Chapter 108
Testing Talents

.:Violet:.

Three days have passed and throughout those three days Violet haven't sensed or seen any nindroids but she has also learnt a lot about the young boy as well as him making a quick recovery. Not only that but Jonah taught her the ways of living out in the wild; how to make a good fire, how to skin animals the proper way and knowing which plants are edible or not along with some of the talents he possessed. The brunette may not be a good at using guns but he was alright with a bow but he was extraordinary at sketching and whittling. Whenever she would come back from finding food she would find him sketching away in a worn out sketch book or whittling at a piece of wood with intricate details.

Usually whenever the others and her sit at the table or do something, it's normally loud and noisy with laughter and the usual whiny complaints or freak outs Jay do on a daily basis; even though it was chaotic sometimes, it was a type of peace that made Violet feel at home. However, watching Jonah as he sketch or whittle with the fire softly crackling in the background also brought peace to her. She doesn't stare at him when he does his arts and crafts – that would just be plain creepy but she would often distract herself sharping her daggers or tending to her arrows even though they're absolutely fine.

"Hey Violet?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you can teach me to shoot?"

"Shoot?" She asked with her brows perked up. Sensei Wu didn't technically taught her how to shoot. All he did was teach her the basics and let her pick it up by herself since archery isn't the wise man's forte. Plus when he asked her to teach the guys it was always hand to hand combat, not archery.

"Yeah," Jonah replied with a bright smile as he sat up on his bed, "my aim is often off but you help me right?"

"Eer, sure. I haven't taught anyone to shoot yet but I'm happy to help you… But will you be alright?" She asked, indicating to his wounds.

"Of course… To be honest, when you were getting food yesterday I was walking around."

"Jonah!"

"But trust me, I'm fine. I know my limits." And this simple comment reminded her of Kai, how she would often tell him that after she recovers.

"Alright."

After a few minutes, Violet had created targets on nearby trees with the not-so-edible berries while Jonah stood by nervously, watching her set up while his fingers tap his bow. Once she was done, she turned around and eyed his bow.

"Did you make that yourself?"

"Yeah I did, not so bad for the first time making a bow right?"

"Ummm…" Violet slowly trailed off as she walked over to the youngster and grabbed his bow and quickly compared it to her's along with his arrows. His bow was made out of a sturdy wood no doubt, it wasn't as flexible as hers. His bow was also shorter than hers and heavier which surprised her while his arrows are shorter with not-so-straight arrowheads and the fletching too thick and not straight either. "First of all your bow is too stiff, heavy and short along as well as the belly of the bow not curve enough and there's no recurve. Your arrows' tips isn't centred, your arrows are too short for your draw length and are too thick, your feather fletches are too thin and long and… I think that's it." And when she looked at his face, she found it full of shock. "Did I go too harsh?"

"W-What? No of course not; so you saying if I fix all those things my accuracy will be perfect?"

"It'll be better but it'll acquire a lot of practice is you want to get your aim perfect."

So they sat back down again and Violet watched carefully as Jonah constructed his new bow. She made sure to collect a long piece of flexible wood that isn't green wood and showed him how long his bow needs to be based on his height and how much curve is needed for the belly/limb of the bow as well as the recurve based on his arm length. Jonah whittled with great precision that surprised the ninja that it looked better than the bows on display in Kai's blacksmith shop… coming to think of it she wondered Kai or Nya whittled those bows.

"How's this?"

"It's good."

"But it's doesn't look as curvy as your bow."

"Of course not, we haven't added the string to your bow yet. The string will pull and put tension throughout these parts of the bow. If it's too curved the arrow won't travel that far. Trust me, the string will curve it well enough."

And she rummaged through her bow repair kit and took out a spare string she had in case if the one on her bow ever snaps. It has only happened once, a couple weeks before she was set on her undercover mission. Once Jonah had whittled the bow that there were no grooves, Violet bended the bow and placed the string on.

"Tada, you got a perfectly good bow, now to make new arrows."

So while Violet got all her equipment out Jonah whittled the shaft for the arrows with speed Violet never thought he had but all of them were straight. Violet measured out the arrows to the correct length according to Jonah's arm span and length and then she got Jonah to carve half of the thirty arrows' tip so they are perfectly centred and pointy while Violet use some of the arrowheads (broad heads) she bought a while ago and placed them another the other half – it's not like she's going to use these arrowheads so may as well give them to someone who will use them.

