Slightly yawning, Ava couldn't help but doze off as she listened to the archery instructor drone on and on. The archery instructor was a middle-aged woman named Vaylah, who seemed to come from a fallen noble family. She could be considered nice enough and fairly talented with a bow, but she really didn't have a knack for words, and couldn't help but be wary of letting Ava try out the bow after seeing her small stature and injured hands, instead content to drone on and on about what she should pay attention to.
Her attention drifting, Ava couldn't help but look at the large field in front of them, which had several lanes and targets set up at various distances. Ava had heard from the Madam that although Vaylah came from a fallen noble family, it was mainly because their past few generations were simply born without any significant talent, and over time they had failed to achieve anything notable enough for them to hold onto their noble position. But, they still retained quite a bit of wealth and inheritance, which meant that they were a cut above the common stock.
Vaylah could be considered a bit of an abnormality in their clan, as she was born with a decent talent in archery and horseback riding, but unfortunately their family wasn't very kind to women and was unwilling to take advantage of her talent to try to regain their title, content in staying a rich family. The Madam had helped Vaylah out once or twice when she was running from home, and Vaylah had apparently been more than happy to help train her.
"Hey! Are you listening?"
Blinking a couple of times to get rid of the blurriness in her eyes, Ava looked at Vaylah with a blank expression.
Seeing this, Vaylah couldn't help but sigh, "This is important. If you do it wrong, you'll hurt yourself."
Seeing Ava let out a halfhearted nod in acknowledgment, Vaylah couldn't help but laugh in anger, "You- Ah, forget it. I was the same when I was your age, you'll learn what's important when you get bit by the string."
Pleasantly surprised, Ava couldn't help but ask, "Does this mean I can try shooting a bow now?"
Squinting, Vaylah nodded before walking over to the weapon rack.
Looking at the various sized bows arranged over the weapon rack, some ordained with fancy flourishes and gears and others plain hand-carved wood adorned with a simple string, Ava couldn't help but curiously watch Vaylah walk past all of the weapons on the rack and walk over to the table beside it, where various tools and arrows rested.
Reaching behind the table, Vaylah pulled out a small squarish-looking package that was covered in a piece of leather. Unwrapping the leather, Vaylah revealed an ornate wooden box which she placed on the table and clicked open, revealing a small custom-made bow that was half the size of the smallest bow on the rack that rested on a slew of arrows. Taking out the bow and ten or so arrows, Vaylah walked over to Ava and let out an anticipating smile.
"How do you like it? I had a couple of craftsmen rush to get it done when I heard you wanted to learn archery."
Seeing Vaylah's expectant look, Ava didn't have the heart to tell Vaylah that she hadn't been interested in archery, to begin with, or that she would much rather start with a normal bow and could only let out a small forced smile while nodding, "Thank you Vaylah."
Seemingly unaware of Ava's reluctance, Vaylah let out a brilliant smile and carefully walked to Ava's side and placed the bow in her hand before helping her fix her posture. Handing her a single arrow, Vaylah said, "Show me how you want to notch the arrow."
Thinking for a moment, Ava lightly weighed the arrow and made a throwing motion with it to get a feel of it before holding It by the end and roughly placing it on the center of the bowstring and pulling back slightly.
Startled, Vaylah quickly pushed Ava's hand back to the center and sighed. With an annoyed expression, she said, "You really didn't listen to a word I said earlier, did you?"
Slightly biting her lip, Ava couldn't help but hold her tongue.
Walking over to the weapon rack, Vaylah picked out a bow that looked similar to Ava's and grabbed an arrow. Walking back to Ava's side, she stood in the lane that had a target placed twenty meters away and said, "Watch how I do it. Pay attention to my muscles."
Then, in a swift motion, she notched the arrow and pulled the arrow back, and shot it out, hitting the center of the target in an instant. Letting out a smile, she turned around and looked at Ava, and looking at her stunned expression, she realized that she hadn't really demonstrated much at all.
Thinking for a moment, Ava looked at Vaylah and let out a tentative clap.
Embarrassed, Vaylah slightly stumbled over her words and said, "Er, well. How about you come over here, and we try again from the start?"
Nodding, Ava walked over with her small bow and stood next to Vaylah.
Thinking for a moment, Vaylah said, "Alright, let's start with how you hold the bow. This seems silly, but with most bows, although you can shoot the arrow very far, the realistic range in which you can kill your target, or at the very least get a good hit in, isn't much more than thirty or so meters. Against a well-trained opponent, they can cross that distance in a matter of seconds, so you want to hold your bow in a manner that allows you to quickly get into a drawing position without hurting yourself on the string.
Letting out a small nod, Ava looked at Vaylah.
"Um, so you hold it like this. No, no, like this. Well." A little frustrated, Vaylah put her hands on Ava's arms and tugged a little to try to show her a proper stance.
After a few minutes of tussling, Ava finally held the bow in a way that satisfied Vaylah.