Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 11: To the Heart of the Forest - part 2

"My people fought against the Empire until there were almost none of us left, and the few of us that remained had their freedom taken from us. In an attempt to keep our freedom, we lost everything else, and eventually our freedom as well. With that in mind, it's difficult to answer this question. Denouncing freedom means denouncing all of my people, especially the ones that died to protect our freedom, but the 'what if' question always remains in the back of my head. What if we, as Desert Elves, would've made a deal with the Empire? Would we still traverse the sands as its sole kings, no longer by official name, but still in expertise and status?"

Itzal was silent for a bit. "Considering what the Empire did to the Forest Elves, it is not impossible, but it's difficult to imagine alternatives to our current situation based on different outcomes of what has transpired in the past." He then turned towards Luna. "What do you think? Is progress worth sacrificing freedom and equality?"

"I'm trying to think what my father would've said. He was a pretty wise man. He'd probably say something like..." She paused for a bit, then, in a slightly lower voice, she spoke up again. "I'd fear the kind of progress for which we need to sacrifice our ideals, but I'd welcome the progress that is brought forth by them." Noticing she had managed to silence the others, she started to blush a bit. "That's just what I think he'd have said."

Maiara was the first to respond. "His words are words of wisdom indeed. It'd take me much more than a casual debate during a walk in the forest if I wished to attempt to refute them."

Itzal nodded. "I'll agree to that." He didn't give Ambrose or Qadir a chance to reply, as he switched topics. "On another note, which one of you can shoot a bow?"

Itzal was met with a quadruple silence. "Wait... seriously?" This was a rather unpleasant surprised. "We brought bows to hunt, you know. So that we didn't need a lot of supplies... Please tell me at least one of you can actually use them."

Ambrose shook his head. "The only times I've hunted, I used traps. I'm also pretty sure I can find us some edible plants, as much of the vegetation seems similar enough to what you can find in the types of forests I'm used to."

Maiara shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a skill I ever expected to need, and thus I've never learned it."

Qadir followed it up. "Likewise."

After a deep sigh, Itzal turned his last hope towards Luna, but she too, shook her head. "I've never been taught how to use bow either."

Itzal stopped walking. "Fine. Let's see if any of you has some natural talent for it."

"I'm in!"Luna was quick to reply, actually sounding eager to give it a shot.

Qadir looked at Maiara, who shrugged, before speaking up. "I fear it'd be a waste of time for me to try it, but Qadir might be surprisingly good at it."

Qadir seemed happy. "Very well then, I'd also like to try it."

Ambrose decided to join the ranks. "I'll join in as well."

Itzal smiled. "Great. I should admit that I've never gotten the full expert training, but my father taught me enough for me to consider myself competent."

After trailing away from the path for a distance, to avoid accidental encounters with strangers, they found an open spot that would serve its purpose. By now, the sun was pretty low, so they only had a few hours left before dark. After quickly setting up camp, they were ready to start their training. Itzal quickly carved a cross into a relatively big tree at the edge of the clearing. He then told them to move a bit away and showed them how to best hold the bow and pull the string back. Their first shots were all misses, and Ambrose managed to miss so badly that they weren't even able recover the arrows. Luckily enough, they had brought a fair few of them.