"Broad heads are often used for hunting for big animals such as deer or even bears. Not only are they good for hunting but for self-defence as well," she told him as she finished the last one and proceeded to glue onto the short and stiff fletches onto the arrows.

"You know a lot."

"The bow used to be my first weapon of choice but now I'm leaning more into the side of twin daggers. But once these arrows are done, we can start practicing."

.::.

"You need to make sure that when you hold your bow you can rotate your elbow up and down and to the side. If your elbow doesn't rotate, it means you're holding the bow wrong and you'll get a bruised inner elbow and the arrows veering to one side of the target but you also have to make sure it's straight before raising or drawing your bow," she instructed as she watched Jonah hold up his newly made bow with an arrow notched onto his string. "This will help keep your upper body aligned which then results in a stronger shot and better accuracy. Good, now draw your string." And Jonah's fingers grabbed the string with the notch between them and pull back. "Bring your hand back even more so it rest against your jaw, just by your chin."

And he obeyed as he pulled back, Jonah's latte brown eyes darting to where the arrow was resting against the bow, to her then to the target. Violet stayed quiet and allowed the boy to aim but he didn't and let go, the arrow whizzing from his fingers and past the tree that held the target.

"Oh…" he muttered sadly but Violet shook her head.

"You didn't take the time to aim. It'll take time to get used to a new bow so its point of aim will be different from your old one or from any other bow. Once you get used to the bow, get used to aiming towards the middle and take your time. It took me many months of intense training to finally aim quickly and shoot dead centre of a target."

And Violet continued to train Jonah until the sun started to set, casting long shadows onto the ground. As Jonah went to wedge the arrows out that hit the target –but not the centre- Violet went around collecting the arrows that missed the tree. They also agreed to use the arrows with the whittled tips, not the ones with the broad head so Jonah won't damage the arrowhead when shoots it into the bark however he is improving; it's evident with the consistency of arrows that actually hit the tree and she felt proud she helped this young boy to know how to defend himself a little more. When she got back, she saw Jonah standing with her bow in his hand along with a quiver of her arrows.

"Want to show me how a pro does it?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"I don't want to show off."

"Nah, you won't. I just want to see how good you are and to see what I can copy off you."

So with a sigh, Violet walked over and got her bow and arrows off Jonah and notched an arrow onto her bow. The setting sun casted a dark shadow onto the tree, making it difficult to see where the actual target is but nevertheless, with one swift movement, she draw the string back, took a couple seconds to aim and let go, hitting centre of the target but not exactly the middle.

"Wow, you're really good."

"Thanks." She smiled as she loaded another and shot it again, getting closer to the centre. Within the next four arrows, one finally hits what Jonah calls 'dead centre'.

"What happens when you shoot another arrow towards the dead centre? Like what happens to that other arrow that's there."

"I don't know, I never had that happen before?"

"Wanna try?"

"Eh, why not?"

And so she tried but each time the arrow strayed from the exact middle creating a cluster of arrows on the target. Once the sun has set, Jonah lit up the fire and Violet continued to try and hit the arrow that was in the dead centre of the target.

"I have never seen anyone with such determination as yours."

"Well I like a challenge," she muttered as she went towards the target and pulled out the arrows except for the one in the middle. Once she got back to her original position, she drew the string back and paused, taking time to aim this time. After a few seconds, she let go and she watched as the arrow flew from the string and straight into the fletch of the centre arrow and lodge into the tree.

"You were close!" She heard Jonah exclaim from the side but she wasn't done yet. She loaded another arrow and aimed again however this one wasn't as close. Mentally growling and her patience running thin, Violet swiftly loaded another arrow, aimed and let go. Miss. Again. This time, making a verbal growl, she grabbed another arrow and aimed. Instead of a few seconds, she aimed for at least fifteen seconds. Please get it this time. She mentally begged and she let go… only to miss again. "How about a break?"

"Yeah… that sounds good…" Violet muttered as she placed her bow and quiver of arrows down and went to cook dinner with Jonah.

.::.

