"Of all the places you wanted to go for your birthday, you chose this place?" Crowmaster asks Corvus as they were handed lanyards with large cards reading the words "VIP ROYALTY" on them with a picture of a red and black clad knight on the back of a rearing horse. "I didn't know you were a theater fan."
"My parents used to take me and my younger siblings to these, I remember wanting to actually get a job here when I was little." Corvus responds as he leads his two friends to a line with mats labeled "VIP" on them with several other people behind them. "I think you guys would love this."
"I'm sure it's as entertaining as the commercials make it look." Gren says as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check for any new messages. Nothing, save for a notification on his emails from the pet store about deals on food but that was it. His last message from Amaya was about twenty minutes ago before she told him she had to head into work.
"Someone seems distracted." Crowmaster comments and Gren quickly shoves his phone back into his pocket. "Who was it, your landlady?"
"Uh...no I was just checking to see what time it was." Gren says quickly and pulls his phone out again. "The show starts at six and we're pretty early."
"This place requires the guests to arrive early so they can have time to get to their seats, have pictures taken and buy souvenirs." Corvus explains as they start to walk into the building where two female employees were handing groups various decorated paper crowns. "Okay stay together now."
Once Corvus handed one if the women the tickets and showed her the VIP badges, she handed them three blue crowns and pointed to where they should go. Gren was wondering what the purpose of the crowns were until Corvus explained that they were to show what area of the arena they were going to be placed at, six different colored crowns represented the six areas where the viewers would be sitting at, and in their case they'd be seated in the blue tables.
They were soon led to a green screen room and allowed to grab some prop swords and shields to have their pictures taken and handed them back to the employees before being led to a large courtyard where people were waiting for the show.
"My parents apparently got us front row seats, so that means we're going to be super close to the arena." Corvus states with a grin as they walked inside the building where a crowd was waiting to be allowed inside. "The first three or four rows get little ribbon banners in their cups to wave when they cheer their team on, so we're going to be on the very first row that's close to the arena."
"So this means we get a better view?" Crowmaster asks. "I heard that sitting in the third row is better because you can see better."
"You have a better chance of getting a flower thrown at you depending how good the knight's aim is."
The doors were soon opened and the crowd began to make their way to the doors. Gren stayed close to his friends as they made their way through the arena to the tables painted a soft blue with blue spotlights pointing at them. He could see that they were practically right across from the doors where the horses and their riders would emerge and there was a large balcony with a throne on it. Six different shields were laid on the walls depicting the colors and symbols of what he could guess we're the kingdoms each rider was playing from.
Once they were seated in their row and in their seats, a waiter came by to take their drink orders before loud music began to play. The doors of the arena opened as a silver haired woman emerged riding a horse draped in teal blankets with pale blue trimming walked to the center of the arena and waved to the crowd.
"Ladies and lords, young children of all ages! I am am lady Lujanne of the kingdom of Lunaris, right hand of queen Maria and host of the tourney you are about to watch!" The woman announced as she turned her horse around to gesture at the audience. "Today you will witness the six champions of the kingdoms Katolis, Duren, Neolandia, Lux Aria, Windspire and Everdeen, your kingdoms, to win the title of champion and serve at my queen's side. Please welcome queen Maria and a Lord Viren from Katolis!"
The audience erupted in cheers as an elegantly dressed woman dressed in a flowing blue gown with a silver crown seated on her head and a man dressed in black robes with a large staff in hand enter the balcony and bowed.
"It is my great pleasure to be viewing this tourney, and thank you Lujanne for hosting it." The woman said and gestures to the crowd. "It is such a pleasure to see the members of the kingdoms of the six champions who are here to witness their victories. I do hope you enjoy this tourney as much as I do. And while we watch, let the feast begin!"
The waiters from earlier began to walk through the rows with a large pot tucked under one arm and began pouring warm soup into the large metal bowls placed on top of the dinner plates in front of them.
"Uh...where are the spoons?" Gren whispers to Corvus as another water walks by to pour water into their tankards.
"There are none." His friends responds casually. "You eat with your hands."
Gren looks down at the bowl of what he could guess was tomato soup and grimaced. This was probably a bad ideas, considering how the small programs printed on the napkins stated they were going to be serving small roasted chickens to the audience along with cooked potatoes and corn.
