Wyvern Day Celebrations (Solo or PM for entry)

[Aria]

The next day



Aria was up at the crack of dawn as usual. She got Chewy up, then went to work cleaning up her area. She cracked her knuckles, then her back, and then her shoulders. Then it was one final check to make sure her belongings were where they should be. Then she went to tend to Chewy one last time. She checked Chewy from top to bottom, gave her some affectionate scratches, then began the process of gearing Chewy up for the jousting match.



Aria then sat down, ate a light breakfast, washed up as best she could with the resources available to her. Then geared herself up for the joust. By the time she was done with everything the event announcers were out and about in the crowds. Shouting out that the jousting event was in one hour. That didn’t leave Aria much time to go out and enjoy the second day of the festival. She knew this event was going to eat up the entire day. Since, she was a participant and needed to stay within the jousting grounds for the entirety of the day, unless she lost.



Aria rolled up and packed her things, and hopped onto Chewy’s saddle. Aria sighed softly. She knew she had to win this. Not just for her sake, but for the sake of her pockets… and maybe for the sake of her pride. Perhaps. She wanted to use this joust as a means to prove herself and Chewy’s grit. She knew that the competition was going to be fierce since a majority of the jousting participants were probably knights. Real knights. With real training. Real armor. And real sponsors. There was the very real possibility that she or Chewy could be seriously injured in this event. Aria shook her head.



“Can’t be giving myself the jitters.” We fought through bandits, rouge wyverns, living dead, big spiders, and bigotry. Damn it, we can do this. We can do this!



Aria gave the command and Chewy made her way over towards the jousting grounds. Once again, she had to register herself at the appropriate booth. She was given a number, this time, she was number 3. She hung the number proudly on Chewy’s chest plate. And went out towards the new designated waiting area.



She was happy to see that a lot of the crowd recognized her and Chewy. It seemed that her and the big red wyvern’s performance yesterday was a hit with the crowd. She had a small group of fans standing behind the rope fence. Many wanted to see Chewy and Aria do a repeat performance of her singing and dancing. Others were singing along their own verses. And some were making obvious inappropriate gestures and comments. Aria sighed. And Chewy let out a bit of growl, a snuff, and a stomp of her feet. The wyvern knew the difference between fun, catcalling, and insults. Some things never change.



“Calm down Chew. Can’t get all riled up over some hot air.”

[Thorne]

    Thorne woke up semi-early in the morning to a bright, cheery sun with the occasional cloud floating right by. He took his time waking up, and simply took in the pleasant atmosphere before packing his things and starting the walk back to town for breakfast. There was supposed to be another wyvern event soon, which would last most of the day. The merchants employing Thorne definitely wouldn't let him watch the whole thing, but if he got his work done quickly, he might be able to see the brunt of it.

    Having just arrived in town, Thorne saw a banner, which declared the day's event as a "Wyvern Joust". Jousting on a horse was common enough, sure, but jousting on a wyvern? It sounded extremely enjoyable, Thorne decided internally, and rushed to the stalls for food. After a thorough inspection, he decided on a new flavor of hand pie as well as some hard candy polished to look like scales, only to realize he had spent the rest of his coin the previous day.

    "Pleeeaase?" After a short bout of bartering, Thorne had resorted to begging. "I swear I'll pay it right back, but I haven't eaten since last night!" The vendor looked at Thorne, clearly skeptical. "Please? Remember, I bought a pie yesterday, and I paid for that. Can't you just give me a day or two?" A few seconds later, the vendor begrudgingly obliged and handed the food to Thorne. "Thank you! Remember, today or tomorrow, I promise!" With that, Thorne ran off in a hurry to eat.

    After eating his food, Thorne started off to the merchants' stalls. On his way, he saw a fancy leather backpack with several quality artworks of wyverns embossed on it. It would definitely relieve some stress from his poor hip pouch, which was not meant to hold three books and some random clutter, and was slowly falling apart. Sadly, the backpack was far higher than his price range of zero, and Thorne moved on.

    The work for the day was fairly simple: take some heavy crates from a wagon on one side of town, and bring them over to the stalls. It also allowed Thorne to get a good view of the jousting grounds whenever he passed by them. He stopped for a moment, watching the commotion. There were many competitors, most dressed in shiny gleaming armor that appeared quite expensive. Thorne managed to make out Aria and Chewy, as well as a fan club of sorts surrounding them. If only he could join them. Thorne wanted to congratulate the two on their performance in the previous competition, as well as present Chewy with the pig treat from yesterday, but seemed like that would most likely have to wait until later. Thorne then continued on carrying crates, waiting for the event to begin.

