Timestamp: 10th of Cylus, 722
Location: Kura's house, near the woods.
Kura pulled back on her bow, taking a deep breath before letting the arrow loose and sinking it into a tree. Cally was leaning against the back wall of Kura's cabin, her expression thoughtful as she watched Kura practice with her bow. The tree that Kura was aiming for was a good three hundred feet away from Kura's house, a decent distance for a longbow, but it was also stationary and didn't seem to be challenging the Albarech at all. In fact, the only thing she was doing was repeatedly sending arrows downrange. "All right, I'll bite. What's this doin' for you? I know that this range isn't hard for you." she said, her tone curious. Kura let out a quiet laugh as she took a few more arrows out of her storage box and put them in her quiver. Since she could only carry so many arrows in her quiver, she had brought out a box full of arrows to keep it resupplied for her practice, but even then, she had emptied half the box just plinking away at the tree.
"The range isn't the point." she said, letting out a huffy breath. "Archery takes both strength and endurance, and mine aren't quite what they once were. I've lost a lot of both over the past several decades, what with me and Rahmet having that argument of ours." she said, before shaking her head. "Dumbest thing I've ever done, that." she said, before taking a deep breath. She was already tired, after having fired off a couple dozen arrows, but that was the point of this exercise. Her strength had really dropped through, for her to be this tired, and she would need to regain it faster than she had been. "This is the point of this little exercise." she said, as she started pulling arrows and firing them as fast as she possibly could in her already drained state. Each successive arrow drained pulled at her already strained muscles, with each shot taken losing a bit of range with each fire. They were, of course, going all over her improvised archery range, but she wasn't even trying to aim at this point. The point was just to empty the quiver without stopping to rest after already having strained herself.
Her quiver was able to hold twenty arrow, and by ten, her arms were burning and she was losing range rapidly. By fifteen, her breath was coming in ragged gasps, and when she got the twentieth arrow out, it barely went ten feet before it flopped pitifully to the earth. Falling to lean against the wall of her house, Kura let out a hoarse breath. "It's not so much that my wind hasn't recovered well, I'm actually nearly back to where I was in terms of sheer endurance." she said, her breath indeed regaining it's normal quality pretty quickly. But when she held up her hand, her arm was shaking badly from the strain. "But my strength is not nearly back to what it used to be." she said, her voice showing her frustration with herself.
Cally gave Kura a surprised look, then nodded. "So you're trying to rebuild it. I see. I remember when we met, you carried me out of that building. From what I've seen, you couldn't do that now." Cally said, before looking down at her lightly glowing body. "Well, maybe. I'm not sure if I weigh more than I did back then or less. I mean, I'm certainly healthier, but I'm also a ghost, so I'm not sure if I actually have weight anymore." she said, her tone curious, getting a peal of amused laughter from her boss. "Well, I don't." Cally protested, her tone mild.
Kura nodded and waved her hand. "I don't know if you do either. And I'm not carrying you right now to check." she said, her tone cheerful. As her arms started to be useable again, she picked two more arrows out of the box and put them in her quiver. "Okay, last check of the day. Then we'll gather up as many arrows as we can and head inside." she said, before taking aim at the side of her house. Her aim was at an angle and she was focusing a lot more on her aim than she had been. Taking a deep breath, she loosed the first arrow, then immediately drew and fired the second one. Both collided against the side of the wall, and as might be expected, just bounced off it harmlessly. "Damn. Still need to be workin' on my archery as well, it seems." she said, an annoyed tone in her voice.
Cally tilted her head at those final shots as Kura went and picked up those arrows. "You used to do that, when you were first teachin' me. After I died and you got worse, you stopped. I never understood why you did it in the first place though." she said, her tone genuinely curious. She had already started out to pick up the arrows Kura had shot into or towards the tree, meaning that she was out of range before Kura could respond. Not that it stopped the ghost from talking of course. "I mean, you always take good care of your bow and arrows, so it never made sense that you would damage perfectly good arrows by shootin' them at walls like that." she said, before looking over at Kura as the mortalborn caught up, laughing slightly.
"If you were that curious about it, you could have just asked, you know." she said, her tone cheerful. "But I used to be able to bounce arrows off solid surfaces. Didn't work with most wooden surfaces, obviously, but metal or stone, I could bounce an arrow off of it." she said, grinning at the surprised look on Cally's face. "All that sleep deprivation that fight with Rhaum gave me drained me too much to be able to do it by the time I found you, but I used to use it to shoot around corners, shields, even hostages." Kura said, giving a slightly cocky smile that got an even more surprised look from the ghost. "What?" Kura said in response to the ghosts's look of shock.
