Free By Chance Met by Eresse Page A

though Rohyr was aware of the youth’s existence and his current position in the Arthanna household.
    Rohyr was surprised when he showed up at the Citadel archery yard with Naeth in tow. But that surprise swiftly turned to interest and eventually mild amusement once he noticed Naeth’s earnest displays of adoration for Reijir and discerned Reijir’s equally earnest determination to ignore said displays.
    Reijir still did not know why he’d decided to take Naeth along when he’d only just begun training the youth in the use of bow and arrow. There was no way Naeth could have participated in the informal competition that took place every week’s end among the Essendris.

It had become the custom among Rohyr’s kinsfolk to join him for practice bouts when they were in town. Indeed, Reijir learned his archery skills in the Citadel yard, honing his inborn talent to a mastery seldom matched, much less bested, by his peers, even Rohyr who was a formidable archer in his own right.
    Even more impressive was that the Essendris were practitioners of yuda , the Naeren style of archery that was now little more than legend in most of Aisen save in the westernmost continent of Khitaira and the border nations of its neighbor Lydan. There, the ancient martial art had been faithfully preserved.
    But in all the Vihandran supercontinent, only in Ylandre could Naeren-style archers or yudare still be found. And even then, it was only members of the royal family and the great fief-lords and select companies of their armies’ mounted archers who carried on the nigh forgotten tradition. Thus it was always a treat to watch the scions of House Essendri when they came down to the Citadel archery yard for a morning of target practice.
    Their garb alone was eye-catching, rooted as it was in the distant past and steeped in formality and tradition. Loose, high-waisted, pleated trousers of generally dark and sturdy fabric were worn over plain, short-sleeved, thigh-length tunics, long thin breeches and soft leather boots.
    Their bows of hardy evergreen and the employment of them added to the yudare ’s mystique. Virtually as long as its wielder was tall, the yuda bow was raised high then steadily lowered as it was drawn until the arrow came to rest below eye level. And whereas the common Deiran archer drew his bow only as far as his cheekbone, a yudar held his drawing hand behind his ear while placing his feet outward at an exact angle for balance and holding his back as straight as possible to prevent the bowstring from striking his face upon release.
    Precision was a hallmark of the yudare , even when they were mounted and speeding past or toward their targets. So accurate were the best among them that they could demoralize entire armies and throw them into confusion by picking off their leaders in swift succession. In the turbulent times before and right after the Inception—that period
    of facilitated racial evolution when the newly arrived Naere deliberately bred with the males of Aisen’s native race, the gelra—the sight of a full company of yudare on steedback had been enough to sow apprehension among the military officers of the opposing camp and even reduce some to panic and craven retreat.
    In any case, the rarity of yudare served to draw avid onlookers whenever and wherever a bout of Naeren archery was in the offing. The weekly gatherings at the Citadel were not an exception. And as Naeth had never yet seen Reijir engage in yuda , it was no wonder the youth spent the morning in wide-eyed, tacit hero-worship of his guardian.
    He’d stared quite gracelessly when Reijir strode out first of his cousins onto the field in a stark white tunic tucked into dark blue-grey trousers. From then on, his gaze had seldom strayed from the Herun even when the others appeared—Rohyr accompanied by his half-brother Dylen and his leman, Lassen Idana, Keiran typically resplendent in brighter-hued trousers, Rohyr’s orphaned cousin and royal ward, Shino