Life in Casa di Cavalieri had been rather interesting lately. There were new friends coming and going, a lot of chores to get done on a constant daily basis, and of course…her newfound love with Wayne. That man made feelings build up in her heart that she never knew were possible to feel. Just thinking about him made her squirm and giggle, the longing in her chest making her want to go find him right away. She couldn’t though; archery practice was a must if she wanted to be able to show any improvement to the alphas. At the moment, her new bow was still in need of some tweaking, but it was basically functional. It was also a lot smaller than the one she’d learned on at the festival with Saul, making the job of shooting much easier on her small body.
There was a rudimentary arrow holding strapped over her shoulder that held eight rough made arrows. The tips were carved from sharp pieces of limestone she’d found and collected near the hot springs on her little trip with Sebastian. Random bird feathers were fixed to the ends to help with balance and flying power. Over the course of the last few hours, she had practiced shooting on foot and was now on horseback. Duke was getting used to following more leg commands, as she needed to use both hands on the bow instead of the reins. The small target, shaped like a rabbit, was in a bare tree fifteen yards away from where she had her stallion trotting back and forth, wearing a path into the earth. There were twelve holes in it, and about fifteen marks from where the arrows had nicked it.
Dixie was just about to knock another arrow, after retrieving all eight, when she heard the soft sound of a howl coming from the fort. It sounded masculine, so she figured it was Jaz calling everyone to come discuss something important. Sighing softly, disappointed that practice couldn’t go on longer; she dropped the bow over her neck and looped one arm in as well. Deciding to practice more with the leg commands, she let her hands drop to her legs and nudged Duke with her heels three times. The small stallion snorted and jumped right into a smooth lope, understanding perfectly. Whenever she nudged with the right heel, he’d go right; left heel and he’d veer off to the left. Within ten minutes they were thundering up to the front steps of the fort.
After hopping down from Duke’s back, she took off his saddle and bridle, hefting them in both arms and kissing his velvet soft nose before striding in to the main room. The small woman’s white fur was dusty from the ride and she smelled of hard work and horse, nothing uncommon to the other Cavalierites. Looking around, she saw Wayne and skipped over to him, setting the tack down on the floor and then giving him a small hug. The end of Jazper’s speech was filtering through the air, but she got what he was talking about. Her love had also mentioned a few things about the Ichikan alphess, and the woman standing near Jaz fit the description. Yipping softly, Dixie jumped away from Wayne and scampered over to her Sole and the visitor.
Feeling a little bit shy, she smiled and bowed her head, ears pressed flat against her head and tail slightly tucked between her back legs. Thank you…fer takin’ good care of mah man over there. I really, really appreciate it. If you ever need anythin’, you know where ta find us. Ducking her head once more, she flicked her eyes over to Jazper and grinned before bouncing over to him happily. The bow was whipped from her shoulder and she held it out for him to inspect, squirming around in excitement. Jaz, Jaz! I made this all by mahself! An’ I’m getting’ pretty darn good with it, too. Wanna come shootin’ with me sometime? You will love it! Pulling her little piece of equipment back, she rubbed her hands over it gently and pouted a bit, It still needs some work…but I’m hittin’ a rabbit target well enough from a ways…and on Duke, too! We need ta train all the horses heel commands so we can fight with both hands from their backs, don’t ya think?
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