[Aria]

"Alright. Alright! Come on! Let's go for a walk." Aria spoke aloud. She gently began guiding Chewy to walk around their outdoor enclosure. Chewy resisted at first. But, thanks to Aria's gentle persuasion, the wyvern slowly started to make her way around. Aria kept Chewy away from most of the crowds. At least she tried too. The closer Chewy got towards the rope barrier the more people started to congregate near that area. She could hear whispers of her name among the people, as well as something about fighting, something something spiders, and flat out bets of whether or not she could win against the men.  Aria furrowed her brow a bit whenever she caught shouts of that. 

Aria continued her walk her wyvern around. The guards were starting to disperse some of the rowdier crowds. And the crowds were starting to thin out at the main event started to get underway. Aria managed to find herself in a quiet corner of the enclosure. She looked over and caught sight of the same tuft of purple hair from yesterday. He appeared to be busy. Aria shrugged. She tapped Chewy lightly with her heel. The wyvern glanced up, gave the air a sniff, then let our a small growl. Nothing threatening. But, it was loud enough to probably get the young man's attention. 

"Heya.." Aria paused for a second. She needed to remember this young lad's name. Shoot I know.. it's some kinda nature name. Uh.. Sycamore... Rose... no no.. it's with a T. Come on.. he's traveling through to get to Lycia.. T.. T..

"Thorne!" Yes I remembered. 

"Have you been enjoying the festival? Or have you been working this whole time?"

[Thorne]

One thing Thorne had picked up from traveling across Elibe was that people usually didn't like to be disturbed. This was one of the most universal rules in society, and was one Thorne had a hard time adapting to. When he noticed Aria and Chewy standing near him, it took all his might to not run over and talk to them. Relief came in the form of Aria calling him over, as Thorne left the crate he had been carrying and grabbed the treat he had purchased for Chewy the previous day. 

"Aria!" Thorne shouted as he ran up to the duo. "And Chewy too? Awww, aren't you the bestest wyvern?" 

Thorne nodded in response to the question. "Yeah, it's really fun! It's little harder without much gold, but I'm doing just fine!" Thorne was, in fact, not doing 'just fine', and that was very easy to see, but it felt better to say it out loud.

Thorne showed the wyvern treat to Aria. "Is it ok if I feed this to her? I bought it yesterday, but I just realized you might not want Chewy to eat it right before a competition. Then again, I don't really know a whole lot about wyverns in general…"

"Anyways, good luck with the joust! Fancy training and gear doesn't have a thing against plain ol skill!" Mmm, that sounded worse out loud than it did in his head. 

"U-Um, I might miss some parts of the event since I'm carrying crates around for my employers, but I'll be sure to see as much of yours as I can!" Speaking of crates, where was the crate he had been car-

Uh oh.

While he had been talking to Aria, the crate had somehow tumbled down a small hill, and the contents had started clattering out. "Ahhh, I gotta go! Good luck!" 

Thorne rushed to the crate, dreading what he saw. It was bad; wood carvings had spilled out all over the grass, most of which had been chipped or cracked. Worse still, a few glass cups shattered inside of the crate. Picking up what he could, Thorne repacked the crate. It had only been a few feet away from him, it couldn't have just slid down the hill. Something, or what was more likely, someone, had pushed the crate down the hill. Thorne hadn't seen who or what, but hopefully it had been an accident. Hopefully.

[Aria]

Ah. Things aren't going well for him. I've been in his shoes. There have been many days when Aria was forced to work when everyone else around her was having fun. As Thorne raised his hand to give Aria Chewy's tasty treat, the massive wyvern swung her head around and licked it right out of his hand. Chewy took big steps forward to nuzzle Thorne as thanks. But given her size and enthusiasm it almost looked like Chewy was about to run over him. Fortunately, Aria pulled on Chewy's reigns real hard and Chewy didn't go to far forward. The big red wyvern stopped. Aria grumbled something to Chewy as she held the reigns. Chewy let out another little chuff. Followed by a bit of a slightly higher than normal pitched growl. 

