A/N: I just wanted to say thank-you to all of you who have been leaving me such lovely comments! I'm glad you all are enjoying the story and I'll do my best to continue making it enjoyable~
When dawn of the next day came, it brought with it the loud rumbling of a large drum. Startled by the sound, Zhu bolted upright. Her eyes were wide and she had drawn a knife from under her pillow. She calmed down after a few seconds, realizing that what she heard wasn't the sound of stampeding horses. Lying back down, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
'So that's how we're going to be awakened,' she thought, sliding the knife back into its sheath. After a few minutes, she sat up once more and grabbed her clothes. From the tent beside hers, she could hear the occupant grumbling irritably.
Shaking her head, she stood up and pulled on her pants, then her socks and shoes. She made quick work of finger-combing her hair and, as she tied it up, she hooked the collar of her shirt with her foot. Kicking it into the air, she caught it and tugged it on. As she left her tent, she tied the shirt closed with her sash.
She was amazed to find herself the first recruit out of their tent; surely someone wanted to be the first in line for food? Why were they dawdling? Her brow rising, she shrugged and headed the stables. A bit of a smile came to her lips when she saw Umut munching away on some grain.
"Good morning, little sister," she murmured, stroking her mane. "I see you've been fed already."
Umut snorted. Lifting her head, she nuzzled her rider.
"I hope you had a good night. Most of mine was spent picking up grains of rice." Her brows furrowed at the memory and she mumbled a curse under her breath. "Someone finally got smart and brought the chickens in to finish up."
Again, Umut snorted. She lowered her head, getting another mouthful of food.
"I have the feeling I won't get to ride you much over the next few weeks," she sighed. "After I learn the schedules, I may try to sneak a few nighttime rides in with you. How does that sound?"
A pleased nicker came from the mare and her tail flicked, though she didn't look up from her eating.
Zhu chuckled, patting her rump. "Alright. I should probably get my own breakfast. After all, I get to learn what sort of training I'll have to go through today…" Patting Umut once more, she finally left the stables.
Returning to the center of camp, she saw that she was still the only one out of their tent. She cocked her brow, not amused by their slowness. Grabbing a bowl from a stack, she headed for the cook and his steaming pot of congee.
As she neared him, the cook narrowed his eyes warily. "I hope you don't plan on knocking over this pot of food, too."
She didn't much blame him for being upset, but she didn't like how he blamed her for something she had no part in -that had all been Ping. "No, sir," she replied. "I only intend to get some breakfast." As she spoke, her stomach grumbled loudly and painfully; she hadn't eaten since the morning before.
Seemingly satisfied by both her answer and the painful sounds coming from her stomach, the cook placed a ladleful of rice, two fried eggs, and some shredded pork into her bowl. She was surprised to find that the rice was fresh -he hadn't used the rice the recruits had salvaged. Then, handing her a pair of chopsticks and a mug of steaming tea, he shooed her off to go eat.
As she walked away, Zhu used her arm to cover her mouth as she yawned only to wince; her face still hurt thanks to the fish.
'I guess I should consider myself lucky that I didn't suffer a worse injury,' she thought, ducking into one of the eating tents. 'I could have gotten a broken nose and those aren't fun.' She sat down in the corner furthest from the entrance and started to eat. It was actually a somewhat difficult task for her -she wasn't used to using chopsticks.
Recruits soon started to make their way into the tent with their own breakfasts. Most of them made sure to sit far away from her. But the seats were filling up fast and soon, there were only three seats left: Two across from her and one beside her.
For a while, it seemed like no one was going to take them.
Then the trio of men from yesterday came in. They seemed to be in good spirits despite spending a good portion of the previous day picking up rice. In fact, they didn't even seem to notice that the only seats left were next to her.
Until they sat down, that is.
Zhu said nothing as the giant sat down beside her. She didn't even glance up as the dwarf and the lanky man sat down across from her. But she could tell their mood had soured somewhat, as they had grown quiet upon sitting down.
