There was walnut wood over there? Oliver followed the centaur's gaze, toward what was apparently walnut wood. Cool.

The centaur was saying a lot of words. That was usually the point in the lesson where Oliver stopped paying attention. But he actually paid attention this time. Mostly. The talk of bows was pretty cool. And Olly was excited to make his own. It was a rite of passage for centaurs, and he felt kind of honored to be included in something like that. Did it mean he would officially be a centaur? Ahem, no. But it was still cool.

He went over toward where the centaur had motioned earlier. Toward what he believed to be walnut. If that was the wood his wand was made of, it made sense for it to be the right wood to make a bow out of. Right? Right. Olly picked up a piece of wood and brought it back to his spot. He put one end of the wood on the ground, and held the other end carefully. Okay, it was time to press against the middle. But what if it broke? It was very nervewracking. Olly squeezed his eyes shut as he pressed against the middle of the wood.

...was it broken?