Solbright Games

“Easy, Tao,” Vasilius held his voice steady and low, widening his own stance slightly as he stood just behind his younger brother. He reached forward and gently adjusted Tao’s form with the bow, moving his brother’s hands into the correct position as he drew an arrow back and aimed.

“You got this. Just remember what I told you about pulling your arm back straight after you let go,” Vasilius continued, “and make sure you keep your eye on your target.”

Once he was confident that Tao was in the right stance with the correct posture, Vasilius stepped back slowly and allowed his brother to follow through with the shot. Tao took a deep, steadying breath and released the arrow. It shot through the air with incredible speed and trajectory, and within a fraction of a second, it had stuck perfectly into the wood of a tree - a tree which stood at least five whole paces to the left of Tao’s intended target. The frustrated younger Symprite sighed heavily and threw the bow aside onto the ground in defeat.

“I’ll never be good enough for this,” Tao muttered and kicked the dirt beneath him, his gaze lowered to hide the tears welling in his eyes. “You enter. You’re better at it.”

Vasilius walked past Tao to retrieve the arrow from the tree, trying to come up with anything encouraging to say that might help his little brother feel better. At the end of the day though, it was Tao who needed to learn. Vasilius knew that entering in his brother’s stead would not be an option.

“You know I can’t enter,” Vasilius reasoned, holding the sharp end toward himself as he handed the arrow back to his brother, “I have a record. This one is all you, kiddo.”

Tao raised his head and was met with Vasilius’ steely gaze. He knew that the only reason Vas had a record was because he had once resorted to stealing during hard times in order to make sure he and Tao didn’t go hungry, but he was caught and had gained a bit of an unfortunate reputation for it. Being orphans at the time, neither Tao nor Vasilius had much of a choice - but the negative record still followed Vasilius around, even years later. Tao couldn’t help but feel as though it was partly his fault, even though he was too young at the time to even remember it.

“But what if I’m not good enough?” Tao asked as he felt the familiar guilt of what happened wash over him.

Vasilius knelt down slightly and got down to Tao’s level so he could look him in the eyes. He put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

“Look,” Vasilius started, “I’m not our parents. I know they left us when we were little, and I know I haven’t been the best stand-in where that’s concerned. But you have a knack for this, and I know you love doing it in your free time. You’re as good a candidate as any - you just need to believe in yourself.”

Vasilius lifted his hand off of Tao’s shoulder and rubbed the back of his own neck absentmindedly, stressed and nervous that he wasn’t likely getting through to his brother. Tao looked up into Vasilius’ eyes, searching for any trace of doubt or patronization.

“You really think so?”

Tao’s eyes glittered with the encouragement, and Vasilius exhaled in relief.

“Yes. You’ve got a steady aim and great form. It took me forever to learn my form back in the day,” Vasilius admitted. “I was one of the last in my group to get a bullseye. But once I came around to learning, I was top of my class. You’ve already got me beat.”

Tao looked over at his target, which was a bale of hay with a slat of wood leaning up against it. The wood was painted with a red and white archery target. Tiny holes indicating where arrows had landed dotted the wood here and there, but the bullseye in the middle remained untouched. Tao’s heart fluttered when he thought about getting his first bullseye.

“I could be just like mom,” Tao mentioned quietly, not taking his eyes off the bullseye in the middle of the painted target.

Vasilius swallowed and actively suppressed the overwhelming need to say something negative in response to Tao’s words. Being the oldest of the two by a few years, Vasilius had always harboured a different sense of connection with their estranged parents than Tao did. It was difficult to speak about them without feeling some resentment, as Tao remained blissfully unaware of the hurt and abandonment that came along with speaking about family - something that Vasilius was hyperaware of, and wrestled with often. But Vasilius knew that his brother didn’t deserve the same pain that he had to endure. He wanted a better life for Tao.

“Or better,” Vasilius reasoned after a moment, biting his tongue and steadying the emotion in his voice as best he could. Picking up the bow from the ground, he handed it back to Tao, patting him on the back as he did so and gently turning him back towards his target.

Tao readied an arrow and drew it back, standing in a slightly more confident pose than before. He drew in a long, steady breath and held it while he lined up his aim.

“Easy,” Vasilius breathed and stood back, hanging on the moment as he watched his brother carefully.

Tao imagined his fingers painting a streak of war paint across his right cheek as he released the arrow and continued to pull his arm back in one fluid motion even after he had let go. His eyes remained locked onto the middle of the target, where his arrow rested perfectly within the center.

“I did it!” Tao exclaimed a moment later and jumped into the air, excitedly dropping his bow again in the process. He quickly turned around to hug his older brother. “Just like our moms, Vas! Maybe I can enter the Solbright Games after all!”

Vasilius hugged Tao tightly as pride swelled within his chest. He was no parent, and he had many shortcomings as a stand-in - but this moment was special. He felt it deep in his gut, and for a few short moments, his anger and resentment melted away.

“Just like our moms,” Vasilius repeated, remembering how both of their parents had once been Solbright Games archery champions, “I never had a single doubt.”

Vasilius smiled down at Tao, and Tao smiled back even brighter.

“Thanks for being my big brother,” Tao beamed.

“You’ll be great, kid," Vasilius responded, and for the first fleeting moment in a very long time, his heart felt complete.