The pair of them walked the river road and were left in a state of wonder. Paper lanterns lit by magic cast a warm yellow light across the street. The scent of roasting meats and baked goods warred in the air. The sections roped off just days ago were all filled with bright, colorful stalls and games. Bait very much wanted to explore the stalls, but Illaria tell him he no go see Ben till after they register for tournament. Sooner it done, the sooner he go get instruction on how to make best cheese out of strange goop.

Naya had never seen a festival like this. In Lom-Itoti, the biggest festivals were for the harvests, which involved a feast and a lot of dancing and songs by firelight. She had been fourteen the last time she'd been at such a festival, and seeing all of these dredged-up feelings, she had trouble articulating. Emotions she couldn't talk about with Bait.

"Bah, no rat-sticks! How children learn fear if no rat-sticks? Festival of Blades lame."

"Glad to see I'm not the only one feeling like a fish out of water," she said aloud as they walked towards the field where the stadium was being constructed. The last festival she had been at had also felt strange for a laughably silly reason compared to what she felt now. She was becoming a young lady, and some of the local boys were starting to take a shine to her as they did. She'd felt like she was walking in twilight, standing on both sides of worlds she didn't feel entirely like she belonged in. In many ways, she felt that now. She was an outsider here, and yet she would be a participant.

Mavec deserved to have his revenge. It sounded like Warren had taken almost as much from Mavec as Naya felt she'd lost. She could not let him be so close and fall short of closure. The pair eventually found the tent they were looking for and entered it. The Dwarf from before, the master of Artificy, was waiting, tinkering with something on his table.

"Excuse me, is there still a chance we can register for the Festival of Blades?" Naya asked.

"There is still one slot available. Do you have the entry fee with you?" He asked.

"No, others go get fee; we come here to hold spot," Bait said.

"Will they have the fee?" He asked.

"They will," Naya responded. He grabbed a clipboard with parchment on it and handed it to her. It took her a moment to review the material. Education wasn't exactly one of Lom-Itoti's strong points. There weren't any wizards or the like, and the value of reading and writing was... less than here in the cities. Much of the form was bare, just consenting to be part of the festival. Something about the entry fee being non-refundable and other warnings about how the city isn't liable for any injuries resulting from participating, physical or otherwise. All of it was fine. They were adventurers; what was a little danger to them? Alvec had already assured her that the tournament wouldn't be fought to the death. Letting talent die was a waste of resources, and as such, complex wards were set up to allow all of the damage to strictly knock the contestants unconscious.

The biggest issue was coming up with a team name. She thought about asking Bait for help but didn't even want to know what crazy things the goblin might write down if he had it his way. Maybe a pun involving cheese? Munster hunters? She laughed lightly to herself. No, Alvec would want her to do something serious. Ace. Like the name of the shop. Ace sounded weird on its own, though. What was the term used in their card games? Alvec had shown her so many of them. Aces high! That would do. She filled it out and double-checked all her answers to ensure she hadn't missed anything before handing back the clipboard.

"Good. This means I can finally close up shop. Do you have any questions?" He asked of her.

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Bait didn't pay attention to the conversation the others were having. Instead, he wandered over and looked at the clipboard. He was goblin sneaky and easily managed to get the form and glance over Naya's answers. Most of it was boring, legal-speak boring. Aces High. Eh, not bad name, but Bait do better. He grabbed an ink quill, crossed off the name Naya had written and put in a better one. Cheese. Acolytes. The Cheese Acolytes. Nothing better than cheese; they were Ben's acolytes, honor Ben, and honor cheese with a name like this. Bait set the clipboard back down and rejoined Naya, satisfied with work well done.

"Ok, thing done, when leave?" Bait asked.

"Not till we get your entry fee. You said your friends were coming straight from the Academy?" The dwarf asked.

"Yes, they had a bunch of items to sell, and that should get them enough gold to pay for this, no problem," Naya responded. Eventually, Mavec and Illaria arrived with Echo carrying a lot of coin.

"Here it is, the entry fee. Now, if you don't mind, we nearly drowned to get this, so I'm going home and sleeping on a good bed and taking a dip in the hot spring," Mavec said as he unloaded the gold. The dwarf was surprisingly quick to verify the amount was correct. No doubt using some spell to speed the process along. Counting to forty thousand would undoubtedly take much longer than the few seconds he spent on the task.

"Alright, now that I've verified your entry fee is legit, you are all signed up as contestants in the Festival of Blades. The first event that officially kicks off the festival is an introduction to the teams done in the stadium in two days. You'll want to devise ways to distinguish yourself from the other teams."

"Then I assume the fights will begin properly on the third day?" Illaria asked.

"Indeed, it's single elimination, and sixteen teams are competing. The Academy, The Red Banner Army, and the Blue Banner Army are also competing."

"That makes sense probably why my commanding officer wanted me to stay put. Must have hoped I'd be an alternate for them if they needed one," Illaria said, nodding along. "Either way, I'll be looking forward to seeing a few of my fellow blue banners again."

"I'll see you guys back home," Mavec said before leaving the tent.

"Bait bored," he announced before following Mavec out of the tent and into whatever mischief he desired.

"Any other questions I can answer?" the head of Artificy asked as he grabbed a sign already attached to a stake which read "full roster." He excused himself to step just outside the tent and hammer it into the ground.

"I think we've covered everything," Naya said as she followed him out into the night.

"You think we can win it?" Naya asked her as she and Illaria slowly walked along the river road, heading back to Scythefell Street.

"It'll be tough; the Academy, the Blue Banner Army, and the Red Banner Army are nothing to laugh about. Any one of them could prove to be too much of a challenge for us, to be honest, Naya," Illaria said.

"Yeah, but we're pretty strong, right? We've got a lot of gear, thanks to Alvec too. We should have a good shot, I'd think."

"I'm most worried about the Blue Banner, honestly. Pirates along our coasts have kept them in pretty good shape. They might be a serious contender. I could be seeing them win this."

"What about the Red Banner army? Are they going to be a challenge?" Naya asked.

"Can't be saying I know enough about them to hazard a real guess. They haven't had any big skirmishes for a while. They could be out of practice, but I don't know if that's a good way to think about it. They just as easily could be exceptionally well drilled and disciplined. They can also afford to fight more recklessly since we know that no one, barring an accident, should be dying. That might free them up to use tactics they might otherwise hold back from doing." Illaria said.

"Pacta is part of the Red Banner. We both beat her in a sparring competition; if that holds true, it should be winnable. I like our odds."

"We're a real wild card here," Illaria said.

"Shoot, that would have made a good name for us. I went with Ace's High."

"That's pretty good too, actually. Let's hurry home. Hopefully, Alvec got the information about that phrase we heard."

"Yeah, it was pretty ominous. I don't appreciate this part of adventuring."