"In all the decades now I've known you, you've never smiled like that. You taught your opponents, yeah, but you don't brag, really. More like you mock them. I've seen you growl, grimace, sneer, be smug, tease people, and generally, you look all serious and resolute. I've never seen you look cocky before." Cally said, her tone genuinely surprised. Kura's response was to give Cally a surprised look, then grimace slightly before frowning. "Yeah, see, that looks more like you usually do." Cally said, grinning slightly.
Kura laughed at that, then shook her head. "Have I really gotten that serious?" she asked, getting a solemn nod from the ghost. Kura shook her head at that, then let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose I was angry a lot of them when you alive. Angry at Rahmet, angry at Valtharn, angry at myself. Same for most of the time after you died." she said as she bent down to pick up the last arrow she had fired. "I'm not angry at Rahmet or myself now, though I suppose that's the same thing these days, in a way. Angry at Valtharn, yes, but not in the same way. It's not...eatin' me. But I guess I'm not like how I was when I was younger either." she said, her tone musing.
Cally, after a long, for her, silence while they walked back to the house, spoke up. "I've never heard much about what you were like when before we met. I've always been curious. Since it's Cylus and all, maybe you could tell me some?" she asked, her tone curious, but slightly shy. Kura nodded at once, though, getting a surprised look from the ghost. "Why not?" Kura said, smiling at her friend. "I've never been shy about my past, and Cylus has always been a good time for story tellin'." she said, her tone cheerful as she and Cally dumped the last of the arrows into the box and took it back inside the house. Once they were in the house, Kura changed into lighter and more comfortable clothing as Cally stoked up the fireplace in the living room in order to heat up the room.
After a moment, Kura came in and sat down, Cally sitting across from her as the mortalborn took out her pipe and filled it with tobacco and lit it. "So, how far back did you want me to start?" she asked, her tone curious. Cally thought for a moment, then nodded. "As far back as you feel comfortable." she said, clearly excited. Kura nodded and let out a soft laugh. "All right, but it'll be a long story then." she said, as the two settled in for the night. "I don't mind." Cally said, her tone sincere. "All right, then we'll start at the beginnin', then." Kura said.
Location: Kura's house, near the woods.
Kura pulled back on her bow, taking a deep breath before letting the arrow loose and sinking it into a tree. Cally was leaning against the back wall of Kura's cabin, her expression thoughtful as she watched Kura practice with her bow. The tree that Kura was aiming for was a good three hundred feet away from Kura's house, a decent distance for a longbow, but it was also stationary and didn't seem to be challenging the Albarech at all. In fact, the only thing she was doing was repeatedly sending arrows downrange. "All right, I'll bite. What's this doin' for you? I know that this range isn't hard for you." she said, her tone curious. Kura let out a quiet laugh as she took a few more arrows out of her storage box and put them in her quiver. Since she could only carry so many arrows in her quiver, she had brought out a box full of arrows to keep it resupplied for her practice, but even then, she had emptied half the box just plinking away at the tree.
"The range isn't the point." she said, letting out a huffy breath. "Archery takes both strength and endurance, and mine aren't quite what they once were. I've lost a lot of both over the past several decades, what with me and Rahmet having that argument of ours." she said, before shaking her head. "Dumbest thing I've ever done, that." she said, before taking a deep breath. She was already tired, after having fired off a couple dozen arrows, but that was the point of this exercise. Her strength had really dropped through, for her to be this tired, and she would need to regain it faster than she had been. "This is the point of this little exercise." she said, as she started pulling arrows and firing them as fast as she possibly could in her already drained state. Each successive arrow drained pulled at her already strained muscles, with each shot taken losing a bit of range with each fire. They were, of course, going all over her improvised archery range, but she wasn't even trying to aim at this point. The point was just to empty the quiver without stopping to rest after already having strained herself.
Her quiver was able to hold twenty arrow, and by ten, her arms were burning and she was losing range rapidly. By fifteen, her breath was coming in ragged gasps, and when she got the twentieth arrow out, it barely went ten feet before it flopped pitifully to the earth. Falling to lean against the wall of her house, Kura let out a hoarse breath. "It's not so much that my wind hasn't recovered well, I'm actually nearly back to where I was in terms of sheer endurance." she said, her breath indeed regaining it's normal quality pretty quickly. But when she held up her hand, her arm was shaking badly from the strain. "But my strength is not nearly back to what it used to be." she said, her voice showing her frustration with herself.
