Hearts and Arrows

{1}

I draw my arrow and slowly bring the string of the bow up to my cheekbone. My eyes lock on to the honey-brown female elk. I aim my bow directly at the animal's heart. I take a deep breath in and as I let go of the string, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Boo." I jump at the sudden approach and watch as my arrow sadly lands a few feet in front of me. The elk bolts from the noise.

"What the hell was that Raven?!" I turned around to look my best friend in the eyes. "You made me loose my kill!"  I hit him jokingly on the shoulder.

"Oh c'mon, you always come back with elk from all of your hunts. Maybe it's time to try something different?" He smirked sarcasticly and crossed his arms. I rasied my eyebrow at him.

"Really? I'm the only one who actaully brings back elk. Which by the way, everyone loves. SO, I always hunt them. And it's not like that's the only thing I bring either." I slung my bow over my shoulder and turned around to pick up my arrow with it's blue and white feathers. I put it back in the sheeth and Raven walks up beside me.

"Ok, jeez. Why do you always have to be so nit-picky." He ruffles my light blonde hair and puts his arm on my sholder. "Lets head back, shall we?"

"Alright, fine." We walked back to his horse, because I never bring mine, he hopped on and pulled me up after. I wrapped my arms around his waist as the horse took off. It took only a few minutes before we were back. I got off the horse and look up at the tree house that we call home. The tree was a tall redwood, which probably reatched 300 feet. The three story building that was suspended up in the branches, was around halfway up the tree. The house was built before I was born, by a few of the groups older members. There wasn't a ladder to get to the top, but a pully system. A rope hung from the deck and looped around a tree branch. Attached to the end of the rope thast was on top, was a very heavy rock. There was always someone on watch duty on the deck, so when there was a tug on the rope, they would drop the rock, so that the person holding the other end would fly up. There was of course a small platform the you could hop on to, from which you would take a ladder to get up to the main area.

Raven grabbed the rope and pulled me over to hold on aswell. He lightly tugged on the rope twice, and soon we were moving upwards. We passed the rock as it desended. As we reatched the top, Raven jumped on to the platform and reached out his hand to help me off. I took his hand and hopped off the rope and on to the wooden planks. After we had climbed the laddder onto the deck we dropped off our gear and headed into the house.

"Look who's back." Looked across the living room to see Uncle Buffalo sitting on the leather couch. He was reading a book and had a glass of what appeared to be liquor.

"Well I'm just glad that I at least got a few ferrets before this one," I glared at Raven, "Made me loose the elk I was about to kill."

"Man your so mad all the time. Maybe you wouldn't be so angry if you could get more kills." he stuck out his tongue and put nose in the air. Even though he was 17 he still acted like a child sometimes.

"Why you-"

"Both of you stop arguing. Erin you have training with Bear, and Raven you need to be up in the kitchen with Fox. Now stop fight and get where you need to be." Uncle Bison scolded us while never looking up from his book. Raven and I both walked up the stairs, with him stopping at the second floor and myself on the roof. I stepped onto the roof and was greeted by Bear. He was a tall, broad shouldered man, with dark brown hair that flowed down to his shoulders in waves. His name very much resembled his build and looks, just like how Raven and Uncle Buffalo looked like what there name said. Raven with his coal black hair and black eyes, Buffalo with golden brown hair and beard.

"Hello Erin. Ready to work on what we started yesterday?" Bear was very serious and composed when he wanted to be.

"Yup. So, basicaly, I need to work on my balance while I'm flying so I can have more control. Right?" I had been praticing flying for a few days now. It was probably one of the hardest things to learn with my wind powers.

"Yes, that is correct." Bear said while walking over to grab his net and rope. The net was used if I started to fall or if I am about to fly into something. Bear would attach the net to an arrow, which would be attached to the rope, and he would shoot the net in my direction to catch me. Then he would pull me back to the roof with the rope.

"Ok stand here," Bear pointed at a spot near the ledge of the roof. "and when I say go, jump off."

"What are you crazy?! I'll fall and hit the deck!" I took a step back and got into a paniced stance.

"That's what this is for." He held out the rope in his hands. I tiotled my head in confusion. "I'm going to tie it around your hips, so the point is, you need to catch your self with you powers before the rope catches you."  

"Oh." I paused."You're so smart Bear, you know that?"  I softly punched his shoulder. He just smiled and started to tie the rope around me. That was the first time I've seen his smile in a long time. I think that last time I saw him happy was before Wolf died. Uncle Buffalo told me she was killed by a mountain lion, but I think he was lying because I was only 10 at the time.

I took a step forward and peered over the edge of the roof.

"Ok I'm ready." I stood up straight and took a deep breath.

"Alright, 1, 2, 3, GO!" I took a huge leap off the ledge as I focused my engergy into my palms and feet. I had about 15 seconds before I would run out of air time. I shut my eyes tight and continue to focus. I felt the wind start to push out of my palms and feet but before I could put them into positon I felt my body stop in the air. Looked under my body and saw the upside down imgae of the front door.

"DAMNIT!" I yelled in defeat.

I had tried a couple of more times before getting the hang of it. Once I had ended up almost hitting a window because I didn't jump out far enough. But Raven came up after he was done with his chores and helped out a bit. He has always been good with helping me pratice and I loved it when he helped.

"Ok now that you can stop yourself from falling, we can stop for today. Tomorrow we'll work on flying again." Bear patted my shoulder before heading downstairs.

"Sooooo, what's going on with finding that girl you saw?" Raven jumped up next to me and leaned down closer to me. He leaned mostly beacause he was like a foot taller. Even though I was only a year younger, I was still increadibly short compared to him. 

"I told you, I'm not going to do anything about it. She was probably a villager or something." I waved him away and sat down with my legs crossed.

"Oh c'mon, you know there aren't and towns for miles, and there is no way I'm letting you not go looking fo her. Besides it'll be fun hanging out with you and going on a little adventure together." He sat down with me and nudged my shoulder a bit.

"Ok fine." I sighed.

"Yesssss." He almost hissed.

"Buuuut, on one condition." I held up my index finger

"Ok, what?"

"You have to get me an extra birthday present and help with training this year." I said crossing my arms.

"Alright, but if you want me to do those thing you'll have to let me take you on a date." He smirked. I blushed a light pink. This isn't the first time he's asked but I haven't ever said yes. Mostly because I never wanted to hurt him and I also thought we were too young. This time feels different though. Hell, why not.

"Ok deal." I held out my hand and he shook it.

"Deal." He smiled and I hugged him. His arms were strong but gentle and warm. I melted into the hug listened to his heartbeat.

"We should go inside. Food's probably ready." He wispered.

"Mmmmm, fine. Your gonna be glad that we share a room though." I glared a bit a him, he smirked, and we both stood up to go downstairs.

Damn today was weird but I can't wait for tommorrow.

~~~