Yazen (Ponith) (10 page)

Alex’s stripping his clothes off as well. We both jump in the lake and begin to clean ourselves. It feels so good to wash ourselves in the lake. Jenn just stands at the edge of the water and pouts.

“Fine, I’m going to come in,” Jenn shouts while starting to undress. Alex turns his back to Jenn and I do the same, but he continues to peer over his shoulder at her.

She gets in the water and stays far away from us. I finish washing up and get out to dry off. I put my new clothes on and head over to Narissa while Alex and Jenn finish bathing.

Jenn begins to shout at Alex while he teases her and begins to swim closer to her. I
t looks like he’s having fun. I sit next to Narissa and hold her hand. It feels nice to have someone actually like me back. We just sit together in complete silence and enjoy the view.

After about 15 minutes, Alex and Jenn finish bathing and get changed. They head over to us and hang their towels on the tree.

“It is time for me to take you back. Laderic and Drakoe should be ready by now. They’re planning to teach you how to use our bows, I think,” Narissa says. So we follow her back to the main tree forts.

Drakoe’s waiting for us near the well. “It’s about time you guys showed up, I thought you were scared to learn how to shoot an arrow!” he says jokingly.

“I’ve shot an arrow once or twice before, but I’m not very good,” Alex says.

“I don’t think I can do this, do I have to go?” Jenn asks Drakoe.

“Yes, I think you will have more fun than you expect. Plus, you always want to know how to defend yourself,” Drakoe replies quickly. “Follow me everyone, Laderic is setting everything up now.”

We go through the woods to a large opening. There are six practice targets for us to shoot at. Laderic has a bow for everyone and a large supply of arrows to split between us. Narissa did not come with us
, to my dismay. I guess she has chores that she still has to do.

“Have any of you shot an arrow before?” Laderic asks while twirling an arrow in his fingers.

“Alex and I have, although we’re not very good at it. We’ve tried to use bows and arrows to go hunting before,” I say.

We’re standing in a line, and Laderic passes a bow out to each of us. They’re very nice with quite a bit of detail carved into them. He gives us leather arm guards to put on, while Drakoe gives us chest protectors. They are fairly light to wear, not too heavy.

“Once we practice more and you learn to aim better, I’ll give each of you a quiver to wear, and it will hold your arrows for you. These bows and arrows are for you to keep. Get to know them and love them, as they can save your life one day,” Laderic says sternly.

Drakoe puts a small pile of arrows in front of each of us so we don’t have to walk back and forth to grab them. I’m really excited to learn how to properly shoot an arrow. I can tell Alex is just as excited. I have not seen him smile so much. Jenn does not look too happy, but I do hope she has fun once we start.

“I want each of you to determine your dominant eye and then raise up the hand that’s on the same side,” Laderic says. I put up my left hand, and Alex and Jenn each put up their right hand. “Now, Alex and Jenn, I want you to hold your bow with your left hand and the arrow with your right hand. Zac, you’ll do the opposite,” Laderic says. Drakoe’s showing us how to hold them.

“I want you to place your feet shoulder-width apart so that your two feet form a straight line pointing toward the target. Zac, remember to do the opposite of Alex and Jenn,” Laderic says while helping Jenn line up her feet. Jenn’s starting to smile now. I can tell she likes the attention.

Drakoe also says, “Remember to stand upright without tension. It should be a comfortable yet firm stance. In proper form, you form a T shape. Your back muscles are used to pull the arrow to the anchor point.” Drakoe helps me get into the right posture. It feels awkward to stand like this, but I know that he knows what he’s doing. Alex looks to be doing a great job; they’ve not had to help him yet.

“Is everyone ready for the next part?” Laderic asks. We all shake our head yes.

“Okay, next I want you to point the bow toward the ground and place the shaft of the arrow on the arrow rest. Attach the back of the arrow to the bow string with the nock,” Laderic says while showing us exactly what to do. Drakoe’s now helping Jenn by doing it with her.

“Now orient the arrow so that a single vane is pointing away from the bow. Place the arrow between the two nock locators. You
’ll use three fingers to lightly hold the arrow on the string. I want you to use your index finger to hold above the arrow and your middle and ring fingers below,” Laderic continues to say, while showing us his fingers. This seems very complicated and I’m struggling to follow what he is saying. When Alex and I tried to use bow and arrows before, we just held them and shot them. I didn’t think there were so many steps.

Laderic continues his lesson, “Hold your bow arm outward toward the target. Your inner elbow should be parallel to the ground, and the bow should always stay vertical. You should be able to look straight down the spine of the arrow. Draw your string hand toward your face to an anchor point. Your anchor is usually somewhere around your chin, cheek, ear, or corner of your mouth. Since this will be your reference point, you must remain consistent with it from shot to shot. Try not to relax too much or to keep pulling back once you reach the anchor point, or you risk ill-targeted shots or losing power.”

