It was swimming through the current. Wiggling through the streams, feeling the water wash across its skin. Cruising down the river.
One, shaky breath. She ground her soles into the mushy bank, readied her stance. Her spear positioned in both her hands, her left hand three inches away from the spearhead and her right near the bottom of the pole. Breathed in one strong breath, and she felled one swift strike at the river.
It pierced the centre of the fish, in its gills. It had been pinned to the shallow riverbed, as the fish flopped uselessly in the water, its blood streaming down the current— and Madi let out a little yell in triumph. ''Yes!''
Luna had been watching, with a small smile on her face as she quietly looked at the show. Now, she patted on Madi's back, as Madi grinned at her eagerly. ''I taught you well,'' Luna said finally, and Madi's features brightened even more.
''You did!'' she babbled in excitement. ''I've learned so much from you—''
''—But there is one thing you could improve on,'' Luna cut in. ''Your stance. Your right hand should go under and up the pole, to ensure maximum power,'' she stated, and demonstrated by carefully taking Madi's hand from the spear, and repositioning it so it was correct. ''And your left hand should be farther away from the spearhead,'' she said and placed Madi's left hand ten inches away from the spearhead. ''Try now.''
Madi nodded vigorously and focused her gaze on the river. Her eyes darted over the stream, as she heard the crickets chirp and the toads burp all around the forests, and she kept her eye out for a shimmering presence in the water.
It took a while until her eye finally caught a fish. Holding a bated breath, Madi neared closer, feeling the weight of the spear in her hand, until she was three meters—no, two meters, and then one—and with one swift strike—
''Good job, ai sis!'' Luna commented as Madi let out a whoop in joy. The fish had been caught by the meat before its tail, and was flopping around violently for its freedom. Pride had rested itself on Luna's face with a small nod of recognition, as Madi bent down to retrieve the fish.
A grin shone on Madi's features as her eyes twisted away from the struggling fish to see Luna's face. ''Thanks!'' Madi yelped out, as she wrestled the spear free from the fish, one hand keeping the flopping fish down, as with spear in hand and the fish's tail dangling from the other, she waded her way back to Luna.
''Your technique is well,'' Luna said, once Madi had been standing in front of her. ''Better than most your age.''
Madi blushed with pride. ''I-I'm not all that good,'' she said modestly. ''C-can't catch as much as you 'ave,'' and with that, she took a sheepish glance at Luna's stack of fish, a sharpened wood struck through the six of them and driven into the ground.
''Ah,'' Luna said, with a smile. ''That is because I've been hunting for an hour. You, however—'' and at this, she gazed at the two fishes Madi caught, ''—managed to catch two within the span of fifteen minutes. That is rather fast.''
If anything, Madi's blush deepened in response to Luna's praise. ''I-I got really lucky,'' she said. ''It's been really hard to find fish in the river nowadays, 'specially with the weather an' all. They—'' and at this, she gestured wildly at the two fish she caught, ''—must be some sort of a family. Which's why they're so near each other.''
At this, Luna's smile turned sad. ''Perhaps,'' she said, even if logic screamed the opposite. And with a cleared throat— ''Perhaps they were. I suppose it was a good thing you caught them both, then. At least one wouldn't've had to live without the other.''
She sounded wistful. And Madi tried not to think about it too, because she felt like she understood what Luna meant. Trying to change the subject, she said: ''Is-is the spear your favourite weapon?''