Cally gave Kura a surprised look, then nodded. "So you're trying to rebuild it. I see. I remember when we met, you carried me out of that building. From what I've seen, you couldn't do that now." Cally said, before looking down at her lightly glowing body. "Well, maybe. I'm not sure if I weigh more than I did back then or less. I mean, I'm certainly healthier, but I'm also a ghost, so I'm not sure if I actually have weight anymore." she said, her tone curious, getting a peal of amused laughter from her boss. "Well, I don't." Cally protested, her tone mild.
Kura nodded and waved her hand. "I don't know if you do either. And I'm not carrying you right now to check." she said, her tone cheerful. As her arms started to be useable again, she picked two more arrows out of the box and put them in her quiver. "Okay, last check of the day. Then we'll gather up as many arrows as we can and head inside." she said, before taking aim at the side of her house. Her aim was at an angle and she was focusing a lot more on her aim than she had been. Taking a deep breath, she loosed the first arrow, then immediately drew and fired the second one. Both collided against the side of the wall, and as might be expected, just bounced off it harmlessly. "Damn. Still need to be workin' on my archery as well, it seems." she said, an annoyed tone in her voice.
Cally tilted her head at those final shots as Kura went and picked up those arrows. "You used to do that, when you were first teachin' me. After I died and you got worse, you stopped. I never understood why you did it in the first place though." she said, her tone genuinely curious. She had already started out to pick up the arrows Kura had shot into or towards the tree, meaning that she was out of range before Kura could respond. Not that it stopped the ghost from talking of course. "I mean, you always take good care of your bow and arrows, so it never made sense that you would damage perfectly good arrows by shootin' them at walls like that." she said, before looking over at Kura as the mortalborn caught up, laughing slightly.
"If you were that curious about it, you could have just asked, you know." she said, her tone cheerful. "But I used to be able to bounce arrows off solid surfaces. Didn't work with most wooden surfaces, obviously, but metal or stone, I could bounce an arrow off of it." she said, grinning at the surprised look on Cally's face. "All that sleep deprivation that fight with Rhaum gave me drained me too much to be able to do it by the time I found you, but I used to use it to shoot around corners, shields, even hostages." Kura said, giving a slightly cocky smile that got an even more surprised look from the ghost. "What?" Kura said in response to the ghosts's look of shock.
"In all the decades now I've known you, you've never smiled like that. You taught your opponents, yeah, but you don't brag, really. More like you mock them. I've seen you growl, grimace, sneer, be smug, tease people, and generally, you look all serious and resolute. I've never seen you look cocky before." Cally said, her tone genuinely surprised. Kura's response was to give Cally a surprised look, then grimace slightly before frowning. "Yeah, see, that looks more like you usually do." Cally said, grinning slightly.
Kura laughed at that, then shook her head. "Have I really gotten that serious?" she asked, getting a solemn nod from the ghost. Kura shook her head at that, then let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose I was angry a lot of them when you alive. Angry at Rahmet, angry at Valtharn, angry at myself. Same for most of the time after you died." she said as she bent down to pick up the last arrow she had fired. "I'm not angry at Rahmet or myself now, though I suppose that's the same thing these days, in a way. Angry at Valtharn, yes, but not in the same way. It's not...eatin' me. But I guess I'm not like how I was when I was younger either." she said, her tone musing.
Cally, after a long, for her, silence while they walked back to the house, spoke up. "I've never heard much about what you were like when before we met. I've always been curious. Since it's Cylus and all, maybe you could tell me some?" she asked, her tone curious, but slightly shy. Kura nodded at once, though, getting a surprised look from the ghost. "Why not?" Kura said, smiling at her friend. "I've never been shy about my past, and Cylus has always been a good time for story tellin'." she said, her tone cheerful as she and Cally dumped the last of the arrows into the box and took it back inside the house. Once they were in the house, Kura changed into lighter and more comfortable clothing as Cally stoked up the fireplace in the living room in order to heat up the room.
After a moment, Kura came in and sat down, Cally sitting across from her as the mortalborn took out her pipe and filled it with tobacco and lit it. "So, how far back did you want me to start?" she asked, her tone curious. Cally thought for a moment, then nodded. "As far back as you feel comfortable." she said, clearly excited. Kura nodded and let out a soft laugh. "All right, but it'll be a long story then." she said, as the two settled in for the night. "I don't mind." Cally said, her tone sincere. "All right, then we'll start at the beginnin', then." Kura said.