She was finally forced to look up when she took a drink of her tea. It wasn't much to her liking. It was strong and bitter; she wished she had some milk or honey to add into it. But its bitterness was to be expected. It was a military ration, after all.
Some of her disgust must have shown on her face, because the dwarf snickered. "Looks like Zhu can't handle his tea," he said, grinning slightly. She was surprised by how rough and gravelly his voice sounded -like two boulders grinding against one another.
"Or his chopsticks," the lanky one added in, watching as she was able to get only a bit of rice from the bowl.
She glanced up at them, her brow rising. "Forgive me for being shaky with them," she said, voice emotionless. "I'm more used to using them to gouge out people's eyes."
All three of the men stared at her for a moment, mild horror on their faces. She attempted to take another bite and failed, making her somewhat pout in frustration.
The lanky one suddenly burst out laughing. "That was a good one!" he laughed, nudging his shorter companion who was also laughing by now. "You almost had us fooled! Your voice and your face were perfect, but that shaky hand and that pout gave it away!"
She was half tempted to throw the remains of her breakfast in his face -it would be perfect payback for the fish- but she resisted. Instead, she somewhat shrugged.
"Not everyone can wield chopsticks as well as you can wield a fish," she said.
The lanky one paused while his companions snickered. He cracked up again; she didn't think she had been particular funny. "So you're the one I hit! I thought I had hit one of the larger guys, what with how solid you felt!"
She took another drink of her tea, forcing herself to not cringe at the flavor. 'I hope I grow used to this tea…'
"I'm Ling, by the way," the lanky one continued. "And this is Yao-" he nudged the dwarf who nudged him back, harder, "and Chien-Po!" He nodded at the giant, who gave a small, friendly wave.
She glanced between the three. "You're willing to tell me your names after what happened yesterday?" she questioned, voice dry. It didn't make sense to her -they should have been insulting her more or, at the very least, trying to beat her.
Yao shrugged, seemingly more focused on his breakfast than on the conversation. His words proved otherwise, though. "Ah, it wasn't you who started it all," he told her. "It was Ping who started it by slappin' me on the ass."
Her brows furrowed as she stared at him. "That's why you were chasing him?"
"He also punched Yao in the back of the head," Chien-Po added, his soft, calming voice an odd contrast to Yao's.
"Surprised that kid had that much strength," Ling chuckled before shoving some food in his mouth. "Sent Yao flying!" As Zhu glanced at him, she thought he looked somewhat familiar. But why?
Yao grumbled, glaring at Ling with his good eye. He then pointed at Zhu. "He caught me unawares," he told her, tone defensive. "If I had seen it comin', he wouldn't of ever touched me."
Lifting her bowl, she held her chopsticks together and started to use them like a shovel. "I take it you're a fighter, then?" She shoved one of the fried eggs into her mouth.
He took a long drink of his tea, belching when he finally set the cup down. "I'm a wrestler," he answered. "An' a damned good one at that. It's because of me that the three of us have lasted so long."
Chien-Po nodded in agreement. "Yao would wrestle while Ling placed wagers. Together, they were able to buy us room and food for a few days."
Zhu feigned a bit of interest -but only because while they talked, she could finish eating and get away from them quicker. "You don't have a permanent home?"
"Nah. We're all orphans," Ling answered. "The three of us and my brother were taken care of by the local Taoist monks. But, ah…we were too much of a handful even for them." He grinned cheekily. "Soon as we came of age, they booted us all out."
"You have a brother?" Zhu questioned. "Is he here, too?"
He shook his head, chewing some food. "Qi was smart and joined the military as soon as he could. He's now one of the Emperor's best scouts."
She froze, eyes widening somewhat; she now knew why Ling looked familiar. Qi had to have been the scout she killed. He and Ling shared the same angular face shape, hairline, and they both even had pointed ears, not to mention their lanky bodies. To anyone else, wearing the clothing of someone's dead brother would have been unnerving. To Zhu, however, it was almost normal -her Hunnic clothing had been taken from dead or dying men.