After the mixed nightmare she had this morning, Violet wasn't keen getting back to sleep. It seemed like a chore, sleeping, it felt like there was no point in getting any if it left her shaking with fear in the morning especially if she can't get Kai's comfort: the way his arms would wrap around her, securing her; the way his body heat would sooth her and remind her that she was no longer in the freezing ocean and the way he would mutter sweet nothings into her ears to reassure her everything was alright – as long as she's with him. But that doesn't mean she regrets not letting Kai join her, she just hopes they can shut off the power so she can join them as soon as possible… But it also means she would have to leave Jonah.

Over the past few days Violet has found herself growing fond over the young boy and to be honest, she's a little bit reluctant to leave which is why she hasn't. Yes that Jonah's wounds are healing fairly well, he can stand up and walk but he still have to take it easy otherwise he would open the wounds that have healed over with a thin layer of skin. She have decided she'll leave as soon as she feel something or when Zane's falcon comes to inform her of the power outage.

The ninja tried to find comfort on her makeshift bed but each turn and twist just resulted her to roll onto a stick. Eventually, Violet sat up and watched the fire died away into embers, the warmth fleeing into the cold of the night. She waited for a couple minutes until she finally felt the chill settling into her bones – that's when she stood up and went over to the fire and poked the embers, put on three more fire wood and flicked her finger, causing a small breeze to gently caress the embers. Within seconds they brightened and rose into a flame that engulfs the logs.

She watched the flames as the glowing embers leaped and twirled in a fiery dance, twinkling like stars against the dark contrast of the ground before disappearing into thin air. The actual fire itself swayed in the air with such beauty and grace; the bright colours of red, orange and yellow twirled while casting shadows on the ground, dancing. This beautiful flame had a strong disparity to her previous nightmare, the one before the drowning however the nightmare didn't occupy her mind long; thoughts of Kai invaded it. Violet smiled softly as she watched the flames, her mind remembering how Kai shared so many traits of a fire – the two sides of fire. There's the impulsive side that burns and hiss without much thought, just going through the motions and burn through everything in its path as it doesn't control itself when it's spread out; and there's the side that holds grace and beauty and is very controlled, protective, passionate and comforting. Kai is both of these sides: he's so quick to jump into action without much thought; he is quick to jump to conclusions; and he's so quick to anger and cause so much wreckage when he doesn't control himself. Yet the brunette is also graceful in his fighting that it's beautiful to watch even though the bender of fire may not even notice that; he's so protective of the things he love and are passionate about: his friends and family therefore comforting them in their lowest points.

A sharp intake of air quickly made Violet turned her head towards the youngster – to only see he wasn't in harm's way or show any signs of being in a nightmare; he was simply just rolling around, pointing his back towards the fire – it's a great thing he's a heavy sleeper although it's not a good thing to be a heavy sleeper when you live in the wild. The female ninja sighed with relief whatsoever and got up and headed to where she last left her bow and quiver of arrows and picked it up. She remembered how last year when she met Nathan for the first time it was her first time fighting in the pitch dark and never have she thought about training in the dark – well technically she hasn't trained since arriving at the Dark Island. Although shooting the bow with little light isn't the same as fighting in pure blackness with twin daggers, it was better than nothing plus Violet wanted to get back into using her bow more often – she missed it dearly.

Violet stood just about twelve meters (about forty feet) away from the target that was roughly painted onto the tree with the dead centre away taunting her. With one swift and fluent movement, she grabbed an arrow, loaded it and shoot. The arrow landed in the second ring from the middle (since archery targets consist of five rings). This time, Violet tried taking only a couple seconds to aim and the arrow lodged itself in the centre but only a coin away from dead centre. Arrow after arrow she shot, each hitting the centre ring but never hitting the dead centre arrow; she couldn't even hit another arrow when she tried aiming for it!

The female ninja slowly grew frustrated but she took out her arrows and tried again and again. She probably tried for hours; there were many times when she went through every little step slowly and probably aimed for a minute (resulting her arm to ache from holding the firm string back for too long rather than holding it up) but it still missed.

The sun peeked over the horizon, casting it warm rays through the thick foliage of leaves above but it did increase the light however, with the darkness fading away Violet still couldn't hit the stupid arrow. While taking the arrows out of the tree for the thirtieth time, she angrily wondered whether it was the lack of sleep, the darkness, something wrong with her arrows or if the target was purposely moving. Violet ruled out the last idea and stood at her normal position and tried again.

