. All of them where specialized to use in hunting. But antar hadn't mentioned how they where specialized yet. So that probably was coming after the man had regained his breath. Just as coren had thought, Noth began explaining what those arrows where used for and how they where different from normal arrows. Broadheads being, just like their name suggested, broader then a normal arrow, which meant larger wounds. And barbed arrowheads where also counted as broad arrows by Noth. Coren firmly prented Noth's advice on how to deal with being shot with a barbed arrow firmly in his mind. Really hoping he would never need that advice. Fishing arrows where pretty much what they sounded like, arrows that where probably barbed to keep the fish from falling off secured to your bow with a rope. The small warning to not use them on anything that required a harpoon did bring a small smile on coren's masked face. He really should let that little idea drop by one of the more talented storytellers in the snowsong hold. They probably could spin a few comedy tales out of that little fact if they had the time. And game arrows where also fairly simple to explain, as far as coren understood it they just where an arrow with a bag of some sort on the tip instead of an arrowhead. Lastly Noth went over the protection an archer needed to have to protect his own limbs from being flayed by their own equipment, before looking up to coren and asking him to repeat everything he had said in his own words, then they could go and start to practice. “Well,I learned that...” coren paused and started to try and form the sentences in common. “An archer is only as good as the equipment he has. The equipment aren't just things that just exist aside each other, they are a system that the archer needs to use in tandem and that if something goes wrong you are likely to get hurt by your own equipment. So you should never use a bow without protection including at least a glove on the hand your using to grasp the bow and a padded or hard leather vest to protect your chest in the case something goes wrong. Ehmm..” coren trailed of as he began to think on what else antar said. “There are a lot of different arrows made for different goals. Fishing arrows are arrows attached with a rope to your bow so you can reel in the fish. There are broadhead arrows, who have a broader arrowtip then normal arrows and also game arrows who are used to hunt small animals because normal arrows will spoil the meat. There are also two types of signal arrows used. Fire arrows and whisteling arrows and then you still have armor piercing arrows and round arrows. Armor piercing arrows are used to hunt down targets with some kind of armor, like a thick carpace and round arrows are arrows with a round tip instead of a normal arrowhead, build to stun the target or to break bones if your lucky. ” Coren looked towards Antar. “That and your vani is the worst I have ever heard. I didn't understand the mayority of it.”

[Antar]

Noth smiled and shrugged after a bit of laughter, "Good, yes my vani is bad. Still learning, takes time you blasted raccoon! Now, less lip, more study, yes?"

Sighing loudly Antar took another sip of warm tea letting the warm swill pervade his senses as it traveled down to his stomach. He let out a warm smile towards the man he was here to teach. Taking out his quiver and the arrows contained in it, the rogue would show it to the man, "Good answer , especially for a start, but don't expect to ever stop learning in a craft like archery. It's one of the few things that your survival depends on the basis of your equipment. Though Like any craft, the skill to use the equipment starts with a single first step. In this example, how to draw an arrow properly and knock it to a bow. For that we should go outside , back to the range. Just hold still a moment, I have to make sure you know how to walk and move with the equipment before I get you to start shooting."

Taking his quiver, Antar removed about half the arrows, and then proceeded to clip the artifice of the trade to Coren's belt. The quiver only held ten arrows, he would hold the other in his hand; but the real conundrum would be next. Looking towards Coren again, the teacher put two hands on Coren's shoulders and then to the bow he held, something he borrowed no doubt. Antar ran a finger along the string" As you move with your kit, it will seem alien at first, a quiver, unless it's a strapped climber's quiver will shift and unbalance at times, so your stride must take that into effect until your ability to balance it all improves. But first I'll show you an important thing, how to regrease a bow."