“Does this make sense so far?” Drakoe asks us while walking back and forth.

“Yes, it’s more difficult than I thought,” Alex says while finding his anchor point. Jenn looks like she’s starting to get into it. I pull my string to my chin, and it feels comfortable there.

“Listen up, this is important. I want you to aim your arrow at your target. When you are ready, I want you to release your arrow by relaxing your fingers on your string hand. Once your arrow has left for the target, move your draw hand back and finish the shoulder rotation. Keep the bow hand steady until the arrow hits its target. Watch your arrow as it flies, and that’s all that I have to teach you. The rest is up to you,” Laderic says while shooting his arrow at his target. He gets a bull’s eye.

I aim my arrow the best I can, and I let the arrow loose. I hit the top of the target and I’m thrilled that I at least hit the target. Now I just have to keep practicing until I get better. I watch Alex shoot his arrow. His goes over the target, missing it by a few inches. Jenn lets go of her arrow and hits a tree a few feet away from her target. She has the widest smile on her face, next to Alex.

“Please keep practicing for a little while. Use all of the arrows that I placed near you. Drakoe and I will watch your stance and help you out the best that we can. I would like to see three arrows each on your targets before we leave,” Laderic says. I’m happy because I already have one on there, just two more to go. Drakoe stands behind Alex and I, while Laderic helps Jenn.

I pick up another arrow and follow their steps one by one. I aim at my target and let the arrow fly. I start to do better. It lands underneath my last arrow. I watch Alex shoot his second arrow; he hits the bottom of his target this time. Laderic helps Jenn shoot her second arrow, and this time she hits her target. It’s off to the right of the bull’s eye, but she’s got one in. This is turning out to be quite fun.

After shooting all of our arrows, most of them are scattered on our targets. None of us got a perfect shot. We were all happy just to hit the target. I think if we practice enough, we’ll get better.

I see Drakoe grab three arrows. He stands in front of my target and says, “If you practice enough, you’ll be able to do this.” He shoots a perfect shot on my target. He does the same to Alex and Jenn’s targets as well.

“And if you practice even more, you can do this,” Laderic says while aiming an arrow at Jenn’s target. He splits Drakoe’s arrow in half, right down the middle.

“That’s amazing!” I shout out. I’ve never seen such thing before. He’s really good.

“Well, that’s enough practice for today; let’s head back to eat some lunch,” Laderic says while we all grab our supplies.

When we get back, we put our bows in our room. Jenn takes out a few stickers from her bag and begins decorating her bow with them. They’re little glittery stars.

Alex grabs a black permanent marker out of his backpack and writes his initials on his. I decide I want to put my initials on mine as well but I want to engrave mine. I take out my hunting knife and carve my initials on the inside of my bow. This trip has been a blast so far. I really wonder what we’ll be doing next.

After putting our bows away, we head
downstairs to where all of the Wood Elves are eating. The food looks fresh and very delicious. I make a small plate and sit near a tree by myself.

I notice a small opening at the base of the tree I’m leaning against. I put my plate down and peer into the hole. There’s a tiny door that looks to be someone’s home.
What sort of thing could be that small? I bring my hand down and tap on the door with my finger. I’m curious if anyone will answer.

I hear some rustling around
but nothing happens and no little creature or little person comes out so I just mind my own business and continue to eat my food. I’ll ask one of the Wood Elves about it; maybe they will know. There was nothing in the journal about tiny people.

I see Calina walking with a plate of food, and I notice her coming my way. She’s wearing a brown leather top that’s not as revealing as Narissa’s
but still suits her well. She has on black leather pants and some light brown boots. Her hair is in a bun today. She doesn’t look too happy today.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” she asks me. I nod my head and she has a seat next to me. “
Forgive me if I’m a bit blunt but ... May I ask, what are your intentions with my sister?”

She caught me a bit off guard and I almost choke a little on my food.
I wasn’t expecting that. I have to make sure I choose my words wisely, as I really don’t want to upset her. I don’t feel like getting kicked out or worse because I say the wrong thing.

“I like your sist
er a lot. I’m still learning about your culture, Yazen, and your family. I would like to get to know your sister better. She seems like a terrific person. If anything, I would love her to be my friend, if not more. I’m sorry for kissing her the other night, if that’s what you mean. I don’t mean any harm,” I say respectfully to her.

“She’s my younger sister
and I like to look out for her. I don’t want you coming in here, having her fall in love with you, and then leaving. I care about Narissa a lot and I can tell that she likes you. Please do not lead her on if you don’t plan to stay with her and break her heart,” Calina asks.