This time, the sun was higher in the air; signalling mid-morning. Violet turned her head, expecting a sleeping Jonah but instead, she founded him sketching in book, his nose buried deep within the pages with the charcoal wiggling wildly in the air. Violet found everyone's concentration face amusing but they all differ from each other although coming to think of it, Jonah's concentration face closely resembles Jay's. While Kai's consisted of furrowed brows and a frown, Jonah's and Jay's were a mischief twinkle in the eyes with brows slightly furrowed but not to cause wrinkles on their forehead like Kai but their nose was slightly crunched and is often dirty: Jay from the oil and the tinkering mess from his inventing while Jonah had charcoal smudged on his nose. Violet momentarily wondered if it was a 'J' thing like the first letter of your name determines your concentration face but dismissed it immediately when she didn't want to think that her concentration face looks like Vincent's.

"Whatcha drawing?" Violet asked, frightening the young boy.

"O-Oh, I didn't thought you noticed me since you looked so focused on hitting the arrow."

"Well I was until now… Hungry? I could use a break."

"Sure."

Violet proceeded to take out the berries she collected yesterday and sorted them into the two perfectly whittled bowls and gave one to Jonah who closed the book once she got close… Starting to think of it, she have never saw any of the youngster's drawing. So after she finished breakfast and Jonah with his, she quickly put the bowls away and noticed Jonah was sketching in his book. Once he caught her looking, he tilted the book as if shielding it away from her.

"Hey Jonah?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't mind me looking at your book right?"

"Huh?"

"Can I see it?" Violet repeated hoping that he would catch what she's asking. The boy appeared to be alarmed but held the book towards her, looking away as if embarrassed or nervous. However, she walked over and sat down in front of him and gently took the book.

She started from the start. The first four pages was covered in childish doodles; there were barely any gaps to fit in even the smallest drawing, it was a chaotic mess of stick figures but as Violet progressed through the book, the doodles turned into drawings, the drawings turned into rough sketches and then finally, elaborated sketches with intrigue details like the curve in a bird's wing span that has taken flight but she stopped when she found a page with a young man's portrait on it that looked a bit like Jonah. Only a fool wouldn't be able to tell that it was the artist's older brother, Tyler.

From the darkness of the shading and the thickness of the charcoal that have been used, Violet could tell that the older brother had short black hair that looked like it haven't been tamed in a while – even though it's short. The young man had sharp features by the way his strong jawline was drawn and his sharp cheekbones highlighted clearly by the shading – almost like Jonah's own face. Tyler's nose was thick, not holding a delicate structure like Jonah's. His brows were thick, not as thick as Zane's or Cole's but just thick and dark, also almost like his eyes. The man's skin was shaded in a way that made Violet interrupt he had a light tan light Jonah yet pale lips.

"My brother," Jonah spoke softly.

"He looks a lot like you."

"Yeah… I heard when we were younger."

Violet slowly turned the page to see a few more sketches of animals but she stopped when she saw a sketch of her. A small gasp exit her lips as her eyes roamed over the sketch of her. It was her shooting. It was weird how Jonah was able to sketch her even though he was directly behind her but he sketched her from an angle that was in front of her but also to the side as if the drawer was beside the target when she shot it. Violet focused on the sketch of herself. Her face was skewed in concentration, both eyes looking with soft but fierce determination at the unseen target. Her brows had a slight slant and her eyes slightly narrowed. She was amazed at how Jonah was able to sketch the texture, shading, highlight, depth and way her hair fell in its natural, super loose curls. Her hairline was also drawn flawlessly. He drew her jawline with such precision and her cheekbones were defined perfectly to how they should be. Her nose was small and her lips were just presented how they should be. Her body was standing tall (despite her height) and firm with her feet pointing to the side and her arms and bow pointed towards the unseen target. Her bow was sketched flawlessly with the wood texture popping out. The whole sketch just made her breathless.

"Jonah… This is beautiful. I-I never had anyone sketch me before," she gasped with amazement as her fingers trail softly over the sketch but faintly as she was afraid of smudging the work of art.

But she smile turned a little bit sad. In a way, the sketch looked a lot like Scarlett as well; after all, they're sisters that shared many facial qualities. Immediately, the scene of her death filled Violet's mind and she immediately tried to push that memory away. She tried avoiding thinking about her sister, not because Violet doesn't love her but because she just doesn't want to remember that unforgettable day.

