The meal we had was, like most of them, uneventful but nonetheless delicious. The restaurant had gladly paid for my meal like they said they would, and even gave Austin a free pass this one time after a bit of coercing, on the stipulation that this was the only time that they would. Our appetites sated, we made our way back to the castle, having had enough excitement for one day.
Upon arriving at the castle proper, Austin had taken me to the training grounds, and told me "stay put" while he went to get his bow that he kept in his room. I had entered the room, only to find it occupied with a... squad? A squad of soldiers running through drills and practices. I waited for Austin outside the room after taking a look at the clip board schedule. If it was to be believed, there would be no group outside today, so Austin could practice out there.
Austin returned after a few more minutes, clutching his quiver tightly, his bow slung across his back.
"Is the room open?" he asked me. I tilted my head with a smile.
"No, it isn't," I told him, handing him the schedule. He browsed it for a few moments.
"Aw, damn. I was hoping to get some practice in," he said in a defeated tone, handing the schedule back to me.
"Oh well," I told him, shrugging my shoulders. He turned to walk back to our rooms.
"Well, let's go back to your room and hang out there, I guess," he told me as he started walking down the hall. I stayed where I was, waiting for him to turn around. He took about ten steps before he turned around and looked at me.
"...are you coming?"
"Did you even read the schedule?"
"Yeah, it's occupied, why?"
"The outside grounds are open, you know," I told him with a large smile on my face. He dropped his shoulders and deadpanned in annoyance. I smiled and went through the doors to the training room, putting the schedule back as I did. The doors to the outside area were directly on the opposite side of the room, and I walked past the guards who were training, as they had left sufficient space to get to the other side of the room. Austin followed me, and we went outside, covering out eyes to the bright sun that assaulted us. I looked to the right, and saw that there were a few archery targets set up, so we wouldn't have to bother the guards inside.
"Cool. Hey, why don't you go and see if there are any bows for you to use? You can practice with me then!" Austin asked me excitedly. I looked to the door, and decided that it would be better than sitting around outside with nothing to do. I didn't have my book with me, and the bows were closer, and therefore less work. I stood up and went back inside, quickly moving back to the weapon racks. On the second to last rack were a large selection of bows, with many quivers full of arrows hung next to them. I grabbed what looked to be a basic wooden bow, and one of the quivers that all appeared to be the same. I went back outside to meet Austin. He had already cleared one of the targets of arrows that were left in it, and had stepped back. I stopped next to him as he was nocking an arrow. He drew the string back, with less trouble than he was likely used to. He held still for a few moments, before letting the arrow fly. It stuck a few inches right of the center, and a few inches high, by the looks of it.
"I got one," I told him.
"Good. Go," he responded.
"What?
"I said go, shoot it,"
I looked to the target for a few moments before letting my quiver slide to the ground. I took an arrow and nocked it on my string. I drew a large breath in, then let it out. I pulled the string back, and focused for a few moments. Then...
"Oh god, that was awful," I thought aloud. The arrow had missed the target completely and had lodged itself into a large wooden wall that was used as a stop for any arrows that missed.
"No, I mean, you could have missed that wall! Just... try again," Austin told me. I picked up another arrow and drew the string back. I let go, and the arrow hit the very top of the target, the part that was wood.
"See? There you go! Do it again,"
The next arrow missed again, hitting the backstop and lodging itself deep inside the wood.
"There, I did it again. Your turn," I told him. He laughed, before stepping up to take his turn. Austin drew an arrow, and nocked it on his string, and pulled back the string. He let it go, and the arrow flew true, nailing the target in the center of the bulls eye. He pulled out another arrow, and repeated the process, though this time the arrow missed the center by a few inched to the left. Once more, he sent an arrow into the target, in between his first and second shot. He looked to me.
"If I have to learn this, so do you, come on, I'll help you," he told me. I flinched in response.
"You don't have to learn this, you chose to, that's not even fair," I responded.
"Yeah, but we're here now, so you have to learn it too,"
I shook my head slightly at his logic, before pulling another arrow out of my quiver. I pulled the string back, before slightly turning to Austin.
"How do I aim? Where do I look?" I asked for his guidance. Austin had been practicing his archery skills on and off for a little over six months now, and he had a fairly considerable head start on me in terms of proficiency. This let me default to him as a guide comfortably.
"Well, I just like to look down the arrow, but a few of the guards told me that in a real situation, that could take too long. They told me to match my target with the top of the bow arm, that's the piece that you hold onto, and judge how much you have to account for elevation based on how far you are away from the target. At this distance, it's okay to just aim right at the target, but for things that are further away, you could have to aim up a little bit," he finished explaining to me. I nodded in understanding, and turned to look at the target again.
I followed what I had been told, and drew my string back. I lined up the arm of the bow with the target, and prepared to fire.
"Be careful of wind, you might have to aim a little bit off center," Austin warned me. I waited to feel any wind, and when I realized that there was very little wind, I let go, and watched the arrow fly. It sunk into the cork target, around a few inches to the left of the center. My elevation was perfect, however.
"I was aiming right at it!" I exclaimed.
"I told you to watch out for wind," he told me.
"What wind?"
"There's a very small breeze, I know you can feel it. Even something as little as that can mess up your shot," he explained to me. My shoulders dropped, and I sighed. I picked up another arrow, and prepared my next shot. This time, I aimed a little bit to the right, as the wind was blowing left. I held for a few more moments, then let go. The arrow flew right into the center of the target, and my face lit up.
"Look! Yeah!" I yelled.
"Nice. Now that you know what you're doing, how about a little game?" Austin asked me. I looked to him.
