Skills

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." ~ C.S. Lewis

"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
Stopping by my usual haunt of the practice fields held a bit of surprise. Instead of the boys all lined up for their lessons, several Masters and Mistresses were there for a little target practice. Girlies against the guyses. I put 2 lizards on the feminine side as a wager. This time I had three so I was confident.Chay had one of those I was going to tell you something looks instead of that you are lucky I let you live one and Kam had that big arsed grin. Meta wriggled her fingers at me, lian smiled but kept busy filling quivers. Makes you feel all wanted.
Meta was whomping up on Master Saresh with a vengeance. You could see the pride written all over her. The Master on the other hand was not taking his defeat well. A missed shot by Mistress Chay no doubt had to be due to a crooked shaft. That woman could pierce a gnat's tush if she decided to but it would prove to be a lesson on skills as I watched her score fall a bit further. Though when her mate seemed to notice she was a bit off the mark, she slid her arms around his mid section and used his bow to hit a bosk eye. Straightened that shaft right out, I tell you. Enough in fact that they left not too long after that, but not before Kam called for some blackwine from one of the other girls. I fell in step with Maive and we served the old fashioned way ... in tandem with the vessel and drink first and the condiments second. I was a bit rusty and Maive bless her heart seemed to just glide into her spot like she was a natural even if the look on her face said ... I have NO idea what I'm doing.
It dawned on me though that since the boys were not at the practice field, that I didn't know where Me Too was. Master Rook was going to tan me if I lost him. He wasn't at the wagon, or at the clan fires. I got that panicky feel as I began combing through the rows calling for him. An old worn boot, blackwine mug and a cooking ladle sailing by later accompanied admonishments to be quiet and find somewhere else to be yelling before one of the Mistresses pointed toward the outer wagons. Well don't you know that boy was sitting on a fur at Master Gideon's fire like he belonged there. I went to fussing at him immediately for giving me such a scare. It provoked a tirade from the lad that made the worn out boot throw look like a pebble toss. He glared at me and shouted that I was not his mother and he did not have to answer to me, not to Cana and not to Master Rook either. The rest was silenced when Mistress Ula fwapped him up side the back of the head and told him part of respect earned was respect offered. The soothing tone of her voice turned to me asking me to let Cana know that Me Too would be at her wagon ... working off his disrespect. He may have begun to argue but all it took was just one of those looks ... you know the one ... from the Mistress and he sat down real quick and got quiet.
The old saying goes that great minds think alike but maybe I learned that it takes skills to think just different enough to make it all work.