The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Season 2+)

Inventions

The knock on her door made her jump. The nebrie sinews she was stretching between the two limbs slipped and almost whipped her across the face. She heard it whistle past her ear as she ducked out of the way just in time. She remained still with her eyes closed until she was certain that there were no more moving parts. Carefully she opened her eyes and looked at the contraption she had held squeezed between her legs. The string was missing, flung to some far corner of the room. She heaved a deep, heavy sigh as another round of knocking stirred the still air.

"Come in," she said, lifting the device from her lap and setting it to lean against the chair she stood from. She adjusted her cuirass, pulling it down from where it had bunched up when she was hunched over the new weapon she was working on. Her brother stepped in and she smirked.

"It's you," she said, pausing slightly. "Are you a general right now or a brother?"

"Just checking in," he said. "I hadnt seen you in a few weeks, which, according to your fellow scouts in the ranks, is normal."

"A mix of both," she smirked. "Disguising duties as a general as the care of a brother."

Rian looked a bit hurt at his sister's banter. Mythra hadnt intended for her words to be harmful. It had been a long time since they had spoken and she was just trying to be friendly, in the way siblings would be. But they had been apart for so long, one at home the other at the castle, he must have lost that familial part of being in a family. Dad had been there, but from what she had gathered, it was a more professional relationship between a general and his troops rather than a father-son dynamic.

"Is that the latest of your tinkering?" he asked, nodding to the invention leaning on the chair.

"Yes," she answered.

"Mind explaining how it's more important than drills?"

She looked at him, not entirely sure how to take his tone. His face gave no indication of whether he was being sarcastic or-

"Genuinely interested," he clarified.

She smirked, walking over and lifting the contraption.

"How far can a bow shoot?" she asked.

"When handled by an expert Sifan archer?" he reasoned. "A target can be hit from 400 yards with the best accuracy starting at half that range."

"And how easy are they to carry?"

"Fairly easy," he said. "Sling it over the shoulder-"

"But how easily can you move with it?" he asked, pantomiming a demonstration. "While its slung over your shoulder and getting in the way of your legs and torso."

"Well usually archers dont need to move much," he said.

"But what if they could?" she asked. "What if they needed to?"

"Whats it called?" Rian asked.

"I don't have a name for it yet," she said. "But essentially it's easier to carry, wont get in the way if you have to move quickly. I worked up a mechanism that makes it easier to draw the bowstring and releases it just as easily. I took a normal Sifan bowstring and doubled it back a few times until it was just the right length to fit between the two arms of the contraption."

Rian looked at the device she held with quizzical doubtfulness. He wasnt sure what to make of it.

"Mind a demonstration?" he asked.

"You're the general," she said. "I could demonstrate, or I could drop everything and go drilling, as you would request. Though Id have to get a new bowstring because the one I was using shot off somewhere, and is probably snapped in two, therefore no good anymore. I'd have to get another one."