After Amrin finished his meal and Adalyn stopped finding something to talk about, she bid him a good night and left him alone. It was getting close to night time, but he didn’t have anything to do and wasn’t tired. So he decided to once again meditate and try to figure out the questions he had but couldn’t ask. Feeling as if he was only doing it for a few moments, he heard a knocking sound but ignored it. It echoed in his mind once more and he realized that it was someone at his door. He slowly opened his eyes and adjusted them to the brightness. He turned to look behind him and noticed that the sun was shining into the nearly useless window and he could hear the faint song of birds.

“Yes, come in?” he said.

The door cracked open to reveal a familiar cute face with honey blonde hair that waved with the force of her popping into the room.

“Morning. Sleep well I hope?” her smile was infectious and Amrin couldn’t help but smile in return. He looked around him and realized he was sitting at the edge of the bed perfectly straight and still had his clothes on. “You…did sleep right?”

“Mm? Oh, yes. Yes I slept great. Thanks.” He lied and smiled to try and cover it up.

“Uh huh…well whatever. I hope you’re ready! It’s starting in half an hour!” she opened the door and hopped all the way in and stood straight up and held her arms out to her sides. He looked at her with a confused look. “Well? What do you think?”

“Of what?” he turned his head slightly at the question.

“The dress! Wow, you are dense! How does it look?” she was showing off a light blue dress, it was plain, but the colors were brilliant. It was a little on the shorter side, to which Barin no doubt hated, but it was definitely cute, the small straps contrasting nicely against her smooth white skin. She wasn’t well endowed, but filled the top of the dress out just fine, she was beautiful, a simple and not overly haughty beauty.

“Oh! Yeah…it’s good. It looks good.” She wasn’t impressed. Her eyes narrowed and glared at him. He cringed a bit and sighed.

“You look, amazing. Any man would be in heaven to be able to say he was yours.” He said sarcastically, but his smile was sincere, which immediately made her blush and look away.

“N-now you’re just being sarcastic… Anyway, let’s go before it’s too late.” She turned quickly and walked out of the room, leaving the door open.

“Late? For what?” he quickly stood up from the bed and chased after her. He followed her down the stairs and into the main dining area of the Tavern he entered from the night before. Since it was so early there was no one there, except an older man at a corner table eating breakfast. “Adalyn? Late for what?”

No matter how much he tried to get her attention, she ignored him and walked with purpose and a little faster than anyone would normally walk. They were both on the dirt road heading towards the center of the city when he had had enough and grabbed her hand. Adalyn immediately tensed up and turned her head to him.

“W-what? Why are you holding my hand?!” she was stuttering and looked incredibly flushed. Amrin saw it and became concerned.

“Are you ok? You’re acting a bit…odd. Well, odder than yesterday anyway. And you’re red, do you have a fever?” he instinctively leaned forward and put his cheek to her forehead. Due to his size, he was a whole head taller than her, he had to lean down a bit. “No, no fever…You sure you’re ok?” when he pulled back the look on her face was one of utter shock. Redder than before and eyes wide open.

“H-how…l-long…my hand…” she couldn’t form a complete sentence. She looked down at her hand, which was still being held gently by Amrin, it was warm and surprisingly soft to her.

“Oh, sorry.” He let her hand go. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Your face is beet red, are you feeling ok?”

“I-I’m fine! I just didn’t want to be late…yeah…” she couldn’t look at him, hearing his voice, remembering the compliment, and then remembering the image she saw of him the day prior…she definitely couldn’t look at him.

Even though she said she had a boyfriend, she couldn’t tell anyone that they’ve never even kissed. The most she has ever done is hugged when they were parting, but even that was very quick and more a matter of courtesy she thought. She was certainly old enough to know what men and women did, but never once did it herself. Let alone think about it with someone as gorgeous as Amrin.

“Nothing…don’t worry about it. The mock battle, I’m taking you there!” she bumbled her way through it and turned around and started to walk once more.

“Oh, right…that. I forgot. You know, I was thinking about it last night. I’m still not sure I want to do it.”

“You’ll be fine. Like I said, it’s not like you have anything else better to do right?”

“Actually, that’s what I remembered last night. I need to find someone. I…I don’t know where they are though. So I figure I should start asking around the city to see if anyone knows anything.”

