Even

Picking the bow back up, Ava moved it to her right hand before turning to Vaylah and asking in a plain tone, "Can we continue?"

Seeing Ava's actions, Vaylah let out an angry laugh, "What do you take this for?"

Somewhat confused, Ava said, "Practice?"

Squinting, Vaylah said, "So what makes you think that you can continue practicing now that you're injured?"

Ava looked at Vaylah and said, "Do you fight in perfect condition?"

Startled, Vaylah looked at Ava with a renewed gaze, "Do you plan on fighting while injured?"

Ava shook her head, "Not if I can help it." Lifting the bow, she looked at Vaylah, "Which is why I'm practicing."

Letting out another angry laugh, Vaylah didn't know what to say. She couldn't say that Ava was wrong, but what the fuck was up with this kid's detached attitude? Couldn't she at least pretend to care about her opinion? Bitterly, Vaylah said, "Fine, continue, see if I give a shit if you break off your fingers."

Nodding, Ava agreed and looked around for the remaining arrows, as Vaylah wasn't helping her. There were plenty of normal arrows lying about, but the special bow Vaylah had ordered for her similarly took smaller arrows. After a moment, she found a box that contained forty or so arrows at a glance. Bringing it over to where she was practicing, Ava took out an arrow with her left hand and somewhat awkwardly notched it before firing… resulting in an arrow flying about five feet while wobbling before landing uneventfully on the ground.

Frowning, Ava adjusted her grip and centered herself before trying again, but unlike her resounding success of eight out of ten with her right hand, even after firing out three arrows in succession, Ava wasn't able to get the arrows to fly straight, much less fly towards the target.

On the side, Vaylah was originally watching on with a cold gaze and enjoying watching Ava make a fool of herself, but after Ava tried notching the fourth arrow, she angrily walked up and roughly tugged on Ava's left hand to pull it into position. "Are you an idiot? Do you think that you have too many fingers? What do you think you're doing?"

Confused, Ava looked at Vaylah, who sighed and explained, "The way you're holding the bow in your right hand is wrong, and your left hand isn't angled correctly."

Nodding in realization, Ava realized that she had subconsciously been gripping the bow wrong to try to avoid some of the pain from her injuries. Adjusting her grip, Ava let out a small grimace but powered through it and carefully notched another arrow, and fired it successfully. Watching the arrow soar into the distance, Ava nodded and turned to Vaylah, "Thank you."

Sighing, Vaylah covered her face and couldn't help but mutter, "What the hell are you doing, Vaylah? You're helping a kid cripple herself." Slapping her cheeks, Vaylah was about to turn on Ava and tell her to stop as she heard another thunk. Startled, she turned towards the field and saw a new arrow lodged into the closest target. The new arrow was a bit closer to the bullseye than the previous arrow, but Vaylah didn't care much about that. At Ava's current level of skill, it was still more luck than ability as to where the arrow landed on the target, but nonetheless, it was impressive that she had managed to land another arrow.

Turning around and looking at Ava, she realized that while she was distracted, Ava had fired out another five or so arrows. With a final flourish, Ava pulled out another arrow and fired it, once again sinking it into the target before quietly putting down the bow on the table to the side and grabbing the cloth Vaylah had brought earlier to wipe off her fingers as well as the riser of the bow. While she was practicing, she had cracked open the wounds on her left hand, as well as leaving a bloody mark on the riser of the bow with her right hand, which had never really been healed.

Startled, Vaylah looked at Ava and asked in a questioning tone, "Not practicing anymore?"

Ava looked at Vaylah and shook her head.

Vaylah couldn't help but ask somewhat snarkily, "Why'd you choose to stop."

"Even."

"Even?"

"Even on both sides."

Confused, Vaylah looked back and forth between Ava and the field before roughly realizing what Ava meant.

Annoyed yet also impressed by the girl in front of her, Vaylah drew a long breath before saying, "Alright, I won't try to stop you from training if you want to train in the future, but can you please? PLEASE explain what you're planning. I have no fucking clue what you're trying to do as things are, and I can't help. If I can't help, you might as well just find a random empty field to train in."

Thinking for a moment, Ava nodded and said, "Thanks."

Waving her hand, Vaylah showed that she was over it. After a moment, she realized nothing was happening and thought for a moment before realizing Ava had finished training, at least for the moment. Vaylah said, "Alright, let's go inside and get a snack and re-bandage your hands. I think that's reasonable, right?"

Nodding, Ava stood slightly behind Vaylah, and Vaylah, getting the clue started walking back towards the building in the distance.

Watching Ava try out the various treats like a hamster, Vaylah finally let out a smile. This was what a young girl Ava's age should look like. Grabbing a plate from the side, Vaylah grabbed a couple more sweets and placed them in front of Ava, who simply looked up and nodded in appreciation before continuing to eat. Pouring out a cup of black tea, Vaylah also placed it in front of Ava and said in a commanding tone, "Drink."

Pausing for a moment, Ava reluctantly put down the petit four in her hand and took a sip of the tea before letting out a small face.

Smiling, Vaylah handed over some sugar cubes to Ava. Confused, Ava picked one up and inspected it for a moment before tasting it and lighting it up in delight. Looking at the remaining sugar cubes in Vaylah's hand, Ava quickly grabbed another one and put it in her mouth. Letting out a chuckle, Vaylah retracted her hand to the annoyed gaze of Ava and said lightly, "You're supposed to put it in the tea."

Confused, Ava watched as Vaylah stirred the sugar cubes into her tea and passed it back. Taking a sip, Ava couldn't help but slightly wrinkle her nose, but in the end, she continued sipping the drink.