By the time the elevator had made its way down to the first floor, and after figuring out how to push open the door at the end of the hallway, the exhaustion that Serena felt threaten to overwhelm her. She could barely keep from slouching over as she stepped back into the healer’s section, eagerly seeking out a bench to sit on.

That exhaustion, however, evaporated the moment Serena realized that section was empty.

The massive arched hallway was completely barren, devoid of all signs of life. Many of the crates of healing supplies had been taken away, the beds along with them, and some of the magical lights had been extinguished, casting long shadows under the arches. It even looked as though the place had been cleaned completely of blood and sand already, though she knew that that wouldn’t have been difficult to achieve. Still, it seemed as though everyone had packed up and left in a hurry, though Serena understood why – with no contestants to attend to, what point was there in staying?

Despite that, a bit of loneliness tugged in her chest as Serena slowly walked forward. She hadn’t made a connection with the place and didn’t regard it as anything special, and yet, it still made her feel rather depressed to suddenly find herself alone. She was sick of the feeling after all, having been so familiar with it for so long.

As her gaze flicked about the dark archways though, she quickly realized that she wasn’t alone – Sosem, his white robes wrinkled from the day’s work, remained leaned against the cut out in the wall. His back was towards her, his attention focused on the sands as a gentle rumble from the crowds outside swept through the hallway.

Serena couldn’t help but smile as her loneliness vanished. As she walked over to him, her footsteps echoing oddly in the barren hallway, Sosem glanced behind himself. Surprise lit up his eyes, and when he turned around to face her, he returned her smile.

“Welcome back.” Sosem said in a tired voice. “You missed quite the turn of events. Seems as though –”

“Everyone left because of Harshnag?” Serena signed; Sosem nodded as she leaned against the other side of the cutout. Out on the sands, Cruck’aa and a single attendant stood together as they waited for Werond to finish her speech – no doubt an explanation of what had happened. And from the excited energy that coursed through the stands, not a soul seemed to mind.

“Ah, you already know.”

“The Masked Lord told me.”

“Did they now? And how was that little meeting? You’ve been up there for quite a while.”

“Has it been that long?”

“Well, the sun has gone down.”

“And it was just up too.” Serena shrugged. “But it was fine. Just wanted to know about our caravan trip from last time. Just uh…a lot of talking and double-checking facts. It was…” Serena grinned. “really boring, actually.”

She glanced at Sosem, who raised an eyebrow in return. “The caravan?” he asked.

“I was one of the people that came in on that ruined caravan awhile back.”

“Ah, I see. Think I know the one.” Sosem’s voice trailed off; the crowd had begun to cheer, though for what, Serena didn’t know. “Well, at least you got to meet one of the most powerful people in Waterdeep. Never done that before, I reckon.”

Serena’s smile grew. “Yup. First time for everything.” She nodded towards the sands. “Are they just waiting for the Masked Lord to finish talking? What is sh –” Her fingers twitched. “What are they talking about anyways?”

“Oh, just explaining what happened. Crowd got a little angry at the news, but the Lord smoothed it all out. And they got them all excited too. Your friend there is going to massacre a score of harpies, and once they get that cleaned up, Harshnag and Pavel will have one last fight to see who wins the whole tournament.”

Serena’s heart jumped in her chest.

“Pavel’s going to fight Harshnag? Really?”

“Uh…yes.” Sosem grinned and offered her a questioning look. “Can’t see why they wouldn’t.”

“Gods…” Harshnag’s last opponent leapt to the surface of her mind, sending a wave of nausea crawling through her.

Part of her knew that Pavel wouldn’t end up like that. Afterall, he’d spent a large portion of his time training with the giant himself. But those were sparring matches, with strict rules and regulations in place to ensure that no one ever got hurt. And after seeing the carnage of what could happen without those rules, Serena couldn’t help but feel a deep-seated worry for Pavel. Harshnag wasn’t a normal opponent by any means, and even though they could simply bring Pavel back should something horrible happen, the idea of him ending up in the same state as the previous man twisted Serena’s guts into a knot.

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And yet, Pavel knew how to fight a giant, if not from the training sessions, then from the attack on the caravan. He knew how to handle himself, something that he’d proven multiple times before, so perhaps she was just overthinking the whole thing. Pavel would be fine.

“Ah, I think they’re starting.” Sosem said, crossing his arms. “Think he’ll go to town on those things?”

“Cruck’aa?” Serena mirrored his pose, and gazed out onto the sands, watching as the attendant fled back to the safety of the hallway. “Probably.”

…

“Oh my god!” Jo yelled, covering her mouth as the screams of the crowd rocked the coliseum. “What the hell is he doing?!”

Pavel glanced towards Jo, who stood just in front of the cutout in the wall. Her face was twisted in horror, yet she refused to look away from the sands.

“I didn’t know he hated them that much!” She said. “Good god, he’s –” Jo screamed and jerked back, the crowd roaring for more. “They twist like that?!”

Pavel grimaced and turned away, almost glad that he was too busy to watch Cruck’aa.

