A Devious Plan

Watching the disk shatter, Ava's eyes glittered as she felt a little excited. Although shooting a target was fine and all, it didn't really help that much with practicing aim, or at least Ava didn't feel like it did. After all, after she got a feel for how to hit the arrow the first time, every following and subsequent shot would be a mimic of the first successful shot.

Especially with the recurve bow, which was intended for close range, and had an extremely powerful shot. In the range of twenty to thirty meters, it was really hard for Ava to miss, as the strength of the arrow made it difficult for wind or external factors to influence it.

Picking up the bow and notching an arrow, Ava got ready for Vaylah to throw a disk, only to realize that Vaylah hadn't thrown anything.

Releasing the tension on the arrow and holding it in her off-hand, Ava turned to look at Vaylah, once again finding the lady hiding a smile.

Letting out a small cough, Vaylah said, "Don't notch your arrow. You want to hunt, right? Let's practice notching and firing in one swift action after the disk is already in the air."

Nodding in understanding, Ava turned back to face forward with the bow held at her side.

A moment later, a disk flew into the sky, and a glint flashed through Ava's eye. Quickly notching the arrow, Ava waited half a moment to adjust her aim before firing the arrow and missing.

Watching the arrow miss, Ava realized it was because she hadn't calculated the flying speed of the arrow right. She had overcompensated leading the disk when the last shot of the recurve bow meant that she didn't need to give it so much lead and could practically aim straight at it.

Seeing that the disk was still in the air, Ava quickly notched another shot and fired it, and managed to catch the disk as it was slowing down and landing in the distance. As the shot wasn't precise enough, the arrow only chipped the disk, causing both the arrow and the disk to fall out of the sky and land in the grass.

Before Ava could say the word "again," another disk was sent flying into the sky. Much faster this time, Ava notched an arrow and aimed for a second before releasing the arrow, missing the disk by the smallest of margins. Unperturbed, Ava quickly notched another arrow and fired again, nailing the disk in the center this time, causing it to shatter in midair.

She had compensated right the first time but had slightly slipped when firing the arrow, causing a minor deviation that might not have mattered for a target, but happened to be enough to miss the disk.

A moment later, another disk was in the sky, and Ava managed to shoot it down in a single shot this time.

On the side, Vaylah crinkled her eyes in admiration. Although many people were quick to pick up archery when it came to shooting targets, very few people were good at shooting a moving target the size of a human, much less a tiny little disk, and it often took years of training, both to hone their aim and their intuition.

After throwing out a few more disks to confirm Ava's shots hadn't been products of luck, Vaylah let out an evil smile that Ava couldn't see and three the disk with a spin, causing it to curve in midair, which resulted in Ava missing, as she had gotten used to the pattern of the previous disks.

Turning to look at Vaylah, Ava gave her a glance, which Vaylah responded to with a casual shrug, "Is every animal going to run the same way?"

Realizing this logic made sense, Ava didn't say anything and prepared for another salvo, only to be left hanging.

Turning around and looking for Vaylah again, she realized that Vaylah was already halfway across the field.

Frowning, Ava hesitated for a moment before reluctantly putting down her new toy and chasing after Vaylah. Anyways, after practicing with disks, she didn't find practicing with a stationary target all that interesting anymore, so now, more than ever, she needed Vaylah to be around. Anyways, she had agreed to take breaks when Vaylah told her to, and although Vaylah hadn't said anything this time, her attitude was fairly clear.

Slightly cursing Vaylah in her mind for choosing to pause right after throwing in a curve, Ava quickly caught up to Vaylah and walked behind her.

In front, Vaylah let out a subtle smile before chuckling internally, "Hehe, who let you trick me, you little imp? If you aren't calling me big sis and begging for mercy by the end of the week, I won't call myself Vaylah anymore."

Thinking for a moment, Vaylah quickly shook her head, "Hmm, the risk is too big. I'll just halve the imp's training for a while and say it's to develop restraint or something like that, hehe."

A moment later, the two stepped inside of rest house again, and Ava saw two dishes covered in iron cloches. After the first week or so, Vaylah had started having meals prepared for them on site, claiming that a growing girl needed hot food, and Ava didn't argue and simply asked Ahri if it was alright after she got home. After thinking for a while, Ahri said she'd take care of it, and it seemed like the two girls had had a talk.

Either way, when she was in archery practice, Ava didn't get her usual lunchboxes but instead ate whatever Vaylah provided her.

Today, it was a small quail that had baked whole, with a lemongrass garnish, alongside a celery soup and a fruit salad.

Quickly digging in, Ava quickly worked through the meal, only slowing down a little as she worked through the quail, finding the soft smoky meat slightly irresistible.

On the other side, Vaylah chuckled and said, "Do you like the quail?"

Nodding, Ava agreed while sucking the grease off of her little finger.

Smiling, Vaylah said, "I hunted it this morning. Do you want to try?"

Her eyes lit up, and Ava nodded vigorously.

A glint flashing through her eyes, Vaylah said, "Only if you call me big sis and if you manage to hit at least thirteen out of fifteen shots in a little challenge later?"

Agreeing, Ava quickly polished off the quail, clearly eager to get back to training, while Vaylah watched with a satisfied smile. Her plan was already half complete!