"You're not mad or creeped out that I just took a sketch of you without your consent?"

"Hey, don't ruin the moment," She laughed breathlessly.

"Well… Am I missing out on something? Like a scar I'm not aware of? Or a dot or freckle?"

"No, you're not missing anything." However, Violet eyes roamed the picture to see if there was something missing. The clothing he drew perfectly resemble hers, the thickness of her fur collar and the stitching on her coat; he even got the chain of the necklace Kai gave her drawn with perfect little links – she wondered how he did it. The female ninja tried looking for something that was missing then she saw it, he was missing her ring. She handed the artwork back to the youngster.

"Anything?"

"Yeah, I just realised. My ring."

"Ring?" Jonah's voice was laced with confusion. Violet showed her hand and felt somewhat proud to show off the ring Kai gave to her, it reminded her how he proposed to her in the meadow. "You're engage? Aren't you like nineteen?"

"Well yeah…" She didn't know how to exactly respond to that but she saw Jonah open his sketch book and made the changes.

"It's a really pretty ring."

"Thank you, my mother was a jewel crafter. She made this ring two years before she died… no one bought it since it cost too much."

"So how did your fiancé afford it then?"

"I don't exactly know to be honest. I think he got it cheaper. The store owner was my mother's best friend and I knew her when I was little, she probably discounted it because it was for me. I honestly have no idea," she laughed and watched as Jonah's delicate hands drew in the ring, changing to different charcoals. "You know, people can sell their artwork for lots of money. I don't mean to be rude but why not move out of the forest and into a place? I would say it's a lot less dangerous than bears hunting the forest but…" Violet chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. Of course any civilisation isn't safe now; nindroids would have roamed the area, not just Ninjago City. It seems Jonah was probably really safe here than anyway else.

"Well now that you mention robots have taken over and the previous year snakes and statues, I'm just going to say I prefer the bear now… even if it took my brother's life…" He spoke softly but then looked at her in the eye, his stare never wavering, "but here is where I grew up with my brother. Even though the memory of his death weighs heavily it doesn't mean it the only thing I'll remember, this forest reminds me of the good times Tyler and I had, like whenever it's raining, we would dance and throw mud at each other, we would sing and even though he's not good at singing no one could even hear us."

Violet softly smiled as Jonah told her this. "Funny, I never thought of overlooking someone's death like that. After my sister's death, a dear friend of mine told me how Scarlett wouldn't want me to be upset and mourn over her death, she would rather I smile and continue on with my life to do great things. And it's true. With all friends and family members; no matter what, their love for us is still here as well as their spirit and I know my sister would come back alive to just kill me if I didn't move on."

"I never thought of it like that as well," Jonah said softly as he smiled back at her while closing the book – the changes done, "sound like you have wise friends."

"Wise? Yeah, I suppose but smart? Don't think so." And this stirred a laugh from the boy. "But I'm so grateful for them. They're family to me."

Whoa whoa whoa! At first I thought "Oh great, I'm never going to make it to the word limit" but instead I went over and I can't cut out any of it otherwise I won't make the work limit. I guess this chapter acts as an apology chapter so the long waits from the past few chapters and yeahhh but this chapter was supposed to be up two-three weeks ago but unfortunately I couldn't since we moved houses and we had no internet but now I do! Yay! But massive thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you all made my day: Kairocksrainbow, Dark Yugi, ALookIntoMyWorld, Samantha Rutledg, FlameNinjaofDarkFire, Bl0ndie, ElementzGirl7, Kai4Ever, CarlyShi208, mako fan and all the silent readers!

FlameNinjaofDarkFire: Yes, the pun was intended ;)

mako fan: OMG! I love Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra! I got into it at the beginning of the year! I absolutely love Zuko and Mako! But I'm so glad you like this story and no offense is taken, really. And I'll take your idea into consideration, I think is great; it may not be my comfort zone of genre writing but I'll give it a go!

So once again. Big thanks to all your support, reviews and your patience but can I ask one little favour? Does someone know what a 'beta reader' is? I've been seeing and hearing the word here and there in other people stories but I actually embarrassingly don't know what it is….

Until next time, lots of love – ZaneLoverFan88