Peter and I walked back to the center of the field. He picked up the crossbow saying "For starters you've got to hold it properly you almost had it but even the slightest finger out of place can make the difference between a good shot and a bad one." I nodded as he put my finger in their proper place and pulled my arms to where they needed to be. He circled around me making sure that I was correctly holding the weapon. He frowned shaking his head. He walked up behind me and adjusted my shoulders properly while he was doing so a bit of my hair fell into my face. It always did that I liked to call it my lion mane when it was brushed it was fine but by the end of the day there would always be a huge knot waiting underneath it for me to brush out.
Peter came back standing to my side observing my arms and then looked at my face seeing the hair that had fallen out of place. He lifted his hand to my face and gently pushed it back behind my ear. His actions had me a bit taken back his gentleness was far from the version I'd heard about from the Captain. "Thank you " I said quietly.
And he just replied with "your welcome." which he also said in a quiet voice. He then cleared his voice "Well then I believe that you are ready to shoot."
He stepped back and I took aim and pulled the trigger. The arrow shot out of the crossbow and hit the edge of the target. A smile lit up my face. I turned to Peter "Now will you let Kia out?"
Peter nodded "A deal's a deal."
"Lead the way" I said as we walked back to the camp.
~*~*~*~
Peter opened the cage and Kia flew out and landed on my arm. I hugged him to my chest "Go and hunt come back here when you're full." Kia gave me a caw of agreement and flew off into the forest. Tonight Kia and I would escape.