She started chewing again, hoping that they hadn't noticed her momentary surprise.
"What about you?"
Zhu looked up, brow rising. "Hm?"
"What's your story?" Yao questioned. "What kind of life did you have to leave behind?"
Zhu slowly chewed a bite of food. Flashes of her life passed through her memory. Her first time getting wounded in battle, her first kills, the first time Shan Yu praised her work…the time when Shan Yu still showed her love and kindness.
But she knew better.
"I took care of my father," she told them, instead using the past she had created. "I'm an only child and my mother died birthing me, so it was up to me to care for my father when he started to get sick. I did anything I could to keep him under a roof and fed."
"You're kind of like us then," Chien-Po smiled. "Having to work many odd jobs in order to survive."
She nodded. "Fought on occasion, too. Mostly worked in the fields or helped haul wares for merchants." She was more than a little relieved to find her bowl very nearly empty.
Yao snickered. "A twig like you was a competitive fighter?" he teased. "I could lift you with one hand!"
Her brow rose and she looked him in the eye. "And I could lift you with one hand." She had been hoping it would intimidate him just the slightest bit, but he only let out a hearty laugh.
"Maybe we'll wrestle it out sometime," he joked. "See who's the strongest."
Shrugging, she stood up. "Perhaps," she replied. "That's if the captain doesn't have us training from dawn 'til dusk."
"Then we'll wrestle at midnight," he grinned.
She feigned a playful grin and wave as she started to walk away. The second she had her back turned to them, however, the smile was replaced by her usual, stoic expression. 'Of course I managed to amuse them with threat of bodily harm,' she thought, ducking out of the tent. 'It's going to be hard, avoiding them in the future -especially that Yao. He seems intent on trying to prove his strength…'
Returning her dishes to the cook, she thanked him for the meal before heading for the latrines. When she first visited them previous day, she had found them to be sectioned off into separate, private stalls for which she was extremely grateful. That made somethings a little easier at least.
Half an hour later found the recruits standing in the open area by the pole. Zhu had done her best to partially hide herself when the trio left the eating tent, but it had fruitless. Spotting her, they came over and started talking with her once more. Though she wondered why they chose her to talk to, she did find herself somewhat amused when Ling started to pretend to do martial arts.
Something in the corner of her vision drew her attention. Turning, she saw that the advisor was approaching the recruits. He had his writing board and a scowl at the ready.
"Everyone! Order!" he called out, tapping his calligraphy brush on his board. "People! Order!"
"I'd like a pan-fried noodle!" someone called out.
"Oh!" Chien-Po perked. "Sweet and pungent shrimp!"
A third recruit called out, "Moo goo gai pan!"
Zhu snorted as the advisor grumbled; even she admitted the quick wit of the recruits was amusing. After a moment, though, she lightly nudged Chien-Po.
"Who is that guy?" she asked, nodding at the advisor.
Chien-Po looked over. "Oh, that would be Chi-Fu. He's the Emperor's advisor," he answered.
"He's also a royal pain in the ass," Yao grumbled.
"He's the one who's going to be evaluating our training," Chien-Po continued, ignoring Yao. "Once he declares us fit enough, we'll be joining General Li on the front lines."
"I see," she murmured, watching as Chi-Fu continued to fail at trying to get the recruits under control. Though she had only wanted to know his name, she found herself glad that Shan Yu had given her the correct information.
'Not that he would give me the wrong information,' she thought, finally forcing herself to look elsewhere. 'He's never given me wrong information.'
"Looks like our new friend slept in this morning!" Ling grinned, drawing her from her thoughts.
Turning, she saw Ping sprinting towards the group. Zhu noticed he looked a bit panicked, but when he saw that training had yet to begin, he relaxed and slackened his pace.
"Hello, Ping!" Ling continued, his voice taking on a mocking tone. "Are you hungry?"
When he was close enough, Yao grabbed Ping by the collar of his shirt. "Yeah! 'Cause I owe you a knuckle-sandwich!" He pulled back his arm to hit the younger man.
