I sat on the couch that was covered with animal furs in the den of Home Tree lazily, watching the Lost Boys from beside the crackling fireplace, who were playing a game of Ghost Tag. They'd asked me to join but I'd politely refused, I really was tired, and I really didn't want to partake in such games today.
Wendy was playing and was it, blindfolded and chasing after the boys who were running from her all over the den. What a sight to see, really, even Peter was sitting beside me and laughing. She was tripping over almost everything, but she still looked to be having fun. It almost looked like too much fun that she was having. With a small sigh, I forced myself to shift my gaze somewhere else. My eyes casually landed amongst Grip and Slip, the two twins, who were climbing quietly into a small cupboard in the kitchen to hide from the blindfolded girl. Unfortunately, Slip couldn't keep his balance and managed to fall back onto the floor. The boy got up as fast as he could and ran away from Wendy who had been advancing on him. No wonder his name was Slip.
"Why don't ya' play?" Peter asked, sharpening his knife beside me.
"Why don't you?" I retorted, fumbling with a colorful threaded bracelet around my wrist. Vaguely, I remembered when Tiger Lilly had given it to me for a symbol of our strong friendship.
"Fair play," Peter chuckled, his honey brown hair glowing slightly from the churning fire beside us. "As you can tell, I've other things to do."
"Funny," I joked at his mockery of me.
"I'm kidding- but really, why don't you join in? You're all tense lately, it's like you don't even know how to have fun anymore."
"Don't know how to have fun?" I shot him a dirty look for saying such things. Of course I knew how, I'm a Lost Girl. "Ha- again, you're real funny, Peter."
"I'm serious," And the tone of his voice was quite serious, even the look in his eyes was when he held my gaze. "I know you know how to have fun, but you seem off lately."
My stomach dropped suddenly, because I knew exactly what he was referring to, but I could never tell him why. Sawyer would want me to some day, but right now, in the middle of the Lost Boys playing ghost tag and Wendy running around as well, was definitely not the right time.
"It happens." Was my reply.
After a while of watching the boys and Wendy play ghost tag, and Peter and I chatting mindlessly, everything seemed to be settling down. Unfortunately, it was dark outside, and that meant that there was only little time until I'd have to train Wendy tomorrow. There was no way to get out of it either. Peter would make me do it even if I didn't want to, and if not by just trying to convince me, than by force.
When the boys asked Wendy to tell a story later on that night, I decided that it would be best for me to just go to bed before I started flipping tables at the sound of her 'delicate voice'. Nibs ended up climbing into his hammock above mine as well, and I was secretly appreciative that at least someone was on the same boat as me when it came to Wendy.
Even though she was sitting in the den not too far from our hammocks, her voice was faint, which Nibs and I were both grateful for.
"Hey," Nibs said quietly, peering at me through blue eyes over the side of his hammock, "Birdie?"
"What is it?"
He stared at me for a second, as if he were hesitant, and I watched him in curiosity. Nibs always understood when it came to problems, and I strived to be the same way for him. His youthful demeanor was sometimes overshadowed by his caring nature, even though he only looked to be fourteen, two years younger than I.
"Well," He sighed, sliding the brown band that had been holding his hair back down to hang around the nape of his neck. "Some of the braves invited me to go back to their Indian camp tomorrow, you know, for training and stuff…"
"Okay," I shrugged, "And?"
"Would you want to come with me?"
"Why do you need me to come?" I questioned.
Nibs looked around nervously, and my frustration in not understanding what was going on was slowly rising. "Just, because, they wanted me to bring someone."
"Nibs, what the hell is going on?"
"Okay," He sighed, lowering his voice. "There's this girl at the camp, her name is Naira, and I need you to come with me."
"You still have yet to tell me why." I replied, rolling my eyes at him.
"Because I need your help talking to her, like, I like her. I don't know? What do you call those fuzzy feelings whenever you see someone?"
His naivety almost warmed my heart, almost, but the sound of Nibs liking someone made my stomach churn in odd ways. He didn't know anything about girls, the poor boy. When he'd first arrived at Neverland, I'd already been here; he looked at me like I'd had ten heads. He'd told me that Peter never mentioned anything about a girl being here, and it took him quite some time to figure out how to get along with me. He told me that he just didn't understand girls.
With a sigh, I said, "Fine, Nibs. But I have to train Wendy, remember?"
