Fletch took a sharp breath when he saw the beautiful bow.
Blacksmith: I can't send anybody out without a weapon, and you seem set on the recurve bow, so you'll have to take this one.
He took the bow and looked around various shelves until he found a string that would suit the bow. He approached a contraption on the wall, a hook that he hooked the bottom of the bow into. He attached the bowstring to the bottom of the bow and heaved on it, bending the bow enough for the string to loop over the top.
The blacksmith removed the bow from the loop and handed Fletch the freshly strung recurve bow. He turned back toward the storage room and grabbed a pair of shoes from the shelf that had a small loop on the back of the right foot. The blacksmith explained that Fletch could string his bow using that loop. He directed Fletch to unstring the bow so he could get used to the feeling of stringing it. The blacksmith had Fletch attach the string at the bottom of the recurve bow, then he inserted the bottom of the bow in the loop on his shoe. He then directed him to step through the bow with his left foot. This would allow him to brace the middle of the bow against his left leg and get enough leverage to bend the bow close enough to hook the other end of the string on. Fletch tried three times. The first time, the blacksmith stopped him and instructed Fletch to ensure he didn't bend the bow across the axis, as this would damage the weapon. Fletch's strength gave out on the second attempt. On the third attempt, he readjusted his stance, widening his posture to allow for more leverage. With his new, weaker body, he would need to get used to relying on physics instead of muscle. This time, he was able to barely hook the string onto the bow. He untangled his legs and looked at the bow with pride—he could do this.
The blacksmith had a sly grin. Most people gave up and had the blacksmith string the bow for them. This was due to their choice of the longbow, which was far more difficult to string, as it required more strength or leverage to bend enough. Fletch's decision to choose the recurve had fueled the blacksmith's imagination. It had been a long while since he interacted with someone this passionate about a specific weapon. That's why he had gifted him the special bow, when he easily could have given him a default recurve bow he had lying around.
The blacksmith, happy with the strung bow, rummaged around the storage room once more and collected a couple of quivers full of arrows. He also grabbed a leather wrist guard and handed it to Fletch, instructing him to put it on his right wrist to protect it from the bowstring slapping against it. He turned and walked past Fletch to the back door of the shop. The blacksmith swung it open with a grunt, and Fletch saw the coloration of a standard archery target that one would see at an archery range. There was a yellow bullseye surrounded by three rings of red, blue, and white, with the white being the outer edge of the target.
The blacksmith sat down the quivers of arrows and pointed to a box marked on the ground about 20 meters away from the target.
Blacksmith: You can practice here. Stand in the box and give it a try.
The blacksmith handed Fletch a quiver of arrows and set the other down, leaning up against a nearby training dummy. Fletch assumed that he would be training against a dummy if he had chosen a melee weapon. Fletch put the quiver the blacksmith handed to him over his shoulder. He practiced drawing an arrow and nocking it to the string, but the movement felt unnatural and clunky. He glanced at the blacksmith, who was watching intently. The blacksmith nodded for him to continue. Fletch then pulled back on the string with three fingers—his pointer above the nocked arrow, and his middle and ring fingers below. He found that the bow was difficult to draw but not impossible. He aimed at the target and released the arrow. It flew wide and impaled itself into the fencing behind the target.
Fletch was surprised that he had missed the entire target and tried again. This arrow flew wide as well, but to the opposite side of the target. The blacksmith, who had been watching intently, decided to speak up.
Blacksmith: You are too hard on the string. Once you reach full draw and have taken aim, take a deep breath to steady yourself, then release the arrow gently. If you crank on the string like that, the arrow will almost always go wide.
Fletch nodded and tried again. This time, he turned his focus to his grip on the string. He removed an arrow from the quiver and nocked it to the bow. He then brought the bow up as he drew the string back to his cheek. He took a moment as he took a deep breath and aimed. Satisfied with his aim, Fletch released the string, making sure to gently release his grip. This time, the arrow flew straight toward the target and struck with a thud in the blue ring. Fletch's aim was poor, as he was new to archery, but he was thrilled to even touch the target after his first two attempts. Fletch continued practicing with the bow until he had emptied his quiver. In his 12-arrow quiver, Fletch had managed one bullseye, two reds, four blues, two whites, and three misses. He figured the bullseye was just luck and wanted to continue.
The blacksmith had him retrieve his arrows to restock his quiver. He accompanied Fletch to show him the proper technique to remove the arrows from the target, bracing his hand against the target while pulling the base of the shaft of the arrow. Fletch followed the blacksmith's lead and began collecting his arrows from the target while the blacksmith retrieved the arrows from the fence.