"She says thank you. And that was real sweet of you to be thinking of her. Ah you should show me to your merchant.. uhm.. your employer. Might be able to help a tiny bit with your situation." She was smiling a bit. 

"Oh don't worry if you can't see it. You.. uhm.. have some other problems to deal with." Aria pointed towards the crate that Thorne had put down earlier. Aria was embarrassed by the turn of events. They had let him be, then perhaps he could have put the crate down on some flatter ground. 

"We.. should probably help him with tha..." Aria couldn't even finish her sentence. There was some horns in the distance that signified the near start of the jousting. 

"Oh crap! Chew we gotta go!" Aria shouted.

Chewy wanted to run out to help Thorne. But, she also knew that the joust was important. The wyvern took a few steps forward, towards Thorne. Then back to the arena area. Then forward again. 

"I Know! I know! But, No time! Win or lose we will come back to check on him. Go! Go!" Aria pulled the reigns and turned Chewy around. She got Chewy to move out towards the jousting area. And within moments, the dynamic duo were at the designated area for the contestants. The out door arena was a cleared off section of land with several rows and lanes of spectators lined up on the sides. The only thing dividing the audience from the wyverns and their riders were several flimsy wooden poles and decorated ropes. The judges were reintroduced to the audience. Once, again it was the same three judges from the talent competition. The rules were simple. Like with the jousts with horses, wyverns were required to fly towards one another in a line. And the riders armed with their (hopefully blunted) lances would knock the other rider off their wyvern. 

The first two contestants came out. A big blue wyvern and his seasoned veteran rider vs another knight and his black wyvern. Two people that Aria didn't recognize. These two guys must have been one of several knights that were on patrol around the city. They weren't a part of the previous activities with the talent competition. And Aria also noticed that none of the other competing wyverns were of those expensive and well bred wyverns. Most were standard wyverns with battle scars here and there. Only one wyvern was of the serpentine-esque variety. And Aria had a feeling that one was going to be trouble. It had minimal battle scars but the Rider looked like a very well seasoned knight.  Expensive armor.. and a coat of arms. Yeah.. that guy is going to be a problem. Another horn was sounded.

Aria turned her attention back towards the joust. The two big wyverns and their riders flew towards one another. And their spears clanked upon one another's bodies. As the thump happened the crowd erupted into a series of cheers. They turned around to face each other once again. And once again both wyverns flew towards one another. They flew about 10-15 feet above the ground. Another clang. And then the rider on the black wyvern slid off. He was dangling off the side of his wyvern as the massive creature, felt it's rider move, then gently descended down. The rider tumbled to the ground in a calamity of clangs and curses. He stayed flat on the ground for several moments. The wyvern landed near him and nudged him. Trying to get him to get back up. And after several intense minutes, the rider of the black wyvern moved. He slowly pulled himself up from the ground and hobbled off towards the losers corner.

The blue wyvern and it's knight was declared the winner of the first round. Again the crowd erupted into a flurry of cheers. The jousting area was cleared off and the next round of participants were summoned to start. Aria tightened the safety rope around her waist. She did one final quick check of her armor. Then she patted Chewy lightly on the head and guided her towards her end of the jousting area. Her opponent, another knight on a green wyvern. 

[Thorne]

Thorne noticed Chewy walking over and motioned away from himself. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Go with Aria, the joust is starting." While secretly flattered that the wyvern was already fond of him, he knew the joust was more important than his little predicament. He watched Chewy and Aria leave, and then turned to the toppled crate. More of the items had survived without harm than he’d originally thought, though enough of them were damaged that the merchants would still be pretty unhappy with him.

Putting the merchandise back in the crate as carefully as possible, Thorne began heaving it back towards the merchant stalls. In the worst possible scenario, he would lose his ride to Lycia. Aria had already offered to fly him to the border, and even if that didn’t turn out, it probably wasn’t too far to the Lycian border, right?

Thorne remembered that the joust was starting and continued faster to the merchants.

—

As Thorne had guessed, the merchants were quite displeased with the course of events. He had managed to negotiate to keep his job (a necessity, as Thorne was still poor and needed food and supplies) in exchange for losing his ride to Lycia and less pay. It wasn’t ideal, but Thorne doubted anyone else would pay him for work, so there wasn’t much of an option in that regard. Aria might be able to help, but Thorne really didn’t have anything to offer, except maybe some sort of IOU. 