Almost.

“And you’re sure you’re okay with this?” The attendant asked again.

“Do I have a choice?” Pavel grumbled.

“Yes. You can always leave like everyone else did. It will place us in a rather large bind, but you could simply wash your hands of the matter.” The attendant shrugged. “I cannot force you to do anything.”

“Ah Pavel!” Harshnag boomed, scaring Pavel and the attendant even though he stood right next to them. “Don’t think about backing out now! What about all the fans?!”

Pavel grimaced and rubbed his chest, the attendant next to him doing the same. He’d only come back from the healer’s section a little while ago; Simon had accompanied him back, but had left once he’d heard the news, too irritated to stay and watch. Pavel himself was shocked at the turn of events, but part of him couldn’t blame anyone. Though many of the contestants had probably seen Harshnag train in the days leading up to the tournament, what they had seen was completely inaccurate to what the Frost Giant was fully capable of. And Pavel knew all too well what could happen if a giant refused to hold back. He hadn’t seen the aftermath of Harshnag’s first fight, but he had some idea what the poor contestant looked like.

His grimace twisted further, bile beginning to rise in his throat.

Out of everyone at the tournament – before everyone had left – Pavel was probably the best suited to fight Harshnag. That didn’t mean that he wanted to fight Harshnag, though. He understood better than most the consequences of doing so, and he should have pulled out of the tournament that night he found out Harshnag would compete. And yet, as loath as he was to admit it, Pavel had shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind and competed anyways. All because of what he had to do. All because he needed to prove that he hadn’t fallen behind, just as those dark clouds fogging his mind kept telling him that he had.

Pavel cringed and looked away.

“Alright.” He shrugged. “I’ll do it. I suppose I already made up my mind when I walked in here.”

The attendant nodded, his expression unchanged.

“Good. I appreciate the help.” He glanced towards the cutout, where Jo had flinched for the umpteenth time. “Once that match finishes and we clean everything up, we’ll call you two out. Any questions?”

“None that I can think of.”

“Alright.” The attendant nodded again. He turned and jogged down the hallway, before disappearing around the corner.

Pavel sighed and crossed his arms. Sometimes, he truly did hate himself.

“Ah, why so glum?” Harshnag laughed. “It’ll be great! Just like when we sparred!”

“Not really.” Pavel said. “Considering it’s a real fight and all. You shouldn’t be pulling punches.”

“Well, I didn’t plan on it anyhow!”

“Yeah, I figured.”

The grin across Harshnag’s rough face fell. He suddenly dropped to the ground – throwing Pavel off balance – and gestured for him to sit with him.

“Come! Relax for a moment!” The giant said. “You seemed troubled. What’s the matter?”

Pavel sighed and followed the giant’s lead, sitting down across from him.

“Look Harshnag,” he began, crossing his legs and folding his arms over his chest. “I understand why everyone left. You destroyed the first guy you fought. I didn’t see him, but I can imagine what he looked like.”

“He was flattened!” Harshnag laughed. “But they got him back up!”

“Sure, but I don’t want to get flattened. But that’s not –”

“Well, would you want me to go easy on you?” Harshnag asked, oblivious to the pain on Pavel’s face.

“No.” Pavel immediately said. “No, I don’t. I’d hate myself if we did that. I…” He trailed off. Even if he explained it all to Harshnag – something that he didn’t want to do – he was sure the giant wouldn’t understand. What was he to say then? “I…I guess I am worried about you taking me out in a single blow. Hell, your foot alone could probably kill me in an instant. What exactly am I supposed to do? When we trained together, I knew you were holding back so I could actually do something, but now –”

“Should I put on a show then?”

“What do you mean?”

Harshnag shrugged. “Well, ham it up for the crowd. Miss on purpose a couple of times, then go after you. Seems fair to me.”

Pavel thought for a moment. “Yeah…I suppose that would work. Makes them excited, gives me a fighting chance, and you get to end it whenever you want if you can hit me. Sounds fine to me.”

It wasn’t fine at all, but Pavel wasn’t about to continue arguing. He’d dug the hole after all, and now he had to fill it.

“Fantastic!” Harshnag grinned again. “And I have to say, for someone about to go out and fight a Giant, you’re awfully calm about it. Everyone else would probably be panicking right now.”

“I’m calm because you’re not going to win if we go down this road.” Pavel scratched under his chin, only half believing himself.

“Oh!” Harshnag raised an eyebrow. “There’s that cocky attitude from before! Think you’ll really get the best of me, huh?”

“It’s not cockiness. I just know I’ll win.”

Harshnag laughed, his voice booming through the hallway. This time, however, Pavel didn’t jump.

“Ah, you’re gonna make me mad saying it like that!” He stuck out a curled fist towards Pavel – easily the size of half his body. “Well, let’s settle it until Cruck’aa finishes up his little…whatever that is. To a good fight and may the best man or giant win!”

Pavel raised his fist and bumped it against Harshnag’s.

“May the best fighter win.”