She didn’t acknowledge the comment due to her being too busy with her disdain for the person she saw walking towards her, and stopped in her tracks. Not paying attention to her movements, Amrin crashed directly into her back. Since he was larger in size than Adalyn she almost fell over and yelped.

The scream caught the attention of the person she didn’t want to see. During this ordeal, Amrin quickly took a step in front and to the side of her and wrapped his arm around her stomach to keep her from falling over and pulled her close. She unconsciously grabbed onto the arm and her head rested gently against it. Her face full of surprise.

“Oh, what do we have here?” the voice was pompous and grating to Adalyn’s ears. “If it isn’t little Adalyn. I see you didn’t take much time looking for a new man after I took yours from you. The two girls beside the one picking a fight began to giggle.

Amrin’s back was towards her the entire time while Adalyn’s head was still against his arm, her hands firmly grasping it.

“Hello…Sandra…” Adalyn says timidly.

Amrin tilts his head slightly and whispers to Adalyn.

“Stole your boyfriend? Acting strange huh? Yeah I suppose dating another woman would be pretty strange.” He teased her under his breath

“Shut up…” she mumbled.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t quite hear that!” Sandra chimed in. “But whatever, you were never good enough for him anyway. He’s much happier with me. What the top ace of the Academy saw in you I’ll never know…”

“Oh I have an idea or two.” Amrin turned around slowly and gently wrapped his other arm around the small of Adalyn’s back and pulled her close. “Adalyn is amazing. Smart, beautiful, motivated, she has a bit of a temper and a mean streak…but that’s what I love about her.” He leaned over and gently kissed her on the top of her head.

All four of the girls’ eyes went wide. Adalyn for having been held closely and then kissed by Amrin. Sandra and her entourage because they had never seen anyone as handsome as Amrin.

“I’m sorry to cut the conversation short ladies, but Adalyn is escorting me to the Mock Battle at the Capital Knight’s Hold. Wouldn’t want to be late, right sweetheart?” he turns to her and gently nudges her to get her attention. She quickly looks up at him with her face beet red once again.

“Uh…y-yes…t-that’s right. Late…is bad.”

Amrin gently bowed his head slightly and turned himself and Adalyn towards the Hold and started walking. His hand was still wrapped around her lower back and resting on her hip. The three girls were just watching as Amrin and Adalyn disappeared around a corner.

“W-what the hell was that about!?” she hissed at him, embarrassment still filling her face.

“What? I just figured we’d give her a little bit of her own medicine is all. She was obviously not a friend, and quite rude to rub in the fact that she took your boyfriend. Should I not have done it?” while it was asking her this, he was still holding onto her waist.

“How long are you going to hold on to me?” she asked timidly. He quickly let her go and took half a step away.

“Sorry…”

“N-no…it’s fine. I appreciate it. I’m sorry you had to be a part of that. Sandra is…she’s an upper class citizen that for some reason hates my guts. But the look on her face…it was brilliant!” she clenched her fists and shook with joy. The high pitched giggles made her look adorable. Amrin could only shake his head and smile. “Anyway…you realize what you’ve done, right?”

“No, what?”

“You’ve just made yourself a target for Sandra…she always gets what she wants. Even if you’re my boyfriend…I mean…not my real boyfriend, I mean…even if you were I meant…” She covered her face with her hands and moaned into them. Amrin started to laugh gently. “Shut up…” she peeked from behind her hand and looked at him with a cute smile.

“So who’s the real you I wonder?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there was the angry and short tempered Adalyn last night, as well as the talkative and hopeful dreamer Adalyn. And now there’s the incredibly shy and adorable Adalyn. I’m just wondering who the real you is?”

She couldn’t take it anymore, all the compliments, the way he spoke, the way he looked at her. Everything about him made her heart skip beats and her face flush red. She couldn’t help but silently thank her dad for making her take care of the filthy ‘old man’ last night.

“So tell me a bit more about this Mock battle, if you know more.” He changed the subject and didn’t want to tease her any more than he already had.

“Oh, well, there’s no telling how many people will be entering, but the entry fee is one silver and you can try three times before you’re forbidden to participate until next year. The Commander is the person you will have to duel, he’s peerless with the sword and is a Mid-Chanter himself. They say he alone can take on over a dozen men in battle and come out unharmed. So lasting ten minutes might sound easy, but not when you’re up against a war hero like Commander Braddock.”