After his talk with the merchants, Thorne ran back to the jousting grounds and saw Aria and Chewy facing another wyvern and rider. By some chance, he had arrived just as the event was starting. He watched on with amazement as the midair joust began.

[Aria]

Aria stared down the lane at her opponent. The young knight upon his green wyvern was not a seasoned veteran. If Aria had to guess he must have been either a new knight, or a knight near the end of his training. He was not dawned with the full regalia of the Bernese knights. But, he still sported some impressive looking pieces of armor. But, Aria, with her own experience and training, could see the kinks in his armor. His chest plate wasn't properly sealed. Aria could reasonable hit the buckles or the belts that held it together and have it come off him. Aria could also see the end of the rope that held him to his wyvern. It was tucked away behind his armored leg. Aria could strike that with her lance, and the knight would be knocked loose. 

Although the more she stared at him. the more he stared back. Aria knew that while her own armor was a hand me down. A hobbled collection of multi colored, multi metal, pieces of armor of various degrees of longevity. The icon of Bern plastered proudly upon her chest. Aria had spend most of her adult life caring for her own well worn armor. Taking it to various smiths to adjust it so that it fit her own frame. But, even with all that tweaking, she knew the weaknesses of her own armor. Her thighs were a notorious weak point. And while she wore thick heavy pants to cover them from Chew's scales, the thigh armor, was ill fitting. While it was strapped to her legs so that it would not flap in the breeze during flight, it was still very easily hit able. A seasoned knight could thrust a spear in between the gap and destroy her ability to walk. Her calf and shin were very well protected with their own armor. And she too had her lifeline to Chewy stashed underneath her leg. 

Aria's face was also very exposed. While most knights favored a helmet with a visor to protect them from the wind. Aria favored the helmet that allowed her to see. It did well to protect her head and ears but, it exposed her face to the elements. She kept a small cloth masked over her face to help deal with the wind and colder temperatures of the skies. Aria didn't have much time to think about her enemies movements.

With the sound of the bell, the signal to go was called. And suddenly Chewy was flying straight down the line towards her opponent. Aria readied her semi blunted spear like a professional. Her opponent, also ready with his blunted spear up. And then there was the hard clang. Both wyverns snarled and growled at one another. Followed by the audience's reaction. Aria managed to wing her body a bit so that the opponent's spear hit square in the center of her chest piece. But, she had her spear slightly lower to hit the opponent's hip and thigh. Trying to aim at the rope. 

And then they were both at the other end of their respective lanes. Aria was mostly undamaged. Though she suspected the area where the spear clanged into her would bruise up pretty good later. Both riders were given a new set of blunted spears. The second bell was chimed, the second call to go. Chewy charged forward. This time the other knight's lance was aimed a bit higher. Aria noted that. He was trying to knock her right in her head. Aria being crafty, waited till the last possible second to duck her head down. The opponent's lance still hit her, but it hit the tip of her helmet. And then she lobbed her spear as hard as she could, into the knight's exposed side. She heard him cry out in pain. Something snapped on the other knight. And while Aria didn't see it herself, as Chewy was still moving forward, and she couldn't look back, the knight on the green wyvern had fallen off his wyvern. A different chimed bell was rung.

And with that Aria was declared winner of her round.  

[Thorne]

Two knights charging at each other with giant, heavy lances seemed dangerous enough on horseback, but apparently Bern never got the memo and decided to add wyverns into the mix. While hugely entertaining, Thorne couldn't help but wonder how fast the wyverns would fly. It seemed obvious that wyverns would be faster than horses, but then how were you supposed to hit your opponent if you were going that fast? The riders were wearing heavy armor to repel the lance strikes, but it appeared to be quite easy to fall and get hurt, even with the safety rope. Then again, Thorne had never rode on a wyvern before, so perhaps it was safer than he thought. Watching the first charge, though, as the riders exchanged lance blows, Thorne couldn’t help but wince as he saw both recoil from the hit.

While the riders got new lances, Thorne tried to move a little closer to the joust. He had arrived a bit late, so there was already a substantial crowd gathered to watch. After (gently) pushing past a few spectators, Thorne was close enough where he could get a good look at the gear of both competitors.