Zhu was about to grab his arm so another brawl wouldn't break out, but she didn't need to.
"Soldiers!"
Almost instantly, Yao released Ping. He and the rest of the recruits -Zhu included- quickly formed a line as Shang came towards them.
"You will assemble swiftly and silently every morning," he called out. Removing his shirt, he draped it on one of many bo staffs held upright by a bucket. In its place, he slung a quiver over his shoulder and grabbed a bow from the bucket. He then walked down the line of recruits, looking each of them over. "Anyone who acts otherwise will answer to me."
"Ooh, tough guy," Yao tried to mumble, but thanks to his voice, everyone heard him.
"Yao."
Zhu found herself impressed by the speed at which Shang drew and nocked an arrow. He pointed it directly at Yao; everyone took a step back, leaving him standing by himself. She was positive Yao was about to die, but, instead, Shang turned, pointing the arrow to the top of the pole. A dull thud echoed down as the arrow stuck fast.
Shang looked back at Yao, a smile on his lips. "Retrieve the arrow."
Grumbling under his breath, Yao bowed, cracking his knuckles. "I'll get that arrow, pretty boy," he muttered, "and I'll do it with my shirt on." He stalked forward, approaching the base of the pole.
'That thing's totally smooth,' Zhu thought, eyes narrowing. 'There's no place to grip. How is he supposed to climb it?'
Yao was about to jump up, but Shang stopped him. "One moment! You seem to be missing something," he told him, feigning a tone of concern.
Chi-Fu walked up to them, straining under the weight of a long, flat box. Opening it, Shang pulled out a bronze disk. It had a hole through its middle and, through the hole, a length of black cloth was tied in a ring to act as a handle.
"This," he called out, holding it up for everyone to see, "represents discipline." Grabbing Yao's hand, he slipped the cloth handle onto his wrist. As he let go, Yao visibly faltered under the sudden weight. "And this!" He pulled out a second disk and slipped it over his other wrist. "Represents strength." Letting go of the disk, he kept his eyes on the troops as Yao fell to the ground. "You need both to reach the arrow."
Zhu glanced over at Chien-Po and Ling; the latter was nearly doubled over with laughter at his friend's plight. Chien-Po looked a bit worried, but not enough to keep him from giggling. Her brow rose when she saw the look on Ping's face: He looked extremely concerned.
Whether it was for Yao's safety or for his own when it came to be his turn, she didn't know.
Standing up, Yao lifted one of the disks and tested its weight under his own terms. His brow rose and he looked up -way up- at the arrow. Then, with a grunt, he jumped up. He managed to scramble a few feet up the pole before he started to slip. To try and stop himself from falling, he attempted to bite the wood -to no avail. He landed with a 'thud' on the ground.
Ling was next. He did better than Yao, but only because he was taller. He had climbed nearly eight feet when he started to slip. To stop himself, he wrapped his legs around the pole, but the weight of the discs pulled him backwards. The rest of the recruits flinched as he fell back, his head slamming against the pole. Groaning, he let go with his legs and half slid, half tumbled the rest of the way down.
Chien-Po didn't do any better, though the discs did seem like they weighed nothing to him. Six feet up and he fell; the recruits could feel his impact with the ground.
Ping was fourth. Like the three before him, he started to slip before he could get ten feet up. He slid to the ground, wincing as he landed, on his hindquarters.
Zhu glanced over at Shang. He was watching as the fifth recruit attempted the climb. She took half a step back, partially hiding herself behind Chien-Po. Biding her time, she watched as recruit after recruit tried, unsuccessfully, to climb the pole with the discs. Everyone had their own methods: Some took off their shoes to better grip the wood; others tried to get a running start; a few even tried to use their nails to help them climb.
But none of them were able to climb more than fifteen feet up.
When it finally came time for her turn, she stepped forward and picked up the discs. Her brow rose; they were heavy. Tilting her head back, she looked up at the arrow.