Upon hearing that name, Amrin grimaced, sure enough…he knew that name. Hopefully his appearance has changed enough that he won’t be recognized.

“Wait…one silver for an entry fee? I don’t have any money! Actually…your dad…”

“Don’t worry, I got the winnings from father this morning and they’re in my bag.” She tapped on the small pouch that was strung around her shoulder. “You still have three silver coins left. So even if you screw up the first time, you could try again.”

“I see. So other than being a war hero…what else do you know about this Braddock?”

“Why so curious?” she asked

“Well, it’s best to know your opponent in battle isn’t it?”

“I…suppose.” She hesitantly agreed. “Well, no one really knows his personal life except for this crazy rumor that he’s trying to court the Headmistress of the Academy.”

“Why is that a crazy rumor?”

“Well, for one, she’s way out of his league, she’s supposedly a Swift Chanter and also she has never shown any interest in suitors, or men in general really. And people say she’s really, really old.

“That’s a lot of…guesswork don’t you think? Is there anything that’s a definite?”

“Well, she’s been Headmistress for as long as anyone can remember and her name is Elena… something. I can never remember surnames for some reason.” She shrugged it off. “There are some in the Academy that have seen her, or at least who they think to be her, in the tower of the main building, but the image they see doesn’t quite match to the rumors.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they say she’s incredibly young looking, had long curly blonde hair and doesn’t seem to be very tall...basically a child almost. So she could very well be Fae, but they rarely leave their domain save for provisions, let alone become an authority figure of a place like the Academy.”

Amrin pondered for a moment the description he had heard and wondered. But shook the idea out of his mind, it would be too much of a coincidence, and continued listening.

“If you think about it, how could anyone know how tall she was from seeing her in from a window? But then someone said that the bottom sill for every window in the Academy is the same height, and she only came up so far.” She held her arm horizontally to her chest as she said this.

“That’s a pretty logical deduction I guess.”

“Well, even if the rumors were true and Commander Braddock wanted to court her, and if she was a Fae, no one has really spoken to her or know anything about her really. She’s more the invisible leader behind the greatness that is The Academy.”

The two could see the Knight’s Hold in the distance as they walked along the now cobbled path. Neither having much more to say they continued in silence, until they began to see a crowd gathered at the entrance to the Hold itself.

“This is a lot of people…”

“Is it not always like this?” Amrin asked

“Uh, no, not really. Since it cost one silver and you need to be incredibly confident in your swordsmanship to even last a few moments against Commander Braddock, there’s usually only a few applicants.” She walked to the nearest person she could and tapped on their shoulder. “Excuse me, why is there such a large crowd assembled here?”

“You didn’t hear? Apparently Commander Braddock is changing things this year. There is no cost to become an applicant, and there’s even talks of being able to meet with the Headmistress!”

Both Adalyn and Amrin were stunned. But after just going on about rumors, it was only natural.

“The Headmistress? Are you sure? That’s seems…”

Before she could finish, the man interrupted.

“That’s what everyone else thought, but if you look just there…” he pointed in a direction that Adalyn wasn’t able to see, since she was a bit smaller than the crowd “She’s discussing something with Commander Braddock now. They’re going to make an announcement soon.”

Just as he finished, there was a loud booming voice that echoed through the bustling crowd. Loud enough to convey confidence as well as power. But calming enough to make the crowd slowly silence their conversations.

“Ladies, gentleman, nobles and all. Thank you very much for attending this year’s Mock Battle entrance exam. As you may have noticed, and heard, this year will be slightly different than in the past.” He paused for effect. The murmur of the crowd began to pick up.

“We are joined today by the venerable Headmistress Elena Aqua. A Master Chanter for the Academy of Highleaf!” the crowd erupted in cheer and applause.

The speaker turned as he introduced her and bowed with his hand outstretched towards her. She was sitting atop a platform overlooking what was most likely the training grounds for the Knights, and which would be used for today’s exam. She wore a stunningly pristine white and silver gown, simple, elegant and no excess frills to speak of. The sleeves were long but at the shoulders they were open and the top seemed to part just where a woman’s cleavage would begin to show.

