(Would suggest listening to My Rose by Peder Helland)
(Achillean's POV)
Achillean opened his eyes and yawned. His eyelids felt heavy, he wanted to go back to sleep so bad... He and his friends had hung out at the meadow all day yesterday, leaving him exhausted. He slowly sits up and stretches, and crawls out of his bed.
Walking over to a chest, he opens it to find a few apples still left over. Achillean grabs one and starts munching on it to quell his growling stomach.
They had played many fun games in the meadow yesterday: shark, hide and seek, tag; they even managed to find small flat stones! Normally the adults didn't allow the younger ardoni to skip stones on the ocean water near shore, since it scared the fish away. But, they were more than able to skip stones on the meadow's pond!
They had been trying to see who could throw their stone out the farthest. With a good underhand throw, the stones flew over the pond. They all had watched as the flat stones skipped and hopped over the water, leaving ripples in their wake. In the end, Tealeon had won the game. He had a good throwing arm!
Finishing his apple, Achillean walks out of his hut preparing to walk to Master Aegus' cave. Once he steps out of his hut and pulls the vines down over the entrance to his hut, he turns around and gasps in surprise! Ingressus was standing patiently, ready to go. He looked more awake than Achillean felt.
"I-Ingressus, you're up early! Wow, you gave me quite a scare!" Achillean said.
Ingressus smiles. "I didn't mean to scare you. So are you ready to go?"
Achillean smiled, Ingressus was obviously excited. As promised from the previous day, Leora had spoken with a few other Nestoris and had gotten permission for Ingressus and himself to do spearfishing today.
"Yes I'm ready, have you already eaten breakfast?" Achillean asked.
Ingressus nods. "Yeah, Master Aegus left snacks on the shelves."
Achillean and Ingressus start following the gravel path they were all too familiar with, the same path they would take day after day to get to the stone pier they always fished on. But today they wouldn't have to walk as far out.
"So have you ever tried this before?" Ingressus asks curiously.
Achillean shook his head. "No, this is my first time like you. I've always watched others do it. But like Serena said yesterday, it has to be hard."
"We won't know unless we try!" Ingressus says.
Achillean smiles. "You're never this awake when we leave to go to the pier."
Ingressus gives him a confused look and slightly smiles. "I have no idea what you mean."
Achillean laughs. "Come on! When we first start the day, there are times you start to doze off and nearly fall off the pier!"
Ingressus scratches the back of his head. "Yeah...well, this is something new."
Achillean gives a humorously offended face. "Are you saying I bore you?"
Ingressus laughs at this and lightly elbows Achillean. "That's not what I meant. But Leora did have a point, all we do is sit all day. It would be nice to do something different."
Achillean and Ingressus walk out of the trees and see the gravelly beach of the spearfishing shore. Looking over, they see Leora facing the ocean, spinning her spear around slowly.
"Good morning Leora!" Achillean calls over. Leora turns around, still slowly spinning her spear, and the handle lightly hits her on the side of her face.
"Ohhff. Good morning to you too!" Turning her spear so the blade was facing towards the sky, she turned around and faces them.
"Glad to see you weren't late! I was starting to think I'd be kept waiting! So let's get started!"
Achillean and Ingressus walk over till they are near the water. Off to the side are two other spears in the sand with smaller blades.
"Welcome to the spearfishing shores, here the water is much shallower and the fish swim really close to the surface. So first things first I need to see your stance. Try to do as I do."
Leora's left leg shuffles forward, while her other one goes back, giving her a wide stance. Taking the spear, and holding it over her shoulder as she gets into a poised stance. "Now you both try."
Achillean and Ingressus both copy Leora's stance. "Hmm not bad. Now let's see how your balance is."
Achillean gives her a questioning look. "Balance?" he asked.
Leora nods. "Yes, when the ocean tides are coming in towards the shore they will make your body move. But you need to be able to stay as still as you can. If your shadows move over the water too quickly, the fish will take notice and swim away. Alright, now in the water you go."
Achillean and Ingressus walk into the water until the water reaches their waist. They both get into the stance Leora had shown them, and wait...
Sure enough, small tides were coming towards the shore. When the waves passed by them, Achillean could feel the small waves sway his body, making him move.
They wait a bit longer as the wind picks up, this time a bigger wave comes towards them. Achillean tries to stay as still as he can, but the force of the wave pushes against him and he loses his balance and falls backward into the water. He quickly stands back up and spits out some saltwater that got in his mouth. Achillean looks over at Ingressus in his stance, looking as still as a statue. Obviously, he had better balance and the wave didn't seem to affect him much.
Leora walks over and picks up the other two spears, walking over to Achillean and Ingressus in the water, she hands them each one.
Stepping back to give them some space she continues with her lesson. "Alright, so you're familiar with the stance and now you know what it feels like in the water. Now, your job is to remain like that while you wait for the fish. When the fish swim near you, wait until the right moment, then swiftly stab your spear into the water! With any luck, you'll have a fish on the end of your spear!"
Achillean and Ingressus get into the stance with their spears in hand. The blade at the end was small enough it didn't add any extra weight to the staff. But the spear still felt strange in Achillean's hand.
Both young ardoni wait, standing in the stances, making sure to stay as still as they could against the waves. Soon it was getting harder for Achillean to hold still in the stance as his arm grew tired holding the spear above his shoulder. Ingressus however, didn't seem tired at all as he concentrated on the water.
Achillean looks down at the water. He could see the sand and the rocks on the bottom move with the waves. He could also see his shadow reflecting on the ocean's surface.
Minutes passed as they waited quietly. By now Achillean's arm was starting to shake, and soon his arm would give in. Looking off to his left, Achillean spotted a small fish and watched as it swam closer. Achillean tenses his muscles as the fish swims closer and closer...
As quickly as he could, he stabbed his spear into the water. Bringing it back out, he looks at the end of his spear, just seeing the blade. He had missed. Looking down in the water, no fish were near.
"Don't worry Achillean, even I didn't get it on my first try," Leora says encouragingly.
Achillean looks over at Ingressus, who was still focusing on the water. Ingressus' eyes narrowed as a fish began to swim towards him. Achillean could see him slightly tense up. Then in the blink of an eye, Ingressus stabs his spear into the water.
Achillean blinks in surprise. Then is even more surprised when Ingressus pulls his spear out of the water, with a fish wriggling at the end!
"Woah! Nice job Ingressus!" Leora says in amazement. "I must say I'm impressed. Your stance is very steady, and your reflexes are really quick! You sure you've never done this before?"
Ingressus shakes his head as he walks over to the shore, and takes the fish off his spear, and puts it in a bucket. He walks back out until he is waist-high in the water, and gets into the stance once again. Achillean gets back into his stance and tries to focus this time. If Ingressus could do this, so could he, he needed to stop doubting himself.
Concentrating on the water, Achillean waits. Willing himself to stay as still as he could against the waves. A few minutes pass, soon another fish swims nearby. Achillean tenses as the fish nears him, then he stabs his spear into the water.
Bringing his spear back up, Achillean sees a fish on the blade. He had done it!
"Nice job Achillean, I knew you'd get it!" Leora says. "Soon you both will be able to come here and work sometimes, instead of always going to the pier."
Leora grabs her spear and walks a little ways from Ingressus and Achillean, giving them a good distance from each other. All three young ardoni spearfish the rest of the day. With Leora catching more than both of them. However, Ingressus was able to catch quite a few, while Achillean had only managed to catch 15. But he felt he was getting better with each fish he caught!