Chapter 150: A Worthy Stage.

The rest of the draw went by, and when the line was gone, the examiner turned and clapped his hands once. "Alright, all of you, follow me, and be damned quick about it." His gaze swept over the four lines. It passed over me, lingering for only a second. "Those of you not in your uniforms will find them there." He pointed to the second room on the left. "The rest of you, follow me. Those in the first match had better hurry. We have five minutes before we start, and we are late enough as it is." Then he was walking toward the farthest room in the back.

The four lines slowly began to follow. Everyone in my line seemed to be in a great hurry to get as far away from me as possible. Everyone but one.

"And here I thought I'd have to wait. What's the word again? Fortuitous?" Sharon Nox smirked. "Of course, it's not so fortuitous for you. You'll be the first person eliminated. I expect that will be rather embarrassing."

The girl wasn't even trying to hide her intentions, then. I did not know what strange fascination these Nox siblings had with me or with Vaelin, but I wanted no part of it if I could help it. "Hey, I don't know what your problem is, but it has nothing to do with me," I said. "How about we just compete like normal?"

The girl frowned. Then the frown turned into a sneer. "You're even more disgusting than I thought you'd be, Hero," she said. "I'm going to have fun with this." I blinked. That… that was very much not the reaction I had hoped for. "Maybe you can try pulling out that fancy sword of yours. You'll be disqualified, of course, but at least you'll have some dignity left." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's what you deserve, for carrying that-" She stopped. Her mouth closed so hard I heard her teeth click. Then she turned and stalked off to join her brother, who waited a few feet away.

I watched her go in silence. Vaelin did not say anything. Which was surprising, I had thought he would react to this, for some reason.

Violet and Damian joined me a second later. "What did she say to you?" Violet demanded. "Didn't hear it, but I bet it was nothing good."

"Indeed it was not," I said.

Violet frowned. "The hell's her problem?" I did not have an answer to give her when I was busy wondering the same thing.

"I'm going to go join everyone then." Damian looked at me. "Just be careful. She's bad news. Remember what happened at our registration?"

I nodded. It wasn't like I could forget. The girl's Gift was… memorable. "Good luck," I said. "It might be too late to say it later."

"Break a leg, rockboy," Violet said. "You better not lose in the first round. That would be embarrassing."

"I don't plan to," Damian said confidently, standing at his full height. Was it just me, or had he gotten slightly taller? He had always stood a little over me, but the difference felt more pronounced today. "I should be saying that to you two. You've already managed to make one enemy, and we haven't even started."

Violet rolled her eyes. "That one wasn't even my fault, rockboy." That was not quite how I remembered it. I decided not to mention it right now. "Besides, we're all in a tournament where we want to beat the hell out of each other. It'd be weird not to have a few enemies."

That much I could agree with, even if I would have rather my enemy wasn't quite so… fixated.

"Well, good luck, then. Let's all do our best," Damian said. And then he was walking away, joining the last of the people following the examiner.

Violet grabbed my arm and began pulling me to the side. "Come on, Esra. Hurry up. I don't wanna miss a second of anything!"

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The room on the left was long and narrow. Shelves ran along one wall, stacked with folded uniforms. The same dark tunics everyone else wore, in what looked like a dozen different sizes. I found one that would probably fit me. Violet grabbed one for herself, and we each claimed one of the dozen stalls lining the far wall.

The uniform was a surprisingly comfortable fit. The fabric was soft, and it moved easily. It was somehow both flattering and loose at the same time. Compared to the dress I had walked in wearing, it was downright freeing.

I stepped out of the stall and eyed myself in the long mirror set against the wall. A pale girl in dark cloth looked back at me, her hair pinned away from her face. I looked like a warrior. Or at least, I liked to think that I did.

Only some of that was tarnished by the makeup Anias had so carefully painted on this morning. I considered wiping it off, and decided against it. If Anias found out, she would be annoyed. She would not say she was annoyed, of course. That would somehow be worse.

Violet stepped out after me. She slammed the stall door behind her, walked over to one of the benches, and leapt over it, flipping forward and landing on her feet with only the slightest of stumbles.

"You know, it would be extremely embarrassing if you got knocked out before your match just because you hit your head," I said. She could do a front flip? I hadn't known that. Where had she even learned something like that?

