Awaiting The Dawn

14: Shooting At Dawn

Even after an hour of practicing, the princess still couldn't hit a single target. It wasn't surprising, but watching her made Hisa's urge to shoot the bow unbearable.

Almost immediately after leaving Ik-Su's home, Hisa appointed herself the hunter of the group.

The princess had no practical skills, Yoon didn't like killing animals, and the thunder beast was injured. It'd hurt her pride to let any of them do it instead. As long as Hisa was around, she'd never let her companions go hungry. She also took over skinning and cutting up the meat.

On most days, she hunted using throwing knives, so Hisa didn't need arrows for catching prey. Still, Hisa was skilled with the bow.

She hadn't used it for a long time, and she was itching to practice.

Hak gave the princess a demonstration, but she found it unhelpful since it lacked sufficient explanation. "Look," Hak tried to teach her. "The basic problem is you're not using enough strength."

Hisa moved in and took the chance to intervene. She went behind the princess, her body hugging the back, holding the bow with her and trying to correct the novice's form. Yona asked while she focused on notching an arrow, "Hisa, you can use a bow?"

A proud cackle was the only sound she could make. Of course she could.

"Draw it firmly. Hold it steady." Thunder told her as Hisa directed the princess to aim higher to a bird flying by. "From there, you learn by doing."

She let go of the arrow. The target was hit. Princess Yona had successfully caught something. "A master archer can hit their target with their eyes closed. Don't be deceived by what you see."

Hisa nodded. Sight was only one component of fighting and hunting. For the bow, one also needed arm strength and timing.

The princess struggled to learn it, but she was very enthusiastic. She worked too hard. The girl practiced through the day and into the night. Hisa worried the princess' weak body would destroy itself from all the strain.

By the nervous looks on Hak and Yoon, they were thinking the same.

.

Thunk

Thunk

Half-asleep and annoyed by the repeated thunk, thunk of arrows, Hisa wobbled over to the princess and took the bow from her hands.

By habit of familiarizing herself with hunting weapons before using them, she ran her fingers through the bowstring, feeling through the wood of the limbs.

"Hisa! Give it back!" The princess reached for the bow.

By then, she was fully awake, revitalized by the weight of the bow. Hisa took an arrow, looking for a challenging target. Closing her eyes, waiting for the wind to favor her, she let the arrow fly.

Thunk.

Without even looking if it hit where she wanted, Hisa notched another arrow. She aimed to go below where the other was jammed into a tree trunk.

Thunk.

A finger's length away. Better than she hoped but worse than she wanted. Hisa grabbed another arrow.

'Closer.' She silently willed the arrow as if that'd make a difference.

Thunk.

In between the other two.

That wasn't enough. She wouldn't be satisfied until she split the arrow in half! Hisa emptied her breath and tried again.

Thunk.

Again...!

Thunk.

Again!!

Thunk.

Using the last arrow, she made it a hare's breath away from the point.

With no more things to shoot besides her knives, Hisa took three out and aimed them at the poor tree.

Out of throwable objects, she relaxed her arms, took in the air, ready to stop for now.

"Wow, that was amazing Hisa!" The princess cheered from behind.

Startled by the sound, she stumbled to the ground in a less-than-graceful fall.

"Watch out!" Someone shouted a little too late.

Absorbed in much needed practice, Hisa had completely forgotten there were other people around her.

At one point or another, Yoon had woken up and prepared a meal.

While they all sat together, he made a comment about the princess' shooting posture improving, confirming that he was awake since before Hisa stole the bow. And whether it was a compliment or not, he called Hisa a shooting freak.

She'd chosen to take it as a compliment only because she knew it wasn't meant as an insult.

The princess whispered in her ear that Yoon 'couldn't take his eyes off' of Hisa even while he was cooking. Not that Hisa believed her.

She didn't like the look on Princess Yona's face, and whatever she was suggesting made Hisa flush in embarrassment. And her stomach started to feel fluttery.

It seemed the flame-headed girl wasn't all that oblivious, at least when it didn't involve her.

Which reminded her...Hisa didn't see Hak anywhere, and the others weren't mentioning anything about him.

Hisa ate the food Yoon prepared and laid back on the ground to sleep. Yoon shook her back to her feet, yelling that it wasn't nighttime anymore.

To her disbelief, Hisa had woken up early.

The thought made her even sleepier. Hisa didn't like dawn: she always felt tired in the morning.

'Wait...dawn?'

She jumped up, her heart racing as her mind recounted the days and came to a realization.

Dawn.

She'd nearly forgotten. Today was the sunrise that marked the end of Hisa's mourning.

Which meant...she could speak.

She could speak!

The joy of it effectively left her in a much better mood. 

'This is the best morning ever.'