The Exiled Gem

The Matches in the Thunderstorm

The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.
- Richard Grant

'You were great,' Kane congratulated, 'I think I'm a bit of scared of you now.'

Alexandra laughed, 'The choke-hold almost killed me.'

'Yes, saw you there. You were almost blue in the face, Master George was about to call off the thing, but then again, you did great.' He replied, checking the list once again, and pushing his hair back. Alexandra's own hair was chopped uneven, she had done that in the first year, and she like the bandit-look it gave her. All in all, Alexandra felt she was made for being a bandit... or well, a spy, that is.

'Thanks - I'm happy I didn't die,' she confessed. With Blaise Quill, anything was possible. Death being the least scary one out of them. 'ALRIGHT, THEN RIGHT ON! YOU JUST SAW ME ALMOST DIE, WHICH PROVES THE LEVEL OF OUR COMPETITION! HOLD THAT UP, AS OUR NEXT DUO -'

'RUFUS OWEN and FROT TURN! This one, now, is a well-matched thing...'

Owen won, pleasantly surprising Alexandra, she'd not exactly thought he'd be capable of that. Not in a bad way, but he was very laidback, sometimes a bit too much.

They had a lunch break then, Alexandra gobbled down a whole lot, because they'd had no breakfast. Everyone told Hans how either he should have won, or he should have at least given the fourth year a good kick or two down the face. Naturally he, Paul, Venly and Watson had no appetite. Following that all of them assembled into the Arena once again.

'We hope all of you had a good tuck in, because I personally did,' Alexandra began. 'So to continue from where we left off, we have our next pair - Cian Paul and Xavier Marge!'

Paul came into the ring, but there was no sign of Xavier Marge. 'Marge? XAVIER MARGE?!' Kane demanded, looking around with a frown. 'Oh no, he's still at lunch!' He then exclaimed, slamming a hand to his forehead and making Alexandra snorted audibly.

'Sorry, sorry.' She apologized, 'just a minute, Agents. We're sending a first year to get him!'

When the confusion had been sorted, and the match had begun, Kane had to do almost all the commentary because Alexandra just couldn't get over laughing. Each time she began a sentence, and was about to pronounce "Xavier", she snorted and had to give up. Finally Kane advised her to return to the commentary after laughing as much as she wanted to.

She did come around when the match was over, 'OH BAD!' Alexandra announced, 'bad bad, Another loss for Second Year! Paul, Hans ... alright, next up - Oliver Venly!'

Venly scraped through it. Only Watson was left now - the duel she'd been waiting to watch. And preferably, there would be a third loss for the Second Year. Alexandra knew it was vile to hope for others' failure, but in some, rare, undeniable cases, there was nothing else that could be done wholeheartedly. For all she knew, this final combat, she was going to enjoy.

'So, the FINAL FIRST-TIME MATCH FOR TODAY, FRIENDS! REGINALD WATSON and JEFF SANDER!' Announced Kane.

They both entered the rings from opposite ends. Alexandra recognized Jeff Sander as the very same person who'd stalked her a year and a half back. Now this was a tough competition. She didn't particularly like Sander either. Maybe, now she wouldn't enjoy a Watson-Defeat so much. 'Alright, so the frictions are high,' Alexandra continued, 'we've seen many nail-biting matches, all is well that ends well, Agents. Although we do have two more matches after this - anyhow, grab your cloaks tight around yourselves and ge-'

Thunder boomed overhead, cutting her across. The whole Arena fell silent for a minute, then -

A heavy downpour began. So ferocious that they could hardly see. Everyone did gather up their cloaks tight around them. 'THERE IS A SLIGHT INTERRUPTION HERE! MASTER GEORGE? DO WE CONTINUE?!' She asked, yelling herself hoarse so that she could be audible against the howling winds. Kane gestured at her to make it louder. Alexandra shook her head and repeated it, this time like a maniac. Finally, the Master heard.