The Final Events

The judge went down the list of people giving everyone a rank. Hazel's student came in ninth while Keltal's came in fifth. After that one man and woman placed fourth and third leaving the final two places. The two people left over were Marie and Tearia. Grinning from afar Zilan and Xilo both felt happy that they had done so well as the judge paused on the both of them. Turning back and forth between the two girls he left the audience in silence. Nerves filled Tearia's body as she waited to get her place. "It's second." She was far from in top condition for this event, for just entering on a whim she did very well nonetheless. She should've been proud of that normally, she wasn't though. There was this sense of defeat attacking her.

The judge looked at Tearia as he announced his ranking outloud for everyone to hear.

"In first place we have the young lady here, Tearia and in second we have Marie."

Finishing his sentence he waited in silence as the crowd felt baffled. Most people had assumed Marie would be first given the higher score so it took their minds a second to catch up with his words. Marie especially, whose mind went blank for a couple seconds. Her hand shook as she stared off in space. "...I got...second?" She was completely thrown off from not winning, that she didn't know what to do. Tearia wasn't any better either though as her body got filled with unexpected joy. She could feel herself starting to bounce around with joy but she stopped herself. "Maybe he misspoke?" Calming herself Tearia asked the judge once more if she heard wrong, it was too hard to believe she beat Marie.

"Uhm...Sorry to ask this but did you say I got first?"

"Yes Tearia, congrats on your win."

"Really?"

She still couldn't believe it, the old man just laughed as he told her once more.

"Yes Marie is second and you are first."

Breaking out of her shock Marie looked at the judge as she asked him something.

"How did I get second though? Wasn't my score higher than hers? Even if the scores are just a very simple rating shouldn't I still be the winner?"

"I guess more people are shocked about this than I initially thought would be. Let me explain a bit why it's like this. First of all you two did a great job with your tasks. Marie, your technique and speed were very high level and defined. Tearia even though the things you did stayed on a more basic level there was so much more to it hidden beneath and you took your time with it. That's where the difference between you comes in the most. Marie you sadly rushed a little too much and made a few more mistakes over Tearia who took her time. In the quality department Tearia beat you easily, in speed however she lost. So let's say you were given a six in quality. In speed you were given a three, Whereas Tearia was given a seven and a one. In my books the person with the better quality is the most deserving of victory. If you're not satisfied with that explanation I could show you where you made your mistakes, I can see one from here even. A slightly burnt mark Marie."

Looking down at her tiny medicine pellet Marie picked it up and looked at it's glossy green skin. Looking closely she found a small burn mark that was nearly unnoticeable. "I lost." With that as proof Marie looked into the sky as she felt herself begin to laugh. Unable to control herself she laughed on end as she held her stomach. "All that talk, all that time." To her it was a hilarious slap in the face that stung like crazy. She wasn't upset with Tearia though, she was upset with herself. Once she had finally calmed down she walked towards Tearia with a smile and extended her hand to the purple haired girl who still felt like it was a dream.

"Congrats on beating me Tearia, you deserved it."

Taking her hand Tearia saw her smile as she was grounded to reality.

"Thanks...I didn't think I could do it."

"You're a lot more skilled than you think. Plus you have a lot of passion...that I've long lost. Next time though I promise I won't make a mistake. Until then good job!"

"Ye-yeah. I think you did really well as well."

The girls talked to each other while the audience cheered for them. Off to the side Xilo couldn't stop himself from smiling. "She won." Watching the girls come over to them with the competition now over and the rewards handed out Xilo took Tearia's hand as he brought her in for a giant hug. Whispering in her ear he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Congrats Tearia." Feeling Xelfia tug on his bag a little bit he untangled himself from Tearia's arms and gave Xelfia hug to along with Tearia. Zilan smiled at Marie but for a different reason entirely. He knew for a long time Marie had lost a lot of her passion for her work. He didn't know how to wake that up though no matter how hard he tried. Just now though it finally felt like the wheels had begun to turn in Marie's head once more.

"How are you feeling Marie?"

"Awful."

"Figures as much, what are you going to do about it though."

"Win next time."

With that he brought her in for a hug as well.

"Good."

Now that all of today's events were over people started going home for tomorrow's events, none of which Xilo's group would be participating in so it would be a rest day, Then the final events would begin.

"Hopefully that all goes well."

His unease hadn't faded yet and was just getting stronger as they went into the next day.