“I understand
completely. I’m not that type of person, so you don’t have to worry. Calina, can I ask you a question?” I ask her nicely.

“Sure, what do you want to ask me?” she asks, taking a bite of broccoli.

“Why is there a tiny door here in the bottom of this tree? Is there something living there? I knocked on the door and heard some rustling around, but nothing answered,” I say to her while pointing at the small brown door.

“
That’s a Gnome’s home. Gnomes live underground and in trees. They have many homes all around but they don’t really come out during the day; they don’t like the light. They’re tiny people and we rarely see them. The real evidence of their existence is that they raid our farms for food. But we plant extra food just for that purpose,” she explains to me.

“Ah ok
ay. Sounds like an interesting race of people,” I say while I smile briefly at her. I never knew Gnomes actually existed. I thought they were just the name of statues in gardens. I wish I could see one in person.

I’m thankful she explained it to me but I felt like I had to change the subject.
I don’t think she’s happy with me right now because of the answer I gave her. I like that she looks out for Narissa; she’s a good sister to have and I don’t plan to break her heart.

“By the way, once you and your friends are done eating,
Mom wants me to show you our gardens where we do most of our work. Since you’ll be staying with us for a while, we’ll ask that you help us out and so I’ll show you how to get started,” she says to me while putting her hand on my shoulder, “When all of you are done eating, can you meet me at the wagon just over there?” she asks while pointing just past the tables. She stands up, looking down at me, expecting an answer.

“
Yeah, of course. I’ll go tell the others. Thank you again for talking with me, Calina. I do appreciate you asking me and I understand your worries,” I tell her. She smiles at me, giving me a nod and heads over to the wagon.

I finish my lunch and then go to find
Alex and Jenn. They’re eating with Drakoe and Laderic. They’ve already finished eating as well and are telling jokes and laughing.

“Hey guys, are you done eating lunch?” I ask them, even though I already know the answer.

“Yeah, the food was delicious. I can’t wait to go back and practice more with my bow,” Alex says while acting like he’s shooting an arrow.

“I’m stuffed, why didn’t you come eat with us?” Jenn asks with a
slight frown coming on her face.

“I just wanted to relax a little, so I just sat next to a tree and ate my food quietly. I came over here because Calina has asked for us to meet her over near the wagon when we were done eating. She’s going to show us their crops and give us our chores list
we can split between us. So when you’re both done, can you please meet me over there?” I ask them nicely.

“Sure, I’m ready now,”
Alex says, jumping up. Jenn doesn’t say anything. She just gets up slowly and follows us. I don’t think she likes the idea of working on crops.

We head over to the wagon where Calina is waiting, “We’re ready to go see the crops,” I tell her
when she sees us coming.

“Follow me, it is
toward the edge of the forest,” she says while we follow behind her. I turn around to see Jenn walking really slowly, falling further behind us. I hope she doesn’t try to leave. She really needs to help out since they are being nice enough to let us stay with them and feed us.

We travel further away from the main living area of the trees and the forest start to thin out slowly as we’re
walking. Once we get there, however, I can almost see endless lines of crops. It almost seems like they grow every type of food they can. They also have a few areas that are fenced in with animals.

“So what kinds of food do you grow? Do you raise the animals for food as well?” I ask her curiously.

“We grow every type of fruit and vegetable you can think of, whether it grows in the ground or on a tree. We raise the animals for food. We get milk from our cows, and some for meat. We use goat’s milk to make some of our cheese. We use eggs from the chickens for food and we take some of them for meat. Everything on this farm has a purpose and we depend on it for our survival. This is where we do most of our chores and where we would like your help. We have to keep our crops watered and the food picked daily. We have to feed the animals and clean their areas. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.” Calina says while walking along further into the farming area.

“My mother
wants me to assign you chores here. I chose for you to gather food that has grown and put in these baskets to transport back. We generally do our chores for two hours a day, usually first thing in the morning before it gets too hot out. Will you please help us out?” Calina asks.

“Yes
, of course, Calina,” I say while looking at Alex and Jenn. Alex nods his head in agreement, while Jenn stands behind Alex with pursed lips. She doesn’t look happy.

“You are free to do whatever you like for the rest of the day. Thank you for coming out here with me,” Calina says.

“You’re welcome, Calina. Hey, Zac, will you go practice shooting bows with me?” Alex turns and asks me. He seems addicted to his new bow.

“Yeah, I would like to get better at it myself. Jenn would you like to go wit
h us?” I ask her so we don’t leave her out.

“No, I’m going to go back to the room to relax. You go
on without me,” she replies.

We all walk back to our room, as
Alex and I have to get our bows. Jenn sits on her bed, looking at photos on her phone. I feel bad for her, and I can tell she misses home.

