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She could ould win, definitely, if he hadn’t spun green on the wheel

They took their places in the circle, faced each other, saluted He winked at her

Seriously, if he winked at her one rinned at the thought

He seeeht as the overseers slapped the green filters over the crystals high above

She launched a furious attack immediately She drove hiht, into the darkness She pressed harder

He was just recovering froe of the circle If he stayed out for five seconds, he lost

Graystone looked down Teia’s next strike pushed his block wide--and the next slapped down hard on his hand

His rapier clattered to the ground and the blunted point of Teia’s rapier came to rest under his chin a moment later

A win

"Nice one," Graystone said

"Shut up"

She store one of the boys above her But she was in the top seven already, and both of those boys were truly excellent Realistically, at best she could hope to ainst Cruxer, as head and shoulders above everyone else in the class More honestly, she was probably about tenth best in the class If she was to make the top seven, she’d have to be a little lucky in what colors caht now, the more chances the others had to scout her abilities She wanted to finish strong, not be strong until the finish

So she didn’t challenge anyone It was perhaps a little dirty, but it was clever, too They all had chances to scout each other during their training time, but they all tried to hold back their best, too Until they were in

Teia watched the last bouts, noting the artistry of the best fighters Everyone was unlucky in the last six rounds--none spun his own color, so it was pure fighting technique