Archery II

"Nothing serious. This is supposed to be secret, but you should find out soon enough. There is a small meteor shower out there that seems to be coming at us, but it's nothing major."

"Oh. that's kinda big, do you guys have safety measures?"

"Nah, we plan to just survive it."

"Have you done this before?"

"Nope, we haven't had a meteor shower in ages. But we are strong people, I think we can survive this. The meteors aren't that big, but we need Alba and a few others to confirm it."

"Are you sure it's safe to tell us so much? I thought it was secret." Page asked.

"I'm sure it's fine, just don't tell Tatio about this. Don't even get anywhere close to mentioning it, just act like you never even heard me say it."

"You're being a little paranoid."

"He has secret skills we don't know about, but he can get information like no other. Please, don't mention this. I never should say anything."

"Don't worry, Hesl. we won't tell. I have a similar skill, I know my way around it."

"Okay, thank you."

"Why are you so worried anyway?"

"Many of us have slipped up and told terrible secrets before. They get horrible punishments, like washing the pits."

Zeeth looked a little repulsed, "What pits?"

"The pits that we dispose of our waste in. sometimes the kids miss the pits and someone has to clean the outsides, or it reaches our homes and really stinks. He's a good leader, but strict."

Just as he finished talking about the pits, Tatio walked back in and said, "guys, come with me. Hesl, you go meet with Alba and the rest, you two need to come to my place, we have a lot to talk about." he looked as calm as ever, but he talked rather fast. "Come, quick." he turned around and a small ring on his finger caught a glimmer of the light nearby, catching Zeeth and Page's eyes before he turned his hands around in front of him.

They followed after him and Zeeth asked, "What's that ring on your finger for?"

"What ring? Oh, yes, my wedding ring. It's a gift from Alba when we got married."

Page looked at Zeeth and pulled him back a little, "I don't remember seeing that ring before, do you?"

Zeeth shook his head and whispered back, "that sounded like a lie. He seems a little shaky, where are we going?"

"I don't know. I think the approaching danger shook him up. Don't worry, I think this should be fine."

"This ring helps me perform spells. You see, a meteor shower is closing in upon us and we want to be as prepared as possible. I just want to draw you away from where we think the meteor will land. Do you humans have any technology or knowledge that could help us out of this?"

"Actually, we have a few meteor rays propped up in some cities since not many people have the skill to destroy meteors. They aren't that big of a problem, but I don't think I can pull one of those out here. They are massive."

"I see. Well, come on in." he opened the doors to another small building. This one was old looking and the walls had stood the testament of time, cracks spread from the ground and sides making it look as if it would fall if a wind blew too hard against it.

"What is this?"

"Our guest house. It's old because we don't use it much, many of our guests go to fire training. Now, tell me more about the human world."

"Um, sure. What would you like to know?"

"Um, what are your latest technologies?"

"Ooh, ooh, can I go shoot arrows?" Zeeth held up the bow he had been carrying on his back. It was the bow he was using at the training area and he had brought me out with him. "Leia is right there, she can help me."

"Oh, um. I guess? Yeah, sure go ahead. Leia!" he called out to her from the doorway and she came over, "help this gentleman here with his archery. Don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything."

"Okay."

She led him to the training area but he stopped her and said, "actually, I would like to practice here. Near Page."

"Page and I have some talking to do. Leia, why don't you just have him practice on some of those dolls there? We don't need to lead him there, having them stay close would be good."

"Yes. okay, let's start with the basics…" her voice trailed off as Tatio closed the door.

Page was a bit confused and annoyed at what Zeeth was doing, why did he suddenly decide to leave now? He knew he had his memory erased but he hated seeing him so gullible. His memory of the great and powerful Zeeth was something of the past that he needed to restore with time. They had accomplished their goal of getting their fire resistance, he wanted to leave with as little trouble as possible as soon as possible. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Human civilization. What do you guys have? I'm just curious. I've always been interested, but I've been too afraid to leave this place in case something bad happens."

"Like this meteor shower."

"Yes, exactly. Thankfully, my wife predicts them to only hit us after about 30 hours, so we have plenty of time to set up our shields before they fall. So, about humans. What are your newest weapons and tools?"

"Right, a cool new thing that I came across just now was something called a Cycone…" as he spoke he thought that Zeeth leaving may have been a good thing. He didn't want to reveal anything too important, which is why he was talking about Cycones, and Zeeth might not get that and tell too much. He didn't even want to mention how to melt it using ice, he wanted to simply talk about its taste. Tatio thought it was fine to let him leave since Page, the son of a traveling merchant would probably be more knowledgeable.

Zeeth didn't actually leave just for archery practice, he wanted to leave and watch the sky for any meteors he might see. He wanted to think about what was going on, but Leia was leading him to a bunch of dummies made out of the red dirt and showing him how to shoot a target while moving. 'Ah, well it might not be so bad learning some archery while I'm here." so he got to shooting.

A few hours in and he hadn't even noticed how long he had been practicing for. Learning how to shoot an arrow in so many ways was too fun for him, he had never even thought of something like this before. And if he had, God wiped it out for him. He was still waiting for another memory. By the 5 hour mark, he was jumping off the side of buildings firing arrows at the dummies. By 8 hours, Leia was moving the targets as he jumped around, trying to only shoot their heads or wrists to increase the difficulty and by 10 hours he and Leia were shooting at each other. Of course, she was way out of his league but he had gotten to the point of being able to dodge her shots and that was all he needed to practice against her. She could shoot him easily with a bit more preparation, but she decided not to use her stealth just yet, he was still too much of a newbie. But his progression rate was monstrous, he picked things up like no one she had ever met before.

It was mostly because of his memory wipe, so he has a clear head ready to accept any new information, but his innate talent in learning was also coming through.

Page had been talking to Tatio the entire time, trying to avoid telling him anything too important they molded the metal with Loren. They didn't need Leia to motivate them, the incoming meteors did that for them.

At the fifteen-hour mark, Zeeth and Leia went to take a break from archery to watch the cannons and found 3 completed cannons as they worked on a fourth one. It looked just like the small one, but it was sitting on wooden holders that could change its direction and angle easily. Each cannon had two barrels, one for the north and one for the south since a magnet had to have both. They were all pointed at the sky and Alba was pointing at the sky, having some men move the cannons around as others tried to carry them.

The back had also been changed from a metallic lid to a wooden shaft that could be pushed into the cannon with the ball. Some of the balls had been altered to be sharp on one end, some were round balls and some were just large arrows with a plate at the back.