“All right, we’re finally here,” Kronno said, breathing in a deep intake offresh air. It’d been a while since she’d taken anyone to her old stompinggrounds, and even then she didn’t stay very long. Sentis had mentioned wantingto improve his aim, so she felt it best to drag him all the way out the meadow.
Where her hive once stood was now a pile of rubbish anddebris, though with how quickly everything grew in the meadow, it was nearcovered with grass by now. Despite being there for a lesson, Kronno couldn’thelp but stare at the old pile of dirt and ash and be taken back to so manysweeps ago. Casually, she wondered if her father was still alive, or if he wasstill looking for her…Ah, well, this wasn’t the time to think on it. Sentis,who had no idea what this meadow was, had been busying himself a ways away in asmall clearing. The meadow was more surrounded by a forest on either side, andKronno had taken it upon herself to create a makeshift shooting area forherself nearby it. It was convenient as a kid, when she’d cut away all thegrass and set up the targets with her father.But now it was nearly over run with weeds and the like. Nostalgia made her achejust a bit, but seeing Sentis in the midst of the grass—that brought her a bitof comfort. It meant that even though her old world was now gone, the newaspects of it were still thriving. For now she brushed off the thoughts andcame over to him, who had been inspecting the targets hung about the area.There were a few in the trees up ahead, and some were pinned upon make shiftstands.
“Okay, the first thing you should know about shooting isthat closing one eye doesn’t work,” she said, grabbing the gun from herholster. “You aim with both of your eyes. If you have one of them shut, youraim is going to be way off.”She took aim at one as she spoke and acted as if she was going to shoot, butdidn’t.“Like that.”Sentis fluttered his fins curiously as she told him this, and he looked to thegun in his hand. It felt heavier than he thought, which wasn’t much, but it wasstill a little strange for him. “Aight, I guess...”And so, he aimed his gun as she’d said, though at a closer target, and pulledthe trigger. There was a loud pop, which surprised him enough to jump—but theknock back of shooting the pistol had got him even more. The gun came back andhit him in the face, right between his glasses. He cursed loudly, feeling blooddrip down his lips. It wasn’t much, he’d just bit his lip, but he was stillsurprised by it.“Oh—Baby—“ Kronno tried not to laugh, at fault for not warning him about thekick back, and came to him to see how bad it was.“Are you okay?...”“GOD—DO I LOOK OKAY?”“You look fine to me, yeah…”Sentis sneered at her a bit before sitting down in the grass and putting thegun on safety, before putting it aside. She joined him soon after, at his sidenow so she could wipe away the blood on his face and shirt. He looked at Kronnowith narrowed eyes, amazed his glasses didn’t break. He wanted to yell at her,but having not seen her in a week or two, he really just took the moment hecould to admire her.“…Hey, can we just sit here a minute?,” he asked after she finished.“Oh—yeah,sure, if you want to…”With that, he grabbed her, pulling her into his lap in the middle of theclearing. This was better than training for now.