'I have the strength,' she thought, looking back down at the discs, 'and I have the discipline. But how do I reach that arrow?' With a frown, she started to climb. Just as she thought, the wood was smooth, leaving little in the way for gripping.
She tried to use a mixture of Ling and Yao's climbing. Scrambling upwards, she gripped the pole with her thighs as if she were riding a horse. Though she did her best, her hands slipped on the smooth wood. A curse left her mouth as her legs started to slide and, like the recruits before her, she fell to the ground.
Grumbling, she stood up and returned to the line, glaring at the pole with a mixture of contempt and confusion. 'How is anyone supposed to climb that?!' she thought, brows furrowing. 'It's too smooth! And the weights make trying to grip the pole even harder…'
Yao cocked a brow when he noticed how intently she was staring. "Whoa, Zhu, don't go burnin' a hole through the pole just because ya couldn't climb it," he told her.
"It doesn't make sense," she replied. "The pole can't be climbed, whether you've got the discs or not. It's far too smooth. If it had its bark left one, then maybe…"
"It's probably meant to be a sort of physical metaphor," Chien-Po said.
Ling blew a raspberry, waving his hand dismissively. "This isn't one of the set-ups the monks made us do, Chien-Po. This is the army -we're probably supposed to bludgeon the base with the discs or something, making the pole fall over."
"Cutting something with a dull object? Ain't gunna happen, Ling."
Zhu's brows remained knitted together. 'What's a metaphor…?' she thought, watching as Shang walked back over to the bucket of bo staffs. Part of her wanted to ask, but another part of her told her to ignore it -that it wasn't why she was here.
Shang grabbed a handful of staffs, tossing them out to the recruits. As Zhu caught one, she heard a dull thud beside her. Looking down, she saw Ping pushing himself upright and Yao looking away innocently as he dropped a staff on the ground.
'These guys are worse than Mundzuc and Bleda when it comes to holding grudges,' she thought, moving a safe distance away from the other recruits. Not wanting to be hit -even on accident- she chose a spot near the edge of the group. 'Then again, they usually kill the people they've grudges against…Or beat each other into unconsciousness…'
Shang started to teach them basic moves with the bo staff. As Zhu followed along, she took note of how different it was from the way the Huns wielded their polearms. The movements were more fluid and precise; because of that, there was more chance of quickly bringing down an opponent. The Huns, on the other hand, focused their strength into simple slashes and stabs that could be easily blocked.
Things were actually going well. For nearly three hours, they were taught the basics with Shang going around, helping them to perfect their stances. But, just when he started to pair them up, something went awry.
Ping started flailing about, hitting others with his staff as he tried reaching for his back. Zhu threw herself to the ground before she could get hit. She peeked up in time to see Shang hurry over, yanking the staff from Ping -but not before he had been hit in the gut.
She also saw something fall out of the back of Ping's shirt: A large, prickly-looking bug.
Her brows furrowed. 'I'd be flailing around, too, if something like that was crawling on me,' she thought with a shudder.
Ping looked understandably guilty as Shang walked away from him. He bit his lower lip, rubbing the back of his neck. As she stood, Zhu could see a couple of bright red welts forming under Ping's fingers.
'Hope that bug wasn't venomous,' she thought. 'Though, if it was, that means we won't have to deal with Ping's clumsiness for much longer.'
Rather than continue the interrupted lesson, Shang dismissed them for lunch. They had to meet him by the edges of the forest in an hour, however. The recruits hurried off, quickly forming a line for food. When she got her food, Zhu chose to eat away from the tents in hopes of getting some peace.
In a camp full of men, though, that was hard.
She glanced up when she heard someone coming towards her only to watch Ping sit down a few feet away. She wasn't entirely sure he knew she was there; he looked lost in thought. Shrugging, she went back to eating. She had no reason to talk to him.
"This isn't how I wanted to start off this whole military thing…" Ping murmured, more to himself than aloud.