"I kinda doubt that hitting the target a few times qualifies me as 'knowing what I'm doing'" I told him, making air quotation gestures as I did. He gave me a small shrug as I said this.
"Well, I mean if you don't think that you can handle it, I guess you don't have to," he taunted me. I shook my head.
"No, see, that not it. You have such a head start on me, of course I can't handle it. What do you think will happen?" I said in response. He deadpanned.
"Yeah, no shit I have experience on you, what do you think I am, an idiot?" he asked me.
"Yes, yes I do, you're a full blown stupid person,"
"...that's just rude,"
"Alright, what's this game you had in mind," I asked him, shaking my head.
"It's called 'shoot and move back.' Each of us takes a shot, and if we both hit the target, we take one large step backwards. If one of us misses, and the other person hits the target, the person who hit the target wins. If we both miss, we go until one of us hits it, then the usual rules apply. You in?" he asked me.
"I guess so. We don't have to hit the paper, right? Just the actual cork, right?" I asked him. He looked to the target for a few moments before looking back to me.
"I mean, if you want to play like that, we can," he said. We agreed that that would be better for me, given my experience, and we started the game.
Austin's first shot hit very close to the bulls eye, and mine went a little low. Austin took a big step back, and we played again.
"So, Princess Luna," Austin spoke as he nocked his next arrow.
"What about her?" I asked as he took his shot, which hit the target.
"She doesn't like me very much," he told me as I took my next shot which landed right next to Austin's. I chuckled a bit at this.
"This again? We've had this conversation, I know she doesn't like you," I told him. Austin took a big step back, and we turned to face the target.
"Well, I know, but..." he trailed off as he nocked an arrow.
"Well what?" I asked. Austin fired his arrow, which landed directly in the center of the target, and I picked up another arrow.
"...say I didn't want that? I didn't want her to not like me," he said as I readied my shot.
"And why's that? Why the sudden change of heart?" I wondered aloud. My arrow landed about a foot low of the bulls eye, and I made a note to not under compensate for elevation.
"I don't know, just... It doesn't seem smart for her to dislike me when we practically live together," he said as we took another step back.
"Well, do you know why she dislikes you?" I asked as I backed up to give Austin enough room.
"Not really, I mean, I wasn't overly nice to her when we first got here, to say the least," he said as he took his shot, which went a little low and to the right.
"I know, I was there for some of it. Have you apologized for the things you said? That could be a good place to start," I told him as I readied my next arrow.
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean... when should I do it? Not like... when as in a time, but what should I wait for?" he asked me. My arrow went a little high this time, but still hit the target.
"Nothing crazy, don't wait for the end of the world. Just wait until you can talk to her privately, and tell her that you're sorry, that's all," I told him as we backed up again. He nodded as he picked up another arrow.
The rest of the game went on with only idle chit-chat at intermittent times. Austin ended up winning because I missed a shot after we backed up a few more times. We cleaned up our arrows, and before I could put my bow away, a guard came out of the castle and approached us.
"Princess Celestia has requested your presence immediately. I am here to accompany you to the throne room, please come with me," he told us. Austin and I shared a glance.
"We have equipment to put away," I told the guard.
"That can be attended to later, please follow me," he told us, and turned to walk away. I looked at Austin, who shrugged his response. We entered the indoor training room. By this time, the rooms had emptied out, and no one was in the room. I quickly went over to the weapons rack, and put my bow and arrows away. I re-joined Austin and the guard, and we made our way to the throne room.
"We're aren't in trouble, are we?" Austin asked the guard.
"No, quite the contrary, actually," he told us. I smiled at Austin, who seemed rather relieved.
Upon entering the throne room, we found Celestia sitting at her desk, but instead of signing papers, she was merely reading a book. The guard promptly left us, to tend to his other duties, I would assume. Austin and I shared another glance of uneasiness as we approached Celestia. She looked over her book, before setting it down to greet us.
"Daniel, Austin, hello," she spoke to us. I nodded, and Austin gave a small wave, which I found pretty funny.
"I have received word as to what happened with the thief at the Chef's Hat restaurant. I understand he gave you quite a run for your money, did he not?" he she asked me.
So that's the name of that place...
I could not sense any anger or accusation in her tone, leading me to relax a little. I cleared my throat before I spoke.
"Yes, he was pretty fast, but I caught him," I answered.
"Interesting... how did you do it?" she asked me. The guard who I talked to earlier must have told the princess what had happened.
"Well... man, this all over again, huh? Well, we were going to get some food when a man ran out of the restaurant with the money he had stolen. I chased him, threw a box in his way with magic, and then sat on him so he couldn't move. That what happened. In a nutshell," I hastily told her.
"Hm, interesting. Well, it's good that you arrived when you did. Did you, by any chance, have a guard escort?" she asked me. I saw Austin look at me in my peripheral vision, and I took a sharp breath in.
"No, we did not. We were bored, and we had nothing better to do, so we left," I answered. The princess nodded a few times before closing her eyes.
"You're initiative may be slightly misplaced, but nothing negative came out of you not having an escort. Hm, I see. Your restriction of needing a guard escort is being lifted. You are free to leave the castle whenever you see fit," she told us. I smiled slightly, and heard Austin let out a large sigh.
"Immediately, that is all. Thank you for helping stop the thief today. I'm sure you've done the owners of the Chef's Hat a service that they will not soon forget, both of you" Celestia praised us. I looked to Austin, who was beaming with pride. We said our goodbyes, and turned to leave the throne room.
Thing were going relatively okay for us. This was definitely a step in the right direction, for both of us.
Things are looking up...