"Ready your bows!" Ella shouted from the end of the line as she faced her quintet of trainees. The five elves raised their recurves. They drew back the bowstrings creating tension in them. "And...fire!"
Four arrows whisked through the wind and lodged into tree trunks sending wood chips flying. The fifth arrow landed in parts unknown and Ella trotted to console its sender.
"Damn, if I was trying to hit air, I'd be a pro!" Robyn griped with a breath of frustration and a foot stamp as Ella entered her space.
Smiles and giddiness usually consumed Ella in the presence of her bosom buddy. Their parents were always close and Ella and Robyn would play together from the time they were pint size until now. They were still close to pint size but a little bigger than before!
Robyn was the one to coat her teachers' wooden chairs with tree sap and made it a point to do the opposite of what authority asked of her. Ella's attempts to sit in the branches and read paperbacks over the top of her tiny specs usually ended with Robyn goading her into joining in her antics. Both became familiar with lying bottoms up over the laps of nearly every parent and leader in the forest but neither would trade their moments of mischief for all the gold coins in the land.
As the years passed, Ella's intellect began to take over and she grounded her friend to the point she saw the value in learning more than new practical jokes.
Ella's prowess firing a bow and arrow and the fact she won every race through the trees and on the earth made it easy for her people to select her to train the other elves. In a world of humans, orcs, dragons, succubae, trolls, werewolves, were-tigers, Cyclopes, and every other monster imaginable, elves sat near the bottom of the food chain. This made Ella's job one where she lamented how little time she had to herself. Despite the importance of her title, she dreamed of the day she could call her own.
Being in Robyn's presence lifted Ella to a high and finding ways to include her in her day made things
almost
like old times.
"When you hold your bow, you might want to focus on your target not the poor fairies in the sky." Ella fought against grinning at how Robyn had a better chance at hitting a cloud than the tree ten yards away.
"Ugh!" Robyn slammed her bow to the grass. "Maybe I should do something else like...knife fighting? Pretty sure I can cut someone better than I can shoot an arrow!"
Ella waved a finger back and forth. "No, no, and no! I remember when you grabbed a dagger by the blade. You'd cut yourself before a seven foot troll right in front of you!"
"I was distracted that time. There was a hot elf that caught my eye. You can't blame me for that!" Robyn's lip curled towards the ground and her chin fell beneath the horizon. "I want to get good at something besides entertaining people. I don't want to run and hide if someone attacks us..."
Ella swiped Robyn's bow from the ground and grabbed a trio of arrows from the tree stump next to them. "Watch me."
Ella stood with her side aimed at the target and imagined herself nailing it. She notched an arrow, lifted the bow, and drew the bowstring back. An inhale and exhale later, she fired and pierced the tree in its center.
"You make it look easy," Robyn said, dejected in tone.
The sorrow in Robyn's speech colored Ella blue as well but what kind of person would she be to leave her like that?
Ella bumped hips with Robyn making her stumble. "Come on! Cheer up! Turn that frown around! I'm here for you. Try again."
"Okay..."
Ella swiped another arrow from the stump and handed it and the arrow to her friend.
Robyn brought the bow into position again with the arrow cocked at the ready. Her fingers vibrated and her breaths shuddered.
"Relax and slow your breathing. Focus on the target and let it fly." Ella wanted nothing more than for that arrow to hit the bark.
Robyn's chest puffed, deflated, and away the shot flew. She sealed her eyes and turned away.
"I can't look! Did I hit it?" Robyn asked.
Ella's lips stretched from ear to ear when she spotted the arrowhead jammed into the tree. At an angle towards the bottom of it. Near the ground. Still, it counted.
"You did!" Ella said with glee.
Robyn peeked through the hands plastered against her face and gleamed all her teeth at her discovery.
She leapt into the sky and ensnared Ella in an embrace that consumed the smaller friend in her elation. "Thank you, thank you!"
Ella caught her balance and squeezed her back as her joy became her own. "I only showed you what to do! You did it!"
"I couldn't have done it without you! We can celebrate tonight!" Robyn leaned away but stayed tight to her favorite person in the world. She rolled her shoulders and hips, snapped her fingers, and shimmied left and right while tapping her toes. Ella wished she had half of her friend's aptitude for rhythm and dance. Robyn waved Ella to join. "Come, do what I do like this..."
Ella watched Robyn's feet and attempted to mimic her. She made a gallant effort. If she could turn tripping and stumbling into a dance, she could woo crowds.
At least Ella got a couple of chuckles out of it as she wound down her lesson. "Hehe, okay, that's the best I have right now!"
Robyn was all grins, too. "Oh, this isn't over! You don't get that lucky. I saw you holding back laughing at me earlier and now it's my turn. It's my chance to teach you something but if I get a little revenge along the way, you can deal with it."
"Oh, whatever! I didn't actually laugh at you because the birds squawked away in terror during your archery class!"
"It's on now you meanie! I'll see you tonight!" Robyn's momentum took her out of Ella's aura prompting her friend to question her destination.
"Hey, wait," Ella said as she held her wrist causing her to halt her exit and look at her, "where are you going? Class just started!"
"It just ended for me. I want to go out on top! Besides, I'm going to the lake to bathe. I'm helping to prepare for this evening's festivities and no, you can't come. I don't swing your way."
"Aww, you don't want to try something different?" Ella teased with her jade irises off-center and winked.
"Eew! You know that I only date elves that have penises!"
"Are you so certain I don't have one? Do you want to check?"
Robyn tapped her shoulder, flipped, and walked away. "I'll pass! I'll see you tonight! Get ready to dance your butt off!"
Ella enjoyed their banter and wouldn't risk their friendship or sisterhood to go for more. That didn't change how much of a looker her friend was.
Ella sighed as she watched the brownish blonde mat of tresses that laid against Robyn's back vanish as she swayed like waves out of sight. Ella admired Robyn's ocean blue eyes and pink blush with matching lips. Ella had to lift her ogles a bit to meet her irises, which was uncommon when it came to most of their brethren. Her ears were longer and pointier than Ella's as they could almost be hidden when her emerald locks hung freely. Ella skin's tone was a few shades darker than Robyn's, which wasn't a surprise since her friend could probably blend into a snowstorm.
Some of Ella's hair dangled in front of her right eye and that addition to her allure was worth the minor annoyance. Her naturally gifted assets that caused her tube-like cloth top and skirt to struggle to contain them were especially something she was willing to deal with.
Not that it was all peaches and cream. A "special someone" or simply a fun time was absent from her life.
A couple hours later, the sun's imminent departure created an orange glow at the horizon as the dark blues and purples overhead represented the transition to night. Ella scanned every cranny of the forest settlement for Robyn but when she was not found, trickles of worry rippled into her soul. Bursting into Robyn's hut and inquiring around concerning her whereabouts proved equally fruitless.
Ella stood at the village outskirts, wringing her hands as rumbles settled in her gut, her thoughts churning. Stars were peeking into view and elders were lighting lanterns centered in the community. The brightness of the green tinge of their lights on the dirt prompted Ella to make a decision with haste. She glanced at the path through the ferns and cedars behind her and back at the village. She opted to find her rock, the one who was closer than a sister, too distraught to tell a soul her intent to leave.
Ella scampered the trail as the dirt crunched beneath her shoes. Pale blue moonlight lit her steps. Crickets chirped from the greens and owls hooted from the treetops. All the while, a thunderous roar emanated from her chest.