Alex
and I go back to the archery range. There are a couple other elves out there practicing as well. We sit back and watch them for a few minutes, as they’re very good. They can make a perfect shot almost every time. Once they see us sitting there watching them, one of the Wood Elves goes and stands near the targets with an apple on his head. He has to be crazy; what if they miss? Another elf aims his bow and arrow at the apple and lets it fly. It flies true and smoothly right through the apple, taking it off of the elf’s head. They laugh and give each other high fives, grinning toward us.

That gave us something to
strive toward, so Alex and I stand at the end of the range and set up our bows. We’re trying to remember the steps clearly so we can hit the targets. Alex shoots first and gets closer to the bull’s eye. I aim and release my arrow and it flies and lands right in the middle of the target. Some of the other Wood Elves watching congratulate me. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe I’m starting to feel more comfortable with this bow. I shoot a few more arrows and most of them hit near the middle as well. I stop and watch Alex for a while. He’s definitely getting better as well, as he is getting closer to the bull’s eye and his form is getting better. We are both still shooting very slowly, taking our time to set up our shots, but I believe we can get better if we keep practicing. After shooting a few more arrows, we decide to go exploring.

We see Drakoe, Laderic, Narissa, and Calina all running through the woods. We decide to follow them. I wonder where they’re going. We come to a huge cliff, when we see them start to jump off the cliff.

“Wait!” I scream while running to the edge. Then I come to realize they are jumping into a large lake. I thought they were going to injure themselves. I really feel like an idiot now and Alex laughs at me.

“Jump, don’t be scared,” Drakoe yells at us. It would be nice to swim, but we have our bows on us. I wave my bow at him.

“Just jump, your bow will be fine,” Laderic says.

Alex
and I look at each other, and then we shrug our shoulders and jump at the same time. It is a high jump, it feels like we are free falling for minutes, but I really know it is only seconds. When we splash into the water it feels cold at first but afterwards it’s nice and warm. It feels good to cool off some after shooting our bows. Alex and I wade to the shore and set our bows to the side, taking off our vests. After heading back into the water, we both take notice that some foliage has shifted and is supporting both of the bows upright. I know that normally I’d be more surprised but after what I’ve seen so far on Yazen, I just nod and accept it.

We play a game of tag in the water
for a while and afterwards just relax. It’s a lot of fun. Too bad Jenn didn’t come with us; I think it would be good if she had some fun as well. We swim for an hour or so and then lay out to dry on the grass. We chat about the crops and hunting. We decide to head back before it gets too late. Although I don’t think about it, I do notice myself keeping my distance from Narissa a bit. I have to think about what Calina has said to me and I guess I’m not sure exactly what I want to do.

When we get back the sun is starting to go down already,
and Jenn is already asleep. We sneak in quietly and head to bed ourselves. We have to get up early tomorrow morning, as it will be busy picking food and I want to make sure we get enough rest.

Narissa comes and wakes us up bright and early for work.
Her smile makes me warm up inside but she is hesitant, likely from me being distant with her yesterday. We all get up and get ready and we meet everyone out at the crops, away from the housing. Alex, Jenn, and I grab a basket each and head out to the vegetables lines. We pick all the fruits and vegetables that look ripe. When our two hours are up, Calina calls us in and we all decide to go bathe. To our surprise, it’s much more crowded and the lake is full of elves. I’m a little embarrassed to get undressed and join them, but I do because I feel disgusting.

When I finish, I dry off and put my clothes on, I decide to go sit on the big rock and wait for
Alex and Jenn to finish. I’m surprised Jenn went in with all of the other elves in there. I think she’s finally starting to open up some. Picking food this morning was really hard for her, but she did do it. Alex is making quite a lot of friends and talking with everyone.

I lay down on the rock and
just enjoy the weather. I close my eyes and relax. I can see out outline of a shadow like someone is standing over me. I peek to see who it is but I already have an idea. I am right; Narissa is standing above me, looking down at me.

“Hi, how are you?” I ask her. She doesn’t have a smile on her face, she looks hurt. I
instantly bite back as I consider how distant I’ve been to her and her facial reaction gives it away.

“I‘m confused. Why have you stopped hanging out with me? Do you not like me anymore?
Did I do something wrong?” she sounds worried, and her questions are coming a mile a minute.

I sit up so I can face her. She sits down next to me. I try to find the best way to explain it to her, “You did not do anything wrong. I like you a lot, Narissa. I think you are a terrific person. I think you are very beautiful, and I’m attracted to you. I’ve been distancing myself because I don’t know how long I’ll be here, and when the times comes that I have to go home I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m not trying to lead you on, but I do enjoy your company. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”