Melantha had noticed the increased hustle and bustle in the city that day, and decided to ask a trinket vendor about it.

“Oh, you haven't heard yet? The king hired some experienced mages a while ago to summon heroes to defeat a prophesied evil that will be soon overtaking the world. It has been announced that the summoning was successful and he has declared there will be a great festival to celebrate. There is even talk of a grand banquet possibly being planned for during the festival to officially present the heroes.”

“Is that so? All of the citizens must be so happy and grateful for those summoned. What if it turns out they can't help avoid the prophesized disaster?”

The vendor laughed. “Why would the king hire people to summon useless heroes? Moreover, it makes little sense that Mora would allow such an important ritual to produce useless results.” Mel remembered from the culture lessons that was the name of the kingdom’s deity of destiny. It was one of her priestesses who delivered the prophecy that resulted in all those people being summoned. “She may seem cruel at times but all things happen for a reason.”

It was Melantha’s turn to snort. “Sure… I heard that they summoned a whole lot of more people than the heroes they're telling people about. Why would they summon so many people if they had as much faith as you in only getting people that can help?”

“Even if that's true, Miss, Mora surely knew and accounted for that. No matter how chaotic and out of control your life feels, find comfort in the knowledge she gently holds all our fates in her hands. She turns a blind eye to no person or creature.”  The vendor handed Mel what looked like a simple locket without a chain as if offering to her as a gift. “And no one is useless in her benelavant eyes.”

***

Melantha wandered around the festivities, enjoying the performers sprinkled throughout and the vendor wares that were clearly specially for the event. The city hadn't been particularly somber before, but it was noticeably more energetic and joyful now. It was fascinating to her that just widespread deciding that a day was special would cause such a change; no matter the culture or world, it was the same.

If Mel stopped for a moment to be honest with herself, she was partly trying to distract herself from her conflicting feelings. On the one hand, it was almost like this festival was to celebrate her since it was being thrown in honor of the successful summoning that had brought her into this world. On the other hand… Mel had gotten a good sense that the general population were only aware of the few summoned that were accepted and agreed to become the kingdom's heroes. The celebration of those few made her feel like a shameful secret for those who summoned her. One of the failed summons they didn't want to admit to. As she walked, she heard a slight commotion up ahead.

“Fifty-six bullseyes for my son's hand in marriage!” A deep voice bellowed in a joking tone.

“Dad! Why would you say that? Even as a joke.”

“Come on, Steward… No one would take it seriously enough to require I uphold such a deal if they win it. And if they do, at least you know they fancy you. Considering you can't seem to find a spouse on your own, you'd at least be in a better position than you are now.”

“You still can't be offering your kid as a prize for an archery event! It's weird…”

The young man's father chuckled. “Well no one seems to want to give it a try. I've got to sweeten the potential prizes however I can.”

A number of people in the crowd near the conversation seemed to be getting entertainment from the interaction but it hadn't seemed to have prompted anyone to step forward or try the challenge. Mel decided if no one else was going to, it wouldn't hurt to at least check it out. She hadn't ever tried a bow before but she understood the general concept and it wasn't uncommon for summoned people in stories to discover a high level talent after coming to the new—to them—world.

Once she'd made it through the crowd a bit, she saw a few targets set up in a fenced off space and a longbow with a quiver ready to be used at the closer end. “Excuse me… I was wondering if I could give it a try…?”

The older man turned to her. “See? I finally got an interested person. And she's quite a lovely young lady as well. So you won't have to feel too upset if she's actually talented.” He grinned at his son before directing his words towards Mel. “It's fifteen coppers for a chance with ten arrows. The more bullseyes, the better the prize…”

Mel grins. “You were just shouting about a prize for fifty six bullseyes. How is someone supposed to do something like that with only ten arrows per a chance?”

“Obviously, every bullseye earns you another shot. You just pay for the first ten.”

Well… time to see if Mel had some sort of undiscovered talent for archery. She handed over the coins and readied the bow to shoot. When she pulled the string back, it took less effort than she'd have expected given what she knew about the weapon. She lined up the arrow towards the target and….

It completely missed all of the targets. The arrow had managed to go directly under the target somehow. Mel corrected to aim higher with the next one and it ended up in some bushes to the side. Getting frustrated, she pointed the next arrow more towards the opposite direction.

What happened next transpired so quickly that no one person could have known all the various parts of what actually happened. From Mel's perspective, she released the third arrow and then couldn't figure out where it had gone. It hadn't ended up in the target.

Anyone who had been closely watching said arrow’s path would have seen it fly between two boards in the fence and into the alley behind it. And a moment after there was a loud scream that sounded like a child.

Considering the direction and timing, Mel rushed to investigate. She hoped she hadn't accidentally hurt anyone… it was just supposed to be a bit of fun. She hadn't even cared about any sort of prizes she'd evidently not win based on her non-existent skills.

If one had gone back only a minute before Mel had released the arrow, they would have seen the entirely unremarkable event of someone bumping into another person in that same alley. There hadn't been many people around but the area wasn't very wide so it wasn't anything odd to bump into someone when trying to walk past in the narrow space.

The unusual thing was after they finished walking past each other, the smaller figure just barely avoided being hit as an arrow shot in front of their face. They gave out a scream and the arrow embedded itself in the wall, managing to pin the person's sleeve in the process. At the scream, the person they bumped into obviously turned around. But instead of helping them, the sight they saw caused the person to pat at their own hip instead.

He hadn't even noticed the pickpocket taking the coin purse that they now held in the hand pinned to the wall slightly. It was likely at least a one in a billion shot.

Of course, no matter how impressive the shot, it wasn't like a single arrow pinning some clothes was enough to hold the pickpocket for long. But the pause from fear of almost getting shot was enough for their would-be victim to catch them. Which is exactly what he did, grabbing the arm that was free of the arrow’s grasp first.

And that is the scene Mel witnessed when she got into the alley to check out the scream - a grown man holding captive a child. “What do you think you're doing?!” The man seemed to stiffen at her voice.

“This child is a thief, my lady… it was only due to a well timed arrow that I was able to catch them after they stole from me. I was just about to bring them to the city guard.” He had turned more towards her, still holding onto the pickpocket’s wrists so they couldn't get away, and Mel realized she recognized him.

“...Nyx?”

“At your service, Mel.” Nyx gave a slight bow of the head.

Melantha just started laughing. It was clear her archery skills were so lacking that she wouldn't have won any prizes from the challenge and yet, here she had snagged a much better prize with one of her arrows. “I'll come with you to turn in that child to the city guard. Afterall, I'm the one who shot that arrow which helped you catch them.”