* * *

Garnedell watched his master speak with the carpenter, speaking to him with sincerity and a small dose of flattery. It was enough to gain the favor of the carpenter, as his grumpy façade faded and he came towards Joe with pleasant joy, excited to serve him. The two fell into a rather complicated discussion of wood and the certain properties Master was looking for. The carpenter spoke with him simply, but grew ever more detailed as the jargon increased and Master proved equivalent to the task. The carpenter grew impressed and turned from a shop owner meeting a customer to a master meeting a fellow master.

Garnedell listened to their conversation but found it far beyond his understanding and the two spoke for a good half a Great Bell. Zilnek proved less fascinated, but politely waited to the side, staring around the shop and area in boredom but at least maintained decorum. Garnedell actually smiled to see it, glad to see that Zilnek was now more willing to be respectful of Master.

Master and the woodworker spent almost a bell on discussing the two ends of the bow and the discussion became quite animated as Joe showed the bow to the carpenter. The carpenter held it, testing it in various ways before handing it back to Master cautiously. They began speaking again for another few moments before the woodworker finally pulled out a piece of wood about the height of his chest.

The two began speaking again and soon the woodworker began his crafting, his mana melding with the shaft of wood, thinning it out and manipulating the piece until it was an almost perfect match for Joe’s own bow. When his master saw this, he became very interested and avidly focused on what the woodworker was doing to the wood. His Master’s fascination for the magical was always an interesting thing to him, considering how powerful his Master was. But then, he knew that his master came from Absence. That, Garnedell found absolutely shocking. Garnedell could only think that his own fascination with his master’s home plane being in Absence was mirrored by his master’s utter allure of magic.

With the woodworker’s craft complete, Master took the completed work and studied it carefully before thanking the carpenter. Why did master allow my bow to take so long… but Zilnek’s… he purchased and magics in the day? Garnedell struggled to hide his hurt, a bit upset that Joe had done so, but then frowned. Did the other woodworking master… deceive master? Should I speak of it? This seems… Garnedell dropped his train of thought and focused back on his Master.

His master and the woodworking master spoke again for a few more moments before the two came to an agreement and Master offered coin for the work. Shortly after, Master led them down the road towards the cloth workers where Joe quickly began to inspect the various shops before once again beginning a discussion with the clothiers. This time, Master proved to be more patron than fellow master, asking many questions and working with the clothier to pick out a string to match. Joe seemed quite specific about the string he desired, quite picky in his choices, but definitely less knowledgeable. The discussion went on for one or two bells until Joe seemed satisfied and he had the clothier cut the string to size.

He then tied a loop at one end of the string before slipping one loop over one of the pointy ends of the bow. Once the string was on, Master put the wood to the floor, leaning it up against his hand before placing a knee against the bow about a third of the way up the bow. Master began to bend it, then stopped and looked up at Zilnek.

“Do you see what I’m doing, Zilnek?”

Zilnek nodded, quickly coming to attention as he focused on Master, “Yes, Joe.”

Master nodded back, “This is called ‘stringing the bow’ because you are putting the string on the bow. Do you see where my knee is?”

Zilnek quickly nodded again, “Yes, Joe.”

“Good. Now just lean into it but make sure that you are placing the bow laying on the ground. You do not want to dig the point into the ground,” Master explained then stood back up and showed how he could simply ground the wood shaft to the ground point first, then swapped back to his original stance where he laid the bow almost parallel to the ground before placing his knee on the bow and pulled it upwards.

“If you do it like this, you can see that the point won’t grind into the ground and all the pressure I am putting on it won’t mostly be on the point, right?”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Yes, Joe,” Zilnek nodded respectfully.

“Then, just pull up on the bow while pulling the string up… and…” Master grunted slightly with effort before slipping the string over the other point, “onto… ugh… the bow.”

Master stood and held the bow up, now bent just like Master’s, although it wasn’t perfectly shaped, its bend not symmetrical. Master frowned to see it but held it up anyway to teach.

“You can see it’s not bent symmetrically. There are some bows that aren’t meant to be symmetrical, but for ease… for now… bows should be symmetrical. Let’s head back to the carpenter and have him fix this. Oh… wait.”

Joe picked up the bow and pulled the string on it back to his chest. The shaft bent incredibly but did not break, maintaining its form without cracks. Master nodded then let the string back slowly.

“OK. Try to pull it. Let’s see if you have the strength.”

Zilnek nodded, eagerly accepting the bow. He grabbed it then looked up at Master with expectation, but Master shook his head.

