Jump-touch slowly removed her hands from her ears, head still ringing from the roar of the crowd, from the screeching shouts of the giant.

"It could talk," she told Eim and Ollie, who were still leaning over the railing, "it was speaking words. Real words."

"That wasn't speech-" Ollie was staring down at the arena, eyes fixed on Yaris, "that was just incoherent screaming."

"No, it was words! I know how to speak a bit of it!"

She paused, "I'd speak it for you, but it makes my throat hurt."

Ollie broke away from staring at the field for a moment to look at her. "Did it say anything like 'don't kill me I'm friendly?', or 'don't hurt me, I'm here to help'? Because both of those would be important to know.'

Jump-touch slowly shook her head. "It wanted to fight, it uh," she took a moment to translate it. "It wanted to fight for always? Forever?"

"Huh," Ollie considered that. "Yaris in monster form."

Eim grunted, but neither of the two humans said anything more. Down in the pit, Yaris had limped back to Shrike, who was leaning against the back wall, panting heavily and putting more weight on his cane than was normal, even for him.

They said something to each other, but whatever it was, it wasn't audible to those in the stands.

I hope they're both okay.

Yaris was limping, favouring one ankle and holding her sword awkwardly, and Shrike looked wrecked, like he might topple over at any moment.

There were five fights in the first round. Will there be five again?

Who could know.

Well, Shrike might have, he knew everything, but she certainly didn't.

She resisted the urge to lean over the railing like Ollie was, to get that touch closet to the two fighters, but it was a bit too tall for her to do so.

What would happen if I tried to put a part of this place in my Heart? The thought came unbidden. It's not a real place, right? It's made of magic?

Or what if she tried to take one of the monster bodies, before it glittered?

She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking, as the void at the other end of the oval wavered once again. Yaris was already getting into position, and Shrike pushing himself away from the wall, looking pained as he put weight on his bad knee.

"I should have been down there with them," Eim murmured. "I should have gone-"

"You couldn't," Ollie's tone was harsh. "Two fighters only. Better you're up here, to heal them when they get out."

He didn't say anything in response, as a fourth monster, the same People as the other three, stepped out of the void. The skin on this one was a blotchy piebald, and it was missing an eye, she noticed, a mass of scars where it should have been. Unlike the last two monsters, this one was also wearing clothes; a rough skirt and shirt, covering up the awkward dangly bits.

It was still carrying a lump of wood, much like the others, but this one was more refined. Fire-hardened, and a rough grip carved into it. Shiny with wear and care.

Jump-touch swallowed as Yaris ground her feet into the sand, standing in front of Shrike, sword raised.

Bring it on, her stance said.

On the other side of the arena, the monster stood, holding its weapon loosely. There was no anger in their gaze this time, only a certainty of purpose.

Then it opened its mouth, and it screamed.

Jump-touch didn't understand this one, it wasn't Screech, but the intent was clear.

FIGHT ME!

****

Yaris was the first to move. A dance, a dodge sideways away from Shrike, giving him space to cast, if he still could. Her feet left tracks in the sand, like a dancer would, a slow drag of the feet.

The monster watched her, club resting against the floor, stance easy.

Waiting.

Two steps ahead now, Yaris said something to Shrike, eyes locked on the monster, but no matter how hard she listened, no sound of it reached Jump-touch, and her Resper wasn't good enough for lip-reading.

It looks like one of the Giant people, except a little smaller.

She had seen one once. Tinkerers and traders, they carried their whole lives on their backs, roaming from village to village, never settling for more than a few days, never setting their burden down.

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They were never seen without their packs. Not while they were still alive. And they never stood that straight, the weight of their lives gave them a permanent hunch.

Was this what a young one looked like, before they lost themselves to the journey? Was there a city out there, where they felt safe enough to lay down their lives?

Yaris shouted something inaudible, and the monster stared at her with its one-eyed gaze, still waiting, one hand on the club, the other loosely at its side. What if it didn't want to fight? What then?

Will Yaris attack first? That seemed like a bad idea, but Jump-touch didn't know much about fighting. The last couple of weeks had contained more conflict than the whole rest of her life.

I don't want her to get hurt. I don't want either of them to get hurt.

She reached out a hand, and felt it touch the barrier. A physical thing, preventing her from going further, from interfering with the fight.

Wait, what if I-

Leave. She told it. Go into my Heart. Be mine.

There was a confusing moment of vertigo and then she felt the effort ricochet back to her.

No. Her Heart told her. That's not what I'm for.

Ollie looked down as she staggered backwards, away from the huge magical weight, away from whatever it was she'd just touched.

Something much huger than her, she was sure. Something impossible for her to conceptualise, something that would have drained all the magic out of her until she was nothing more than glittering dust, riding the breeze.

She shook her hand, slightly wild-eyed. Well then, best not to try that again!

