Archery Fields

[Commander Marie and Will]

*Quickbow's comments came just as Will's strong but strangely soft paw was reaching for another arrow. Pausing midreach, the harvest mouse blinked silently at the hare, an oddly blank look on his face. After a moment, he smiled and, setting aside his bow, walked over. Curiousity mingled with a quickly dying awkwardness as he spoke, reaching a cautious paw towards the hare's strange weapon.* Well, I'm not sure I'm an expert, quite, but I know a bit. D'you mind if I see yer, um, weapon for a moment...?

*Just as Will was about to ask what Quickbow called his weapon, he spotted Yggdrasil behind the hare, holding a piece of ice suspiciously. It took him only a moment to realize what was going on, but by the time he opened his mouth to warn Quickbow it was too late. Either Quickbow would notice on his own, or he would have a very cold, wet back.

[Aster & Sapphire Fleetpaw]

**Sapphire Fleetpaw paused on the edge of the field. She was not dressed in full combat outfit, since the young mousemaid did not want to certain clothes dirty in practice. However, the usual color combination of dark red, bright red and gray hovered about her current uniform. It consisted of the usual dark gray pants, but above those, a brighter red shirt was bound. It wrapped left over right, as usual. This time, a belted strap held the shirt in place, just beneath Sapphire's collarbone. The sleeves still ended at mid-arm to be replaced by tightly fitting black paw-warmers. As usual, the shirt had slit sides from the sash, now a dark red, down to the bottom at about knee height. Over this well-fitted outfit, Sapphire had wrapped a warm gray cotton vest. Her dress reflected her nature, conservative and practical but with a distinctive air of femininity.

Although she was training to be a boundary guardian and had already earned the rank of major, Sapphire was slightly unsure of herself. She was a tactician and rarely went to events with more than three beasts in attendance. Besides, she still valued her pride and personal honor, and Sapphire's skills with her sling had rusted, as she had taken up paw-to-paw combat recently and found it to be her best field. The corded weapon was wrapped about the black knit glove on her right forepaw, the other of which was on her left forepaw. She stifled a sigh of relief at the sight of Willem. He was the husband of her commander and close friend, Marie Blue-eyes, and she knew the harvest mouse fairly well. Also, Mary, younger sister to Elena Narai, was there. At least I'll know some of the beasts here. The other two she had heard of but never seen before. She assumed that they were new to the division, and this quickly stopped her in her tracks. Sapphire had arrived to practice her double shot, and she did not want to fail in the eyes of green recruits. As mentioned before, her pride had always come first.

Sapphire took a deep breath and stepped out of the tree line, hailing her friends. As she had put it before, she was not an expert at artificial cheerfulness, so her voice was not raised too high. At least she could know that she had tried, even if she failed at her double shot.**

[Quickbow]

**Quickbow heard the mouse's words, and slowly handed him his strange weapon. He hoped the mouse would be able to use it, for even after lengthy practice the hare's shot was still erratic to some degree. The hare did not see the lemming approach, and felt a sudden, sharp sting of ice down his back. The hare whirled around, his eyes flickering dangerously at the foolish beast.**

Are you ignorant? Have you no mind in your small head, you maggot? What did your mother teach you, I suppose not much, you stupid animal. You flippin' no-brained, toad-breather, rat sucking disgrace to the bally Spirit of the Remnant, wot wot wot!

**The hare was aroused, his gaze centered in on the grinning beast, amazed by the stupidity of the beast. Quickbow held his paw near his belt, close by his long knife he kept sheathed. The hare was perhaps more angry than he ever had, his dark blue eyes flashed a challenge to the fool.**

[Mary Narai]

* Mary suddenly had a happy feeling in her. It was welling up inside her chest, willing itself to be out. So she laughed. She laughed,a nd laughed, not at Yggdrasil, not a Quickbow, but at both of them. Sure, the hare's reaction could have been a lot funnier, but it was still funny none the less.*

[Yggdrasil and Kieera]

*Yggdrasil was surprised at the reaction of the hare, insults coming out of his mouth like pus out of an infected wound. He smiled as his light gray eyes matched the blazing leer of Quickbow.*

Are you ignorant? Have you no mind in your small head, you maggot? What did your mother teach you, I suppose not much, you stupid animal. You flippin' no-brained, toad-breather, rat sucking disgrace to the bally Spirit of the Remnant, wot wot wot!

*He thought about all this while Mary was strangely laughing her tail off, and in a cold-tempered manner that was usual for a lemming, he answered.*

Well. How may I say this to you. If I am ignorant I do not know, that Yggdrasil leaves for his Spirit of the Remnant brethren (He accented sharply on the word) to decide. Furthermore, Yggdrasil must point out that minds are not in one's head, and are not material possesions or organs. And I know I have a small head, but at least I don't have a size of a gargantuan head with flopears. What you suppose not much is quite true. My mother taught her child well in the arts of knitting, a little bit of healing, a little bit of weaving. But the rest of what I know I taught her child. Now for the last sentencephrase. I do not flip, Yggdrasil is not that agile, I fortunately have a brain, and toad-breathing would be quite painful, rat-sucking is for gargantuan flopears, and if I am a disgrace I will leave, whot whot whot flopears.

*The lemming maintained a cool stare and his paw strayed toward his boots where he had stowed his stiletto knives. His long tail swished to the ground, ready for action. Even if Quickbow was a full head taller that him, at least he was ready. Sometimes he bit off more than he could chew.*

[Taith]

( I want to see if I can revive this, even if some people are inactive)

Taith strode up to the archery field, long strides covering the ground quickly. She had shed her black cloak, and was clad in a blue, long sleeved tunic, leather gauntlets, and her usual pants and boots. Her quiver was stocked with old arrows, not suitable to fight with anymore.
She disregarded the spat over to her right, and got down on one knee. She derw back her bow, and loosed an arrow. It landedone ring out from the center. Calmly, she drew another, and loosed it, landing in the bullseye, but close to the outside. She continued, retrieving her arrows when neccessary.