The men tried their best to get a glance, but she was holding a beautiful folding fan to cover her face, which also caused her arm to block the view the men desperately wanted to see. The high back chair towered over her, indicating that she was indeed of smaller stature, but not so much that she would be mistaken for a child. She wore atop her head a sparkling and eye catching tiara, jewels of all colors adorned its intricate design. She could easily be seen as royalty.

Due to her position as Headmistress as well as her rank as Master Chanter, she had more power and sway than most royals though. Her eyes were an entrancing gold that matched her hair, like pristine wheat basking in the morning sunlight. Her hair was delicately braided and rested to one side of her head and draped along her shoulder. The crowd, even the women, were captivated by her beauty.

“I am Commander Braddock Watts and I will be the Examiner, as usual. There will also be a bit of a difference in how one will be chosen as a Special Candidate for entrance into the Academy. In the past if one were able to either land a clean blow upon me, or last ten minutes without being knocked to the ground, you passed. But this year, at the request of the Headmistress, only those that are able to disarm me will be considered for acceptance!”

The chatter from the crowd roared to life, this was unheard of. Normally there was no way to land a clean blow on the Commander, but now they had to disarm him entirely? The murmurs, questions and some protests could be heard throughout the throng of men, women and children old enough to understand the drastic change in procedure.

“Silence! Silence, please!” Braddock raised his arms and attempted to calm the concerned and upset crowd. “There is a reason for this, but that will be explained at the end, please, have patience!” the murmurs subsided and once again all was quiet. Lowering his arms, Braddock continued the explanation.

“There is no longer an entry fee and any and all contenders are welcome, due to the drastic shift in policy. But, before you are able to actually engage me in combat, you are to stand before the Headmistress so she can gauge both your magical affinity as well as your reasoning for participating. Think of it as…an interview, if you will.”

“This is madness! Why is it so different than the previous years! There have only been a handful of people able to stand on equal footing with you, and now we are to disarm you? This is a farce!”

One of the prospective contender’s anger overtook him and caused him to lash out. Although he had said what everyone else was thinking, causing the group to nod and mutter in agreement.

“I am aware that this is quite a shock to you all, but again, there is cause for such a radical change.” As he was trying to calm the group once more, the headmistress stood from her seat and tapped him on the shoulder, whispering something to him, he nodded in confirmation and began once more.

“I have been given permission to explain why the change in procedure is necessary.” He paused and took a deep breath. “It has come to the attention of the Headmistress as well as a number of noble houses and even the King himself that the number of capable and worthy Knights are dwindling, so to help increase the potential for exceptional candidates, the interview conducted by Her Grace personally will be performed before the mock battle. The battle itself will also be a measure of your combat prowess as usual, the fact that you must disarm me is unfortunately another step in searching for the truly gifted.” The crowd once again began to clamor.

Elena turned and took her seat once more, the fan never once being lowered from her face. The elegance in which she moved was clearly of nobility and high standing. Making the crowd hold their breath as she moved, almost as if they were hypnotized by her movements.

“But! She has assured me that if she deems your performance in both the interview and the combat scenario to be of worth, you will still be considered. So all is not lost!”

This news caused a few of the crowds face to light up with hope and confidence.

“Once again, I apologize for the change in how the Special Candidate is selected, but it was at the request of Her Grace. And I am not one to question, nor deny. I hope you can trust in her wisdom and realize that there is good cause for the change.”

The group couldn’t argue much longer, there was never a change in paradigm from the Academy that did not have good cause for occurring.

“Now, for those that wish to participate, if you could please line up along the wall starting at the entrance to the Hold. For those who are here merely to spectate I politely request that you do so from the ramparts, which can be accessed from the stairs over there.” He pointed to a corner of the Hold’s inner wall, where a Knight stood at attention with a slight bow, holding his arm out to gesture at the stairs. “Now, please, if you would.”

At his request, the crowd began to break into two groups. Amrin listened to the explanation Braddock was going on with and didn’t take his eyes off of the one named Elena Aqua. Being in the back of the crowd he was able to see her clearly, but she didn’t seem to pay any mind to any one particular member of the crowd. He grinned slightly and thought that this was going to be fun.

“So, what do you think?”

He shook his head and blinked a few times to bring himself away from his gaze.

“About?”

“Participating? Are you going to do it? Since it’s free now, I don’t see why you shouldn’t at least give it a shot, right?”

