The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z

Time To BOW Out Gracefully

Brown's eyes widened in shock. "Seriously? You've never used a bow!?"

Duo sulked and nodded. "Yeah… I never got the chance to use one. I had a slingshot, but that was about it."

"But I thought bows were a staple for us!" The newer Hero held out his bow and looked at it as he spoke. "Like bombs and swords!"

"I know, I know," said Duo with a sigh, "I'm the weird one, aren't I? Even when I got back to Hyrule I never learned to use one. It's kind of embarrassing."

Brown put his hands on his hips and leaned towards his predecessor. "Well, we've got all of eternity here - I guess now's as good a time to teach you as any."

"Huh? You'll teach me, Brown?"

"Of course!" He grinned and pulled an arrow from his quiver. "You guys are always teaching me stuff since I'm the new guy, but now I'll finally get to teach you something!" He nocked his arrow. "First, you get your arrow ready, like this. Then, you draw the string and aim." He pulled back the bowstring, closing one eye and aiming carefully at one of the many targets that had been lined up against a fence. "Then, you let it fly!" He let the arrow go, allowing it to strike a perfect bull's eye on the target. He turned back and gave Duo a thumbs up. "…And that's how you do it!"

Duo gasped happily and applauded. "That was great! Can I try?"

"Sure. Here you go." He handed his friend the bow and a new arrow. "Remember, you'll need to pull back on the string hard, or your arrow won't go anywhere."

"Okay!" Duo managed to successfully nock the arrow, but when it came time to draw the string and aim, his arms began to wobble. "W-Woah… this is a lot harder than using a slingshot!"

Brown laughed. "Easy, Duo! You'll get the hang of it soon. Try firing it now."

The elder Hero nodded and focused on the target in front of him, narrowing his eyes and aiming it the best he could. When he fired, however, the arrow lodged itself in the ground only halfway to the target rather anticlimactically. He looked at it with a look of astonished disappointment while Brown tried his best not to laugh.

"Man… that's pretty pathetic," whined Duo.

"No, no! It's okay!" snickered Brown. "You just need to practice — "

"Haaaaaaaaaaa!"

He was interrupted by a familiar roaring battle cry and the sound of galloping hooves. The two Heroes looked to their left to see Twilight quickly approaching them on Epona, firing arrows from his crossbow at a lightning fast speed, hitting bull's eyes on each and every target he rode past. With a yelp, Brown and Duo leapt out of the way, just in time to watch the older Link split the arrow Brown had fired in half with one of his own. They stood in slack-jawed silence for a moment as Twilight passed them by before Duo cried out in amazement.

"Wow! Twilight is so cool!" he exclaimed. "I wanna learn to use a crossbow instead!"

Brown glared at his starry-eyed companion. "Oh, come on, Duo, don't be stupid — "

But Duo had already started running off in the direction Twilight was going. "Wait, Twilight!" he cried, "I wanna do crossbow training too…!"

With a look of jealousy and disgust, Brown scoffed and threw his weapon to the ground. "Stupid Twilight and his damn crossbow," he muttered, "what a show-off!"