"Just ask for extra napkins or wet wipes if you need to clean your hands." Crowmaster suggests before the dark robed man announced that they will be introducing the six champions and to cheer for their designated champion. "Oh we're the blue table, that means we cheer for the knight dressed in blue, right?"
"I think so." Gren says as the man announces the first knight. Out of the doors burst a beautiful white horse dressed in gold and red blankets with a woman dressed in similar colored armor and galloped around the arena before stopping and being announced as Janai of Lux Aria.
"And from the flowering kingdom of Duren, we have another brave woman who stood forward to be a champion!" Lord Viren announced before a dark grey horse dressed in blue and gold blankets burst out into the arena. Something about that blue and gold clad knight was familiar. As the woman rode her horse to the blue table area to wave at the people sitting there, Gren let out a startled gasp. Was that Amaya?! "Presenting, Amaya the shield of Duren!"
Gren was pretty sure that same woman was Amaya. The familiar dark hair that poked out from her helmet and that small scar on her right cheek were all too familiar to coincidentally belong to another woman. Did she see him? Four more knights on their horses, Soren of Katolis, Kasef of Neolandia, Eris of Windspire and Peter of Everdeen soon followed and now stood side by side with people dressed in tunics sporting the kingdom colors and welding the flags with their respective knight's symbols.
If the blue knight rides by again or comes close maybe I can see if it really is Amaya? Gren thinks as the knights disappear back into the stable with the other actors before a dark haired woman emerged leading two grey horses into the arena. She mentioned that she worked with horses, so maybe it is her? Probably doesn't have her phone with her so I can't ask. Gosh of all the places I had to see her again, why here?
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[Hey, you okay?] Amaya sees Sarai sign at her with a concerned look on his face. [You seemed distracted when you came back into the stables.]
[I'm alright, I just thought I saw someone I knew in the audience.] Amaya signs back before climbing back onto her horse. [The games are about to start, and you better be ready for your act.]
[Who did you think you saw in the audience?]
[Just a friend. I'm probably wrong, you know how weird the arena lights get and make you see things with all the dust flying around.]
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The knights were now having contests of snagging large golden rings off a large set of bars that were being suspended over the arena, but Gren's focus was purely on the blue and gold clad knight. Earlier he was quite sure the first time he had seen her it was Amaya, and every time she rode close he was very sure it was. It had been hard to pay attention to the two acts of the dancing horses and someone bringing out a falcon to have it fly around the room, and now that the knights were back his focus was solely on the blue one.
"And the winner of this game is the champion of Neolandia!" The queen announced as the yellow and black armored knight did a victory lap while his table gave a loud cheer. "Though he was the winner, each knight will receive a gift from me to give to someone of their kingdom. Please step forward to accept these gifts."
"Oh they still kept the flower throwing thing." He hears Corvus say as the six knights led their horses to stand under that balcony and we're handed three flowers by the queen.
"Flower throwing?" Gren asks.
"Yeah the knights are given three or four flowers in every event and they toss all three flowers into the audience as a gift. Our Duren knight will be tossing the flowers she won over to our area."
Gren turned his attention back to the knight as she was handed her flowers before she turned her horse and had it trot over to the blue tables. He could hear the people behind him shouting and probably waving to get her attention in hopes of having a flower thrown in their direction to catch, and this gave him a chance to have a better look at the knight. Just as he thought. That familiar scar on her cheek, the warm brown eyes, the shape of her face, it really was the same Amaya from the bookstore.
As the horse stopped in front of the stands, Gren was very sure she was looking straight at him. He saw her eyes widen in surprise briefly before a neutral expression crossed her face as she carefully broke the three flowers apart. The first one flew over the first row into the back where Gren heard a young girl shriek in delight, the second one was tossed towards the right towards the father rows, until there was only one flower left in her hand. Amaya was looking straight at him before tossing the final flower, a carnation, right towards the first row and landed right into Gren's soup. He gave a small cry of surprise and looked to Amaya in alarm, which earned him a small smile before she spurred her horse back towards the balcony to rejoin the other knights.
"Well guess who got lucky tonight!" He hears Crowmaster laugh and felt his cheeks burn with slight embarrassment as he carefully pulled his rose out of his soup bowl.
I am definitely texting her tonight when I get home about this.