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It was late when Tavra suddenly awoke from a sleep made fitful by an unpleasant dream. As she opened her eyes she could hear a fire crackling and faintly music could be heard over it. She decided if her Master was awake that it was either not very late or dawn wasn't far off. She climbed out of her covers and crept to the entrance tent. She shifted the opening slightly to look out and saw Salea sitting with her back to the tent facing the fire. She looked up at the sky and saw by the moon that she hadn't been sleeping long. She looked back at her master debating whether or not to speak with her about it. Tavra decided not to disturb her, she knew she was meditating and when her master was like that she always seemed at peace. She sat and watched her master for a few moments as she liked to do at those times. Shhe started to pull her head back inside but Salea turned and looked at her and beckoned her to sit by her. Tavra gave her a sheepish grin and came to sit by her.



Salea turned off her music and opened up one side of her blanket so Tavra could sit in it. "Can't sleep tonight? Your dreams wake you again?"



Tavra nodded. "I don't remember very much of it, I remember that there was fighting and a lot of pain."



"Oh? Are you nervous about the competition coming up? I don't think you need to worry, it's closely regulated so that there are rarely any critical injuries."



"I don't think that's it." She bit her lip and looked like she was thinking for a moment, "There was a woman in it but it wasn't me, she seemed familiar but I didn't recognize her. I think the people in my dream were calling her Battle Raver."



Salea chuckled, "Battle Raver eh?"



"You know that name Master?"



"I think you've been listening to too many of Dan's stories." She grinned and shook her head. "If you remember, the Demis used to hold what they called a 'Grand Tournament' that was invitation only every five years for warriors from all over to compete in and some of them participated as well, humans fought humans and humans fought Demis but two of the Demis fighting each other wasn't usually allowed. The last one was held about 250 years ago. During that last tournament there was a woman known only as Battle Raver, that was the title given to her by the Demis. I don't think anybody knew her real name. That year serious injuries and fatalities were far more common and more tolerated, nobody knows what changed. Most of the humans in the tournament were gone within two rounds and almost all of the rest didn't last two more. At the end of the second round there was only one human left, that was Battle Raver. The Demis were impressed enough that they pulled in a bunch of their best fighters to go up against her. For the next 15 matches Battle Raver defeated each opponent, some were left in critical condition and some were even dead. Finally, in her 18th match she was beaten . After a little while of fighting she got caught by a binding spell, while she was held the Demis that she was fighting launched and explosive fire attack at her. When the dust and smoke cleared there was only a crater and a smear of blood where she was. The Demis searched and searched but nobody ever found her, most believe that she was completely destroyed but nobody was ever sure.

The upcoming tournament is different than that was. First of all killing is forbidden and punished severely, it is invitation only and it's seperated into three divisions; masters, female apprentices, and male apprentices. There are only going to be eight competitors in each of the apprentice divisions and I know you can hold your own, I'm sure Kennon is going to do fine too. I'm very proud of the both of you, you know I'm the only competeing master who has two apprentices competing as well." Tavra grinned with pleasure at the praise and ducked her head. "Now I think it's time you got back to bed, I want to get some early training in tomorrow before I head to town to pick up supplies. I'm going to see if there's any work we can do while I'm there too. We could use some extra money and I think some real life exercises would be good for the two of you." They stood up together and Salea ruffled Tavra's hair as they parted to their tents.