Zhu cocked her brow, though she said nothing and with good reason: There was someone whispering near Ping. Who it was, though Zhu had no idea. They were sitting on open ground. Maybe someone had sat down on Ping's other side that she hadn't noticed?
"I was doing so good until that bug went down my shirt…then I screwed everything up. Again," he continued. Zhu stole a glance over, seeing Ping stirring the contents of his bowl.
There was no one on the other side of him.
But there was more whispering.
At first, she thought it was just the wind. But, as the whispering persisted and even got a bit louder, she realized there was no wind.
Her stomach dropped, replacing hunger with nausea as she stared into her bowl. 'Either I'm just hearing things,' she thought, 'or there's another reason why Ping is so weird.'
Swallowing hard, she stole another look over at the young man. He still appeared depressed as he ate a bit of his lunch.
'No. He can't have one. He's far too clumsy. I'm probably just hearing things -there is a tent full of men nearby, after all.' A sense of calm suddenly washed over her. 'That's what I'm hearing! It's just coincidence that I'm hearing them after Ping talks to himself. It's probably just Yao trying to boast about his strength…' She let out a long, slow sigh, her eyes closing.
"Wonder what Shang will have us do next?" Ping sighed, brushing some stray strands of hair from his face.
"If you keep talking to yourself, people will start to believe you really are a lunatic," Zhu told him. She didn't have to look to know she had startled him.
"H-How long have you been there?" he stammered. She noticed that, once again, his voice seemed lighter. She also heard the whispering again -to her, it proved that it was the men in the tent.
She cocked a brow. "Since before you sat down."
Ping rubbed the back of his neck, biting his lower lip. "So you…heard all of that?" His cheeks were dark red with embarrassment
Zhu nodded, stabbing a piece of meat with a chopstick instead of picking it up properly.
A groan came from the other recruit and he buried his face in his palm. "Ancestors help me…"
Snorting, Zhu cocked her brow. "What help are they?" she asked. "They're dead."
He peeked out from between his fingers, a tired laugh leaving his mouth. "My grandmother said the very same thing."
"Then you should listen to her." She did her best to gather up a decent-sized bite of rice. "The dead don't help the living unless it's into an early grave." She managed to get the food into her mouth without dropping it.
Ping frowned. "What do you mean?"
She glanced over at him. "The dead carry illness with them. If you don't bury, burn, or abandon the bodies, then you'll get sick and die soon after." Setting her bowl down, she grabbed her cup of tea. This batch tasted better; it was sweeter.
Ping looked horrified. "That—That's not true. The bodies of those who have died from sickness may still carry the disease, but if they died of old age or from some sort of injury, the bodies are harmless."
Zhu shrugged, not wanting to argue the point. She was positive she had seen more dead bodies than anyone in the Moo-Shung camp. She was also certain that she had made more dead bodies than anyone else.
Poking at his food, Ping let out a sigh. "Is this—Is this your first time in the military?" he asked, glancing over at Zhu.
"Why do you ask?" she questioned, brow rising.
"You're unfazed when it comes to talking about death. The only people I've heard so unfazed are seasoned warriors…"
"Death has been around me my whole life, from the time my mother gave birth to me to the time when I received my conscription notice," she told him. "Death is more of an old friend than an enemy at this point."
Ping fell silent; Zhu was thankful for that. She wanted to get her food eaten and her tea drunk so she could go check on Umut. But, after a few minutes, Ping broke the silence once again. She closed her eyes in irritation.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Brows furrowing, Zhu looked over at him. "You're…sorry? For what?" she questioned, sounding more than a little confused. 'Why is he apologizing?' she thought. 'Is it because of what happened last night or during staff training? I honestly couldn't care less—'
"I'm sorry that death's been a large part of your life," Ping told him. "No one should have to go through that."
Zhu shifted slightly; she didn't know how to respond. No one had ever apologized to her, let alone for something that couldn't be stopped. She opened her mouth to say something, but promptly shut it again when she realized she still had no words.
After a few, awkward minutes, she finally managed a response. "You don't need to apologize for something that can't be helped," she began, staring at the grass in front of her. "Death has taught me many things throughout my life, the most important being how to survive."
