Calumdril had noted the boy's hesitation. Well, it wouldn't be the first time a lad had flinched in the face of duty, although he was not like most other lads.
Calumdril thought of the typical bits of behaviour he had seen. Boys using frogs for targets in knife-throwing contests, watching the pinned frogs squirm and shudder before they expired. Or pinning down birds' wings and watching the birds struggle to escape. Or even cutting off the wings and then laughing at the bloodied, maimed bodies as they struggled to hop, then tumbling into a twitching mass of frantic pain.
No, thought Calumdril, this boy is not like those. Still he needs to understand how the settlement depends on this hunt.
Calumdril pulled his bow taunt and let the arrow fly. With luck, it would fall sure and sharp and the doe's pain would not persist.
~ ~ ~
The two, the boy and the man, stood mutely as spasms shot threw the doe and the quivering body slowly came to a rest. Calumdril watched the boy's face grow red and then pale white.
"You need two minds about it, Cuilad,' Calumdril said.
"You need to understand the moment and how to take the animal. And you also need to remember yesterday and tomorrow, those of your own kind who might be starving if they don't eat."
Cuilad turned his face away from the ranger, clearly upset with himself over his failure to shoot the doe.
Calumdril strode over to the boy and gently turned his face towards the ranger's.
"It was an honest and understandable mistake. Learn from it. If you run away and hide with every mistake, you will fail. But if you learn from mistakes, if you take their lesson to heart, you will be stronger, stronger than the loudest bully in the largest croup. Don't let them make you think otherwise."
Cuilad reluctantly nodded at the Ithilien.
"Come,' said the Ithien after a bit, 'let us track the herd more. And you can show me what you've learnt."
A breeze ruffled through the glade as the two prepared the deer for carrying back to the settlement. Then they went forth again, to find more. No one at the camp would go hungry for several days.
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