“Mm. Yeah, actually I’ve decided to do it. It seems…fun.” He lined up with the rest of the prospective contenders and waited patiently while Adalyn was escorted up the steps to the ramparts to watch.

Due to there being no entry fee, the number of contenders was excessive, but luckily a large number of them were rejected in the ‘interview’ process with the Headmistress. Amrin didn’t quite know what they did to be rejected immediately. But those that were, were escorted off the platform and an exit at the back of the hold. The closer he got to the platform he saw that they spoke for a moment, and then in her free hand, she produced an item he couldn’t make out.

After the brief exchange of dialogue the contenders placed their hands on the item, the ones that were able to elicit a response from the item were allowed to proceed. The response from the item was a clear and delicate chime as well as a certain color. The colors he observed were mostly primary colors. Blue, red and green. Very few yielded a combination of the colors, such as purple, yellow or cyan. So along with the sound and depending on the color depended on…something.

“Excuse me…what is that item she’s having them touch?” He finally asked the person in front of him. He was shorter by a little than Amrin, but his figure was much broader.

“Eh?” he turned and faced Amrin with a confused look. “Oh, you mean the Aptitude Array? It’s a pretty simple device, it measure two things, first is your innate elemental affinity, and then is the proficiency you have with that element.”

“I see…how does it tell how proficient you are with it?” he continued

“Ah, look there, see how that guy’s color is green? Watch the next person. I know he’ll react, but you should be able to spot the difference.” He waited for the first to walk away from the array and then the person he was mentioning touched the array and it glowed red, but something was different. “There! See how, even though it was a different color it was brighter, and did you hear how clear the chime was?”

He didn’t pay attention to the sound before but now that the man mentioned it, he was right. There was slight differences in their tone. This one was clear, smooth and rang through the courtyard a bit longer than others.

“The more pure the sound and brighter the light, the higher your proficiency is with the color element it displayed. It’s a pretty simple tool to determine your placement and potential within the Academy.”

“Huh, look at that…Hey thanks for telling me more about it.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. The name’s Sebastian by the way.” He held out his hand and waited for Amrin to grasp it. He seemed like a good enough guy. Amrin smiled and grasped his hand, squeezed gently and shook it up and down.

“It’s a pleasure, Sebastian. The name’s Amrin.” They released hands and Sebastian turned to look at the platform once more. “So what are they talking about before they touch the array anyway?”

“Oh, probably what they usually ask when you apply in person at the academy. Stuff like, ‘why do you wish to enroll?’, or ‘what goals you wish to reach if accepted?’ stuff like that.”

“Hm. Pretty straightforward I guess. So what about you?” Amrin asked nonchalantly.

“Ah, well I’m not a noble or from a rich family or anything. My family are farmers, granted they own a pretty hefty plot of land since my father used to serve in the Capital Knights, but he’s long been retired. He’s been training me since I was a boy telling me that his dream was to become a Blade Champion, so as thanks for raising me and to show that his name is still worthy of honor…here I am.”

“Blade Champion, huh?” Amrin had no idea what that was.

“Not familiar are you? Well, can’t say I blame you. It’s a pretty uncommon but honored title that very few are ever able to obtain. Commander Braddock there? If you were to say that on a scale of power, from one to ten, he would be around five or six? A Blade Champion? An eight or nine.”

Amrin whistled after having it explained to him in such a way.

“That’s quite the goal you have there. What makes a Blade Champion, well, a Blade Champion?”

“You have to be incredibly talented with the sword for one. Then you have to have enough magical affinity to become a Swift Chanter. But those are just potholes before the real hurdle. You need to be able to obtain acknowledgement from the King and Headmistress as well as a seal of approval for the title, which usually only happens after you perform numerous good deeds or meritorious action in combat.”

“Looks like you have quite the journey ahead of you then. I wish you luck.”

“Thanks, I’m going to need it. I’ve been coming to this Mock Battle for the last four years and the most I’ve been able to do was last for six minutes against Braddock. But now we have to disarm him? This is ridiculous. Well, at least I can save a silver piece and wash away my sorrows with a good drink, or ten, afterwards.”

“Oh, come now. Don’t admit defeat before you even try. Just have faith, I’m sure something good will happen.” Amrin didn’t mean anything by his words specifically, but just wanted to cheer him up.