Ping looked at him, confused. "How to survive…?"
"There's no greater motivation to live than hunger eating away at your stomach or finding yourself at the end of someone's blade." Lifting her bowl to her mouth, she finally looked away from the grass. She started to shovel the rest of her lunch into her mouth. Then, putting her teacup in her now-empty bowl, she stood up. "I need to go check on my horse."
As she walked away, she knew Ping wanted to stop her and try to talk more, but she didn't want to deal with him anymore. He was being a nuisance, what with trying to apologize for things he knew nothing about and telling her that dead bodies were harmless.
"I'd like to hear him say that after moving one and having it shit all over him," she grumbled.
After checking on Umut and making sure she was alright, Zhu went to the edge of the forest. When she got there, she found Shang drawing circles on different trees. He glanced over at her when she approached, but said nothing as he walked on, drawing more circles on more trees.
'Archery lessons?' she thought, seeing quivers of arrows and bows resting against the trunks of the trees. 'This will be easy.'
She went over and plucked up one of the bows. It was different from her own; it was a self-bow and wasn't recurve. Drawing back the string, she found that it took less effort than what she was used to. At the same time, though, she knew its length wasn't great for firing from horseback.
'Less likely to fail in wet weather, though,' she thought, easing the tension on the string before setting it back down. 'Not as much power behind it, either, but I'm sure it can out-distance my bow.'
"Look who's the early bird!"
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Ling and Yao walking towards her.
'Why do these people keep talking to me?' she thought, somehow managing to suppress a groan.
"Looks like we're going to be working on archery next!" Ling chirped, seeing the bows. "I've always wanted to learn how to use a bow."
Yao waved his hand dismissively. "Bows are only good when you're too scared t' meet your opponent face-to-face," he said. "Or for when you're huntin'.
Her brow rose. "Is that so?"
He nodded, crossing his arms. "Real warriors fight up close and personal. Ya gotta be able to see the whites of their eyes to be doin' it right."
Ling rolled his eyes, chuckling. "You're only saying that because you don't know how to use a bow, either."
Yao frowned, his cheeks turning the slightest bit pink. "Hey, who's the kid more likely to listen to? You, the guy who's never won a fight in his life, or me, the champion wrestler?"
"I've won a few fights!"
"Yeah, only because I jumped in to help."
Zhu looked between the two of them. "Wait…you've known each other your whole lives, yet you've never taught him how to fight?" she questioned. That didn't make sense to her.
Wasn't that something everyone grew up learning?
"I've tried," Yao shrugged, "but he's too lanky for any of it t' be effective. I could break him if I grip him too hard."
"What he means is, he's too short to show me properly," Ling snickered. He jumped back as Yao tried to shove him.
Her brows furrowed. "…Do you at least know how to block a punch to the face?"
Ling cocked a brow, chuckling. "Yeah -duck out of the way and run for cover," he joked.
She shook her head, not entirely understanding that he was trying to be funny. "No. If you duck, then you can get kneed in the face or they can get you in a headlock. Either one of those will leave you incapacitated and unable to fight."
Yao chuckled, his brow rising. "He was tryin' t' be funny," he told her, "but you're right. I'm always tellin' him he needs to find someone t' teach him how to fight right because one of these days, I won't be there t' get him out of trouble."
His eyes then widened and he grinned, nudging Ling. "Heeey! I bet if ya ask him nicely, Zhu will give you some fightin' lessons! He's the same size as you -he could show ya better than I could."
Zhu opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn't get a word out before Ling started talking. "Are you sure you trust someone else?" he countered. "The minute you see someone about to hit me, you're usually at their throats."
She tried again to speak, but Yao beat her. "He wouldn't be hittin' you full force, so I'm pretty sure I'd be able t' keep ahold of myself," he said, voice sarcastic. He then looked at Zhu. "We've got enough time before the next trainin' session starts. Why don't ya show him how to block a punch?"
