[Training] Spring Forward, Fall Back

I am my mother's child, I'll love you till my breathing stops
I'll love you till you call the cops on me

Pleased, satisfied, a hum drew below her breath as the fire blazed and segmented one of the targets. A brief, illustrious inferno, and then it crumbled, shattered rocks and soil collected on the ground. She wished she could do it again and again, prove over and over how potent she was, how prowess had managed to seethe and sear into her bones, how she wouldn’t allow herself to be conquered, to be dissolved, to be pushed aside any longer. She wished it would last. At Jigano’s cry she snorted, but smiled, pulling at another arrow while he changed tactics. Truth be told, she’d never practiced quick shots one right after the other before; most of the time she waited to see if her first shot was accurate before flying another – it seemed wasteful, when she was only attempting to hunt deer or fowl. However, if there was an incoming enemy that didn’t stop, didn’t desist, would a series of the sharp, blazing munitions do the same? Could it cut down on a monster? Could it riddle her of a plague that much faster? “I’ll certainly try,” she boasted, the slightest smirk and snicker on her lips to insinuate she was kidding; except not at the same time (because the youth was determined, and convictions were set right into her bones, into her jaw, into her heart and lungs and soul). It would take more practice, as she felt unsteady loosening one arrow towards the line of targets, and then grabbing for another. It was meant to be swift and quick, rapid and firing, and she fumbled briefly – brows furrowing back to concentration. She notched the second, releasing, and then reached behind for the third, following the line of patterns, the feel of the string beneath her fingers. It lacked the initial precision though, and she knew he’d found a hole, a flaw in her training, that she’d never thought to correct or examine. M e l i t a But in our darkest hours, I stumbled on a secret power I'll find a way to be without you, babe