"I'm just pumped!" Violet said, punching the air in front of her. Two quick jabs. "I can't wait to get my hands on some people. And especially that girl. Gonna chop her right down to size."

While being in a group with Sharon Nox was not ideal, I now suspected it was infinitely safer than being in a group with Violet. All I could do was say a silent prayer for everyone stuck in a ring with her.

Violet turned and looked at me, and she froze mid-punch. She blinked, and kept staring. "What?" I asked. I turned from her and back to the mirror. I looked perfectly fine. "I think I'm wearing it right," I said.

"Yeah," Violet muttered. "A bit too-" She shook her head, and smacked both of her cheeks, one hand for each. Then she stabbed forward and grabbed my arm again. "Come on, come on. What if they started!"

They had not yet started. We stepped into a room almost twin to the one where they had made the four groups.

One entire side of it was a wall of weapons. There were swords and spears, axes and maces, bows and shields hung in racks from the floor to well above my head. Nearly all of it was untouched. In that whole great wall, I counted maybe four or five empty spaces.

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Most of the children stood clustered near the back, where the examiner was forming them into a line before a massive black gate. Damian stood somewhere in the middle of that line. He caught my eye across the room and nodded once.

Two girls stood a few feet from us, whispering.

"You're really not going to pick a weapon?" one asked.

"What am I going to do with a toothpick?" The other girl snorted. "I'm not one of those Giftless."

That, I supposed, was why the wall stood so full. The weapons were plain steel. Not even Magical Implements. And what good was a sword to someone who could simply shoot out a fireball? The weapons were here for the off chance that someone Giftless might take one up and win anyway. Beat the blessed with nothing but steel and mana. It was one of the stranger traditions of the King's Tournament, and on its face, it was almost absurd.

Though perhaps not so absurd as all that. Aziah Storm had stood in a tournament ring once with no Gift and no Godblade, and beaten my father with what her two hands could hold.

I moved toward the wall. I could not use Vaelin. My Gift was supposed to be a secret, and even setting that aside, it did not let me shoot out anything as useful as a ball of fire. I would need a weapon.

I could feel eyes following me as I walked down the section hung with swords. Most of them were too large for me, or the pommels felt wrong in my hand. I picked one up anyway. A slender thing, almost a rapier, the kind Sere had been practicing with. I shook my head and set it back.

"She's really gonna just use steel?"

"Almost makes me feel sorry for her. Maybe that red sword got to her head."

There were more murmurs, of course. I ignored them. Violet stepped in next to me. "I'm gonna use this," she said loudly, reaching for a giant warhammer. The only one they had.

It was a crude black thing, without a single line of ornament on it anywhere. The haft was thicker than my arm, and the rest of it was taller than Violet herself. I strongly suspected it had not been hung there with the junior division in mind.

"Huh, this thing is heavy," Violet muttered, hefting it free. "It'll do."

There were more whispers at this. They only got louder as Violet took a few idle swings through the air. "You're not going to use your Gift?" I asked her softly.

Violet shrugged. "If I have to. Don't think I'll need to with all of these losers." I winced. I had been quiet. Violet had not. She had, in fact, been so loud that half the hall was now staring at her. And naturally, that included the very tall girl, who was glaring daggers. "Besides, I think it's goddamn arrogant not to have a backup even if you have a Gift. If they're good enough for soldiers, they're good enough for a bunch of godsdamned kids."

That got even more mutters and looks. Violet was… well, she was Violet. I could not help but notice that just about nobody was looking in my direction anymore. Nobody whispered about me either. Some small part of me could not help but wonder if that was on purpose. Or if perhaps I was simply trying to find sense in madness. Either way, I distinctly noticed some of the other children drift toward the wall and pick out weapons of their own.

Hopeless. Vaelin murmured distantly.

She's not that bad, I answered back.

Vaelin only answered with a grumble.

I reached out and took down one of the swords. The most normal-looking sword there. It was plain steel with a simple crossguard. It was also the only one whose weight and balance were the nearest things to Vaelin.

Vaelin stirred at the back of my mind, and I got the distinct impression of offense.

Relax. Nothing is replacing you. My wrist gave its dull little twinge as I tested a swing.

"Stop your chatter," the examiner called out loudly. The great gate behind him slowly groaned open. It let in light, and sound. There was a great deal of both.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Lords and Ladies, you've all waited more than long enough! It's time to give you what you came here for. The first round of stage one of the Aelheim Junior Division Qualifiers!" the announcer's voice cried out, the same voice from before. I admired the man. That was quite the mouthful.