'Just play along,' she told herself, doing her best to not let her irritation show. 'It'll all be over once you slit Chi-Fu's throat…' Holding back a sigh, she shifted into a more defensive stance. "Alright. Try to punch me," she told Ling.
He lifted his brow. "What? But I thought-"
"If you're going to learn how to defend yourself, you need to see how first," she told him. "Now, try to punch me."
Doing as she instructed, Ling tried to punch her. He let out a yelp, suddenly finding himself being yanked forward when she grabbed his wrist. Before he realized what had happened, he had been thrown over her shoulder.
A groan left his mouth as he lay sprawled out on the ground. Opening his eyes, he managed a small, cheeky grin. "Guess I should've kept my eyes open," he said, voice small but still bearing humor.
"Eyes open and hand open," she told him, ignoring Yao's sniggering behind her. "Punching someone in the face with your fist is just asking for broken bones."
For the last quarter hour of their break, Yao got to laugh even more as he watched Ling try (and fail) to block hits from Zhu. By the time Chien-Po and the other recruits joined them, he was starting to get the hang of it, though he still had a long way to go. They stopped when Shang returned and joined the line of recruits as it formed.
"Being able to take out your enemy from a distance is not only safer for you, but safer for the army as a whole," he told them, handing each of them a bow and a quiver. "You can use them to take out targets in the open or when you're hiding in the brush. You can use them to hunt. You can use them while standing, squatting, or riding. A bow is your most versatile weapon in your arsenal."
Zhu let out a quiet sigh, ignoring Shang's words for the most part. Already knowing how to fire one, she inspected the bow she had been handed. Though it looked identical to the one she had looked over earlier, she knew it would have its own peculiarities.
'This one's a bit stiffer,' she thought, drawing back the empty string. 'Won't be able to hold it steady as long, but that's fine. I don't need long to aim.'
She looked up when she saw Shang getting ready to demonstrate how to use the bow. He brought over a bucket of targets, placing three on a small launch at his feet. She narrowed her eyes and did her best to not roll them in disapproval as he made to fire three arrows at once.
'What is he doing?' she silently questioned. 'Shooting more than one arrow at the same time not only throws off your aim, but also ruins the force behind them! That's the point of a bow: To put all that tension behind a single arrow in order to make it deadly!'
Her brows furrowed when he managed to not only hit all his targets, but pin them to the circles in the tree in front of him.
'It's ten feet away. Of course it's impressive at short range…try to hit three targets fifty feet away and you'll fail.' Fastening the quiver around her waist, she headed over to one of the trees. She pulled out three targets (she was surprised to find that they were actually pomegranates) and set them on her launch-board.
Looking up from her spot on the ground, she watched as arrows flew awry of their targets or simply fell to the ground. A few were able to hit their target trees, but were way off target. A few of the men even let out howls of pain as the fletching cut their forearm or the bowstring struck their cheek.
"Have none of these men hunted before?" she mumbled.
Shaking her head, she stood up and positioned herself in front of her board. Before launching her pomegranates, she pulled out three arrows, tucking them between her thumb and forefingers. Launching the fruit, she nocked her first arrow.
Within seconds, all three pomegranates were pinned to the tree in their own circles.
As she placed more fruit on the launch-board, she could feel the stares of the nearby recruits. She ignored them and shot three more pomegranates to the tree.
Zhu was getting ready to shoot three more arrows when Shang came over. Though his face was fairly emotionless, she could see the slightest bit of a grin in the corners of his mouth.
"You've some skill with a bow," he told her.
She launched the fruit, not looking at him. "I hunt," she replied simply, firing the arrows.
"Good. Then you can help me with the others."
She frowned, turning to look at him -but he was already starting to walk away. "What?"
"Start at that end," he ordered. "Maybe by sundown, we'll have someone hitting a target."
'I am not here to help your people get better at this,' she thought, taking off the quiver with a frown. Setting it and the bow on the ground, she headed for the end of the line.
'This must be what Mundzuc felt when he had to train me...'