Next to her, Eim and Ollie were focused on the fight below, hands clutching the railing, a bloodless white. Had she… Blacked out? Yaris was on the other side of the arena now, when had that happened? And she was holding her sword loosely by her side, in the wrong hand. What did I miss?

The monster still hadn't moved, but there was a scratch in the sand where the club had dragged across the floor, and skid marks in the dust.

I guess she did try to attack. I hope she's okay.

Yaris was grumpy, but she was still cool, and Jump-touch didn't want her to die to a stupid monster!

On her side, Shrike was leaning against the wall again, hands behind his back, balancing his weight on his good leg. She could see the sweat beading his head, see it staining his shirt a blotchy grey.

Yaris shouted something towards the monster, and in response it huffed out a laugh, tilting the club back and forth, grinding it into the dust.

'I can do this all day', his stance said. 'Just try me.'

"She has a plan," Ollie said quietly. "Stone…"

The rest was too quiet for even her to hear, ears stuffy and hot, still ringing from everything going on around them.

I hope-

Then Yaris was moving, running sideways along the wall, sword still in the wrong hand, the other hanging limply at her side. She was so fast! Was she always this fast?

The monster tracked her silently, and then- just as she drew level with it.

It froze.

Against the far wall, Shrike slumped to the floor, panting heavily, crumpling into a pile, skin so pale she was afraid he may have frozen himself.

As for the monster-

It only froze, but only for a moment, ice washing over it, beading on its tiny hairs and turning the darker, mottled patches of its skin a vivid blue. The ice went over and through it like a wave, like the touch of a ghost, until- with a CRACK- the spell broke.

But not before Yaris had reached it, catching up, barrelling into it with her whole body, with everything she had.

It wasn't enough to knock it over, but, with the sword held point out, it was enough to pierce it through the stomach. The young giant just a touch too slow to react.

****

It didn't take long after that for the monster to succumb to its wounds, surprise on its face as it died, its dying words inaudible over the silence of the stands.

Eim and Ollie were already at the portcullis as it drew open, shouting and rushing through the moment there was enough space for them both to squeeze underneath.

Jump-touch followed, but more warily. What if the gate came down now, and they all had to fight? She didn't want that. She didn't want that at all!

Ahead of her, Eim was kicking up sand as he ran, past Shrike, who was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands, and to Yaris, who was now lying on the ground against the side wall.

She doesn't look well.

Her face was very pale, and her eyes didn't quite focus as Eim reached her. Her arm was still limp, and the skin a blotchy mix of white and red. There was no blood, but she had grown up in a village of hunters and survivors, and she knew that not all injuries bled.

Then Eim laid his hand on her shoulder, and she seemed to come back to herself a little, her gaze focusing.

"Broken shoulder, broken collar bone, broken bones in the lower arm that I don't know the name for," Eim was muttering as she approached. "I don't know how to fix this, I don't have-"

He knelt down in front of her, focusing his gaze on her face. "Concussion. Internal bleeding I think, the arm is doing something weird, so I'm going to fix that first. It shouldn't hurt, but it will feel strange. I can't fix it properly either."

She stood back and watched him work, as he focused, as he muttered about how he didn't understand bones, and how he was out of casts for the day, and about how his skill wasn't meant for this.

On the ground, she didn't think Yaris heard him, not really.

Still, Jump-touch watched him work. The combination of being able to heal somebody with a touch and also take pain away was so powerful. If the Village had somebody like that… Ok, it wouldn't be super useful to them, but she was pretty sure that people would have come from miles and miles around just to have their injuries healed.

Whoever had that magic would have had to go live in the Lower Village, she conceded, watching him. They would be too useful to be allowed to stay up on the top of the mountain, so far away from civilisation.

What she was seeing here was true magic. If after the wolf attack they'd had...

She watched as Eim carefully straightened out the broken arm, touching different places with his fingertips, adjusting the angle, and then touching again and again, until the strange blotchiness of the limb started to fade, and it stopped moving in that awful way when he took his hands away.

"You'll have to splint it," he said finally, looking as wrecked as Yaris. "You won't be able to use it at all for a few days, but I'm out of magic. I was out of magic before you broke your arm and gave yourself a head injury."

She stared at him with only-slightly unfocused eyes for a moment, before nodding slowly.

As the two of them staggered to their feet, Jump-touch turned around to Shrike and Ollie. They were already both standing by the exit, Shrike still looking sick and still heavily favouring his good leg, but it didn't look like he'd been hit at all. There was no blood, and no visible injuries on him.

"Just overdid it," he said, noticing her look. "I don't need healing, just sleep."

"You're both idiots." Ollie said, anger in their tone. "Such stupid, fucking idiots."

"I know, I know-"

"You don't know," they hissed. "We could have lost you both, and then what? What would we do then…?"

They trailed off, biting their lip and staring out through the tunnel. "We could have lost you both."

"But you didn't," Shrike wobbled as he tried to walk. "So let's get out of this pit before it decides we're hanging around too long and sends another wave at us."