Welcome to Sealantis

chapter 2: swift as the coursing river (oh wait they drained it)

"Higher!" I barked, swatting Edward on his glistening bicep with my petite hand. "You want your arrow to hit the target, not Andy!"

He nodded and raised his bow slightly, drawing the arrow back to his cheek as I'd taught him.

"Now adjust..."

He tossed a glance back at me. "How do I adjust?"

"Well..." I drew out the word as I contempondered his question. (Contemponder is totally a real word, by the way, though you'd never believe where I learned it from: A fox! See, it was a dreary morning, and I found this burrow with a watch and dog col-)

"Well?" Edward prompted me, interrupting my contemponderings.

"Right...." I said slowly, trying to remember what we were talking about.

"Right!" He veered his bow to the right, and Harry looked up in distress.

"Oi, mate, not me! Left! Ya cheeky bugger!"

I was to his left. This was no good. "Stop. Just stop, okay? Close your eyes for a moment."

Edward did as he was told.

"Imagine there's someone with a delicious meal in their hands," I began.

Edward nodded. He licked his lips, and a bit of saliva dribbled down his chin.

"That meal is supposed to be yours, but they're about to take a bite if you don't shoot it out of their hands."

His jaw clenched at the thought of losing a delicious meal to someone else. "Right. I want the delicious 3 pound hamburger. It's mine."

"You feel that tingly sensation creeping up your shoulder blades? It's dying to guide you, correct your aim, ensure that you get that burger. Allow it. Let your shoulders guide you, and your elbows reassure you. That's your burger. Claim it. Shoot it out of their hands!"

And with a twang, Edward let his arrow fly true and straight, puncturing the tree straight through the middle.

I raised an eyebrow at Edward, who had drooled a considerable amount during that exercise. "See? You're a natural. Let your instincts guide you."

He wiped his chin and nodded. I went on to save Andy from dying at the hands of the very incompetent Harry.

"I'm 'bout ta need a cuppa in a minute if this cheeky bugger doesn't stop swattin' me soon!" Harry complained. He tried to hide his British accent most of the time, but in high-adrenaline moments like these, he tended to let loose with the most ridiculous, thick British accent you could ever imagine.

"Andy, go fetch Harry a cuppa. We can't have his British accent getting folk's attention while we're on a stealth mission," I ordered. And so I won't have to babysit while saving the world, I added mentally.

"What do you mean by stealth mission?" Andy asked, her golden eyebrows disappearing under the mop of curls she called her bangs. "We're a bunch of kids heading to the government with weapons. This isn't going to go over well. I thought we were playing pretend, like Denty does with me!" She picked up a stick and pretended to fight an invisible enemy. She did a pretty good job keeping up a defense while getting a few slashes in, too.

"Look, right now, we're in our training montage. We're gonna figure out the rest of the stuff... later."

"Yeah," Edward called, retrieving his arrow for the dozenth time. "I'm actually getting the hang of this shooty mctooty thing!"

Andy facepalmed. "Fine, I'll go get your stupid tea! Back soon."

The golden frizz of her head blended into the dappled sunlight of the forest around us as she frolicked away, but I kept watching her. She was just going to get in our way. At least this way, I don't have to worry about her being a casualty.