The Sorting

19 - A Sorting Gone Wrong

I myself had chosen climbing a tree as the appropriate method, but laying in ambush also didn't sound so bad. As long as I had a chair to smash into males' heads.

"And then?"

"Then the males will start searching for the females. Normally there are some who get tackled by the females laying in ambush or the ones that fall from trees. It is more or less like a mix of playing hide and seek and tag."

That description sounded like a lot more fun than the arenas on the Isles were. I hadn't played either of those games since elementary school.

"Here they come", Lena announced, as the first few females, all dressed in white winter clothes, came out of a big one-story brick building. They weren't confused like I had been the first time I had been thrown into the chaos, but they ran like they had a purpose. From where we were sitting, we had a great view of where the females headed to. More and more piled out of the building and it was impossible to single out Zara in the masses. A lot of females climbed the trees close to the edge of the woods, one even buried herself in a pile of snow, while a good number continued to run into the deeper parts of the forest.

It was funny to watch how they all found spots to hide or go into ambush, one just plainly stood in the middle of a clearing, not searching for any cover at all. But it got really interesting as a second door in the brick building opened and the males shot out of the room they had been in like bullets. Some seemed to know exactly what, or better who, they wanted, and they didn't even bother looking at the masses of footprints as they followed their nose.

The first female that let herself fall on a male from a tree had me a bit surprised. She didn't seem to take any consideration of injuries on both of them into account as she literally fell on top of his head. The male was quick to turn around and break the fall. Even from the highest point of the bleachers I could see his satisfied smile.

Another male further back in the forest was trying to pull a female from between two bushes, but a good number of well-placed snowballs had him backtrack quickly. And hold his crotch.

"This seems like more fun than on the Isles", I mentioned as a female got a snowball into her face. "I mean beside the slight aggression."

Lena pressed out a laugh. "Ha, yeah. Fun. Totally."

A glance into her face showed that she was fighting with some of her emotions, but I couldn't tell which. There was something she didn't want to tell me, and I wouldn't be pressing her to. Everyone deserved their secrets.

"Look, there's Zara", Lena pointed out and I followed her finger to a clearing where a tiny female was throwing snow at a male who seemed very convinced of getting close to her. I couldn't make out Zara's facial expressions, so I couldn't tell if she wanted him to pursue her or not.

The male lunged forward and Zara delivered a spectacular roundhouse kick to his chest.

"That is impressive", I breathed out. "Where did she learn that?"

Lena shrugged. "She took some martial arts classes in Mountain Springs a year ago. I think she also won some competitions."

That I had not expected from Zara the pixie. I turned back around to continue to watch her. By now the other male had disappeared and Zara stood on the clearing with her hands on her waist, breathing heavily. And then she was hit in the back by a snowball.

Zara whipped around as fast as she jumped at the dinner sometimes, but she could clearly not spot anyone. She lifted her head a little higher and it looked like she smelled the air. Then she cocked her head in a confused gesture.

Before she could even make another step forward or backwards, she was hit by another snowball, this time straight on her butt. Again, Zara whirled around, but she seemed to be as clueless as me. She and I had no idea where the person throwing snow at her was hiding at.