He already knew Aria’s for the most part, with a set of somewhat standard-looking armor (though he had noticed the pieces were a little multicolored, which seemed odd for armor, but nonetheless did look quite cool). The opposing knight, however, seemed to be dressed in more official-looking armor, as well as a much bulkier helmet, which was probably ideal in this sort of event. After a few seconds more of looking at the knight’s gear, it occurred to Thorne that he didn’t really have a great idea of what determined the quality of armor. He had always just judged weapons and armor based on how shiny they looked, though thinking back that probably wasn't very accurate.

The riders soon prepared for the next charge, new lances in hand, and lined up again like the first time. The bell dinged, and both flew off at the other. Up close, Thorne was able to tell how fast they were going, and just barely managed to catch Aria narrowly dodging a blow to the face. Aria's opponent, however, took a heavy hit to the side, and fell over before his wyvern had reached the end of the line. Thorne cheered with the rest of the crowd, though he wondered what Aria had hit for the knight to fall off. That had looked like Bern's official armor for a knight, and on top of that, he had looked fairly competent. Maybe Aria was more skilled in combat than Thorne had originally guessed.

After the joust, Thorne wandered around a bit more. Aria had offered to talk to the merchants employing him, but he didn't know if she still needed to fight anytime soon, so he just kinda loitered around, talking to passerby. While most people gave him a polite greeting and walked on, a few shared his enthusiasm for the event, which was a pleasant surprise from the standard hurried responses he was used to when talking to random people on the street. Perhaps he should visit Bern more often.

[Aria]

Aria enjoyed the various cheers from the crowd and snickered a bit at the boos. Aria and Chewy returned towards the waiting area for the contenders. She tried her best to peek over the heads of all the people just to see if her opponent made it out okay. But, she couldn't see him anywhere. She didn't even see his wyvern. Hope he doesn't rally up a bunch of his friends and try to rob me later. 

Chewy reared her head up towards Aria. Aria simply crouched down, petted, and huged Chewy's big fat head. Then she quietly hopped off her big red wyvern and grabbed one of Thorne's snacks from the bag. She fed it to her wyvern who snatched it out of Aria's hand with her tongue. Yuck. Aria thought to herself as she shook off the slimy wyvern drool from her gloved hand. 

"You did a great job out there Chew." Aria spoke to Chewy like a coach to her mentor. 

"We just gotta do that a few more times. That turn training has been paying off you know. Your not as slow in the rear like you were a few months ago." Aria continued to give Chewy some more affectionate pats. 

"How was that snack anyway?" Aria asked. And Chewy in an immediate response was to butt her head as close to Aria's chest. She was trying to push her closer towards her snack bag in order to get more. Aria had to shove Chew's head aside.

"Later buddy. Later." She spoke and then climbed back up on Chewy's saddle. She gave Chewy a few taps on the shoulder with her heel. Chewy slowly pulled herself upwards so that she was standing up on her hind legs. She had her tail firmly rooted to the ground to keep her balance. Aria carefully pulled herself up and over Chewy's head once again. This time she caught sight of the next round of competitors. The seasoned veteran with the serpentine wyvern was up. And his opponent was another seasoned veteran with a green wyvern. Both wyverns had a various amount of battle scars. 

"Oooh.. this one is going to be a good one." Aria spoke to herself. She gently tapped Chewy again and the big red wyvern went back down on all fours again. After a few tense moments, the bell rang. And the two opponents charged at one another. The serpentine wyvern was fast. Like deceptively fast. The knight on the green wyvern didn't even make it half way down the track. Despite the speed of the knight on the serpentine wyvern, the other knight knew what to do. He met his lance with a side sweep of his own. Both lances jammed against each other and ripped apart in a flurry of splinters. Both Wyverns growled as they nearly collided with one another. And then both jousters were on the opposite sides of each other track.

[Thorne]

After a bit of chatting with some passerby, it looked like another joust was starting soon. Thorne squirmed out of the crowd and looked around. Many people were coming back from the vendor stalls with food and drinks, so it was getting rather busy. Thorne noticed that Aria wasn’t in this joust, so he went to the competitor’s areas to look for her. She had offered to talk to his merchant employers, but Thorne didn’t really want to go with them to Lycia. Something about them seemed a little shady, and he’d rather just make his own way to Lycia. Supplies would be an issue, but if he somehow managed to convince Aria to take him, he could probably make it to a village without problem.


Thorne wandered over to where all of the wyvern riders seemed to be waiting. A few of them were chatting together, but most seemed to keep to themselves. Aria was with Chewy, watching the next joust.