"Come, come," the examiner said. The great doors had opened onto a wide flight of stairs. He stepped aside, hurrying everyone who had drawn red up first. They climbed, and only then did he wave the rest of us through.

We climbed toward a growing sound. The single long flight of stairs opened up into nothing but light. I squinted and held a hand up in front of my eyes as I crested the top stair, and the sight was almost enough to take my breath away.

I had thought this place not so impressive, but I had judged it from high in the stands, looking down. Now I was looking up from the bottom, and the entire place was almost absurdly large. Even the closest stands were only blurs, and I had no hope of making out anything past them.

And the sound of it. Twenty thousand had felt like a small number when I had only read it on a page. I saw it now, in row upon row upon row, and understood just how large it truly was. It had been a long time since I had felt nerves. I felt them now, and it wasn't even my turn!

Worthy stage. Vaelin murmured distantly.

I looked to my right. Violet was standing very still. Maybe the sight of this many people was enough to make even her hesitate. That would be nice. To have someone I could share my unease with-

Violet was grinning. Or perhaps she was snarling. No, it was something perfectly in between the two, the kind of expression only Violet Indri could make. She had told me once that she wanted to be an adventurer. I suspected tournament fighter might soon become a very close second.

A dozen feet ahead of us rose a massive stone ring, raised above the ground. The children of the first group were climbing it by a short set of stairs at its edge. They gathered up there, spreading out across the stone, and the rest of us watched from the grass below. A dozen examiners crowded the ring from every side. No doubt to step in if things got 'too far'. On a small pedestal a dozen feet to the right, stood the announcer, Magical Implement in hand.

"Now, folks, while our brave fighters take their places, let's go over the rules one more time!" the announcer called. "Ten fighters enter the ring. Only three will leave it as qualifiers! A fighter is eliminated the moment they surrender, the moment they can no longer continue, or the moment any part of them touches the ground outside that ring!" He continued on. I ignored him, and the crowd.

I looked towards the booth, far above to my left. I could not see a thing from all this distance. My father was sitting there, watching me. Sere was there too, doubtless she was drawing all of this. Would she give me a very big head even here? And Cordelia would be there too, her hands folded in her lap, her posture perfect. They would all be watching me.

"-and now, a few names you'll all want to keep your eyes on!" The announcer's voice called out again. "In this very first match, we have the second son of House Everstand! You all know the name, folks. His elder brother is none other than the Moonlight Blade himself, one of the youngest men ever raised to the King's Guard, Ser Cassian Everstand! Give a warm welcome to Damian Everstand!"

The crowd roared. Twenty thousand people, cheering their lungs out for a man who was not even in this city. I did not need my Gift to see Damian's hands clench. He never liked talking about his brother. And so I had never asked.

"Then we have the little sister of Aelheim's very own Pink Gale, the adventurer Darion Falke! Let's hear it for Mira Falke!" The Pink Gale was an A-rank adventurer, and one of the most popular adventurers in the city. A pink haired girl in the ring raised her hand and waved at the crowd as it cheered again. She was Mira Falke then, if the hair did not make it obvious enough.

"And then we have the third son of Lord Vesscher, young Roland Vesscher!"

House Vesscher was a minor house under House Greenward. The boy himself was tall and well built, and he waved at the crowd with the slightest flicks of his wrist. He turned, and looked in my direction before he turned back towards the crowd. Had that been my imagination, or had he looked my way?

"And of course," the announcer went on, and I could hear the grin in his voice, "there are even more names in today's rounds that I am quite certain need no introduction at all! Patience, folks. We will get there!"

The rest of us stood at the edge of the grass to watch. Violet's fingers brushed my right hand. "Be careful. I mean it. Don't think I didn't notice when you swung that thing." She gestured at the sword in my hand.

"I will," I said. I had thought she hadn't noticed.

Up on the ring, the ten fighters had spread apart, each claiming their own stretch of stone. Damian stood near the far edge, and got into a stance. A stance I had never seen him take before. His feet moved wide apart, and he held both arms out wide.

"You better not lose, rockboy," Violet murmured beside me. I nodded, and silently wished him the same.

"AND… BEGIN!"