“Just pull it for now. I’ll teach you correct stance and drawing later. Let’s see if you have the strength.”

Zilnek nodded again and mimicked Joe’s movements, holding the wooden shaft out in front of him before pulling on the string. Zilnek found himself shocked by how difficult it was, and he grunted as he pulled. He saw Master frown and Garnedell saw Zilnek trying to hide his fear, not wishing to disappoint Master nor feel Master’s disappointment for having failed Master. He tried harder but Master’s frown did not fade.

“Hmm… might be a bit too strong for you.”

“No, Joe. I can pull it back.”

Master smiled, “Maybe once or twice. Do it ten times in a row.”

Zilnek’s eyes widened at that but he settled in and began pulling and releasing, while Garnedell struggled to keep his own grin hidden, remembering Joe’s demand of him. By the time Zilnek got to three, he could already feel his muscles burning as his stamina evaporated from the effort. Zilnek almost stopped, but then remember Master’s training of pushing even with the loss of stamina and was able to pull twice more before the string slipped form his fingers and snapped back to the bow.

Zilnek looked up at Master cautiously, but only saw a soft smile, so smiled in reply, “I… have failed, Joe.”

Garnedell kept his own smile hidden, knowing Master would be forgiving of his actions and actually grinned when Master proved true.

Master grinned and shook his head, “You did not fail. You did about as I expected.”

Garnedell laughed himself, throwing a soft elbow into Zilnek’s side, “Joe did the same to me and I barely could do six or seven. It’s harder than it looks, right Joe?”

Master laughed, “Yup, but you will get stronger. Hmm… maybe we’ll leave it. We can … well, if you want to practice aiming, being able to shoot only five times every hour or so… that’s… huh… yeah… let’s weaken it a bit. We can get another one once you grow and gain in strength.”

Garnedell felt his heart swell at Master’s generosity and even noticed Zilnek’s own joy, touched by Master’s kindness. Garnedell was able to keep his exuberance soft but Zilnek was not, actually bouncing a bit and Master grinned to see Zilnek’s excitement over the gift of a new bow. Truly… I can only praise the gods and goddesses for my Master!

“Thank you, Joe.”

“Well, we gotta go back to the carpenter, but first… uh… here, let me see.”

Joe held out a hand and Zilnek turned the bow over to Master. He played with the string a few times, pulling and releasing it at about half strength before nodding.

“By the way, never pull and release the string without an arrow on it. It damages the bow, OK?”

Zilnek nodded again, making mental note of his instructions, “Yes, Joe.”

“Hmm… not bad… but… clothier? Clothier!”

Master turned towards the clothier shopkeeper once more and ordered another four sets of the string and a small pouch with wax paper. The clothier seemed nonplussed by the request for wax paper, but responded quickly, sending a runner out to get some before handing over everything to Master. Master then turned back to Zilnek, handing him the bow.

“Right. The string. You can tell how important it is. You must keep the string dry. That’s why the wax paper. You will want to make sure to keep extras as well. Keep the string wrapped well in wax paper and dry. Always dry. When the string begins to fray and get old, replace it with a new string. Depending on how often you use the bow and how long it has been, strings can last a year or two, if well made. But you will want to keep extras around as well as changing the string regularly if it gets old, frayed, or weak. Make sense?”

Zilnek nodded respectfully again, “Yes, Joe.”

“Any questions?”

He looked up at Joe, then asked with a small hopeful voice, “When can I use it?”

Joe laughed, slapping Zilnek softly on the shoulder, “You shoot bows. And you can use it after we stop by the carpenter and fix it. Let’s do that, then head back to the inn, OK?”

Garnedell smiled at Zilnek’s enthusiastic nod and both began following Joe as he led the way back to the carpenter where the two began rapidly discussing the issue of Zilnek’s new bow once again. This time, the carpenter welcomed Joe with more excitement, one which Joe shared when the carpenter took back Zilnek’s bow and began mana woodworking once again. The conversation went quite a bit faster this time as the carpenter seemed to understand the results and Master’s desire. The bow changed hands multiple times between the carpenter and Master then slowly began including Zilnek as well as he began attempting to ‘draw’ it, as Master said. Another new word from Master’s people and plane.

After a bell or two, Zilnek grew anxious to return to the inn even as Joe finished up the testing and checking, but he made sure to remain attentive and in the background. Their conversation wrapped up with polite farewells and requests for continued patronage before Joe finally turned to the two of them.

“Right! Let’s split. You must practice the bow.” Split? He will not train me?

* * *