An arrow for my Bow
For day 2 of @glimbowweek: Meet Cute. This was slightly inspired by the scene where the bunny loses the arrow in the animated Robin Hood and then it diverged.
Bow ignored his two older siblings. They were supposed to be babysitting him, but it was apparent that they didn’t want to be. He’d already gotten what he wanted from the arrangement anyway, so if they wanted to be idiots it was none of his business.
He aimed the toy bow towards a tree and released the arrow. It fell short by a long way. It only took him ten paces to retrieve it, then he turned around and walked straight back to the starting point to go again.
“I touched the fence. That makes me the winner,” his brother was crowing smugly.
“Nu-uh!” His sister refuted, “You didn’t go inside, so it doesn’t count.”
They were the oldest of Bow’s siblings who remained at home, but that didn’t make them immune to their father’s rule of avoiding princesses. They’d dragged Bow to Brightmoon to play “who could get closest to the castle”; but neither of them had dared enter the grounds, even with the incentive that the winner got a favour from the loser.
Bow wasn’t interested, he was more than happy with his bow an arrow: the bribe they’d given him in exchange for his silence on what they were doing. When he got home, he’d have to feign disinterest in the weapon, librarians didn’t need weapons after all, so he was going to make the most of it now.
“You’re shooting way too low,” his sister critiqued, having torn herself away long enough to check on him.
Sure enough, the latest arrow only made it half way.
“Try pointing up a bit,” she advised.
Dutifully, Bow grabbed the arrow and aimed as instructed.
“Not that hi-“ her warning came too late as Bow loosed the arrow, and it went sailing high into the sky.
It went down far beyond the fence.
“It’s not our fault you lost it, so you still better not talk,” she chirped up, instantly on the defensive.
“Aren’t you supposed to be going in there anyway?” Bow asked, hopefully.
“Like Mo is brave enough to do that,” she rolled her eyes, “just find a way to entertain yourself.”
She turned back to Mo and challenged him to get the arrow.
“It’s your turn. I touched the fence,” Mo retorted.
Bow sighed. He really did want that arrow back and it didn’t look like either of his siblings were going to help. What were the chances of running into a princess anyway?
*
Bow had been searching the undergrowth for some time when suddenly something fell from the sky with a loud thump. For a second, he thought it could have been his arrow coming untangled from overhead branches, but it had been too big and loud for that. Also, there were no trees near that spot.
He wandered over to investigate and found a pillow laying there. He started to look up, to see where it had come from, but before he could, there was a poof and a girl appeared. She landed hard on the cushion.
“Ow!” She grumbled and then seemed to spot him, “hey! Stop judging me! I was only a little off. It’s my first time teleporting that far down.”
She scowled up at him and, given how small she looked, it was kind of cute.
She scrambled to her feet and dusted herself off with a sigh.
“I’m usually better at it,” She insisted and then seemed to notice his owlish expression, “who are you supposed to be anyway? I don’t know you.”
“You’re a princess,” Bow acknowledged, gulping.
He was going to be in so much trouble with his dads for this.
“Duh. I asked who you were, not who I am,” the princess pointed out.
“I’m just… My arrow,” He held up the bow in explanation, “it came in here and…”
She waited for him to finish, but he didn’t.
“Do you know where? The grounds are huge, so it’ll be hard to find and I can’t help. It’s not going to be long till mum notices I’m gone.”
He shook his head, “I thought it was here, but I’ve been looking for ages already.”
He’d visibly begun to relax as she talked.
“I can just grab you some from the armoury instead. I’ve already got quite the collection of weapons,” She looked so proud, but it was hard to take her seriously when she was a head shorter than him.
“Oh, you have a toy archery set too? Are you any good?”
“Toy?” she scoffed at the notion, “I can hook you up with a real bow and arrow. Hang on.”
In a blink, she was gone again.
“Glimmah!?” A shrill voice sounded from in the castle, “Did I just hear you teleporting? You’re supposed to be grounded!”
“Mum! I’m trying to go to the toilet!” The girl could be heard yelling back, “I’m still learning to aim my teleports!”
“Then walk, Glimmah.”
A few seconds later Glimmer returned, weapons in arm.
“Here,” She presented them to him, “that was so embarrassing. I ended up in the kitchen instead, which is way too close to mum’s throne room.”
“Thank you, Glimmah.”
She cringed, “actually, it’s Glimmer. My mum is the only one who calls me Glimmah.”
“Oh. I’m Bow,” Bow introduced.
Glimmer laughed.
“You’re kidding right? Like a bow?” She indicated the weapon.
“I guess,” he shrugged, “I don’t have anywhere to keep this.”
“What about at your house?” Glimmer frowned.
He just shrugged.
“Oh! I didn’t realise!” Glimmer looked shocked, though Bow had no idea what she’d just worked out, “you can keep it hear and come over anytime. Mum won’t mind.”
“Glimmah!” The queens voice sounded from directly above, “Why aren’t you in your room?”
“I have to go. Just hide them in the garden when you’re done and come use them whenever. I’m sorry about your home.”
With that she disappeared.
Bow wanted to asked what about his home had her apologising, but it was too late.
He didn’t get a chance to practice as he knew his own family would have noticed his absence, so he hid his arrows against a tree and ran for the entrance.
*
Sure enough, when Bow came out his sister was going frantic.
“Bow! Where have you been? Mo! I found him! He’s here!”
Mo was on the phone and seemed just as agitated, “we found him, officer.”
He hung up quickly and rushed over.
“Are you hurt? What happened?” he questioned.
Bow was surprised by the attention, “I just wanted my arrow…”
He broke off sheepishly.
There was a beat and Mo started laughing too hard, earning worried looks from their sister.
“Great, you broke your brother. I hope you’re happy,” she sighed, “where’s the arrow then?”
Bow shrugged.
“I’ll get you a new one, just don’t tell George or Lance that we lost you,” she bargained.
“It’s fine, but I want to come here next time too.”
“Fine. I guess you do get a favour win the game after all.”
17 notes
·
View notes