Page 34 of The Sun He Buried

He knows exactly what he’s doing.

“Again.” He carries the arrow back to the smallest girl in the line.

She takes it and frowns toward the target. “I missed.”

“You did.”

Her frown deepens. “By a lot.”

“Also true.”

“You’re supposed to tell me it was close.”

“Was it?”

The girl studies the distance between her arrow and the target. “No.”

“Then I’d be a terrible teacher.”

Two older boys laugh. Baldr points at them without turning his head.

“Both of you missed the entire target on your first round.”

“The wind changed,” one says.

“Between here and the target?”

The boy glances around the open yard. “It could have.”

“You may explain that to the fence you hit.”

The girl smiles. Baldr hands her the bow.

“Feet first, Runa.”

She plants them wide enough to survive a flood.

“You still need knees.”

Runa adjusts.

Baldr crouches beside her. He doesn’t move her arms into place. He holds his hands beside them, shows her where they should go, and waits while she copies him.

“Don’t fight the bow. Pull until your thumb reaches your cheek.”

She draws.

The arrow shakes against the string.

“Keep looking at the middle.”

Runa releases.

The arrow catches the outer edge of the straw and stays there.

I jump off the wall. “You hit it!”

Every recruit looks at me.