Target Practice

[wordsmith17]

Marden sat on the edge of his bed, juggling three flame red orbs above his hands.  He found himself doing this more often as his skill with the Power grew; it was something small and simple, and yet it still required his concentration and will.  Saidin was a mountain of fire, threatening to roll him under and devour him every time he took hold of it, yet each new time he grabbed the Source felt as good as the first. 

 

He paid no mind to the wash basin he had meant to fill with the Power.  He had given up on making his own water when it became apparent that today he would get no better than a thin layer of condensation no matter how he tried.  Water was most often elusive in his attempts at wielding the different strands... More than once he had had to use a blanket to douse a Fire experiment gone awry when Water failed to make an adequate presence.  No matter.  No injuries, no deaths, just a few burnt-through blankets.  He let a minor flow of Air into the mix and the juggled Fire-Earth orbs burst into merry flames above his hands.

 

Finally, he forced himself to release the Power, heaving a sigh that made his bony shoulders momentarily droop.  The world around him dulled, leaving only that brief residual feeling of the taint settling into him.  This was one of the first times he had a day to himself since his arrival, and he meant for something useful to come of it.  In the Tower’s armory, a bow made from the light wood of a leatherleaf, probably designed for use while riding, had caught his eye.  He intended to become adept at shooting from the back of a horse, but first of all he would have to remember how to shoot period.  He had hunted with Torin, but it had been years since he’d used an actual bow…  It pretty much ended with his friend had gotten a hawk for his name day, and then the friends had spent the subsequent trips hawking instead.

 

There was a practice field for various things at the Black Tower, and he found himself walking to the far end with a quiver full of arrows with short, round practice points and the bow slung over his shoulder.  There were targets at various distances, old segments of stumps affixed to posts of different heights.  Starting easy would probably be best, he decided, so he focused on the closest target, letting the void form around him.  Everything always seemed easier from within the depths of the void.

 

Nocking an arrow, he gripped the bowstring in the way he remembered.  It felt awkward at first, curling his index finger around the string above the arrow shaft and the next two fingers below, but after drawing and releasing slowly and methodically a few times things started to come back to him.  Making sure to keep his elbow level with his shoulder and his other arm out straight, he drew the fletchings back to his eye and sighted down the shaft. 

 

You’re squinting your off eye mate, open up.  He didn’t jump at the voice, just slowly opened his left eye and finally let the arrow fly.  He watched with a feeling of detached satisfaction as it landed in a somewhat middling area.  Hardly a bullseye  “I’m bloody rusty Tor.“  A flash of irritation bubbled up in him, surprisingly potent despite him being so thoroughly wrapped in the void.  His usually polished and smiling demeanor crumbled away, leaving him sneering at the arrow in the target.

 

It was hardly a new thing for him, hearing a familiar voice when he was alone, nor the sudden major shifts in mood that almost always came with them…  He just was hardly expecting such a thing here, now.  It had nearly two and a half years since his inherited… eccentricities had really bothered him in any way besides in memories, but he had assumed that the void would have proven an effective shield against it all from here on out.  “Go away.”  He surprised himself by reaching out and touching the Source, wielding a thin whip-crack of Fire that caused the arrow to burn down from fletchings to tip in a flash like a cigar burning in fast motion.  Never had he channeled at anything that far away.  The feat caused a grin to form, and after a moment he had another arrow knocked and was sighting down it at the bullseye.  Both eyes open, he reminded himself, and loosed.