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[sub]Interactions: [@Aamaya]  • [@Jinxer] [/sub]

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Only moments after her and Thyrri had reentered the garden, the beginning of the tournament was announced. The roar of a trumpet would be heard and the healer left Eve's side. Exodus guards lead the guests towards the arena and Eve thought they could have very well lead them all into a slaughterhouse, they all would follow neatly.

Upon recognizing her an Exodus guard offered her an escort towards the royal seats while shielding her from the walking masses, but she politely declined. Walking within the crowd of people had something appealing to it. It was something normal within this craziness.

As they got close enough for Eve to make out the royals on their privileged comfortable seats with the sun-cover, she noticed two things. Firstly, Thyrri was not sitting with them. And secondly, it would be the first time she'd see her parents since their arrival. Her heart sunk a little bit, unsure of how their reactions towards her would be.

[b][color=white]"Princess?... Princess?"[/color][/b] Eve turned her head towards the voice, it was the same guard that had offered her an escort earlier. He was eyeing her with something like concern.

[b][color=82ca9d]"Hm?"[/color][/b], Eve simply replied.

[b][color=white]"I apologize the interruption. You have been staring up there for a while now, princess. The tournament is about to begin. Everyone is seated. Do you wish me to escort you to your seat, your highness?"
[/color][/b] A look around confirmed his words. Eve stood alone, the guests had all taken their seats on the rows of stone around the arena's middle where the tournament was about to take place. She had lost her focus on reality for a moment.

[i]You are being too inattentive. It will cost you your life, if you don't get control over myself soon, idiotic fool![/i] Just in that moment the voice of the Exodus princess rang through the air, she was giving a quick few words. Eve could see her standing above them all with the expression of a true future queen, she seemed so confident in her role.

If there had been a single doubt left within Evangeline, it surely was gone now. The beautiful woman from earlier, the first person to engage in a conversation with her during the festival, was princess Aamaya Freyja. She felt her stomach twist uncomfortably at the thought. But somehow a teeny tiny part of her was glad she had not known. She knew if she had known who the woman was beforehand, she would have not talked to her so carelessly, so freely. Eve would have encountered her with prejudices and faked kindness. The revelation about herself stung a little bit, but she knew that everyone was doing just the same, pretending, smiling and chatting while trying to wrap their partner of conversation around their sneaky little fingers.

As she watched Aamaya get seated again, a small smiled formed on her lips. Yes, she was glad she had not known her title. Now the woman felt intrigued about the bronze-skinned lady. She had gathered interest in her personality, in her thoughts and what she had to say. Of course, she still had to make up for her massive mistake somehow. Perhaps this tournament was an opportunity for her to talk to the princess, while they were all tied to their bums, unable to leave without being disrespectful towards their hosts.

Evangeline shot the guard a quick glance and declined his offer once more. She began to stride forward again, her feet getting entangled in the dress she was now wearing, almost causing her to trip. With a displeased expression on her face she lifted the gown up and away from her shoes and continued her way towards the royal seats.

Stepping into the guarded area for the high ranked people, she dropped the dress to flow around her feet again. To her great displeasure Eve had to notice that Princess Aamaya was already wrapped up in a conversation with the Princess of Primfira by now. An unsettled feeling came over her again, just the same she had when she first spotted the pale royal woman during her entrance to the garden. Once again she asked herself if it had to do with prejudices about her appearance or if her gut was giving her a well-intentioned warning.

For now there was no time to dwell over such things, and so Evangeline pushed those feelings to a little corner of her mind. The fight had just began.

Her attention quickly got drawn towards the arena's middle, her eyes rapidly searching the place until she had found the red hair in the crowd of warriors she was looking for. Worry crossed her face for a moment, but was soon replaced with pride. Laurel surely was the most skilled warrior in this pit. Maybe Eve was a little biased with that opinion, but there was no doubt that Laurel Mith was one of the bests, slaying opponents to her left and right. Within minutes Laurel had made three Primfira and one Exodus warrior drop to the floor defeated.

Noticing she was still standing in the back, Eve moved forward to take a seat next to her parents, or at least give them a quick reminder of her existence. But she stopped in her movements once more, standing right behind her father, when Laurel got attacked by a bunch of Luthra men. Not only were they cowardly overpowering her in number, but striking for her unprotected head as well! Her fingers twitched, ready to jump down into the arena and pull out her slim throwing knives, which were neatly hidden within her bra.

But she did not need to interfere. A Luthra warrior, who beat his own men down to the ground, came to her rescue. The princess stood in shock. Had her friend really just been saved by a Luthra warrior fighting against Luthra warriors?

She watched as they had a very brief conversation, wondering what they were talking about. Was she thanking him for saving her? Something within Evangeline did not like the situation at all. She did not like that Laurel had been saved by a [i]man[/i]. Why did he save her? What did he [i]want[/i] from her? Was that jealousy she was feeling?

[color=39b54a][b]"Do you see this Antonette? Our warrior... The female, allowing a Thanatos to stay in the battle?"[/b][/color] The voice of her father surprised her for a second, until she remembered that she had originally wanted to take a seat beside her parents. Anger rose within her. [i]'The female'[/i], she scuffed in her head. [i]You know her name all too well![/i] But she would not say anything. Her father was clearly intoxicated with alcohol and making a scene about his comment would be of no use.

