[center][h1][color=ff5000][b]Renar Hagen[/b][/color][/h1][/center]

Finally. He'd finally been selected to actually take part in the Valours Tournament. Three years running since he'd joined the Iron Rose, and only now did Renar warrant entry into the tourney. Once again, the perks of being part of the Knight-Captain's retinue. 

In prior years, he'd spent his time during the tourneys simply wheeling and dealing as best he could, trying any method possible to ingratiate himself into the good graces of those with power and influence. Being a relative no-name, even as an Iron Rose, and a bastard beside, the efforts amounted to only a few new contacts, often with more underworld influence than legitimate. 

This year, though. This year, he was competing. Renar had been preparing both physicaly and mentally ever since he'd been notified that he would be participating. There was no time to be overawed at the sights and sounds: he'd been here before. Would he consider the long, strange, winding road it took to reach his first ever tourney, and to have it be one of the grandest stages in the land? Of course not. It meant nothing if he didn't make a good showing. And damn it all, Renar wasn't aiming to settle for just impressing anyone that had ever had cause to doubt him: he was aiming to win the entire thing. 

The pageantry, the spectacle, none of it mattered. Only advancement, prestige, and [i]victory[/i]. A savage grin crossed Renar's face as he sat in the tent assigned to him in the tourney grounds, having performed one more check of his arms and armor to ensure nothing would go wrong in the melee. All that was left was to wait for the bracket to be announced. Having the list of participants was one thing, but there was little point in preparing for specific opponents when the potential pool of fighters was so large. But with all of his preparations finished, Renar rose from where he sat and left his tent, intent on roaming the grounds to see whom exactly among his contacts was present this year, and who he could be introduced to as well.