The air always seemed dry in the Tower Training Yards. Even in the rain, it could feel dry. Perhaps that meant that it was merely in the mind of someone who had spent so much time in them. Leisha Gaidar was in the Yards on that afternoon, at that wide expanse kept for the practicing of Archery. It was one of those things that required much space, unlike other weapons. Standing beside her was the Gaidin Wil Tremain, who was often her practicing partner for her archery afternoons. He also would give her aid when he could in her practicing of daggers and the unarmed arts.
"Do you ever practice your staff these days?" he was asking as he stood beside her with his own long bow. Lei was also using her long bow, although she had learned how to use the differences between it and it's horse back brother to her advantage.
"Your long memory is a surprise to me sometimes, Wil," she replied as she pulled the string on her bow and aimed at the target, which sat about five hundred feet away, "I don't know if I have ever practiced with that thing since I learned it..." she loosed the arrow and pulled another, "I'm sure to have forgotten most of it by now."
She could hear his release on the string, "Why did you learn it in the first place?"
"And you're nosy, too," she laughed, pulling and aiming again, "I thought that it would be a useful weapon to me, if I were to be traveling often, however, I found that I never had occasion, nor desire, to utilize those skills or proceed further. I decided that I wanted to work on my archery more." Loosed...
She heard his string release again and lowerd her bow, turning towards him slightly with a half a smile on her face, "Does that answer all of your questions?" she asked, arching a bow.
He grinned at her, lowering back his bow as well, "Always, but you only answer about half anyways," he replied, "I am curious though, why the bow?"
Lei cocked her head slightly, thoughtfully, "When I first took Ellisande's class on it, it just felt right for me,"
"But it has its detriments,"
"I well realize that, Wil," Lei replied, "It's lousy for a close distance weapon. It's not just lousy, it's impossible once your target is in close range, but at mid and long range, it's very useful. The Long Bow has a good range and penetrating force, and although lesser in both, the Horse Bow you can fire from horse back," she listed off.
Wil nodded, "That is true,"
"It's one of the few weapons that you can use on an approaching enemy. You can't throw a sword to keep an attacker from getting too close," she paused, "Well, maybe you could if the sword were balanced that way and you were bloody strong and bloody lucky..." she added thoughtfully, "But the bow is versatile in any situation where you have distance. It's really the only main disadvantage that I've ever found," she said as she began turning back to start firing again, "And I have dagger and unarmed training to make up for the rest."
She pulled another arrow then and slipped it in to her bow, aiming and firing with a speed that increased with the large amount of practice that she was putting in to it. She fired another with the same speed before she stopped and lowered her bow once more.