During their conversation it seemed they were only a few more people away from being able to interview. Amrin noticed that initially, Elena would look at the contenders first and then the array. But she was either tired, or too disappointed in the quality of them that she now just gazed at the array and didn’t look up.

“Next!” the Knight before the platform barked out. “Name and age?”

“Sebastian Gestin. 19 years.” He looked back at Amrin and nodded. Amrin returned the nod with a smile.

As he walked up, he could faintly hear Elena speak

“Why does one such as yourself wish to join?” her eyes still focused on the array, fan covering her face.

“I wish to train, work hard to obtain the rank and honor of Blade Champion, Your Grace.” He stood up at attention and almost yelled at her. It was clear he was nervous.

“Very well. Place your hand on the stone.”

As Sebastian gingerly rest his hand upon the array, a bright green light shined and the chime that followed was like a small bell that rang within a grand empty hall, the tone carrying throughout the courtyard and lasted a few seconds. Sebastian removed his hand and took a deep breath in, clearly satisfied.

“Very good, young man. Please, if you would stand with the rest of the contenders over here.” Braddock beckoned to him.

“Next!” the Knight looked at Amrin and ushered him forward. “Name and age?”

“Amrin…no idea how old I am though, lost count. Sorry.”

Casting a sidelong glance at him, the knight didn’t know whether to take Amrin seriously or not.

“Well, whatever. It’s just for records anyway. You look to be…” he looked at Amrin from top to bottom and decided on an age that would be appropriate for his build. “You look to be around 18 years of age. Proceed.”

Amrin nodded and proceeded up the wooden steps of the platform. The closer he got to Elena the more he was convinced, but there was only one way to be sure. She was still ignoring the remaining contenders and her eyes were closed this time, her face hiding behind the fan she still held. He stood in front of her and waited for her to speak.

“Why does one such as yourself with to join?” still not making any attempt at eye contact and showing utter indifference.

“I was bored. Figured it would be fun. Plus I thought you would have what I’m looking for.”

“I find your humor to be in bad taste. Regardless, place your hand on the stone and be on your way.”

“Now, don’t be like that Elena.” Amrin lowered his voice and spoke softly as he placed his hand on the array. There was no response for a second. Elena opened her eyes to make sure he had indeed placed his hand on the stone.

“As expected from one with such crude humor.”

“Give it a second.” He replied.

The array exploded into a rainbow of colors, bright enough to blind her and any who look at it. The sound that erupted from the array was nothing like a chime, instead it sounded as if a bell from a cathedral filled the courtyard. Elena dropped the stone, not taking her eyes off of it. The entire Hall was stunned silent.

“It’s been a while, Elynara.” Amrin whispered to her.

She then dropped her fan and stood up abruptly at the mention of the name she had not heard in many lifetimes. Her eyes made contact with the one that she never thought she would meet again. Her brilliant golden eyes were filled with equal parts terror and joy.

“Your Grace!?” Braddock was about to head up the steps of the platform, but Elena raised her hand to stop him, without breaking eye contact with Amrin.

“Sit.” His voice was filled with contempt and anger. He spoke loud enough to make his point clear, but not loud enough for others to hear. She obediently and slowly sat back down.

“M-Master…I…” she withdrew her gaze and looked to her lap, the hand that was holding the fan was now clutching her dress.

“Silence. We have plenty of time to become reacquainted. Do not rush it.” Amrin leaned over to pick up the array and, gently taking her hand into his he could feel she was trembling, placed it into her open hand.

“You dare!?” Braddock yelled at the sight of this.

“Braddock! Silence!” It was the first time he had ever heard Elena raise her voice. He immediately came to a standstill and went back to his position.

“Don’t worry Elynara, as I said before, you have something I want.” He started to walk away “You have also certainly become exceedingly beautiful over these many years.” He said in a manner only she could hear.

Her eyes began to water, but she forced them to stay. She was still the Headmistress of the Academy of Highleaf and had an appearance to maintain. She didn’t move her eyes from her lap, her body trembling while Amrin left the platform.

“You…I’ll make sure you pay for your transgressions towards Her Grace when we duel…” Braddock growled as Amrin walked passed him.

“Mm. Looking forward to it.” He casually waved the threat away with indifference.

The remaining contenders went without concern. After the line had finally died away, there was a total of twelve contenders that had sufficiently passed to be able to engage Braddock in combat.