A smile lit up Nibs' face, one that made me grin as well, "Thanks, Birdie, you're the best, and I know. How could I forget? I feel bad for you, really. Anyways, we can meet at the entrance to the Indian camp at noon. Is that alright?"
"Yes," I laughed. "That's fine."
Nibs gave me one last true smile before he slipped his brown band back up to his head, "Goodnight, B."
"Goodnight, Nibs."
He'd fallen asleep soon after our little conversation, but my ears were perked in the direction of Wendy's story about Cinderella. The urge to listen was pulling at me, but as soon as I heard about Prince Charming, I flipped over on my side so that my back was facing the group. Love, I thought. How stupid. My mind drifted off sometime afterwards.
That next morning after I'd gotten up quite early, with Wendy already at the kitchen table eating, I loaded my bow and satchel of arrows onto my back. I could already tell this was going to be horrible, just by the way that she was so perky as soon as I'd entered the room. She'd given me a Cantana, which was like a coconut with the inside of a banana, which was nice, but there was no way that I could change my opinion on her as of now. She just didn't feel right.
I'd helped her get Peter's bow and satchel of arrows without waking the boy, and we set off in the direction of the clearing. It was quiet for the most part, which I'm usually quite grateful for anyways, but this silence was awkward. My feet were used to the trails of Neverland and were quiet, but against my own skillful steps, hers were louder than I'd ever heard. Even the random crunching of twigs and leaves just made it that much more awkward for me.
We arrived in the clearing after a short walk from Home Tree, and I pulled her over to the other side of the training field. In front of us was a clever design by Peter; I pushed a notch in the trunk of the tree, and a large bull's-eye appeared with red and blue outer rings. Every time you would hit in the center of the eye, the target would shrink and move to another place on the trunk. It was quite handy and very useful when practicing quick shots.
I stood on a line of grass that I'd marked with a twig, which was not too far from the tree, and took my stance.
"You said you knew a little bit about archery, right?" I glanced at her, eyeing her cautiously, and speaking to her for the first time that morning besides the meager 'thanks' I'd given her earlier for the Cantana.
She shifted her weight nervously, "Yes, I did say that."
"So, you know how to hold the bow, and where to position the arrow?"
"Um," The Wendy Lady stuttered, clutching Peter's hefty bow in between her nimble fingers. She made a meager attempt at trying to position her arrow against the string, "I suppose so."
"No, you don't," I raised my eyebrows at her. "You don't know anything about archery, do you?"
She was silent for a moment, her piercing blue eyes staring at me hesitantly, as if I'd pounce on her at any moment, "No, not really. I just felt as if I couldn't quite fit in with you if I knew nothing at all."
"So," I paused, bringing my arrow back to my side. "You lied to get us to like you better?"
"Yes," She blew out a breath, a stray brown curl of her hair shimmering lightly against the sun.
"Well, when you get back to Home Tree, hopefully you'll know enough to realize that you truly do need those skills when you're in Neverland. It's not all nice, you know."
She gave me a shy nod, and then turned to face the tree with her arrow resting against the string, and her bow positioned at an odd angle. I noticed her suck in a breath, and then release the arrow from her grasp. It landed a few feet below the trunk and she sighed.
"Alright," I began, getting into form once more. "Your bow position was at an extremely odd angle, you need it to be parallel with the angle of your back at all times. For instance, if your back is straight, than the bow must be in align with that." Wendy did as I told her. "Now, position the arrow as you had it, and hold your bow at the full extent of your arm." She outstretched the arm that was holding her bow, and placed the feathered arrow back into position.
The girl gave me a side-glance, "I feel odd standing like this."
"You'll get used to it," I rolled my eyes, but continued. "Now, see through the arrow, and look straight at where you want it to land. It's all about hand-eye coordination and mind technique, alright? Now, release."
Wendy released the arrow from her grasp once again, and the arrow landed on the outer ring of the bulls-eye. She turned to me with a bright smile, and pulled out another arrow as the target shrunk and moved farther up the trunk.
"I don't believe that I'll ever be as good as you," Wendy said at an attempt to flatter me, "But I'll be a little better now."
We continued to practice for a while, her asking for tips every few minutes while I just sat back and watched. She was decent, almost like Slightly was, and by decent I mean that if she shot at a pirate there would've been a 50/50 chance of her striking him at all. At least she could be slightly useful in a fight, hopefully.