But he would not be silent on the matter. [color=39b54a][b]"Blasphemy! This is punishable my Queen... I will have Laurel knelt down and whipped for this.. Helping our sworn enemies.. Ha!"[/b][/color] The King's words paired with the uncaring chuckle he let out made Evangeline's anger reach a peak. A trait, she noticed, she had probably inherited from her father.

[b][color=82ca9d]"No you will not"[/color][/b], the princess said sternly, but quietly, only for him and her mother to hear. [b][color=82ca9d]"Laurel is proving to be an honorable combatant, better than anyone else on the field. She is providing great representation for our kingdom, not taking the easy blow on the man. What would they say about us? Striking the one with the helping hand in such an unhonorable manner? The other kingdoms would surely think of us as disgraceful."[/color][/b]

The princess rarely spoke up against the king and it certainly felt strange and risky to do so, especially in a public environment with every single kingdom present. But she was impulsive, and protective of her friend. She would not sit in silence while her father would talk down the warrior like that. No, she couldn't.

The fight continued, Eve's eyes glued to only one person entirely. [i]How graceful, how elegant, how strong and independent she looks[/i], she thought to herself. [i]How attractive it can be to watch someone fight so skillfully.[/i] Evangeline noticed with pride that her personal bodyguard, her dear friend, made everyone who dared to think they'd be a match for her come to her, not running towards them in anticipation, but waiting, calculating their movements, striking them down by the time they reached her. 

As Eve allowed her eyes to draw away from Laurel for a moment to inspect the rest of the battlefield and gain an overall view, she quickly came to notice that Exodus warriors were falling to their knees in rapid numbers. Faster and in lager numbers than any of the other kingdoms.

Her mind began to count the standing warriors and the rising numbers of defeated men from each kingdom, calculating the differences in numbers and taking the warriors' styles and techniques into account. Coming to a realization, Eve leaned forward between the heads of her father and mother to whisper into the king's ear. [b][color=82ca9d]"The tournament is rigged."[/color][/b] 

One could say many things about Evangeline, yes she was impulsive, childish, foolish, but she was also smart, if she only payed enough attention. And she had no other need than to get Laurel out of there as quickly as possible.

She searched the arena for her friend, finding her just as she got hit on the head, tumbling and trying to hold herself up on her feet. Evangeline rose from her bent position and her right hand formed to a tight fist of anger.

The Earthica warrior struggled for a while, but continued fighting, Eve was close to calling her off the field herself, using her authority to end this senseless battle for her friend. She felt guilty, she should have never allowed her to participate in the first place, should have insisted she needed her protection, kept her out of that nonsense.

Laurel called herself defeated and left the arena with healers by her side. Eve did not wait a heartbeat, she pulled her dress up and hurried out of the royal's area, she grabbed a servant by their collar, causing their tray with alcoholic beverages to smash to the ground, looking them sternly into the eyes she insisted on them showing her the way to the healers immediately. The poor young boy, still plagued from puberty's pimples and shaking in his skin, gladly showed her the way and was more than happy when she left him standing at the entrance door to the infirmary.

Upon requesting to immediately be informed about the whereabouts of the ginger Lovanian warrior, she got told that her friend was in good care with a healer and that Eve would have to be a bit patient.

[color=82ca9d][b]"What does that mean, good care?!"[/b][/color], she spat out between gritted teeth, not even trying to hide her anger about the situation. In all calmness one of the healer's assistants informed her that Thyrri was the healer under whose care Laurel was currently and that the healer would need calm and quiet to take care of the injured warrior. Upon hearing that Thyrri was the one Laurel's wellbeing depended on Eve relayed slightly. She trusted the woman to do her very best.

The next few eternities, which it surely must have been, were considered one of the hardest times in Evangeline's books. Sitting and waiting, not knowing, controlling her tempter as to not march in without permission, worrying and fantasizing about all the things that could be wrong with Laurel. Guilt kept her company.

At some point, she couldn't tell how much time had passed, Eve could not stand it anymore. The healers were busy, not caring for her presence anymore as she had not interfered with them or caused trouble. She used their trust in her by getting up and sneaking into the room, which she knew Laurel was being cared for in, just to hear her name being said. [b][color=fff200]" - let princess Evangeline know where you are.”[/color][/b]

She put a finger to her lips, showing Laurel to be quiet about her presence should she have spotted her. Eve was just about to call out for Thyrri to make herself known, but the healer sunk into a slumber as quickly as her eyes closed. A soft chuckle left Eve's lips, it was cute somehow.

She walked over to Laurel, examining her expression, looking for any indication of suffering. She spotted a stitched wound at her head. Eve's fingers moved over the bed until she reached Laurel's hand, letting her fingers dance over the skin on the back of her hands softly, caringly. 

[color=82ca9d][b]"Hey..."[/b][/color], she whispered, scared to wake Thyrri. [color=82ca9d][b]"Are you okay?"[/b][/color] Her eyes met with Laurel's, her expression showing guilt, fear and deep concern. Seeing Laurel like that, weak and hurt, pained her incredibly. [color=82ca9d][b]"I did not want this to happen... I should have said something, done something, stopped you -"[/b][/color], she sighed. [color=82ca9d][b]"I am sorry."[/b][/color]

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