The Forgotten Zodiac

L'arc stood up. "I'll help you find something. A Sylph bowstring would work well, right? I know what those look like," he said. He started digging around in boxes, beginning his search without waiting for a reply.

"A twined horsehair would work better, but Sylph would suffice. You know what's really effective? Humans use something called wire. Literally, it's thin metal string. I don't like those humans very much, but they certainly know how to make a weapon better..." Sylas snorted.

"Well, we won't find any 'wire' here." Aries chortled. "I still can't believe you left your bow at the palace..."

"I wasn't thinking straight." Sylas rolled his eyes.

"And that was partly my fault," L'arc murmured, sighing. "I'm still sorry. Let's find a bowstring!" he said, loudly enough for Quay and Gabe to hear. Without telling the rest of the group, the pair also set out to find a suitable string for Sylas, thinking it a fun game to open all the boxes in the cargo hold.

"Don't blame yourself for that," Sylas snorted. "Where'd you find the bow, Aries? Maybe the string is in there..."

"Here," Aries stood and opened the box she was sitting on. It was empty. "Well...no bowstring."

"Worth a try," Sylas shrugged, then decided to poke around a bit. There was a box with ropes that he had been sitting on, so he decided to search it for a bowstring.

"I found something!" Gabe declared suddenly, racing over to Aries and Sylas. He made his mother hold out her hands, and then placed a bit of thread into her palms. "Will that work?"

"Not quite," Aries smiled a bit. "Thank you for looking, though. We need something much longer, and thick. Like mommy's hair, almost," She held out a long clump, twisting it a few times to make it look like one piece. "But colored black, and a little longer. It might have little wooden pieces at the ends, too, shaped like hooks." Aries explained.

Gabe nodded and studied the example for a moment or two longer, before running off to aid once more in the search.

L'arc sighed, closing the lid on yet another box. "For as much as they use bows, you would think the selkies would keep an extra string lying around..." he murmured.

"I dunno." Sylas shrugged. "Maybe we could ask?"

"We don't want to be more of a bother than we already are," Aries tutted. "Manny, can I look in that box you're sitting on?"

"Yes," Manny nodded, standing up and helping Aries pry off the lid. It was a whole box of bowstrings. Shortbow strings.

"That's not helpful," Aries sighed after realizing they wouldn't fit the longbow she had found.

"Well, maybe they're on the bottom," L'arc said, digging through the box and sorting through its contents. "Gabe, you want to help me over here?" he called.

"Sure, yeah!" The little warlock trotted over at once, burying his hands in the cords.

"Maybe we can tie two of them together?" Manny suggested.

"That'll affect the tension." Sylas shook his head. "We can't do that. Any luck?" He asked L'arc, frowning a bit.

((This is exciting. /sarcasm))

(( ))

"Here! Here's one!"

Quay came running foreward with a string for the longbow, waving it around in the air triumphantly. He, of course, being the one who knew his way around the ship, knew where the bowstrings were kept, and had gotten one rather quickly. He had wanted to pick a good one, though, so that it wouldn't break when Sylas used it.

"Sweet," Sylas grinned and took the bowstring. "Thanks, kiddo. Here," He lowered the lid of the crate so Manny could sit again, then got to work on stringing his new bow. There were longbow arrows in a quiver already set aside; he had found them while looking.

When he was finished stringing it up, Sylas set up a target in one of the rooms, standing out in the hall in order to practice shooting. "Longbows are powerful," He explained to L'arc. "More powerful than what I'm used to. Accidents are almost always fatal. But you know me," He smiled. "I don't miss. No accidents." He notched an arrow and fired; the arrow not only hit the target square in the center, but it was driven in so far that the shaft was buried firmly in the crate Sylas had been targeting, almost all the way to the fletching. "See what I mean?" Sylas himself seemed surprised, at least a little. "Shortbows don't have this kind of close-ranged power. Longbows not only shoot further, but they're ridiculously powerful when aiming at something closer." He smiled a bit.

L'arc watched Sylas with admiration, watching in awe at the power of his shot. "Nice," he said, nodding and smiling. "Real nice."

Quay squealed and clapped. "Will you teach me? Will you show me how to do that? Eltie keeps telling me that I can't use a longbow, but I know I can! Can you show me?" he begged, running over to the human.

Sylas blinked in surprise. "N-no, Quay, it's too dangerous..." He said, then paused thoughtfully. He handed the longbow over. "Try to pull the string back. All the way, without an arrow notched." He insisted. For those unaccustomed to the high tension, it was hard to get it all the way back; Sylas had nearly misfired, himself. Letting the bowstring slip would cause the string to snap against the wrist holding the bow.

Quay strained and struggled with the string, letting out small grunts of determination. Finally, he managed to draw it back a fraction of the way and hold it there, arms shaking. "O-Okay, gimme the arrow," he insisted. "I'm ready. Gimme one!"

"Uh, no." Sylas shook his head. "You notch an arrow before you pull the string back. And I'm not giving you anything until you can pull that back all the way. Which...you haven't."

"Y-yes I have," Quay whined. "See? See how far back it is?" he asked.

Beside Sylas, L'arc could hardly contain his laughter. He covered his grin with an upturned hand, snickering softly and hoping Quay wouldn't hear.

"Yes, I see that," Sylas strode forward a step and gave the line a tug, pulling it back as far as it should have been. "But I also see how far back it should be. Nice try, kiddo." He relaxed the line, letting Quay try again.

Quay let the line go slack, rubbing his hand against side. "It hurts my fingers," he whined, looking up at Sylas with puppy dog eyes. "Can't you loosen it some? Just a little bit?"

"No. It's a long bow, not a compact one." Sylas pointed to the bowstring. "Does that look like it can be loosened?" It was looped directly onto a notch in the bow's wood. If the tension were reduced, the bow's power would be reduced substantially.