New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 18 - Down Below the Dirt

"Using it is pretty simple," Link said, holding the bow before him as he demonstrated it. "Just grab an arrow, nock it here, pull back the string, aim and... let it go."

As he spoke, he mimed the movements, all without an arrow, and when he pulled back the string, he held it for just a moment before letting it go with a defined shudder of the string.

"It's surely more difficult than you're letting on," I argued right away. "Don't you have to pay attention to just about everything going on around you? Distance, wind, the weather, things like that? Not to mention how your target is moving, especially with those things taken into consideration, too."

"Oh, sure," he said, nodding surely as he met my gaze and lowered the bow. "But once you know how to use it - as I do - then a lot of it becomes second nature to consider. You'll know by the placement of the arrowhead where it'll land depending on the distance, you'll learn how to deal with weather patterns and how it affects the arrow's flight, and things like that. But let's not worry about that right now. That's learned with experience, and I don't have the power to control the wind so you can practice in different conditions."

"Seems pretty windy now," I said, making a show of tucking some hair behind my ear so that it wouldn't all whip around in my face.

"True," he said, considering it. "This might not be the best time or even place to practice, but we're in a small enough spot that retrieving the arrows will be easy enough no matter how far from the target you might be."

Well, that was true enough. The canyon here was not terribly wide and, even hidden in an alcove as we were, it would not be a trying task to cross to the other side to retrieve the projectives. With an old bit of frayed fabric in hand, one he retrieved from one of his saddlebags, he crossed the small space and used some ChuChu jelly to fasten it in place against the sunbaked rock wall. I stood, and when he returned he retrieved the bow from his back and smiled as he came to a stop beside me.

"I think this will be a great weapon for you," he noted as he joined me in facing the makeshift target. "You can help out in battles this way, but not engage directly just yet."

"Assuming I have reliable enough aim not to hit you instead of a monster," I provided mischievously.

Link met my eyes with a playful sort of look and a cheeky looking smile. "You wouldn't hit me," he said surely, though still playfully.

Honestly, with the way he said it, it sounded like he truly believed it. If was as though, in his eyes, it was because physically I wouldn't, because there would be no reason for it, it would be morally reprehensible, and besides all of that he was my friend, then he had good reason to believe it - but with the look in his eyes, I think it was that he thought I never would be able to.

And something about that, strangely enough, struck my pride directly.

Of course, I had no way to confirm which way he had meant it, so-

"I'd dodge it."

Well.

"I hope that's not a challenge," I said, smiling widely.

With the way he laughed, I knew he hadn't meant for it to be one, and he shook his head. "No," he said, "of course not. That'd be something I would always win!"

I clicked my tongue and reached for the bow. "Give me that," I said sharply, though my smile still sat on my lips. It was that same mischievous one, and there was surely a determined glint in my eyes as he conceded and handed the bow over.

The bow, of solid wood unpainted and unfinished, weighed more than I thought it would. Surely Link noticed the way my hand dipped a little beneath its sudden and surprising weight, but he didn't comment on it. Neither did he comment on it when I turned my hand over, testing its weight and balance as I did. I curled a finger of my free hand around the bowstring, tugged, and released. Just as I'd been shocked at the weight, I'd been shocked by the tension in the string as well.