Taking out two tallow balls from his pack, Antar placed one in Coren's hand. "Warm this up first, until it becomes like putty, do as I do now. " Demonstrating, Antar took off his gloves to roll the ball in his palms, warming the tallow well."A bow's string should be greased and maintained every day. As well as an arrow, I'll show you how to make some hunting arrows from scratch another day, but for now, take the ball and press it against the string, letting the concoction grease the threads of the bow, the one you borrowed seems to have lamb's gut, which is a fine string to use, though you'll find tendons of goat or deer to work just as well. Intestinal tracks of more dangerous prey may be better to string a bow with as well, though they're rare to come by. Some isurian smiths may even create you a string from metal, though steel strings of the day are usually bound in a casing of lamb's gut."

He handed Coren back his bow and took up his own. Making his motions slow and easy to follow. The ball of tallow was greased in a single direction, it was uncouthe to do it in cross directions. If one did that, one would see that the lifespan of the string would be reduced considerably from an uneven grease. He greased all four sides of the string, starting from the bow top down past the silencers and the tassles, moving them slightly to ensure that the entire strand was properly moistened. Tallow itself was a prime ingredient for the job as it served the same function as wax on a ceramic pot, glazing its surface away from the elements. The only problem with a string was that unlike a pot, wear and tear and exposure would make it loose its function over time.

If coren would ask about such things, he would receive an in depth explanation to show him why it was done just so at his own pace, in broken vani and common explanations to follow after. The rogue was making every effort to be clear and repeat himself.

Then, as a final lesson before Coren actually started walking out to the range, Antar would unstring his bow, and then restring it in the opposite fashioning of steps.

First, he stepped through the shaft of the bow, letting the arch of the shaft hang behind his back while he pressed the but end to the floor. Reaching upwards with one hand to the string, one hand to the weapon's wood; he'd use his body weight to help bend the shaft a little, decreasing the tension in the string.

For a longbow, amateur or not, this was one of the few ways to manually string a bow without a stringer, which consisted of a tensioned bit of rope tied to keep the bowshaft compressed. He'd explain such things as he went along, but for now his touch allowed him to pull the loop of oiled deergut out over the notch of his weapon, as once more his eyes noted the metal engraving within the guideplate... this had been her bow. The bow of a woman who had suffered just as much as he had, and had died in his arms, at his hands. An everpresent reminder for the need to get better in order to ensure one hit the proper target; though at the time, she had been the assassin's assigned mark. Her body used to cover up the group's connections to the job they had been paid for completing.

But he wouldn't go into such details with Coren. Instead he'd silently point out how he alligned the string, rebent the bow behind his calf, and then pulled the looped deergut back into place to let the tension return. The process of restringing a bow would be an important one for Coren to learn, as restringing it quickly would probably give him a chance to save his life.

When Coren's stumbling attempts to string his bow were completed, Antar guiding him to unstring and restring it three times, taking care of knowing where the quiver hung at all times. Antar would situate the bow shaft behind his back in the carry an archer normally would have it in for short periods of time. Explaining that this type of carry for a bow was termed a "Hunter's position" and that a true archer would have to eventually learn to run with a full kit while it was in this setup. This was to keep the bow within easy reach when not secured in a bow sheathe; a special type of weapon sheathe strapped either to the hip or back.

With Coren setup with the odd interferences of an archer's kit, Antar would redon his gloves and walk him out to the archery range, staying two steps in front of him and to the write, walking heel to toe as he stretched his legs out in a "stalking gait." Something that was both useful in stealth and in hunting. This was because the way the leg moved was a bit unnatural to the common person's stride. A lifting of the leg, to where the knee was arrayed perpinduclar to the hips, and the stretching out of the heel towards new ground, allowing the hunter to see where they placed their steps.

Coren would have to learn this simultaneously as he dealt with balancing the bow and the quiver of ten arrows. If he did it wrong, an arrow would slide out of the quiver, prompting Antar to stop mid-stride, clear his throat like a disappointed teacher as he physically pointed one finger at the offending dropped article of the craft the student was to pick up before continuing on.

Eventually when they made it to the archery line, then and only then would Antar work on the basic principles of drawing an arrow from a quiver, and knocking it correctly to a bow.

oocthank gawd for teaching archery to scouts for years X-x, it's surprising how much knowledge you get from RL. Isn't it?