Walking over, Thorne waved to the duo. “Heyo, it’s me again. Mind if I sit here?” He motioned to a nearby spot on the ground.

Noticing a strange looking wyvern as one of the competitors, Thorne couldn’t keep the questions in. “Woah, what’s that wyvern? How is it so fast? Why does it look different from the others?”

Thorne remembered that people usually didn’t like being asked many questions in a short period of time and apologized. “Uh, sorry, I’ve been told I ask too many questions. I try to keep it in for the most part, but sometimes it just bursts out.”

Thorne waited a bit before asking another question. "So, where are you two from?”

[Aria]

Aria watched the first round of the joust with baited breath. She really wanted to see more of the style the serpentine wyvern had to offer. It's speed and maneuverability was unmatched. But, Aria was impressed at the experience of the knight on the green wyvern. A well seasoned veteran who was probably just coming off the heels of the Illian war. Used to air combat against other speedier pegsai. The two competitors ran through their second lap. A clang of wood against metal, another flurry of splinters, and wyvern roars. Another wave of excitement from the crowd. And much to Aria's surprise a third round! But, the knight on the green wyvern had taken a hard hit. Even from her vantage point she could see the large dent within the knight's armor. The other knight on the serpentine wyvern seemed to be unharmed. Aria had her hands cupped over her eyebrows in an attempt to see the man on the serpentine wyvern better. 

A voice from near by snapped her back to world around her. It was actually Chewy who responded to the voice first. The wyvern turned her body to look at Thorne. This caused Aria to react. As she wasn't prepared to suddenly be moving by Chewy's actions. Aria then looked down wards towards the source of the voice and was happy to see that it was Thorne. She gently tapped Chewy who lowered herself a little more and guided Aria closer towards Thorne.

"Heya!" She gave him a bit of a wave.

"Sorry about the mini merchandise avalanche before. I hope you didn't get in too much trouble." She replied sheepishly. And then there came the bunch of questions about the serpentine wyvern.

"That's just another form of wyvern. They are either bred that way or wild caught and tamed. Some call them Snake wyverns, Serpentine, or True wyverns. Depending on which region of the country you happen to be in." It was at this point Aria elected to get down off of Chewy and talk to Thorne properly. 

"Oh me? I'm from Lucerne. Second biggest city in Bern that's not the capital proper. Lovely place. With a big ol Lake." Aria described it quite nicely.

"Ah i don't mind the questions. I just hope I can give the right answers. Oh, and Chewy want's to thank you for the snack. Maybe once the joustin is done and we aren't too banged up we can give you a ride on her back."

[Thorne]

    “Uh, yeah, the merchants weren’t too pleased with me. I don’t think they're going to give me a ride to Lycia. If you don’t mind, could I have just a teensy ride? It doesn’t have to be to Lycia, just somewhere I can work for a bit to pay for the journey.” Anywhere would work, since Thorne needed a bit more gold. He also wanted some more information regarding finding a mentor to teach him magic, and he guessed this small village wouldn’t be too lively with said gossip after the festival.

    Learning about the serpentine wyvern only increased the flow of Thorne’s questions. “Really? Where did they come from? Are there other different kinds of wyverns, too?”

    While Thorne and Aria were talking, the joust was still going on. Though he could only get a few glimpses here and there, he could tell the serpentine wyvern was fast. The other duo seemed to be losing, but Thorne couldn’t quite tell.

    Thorne didn’t really remember Lucerne from any maps he’d seen, but he also didn’t remember any maps he’d seen in the first place. "Lucerne? Sounds nice. What’s it like there? What do you two do for a living?"

    “Really!? Thank you!” Thorne nearly jumped at the thought. He was really going to ride on a wyvern! Remembering the rest of Aria’s sentence, Thorne added ”Oh, I nearly forgot to congratulate you on your win! How was it?”

[Aria]

"Hmm.. I suppose I can take you up towards the Bern and Lycian border. There's a really large village on the border that me and Chewy frequent when were up that way. Not that we are up there often but, we do end up there at least once a year." Aria spoke and kinda turned around to see the match.

"But the road is unpredictable and kinda dangerous even by flight. If something comes up and we can't do the journey all the way up there.. I can at least get you half way there." 

As Aria was answering Thorne's questions, the joust behind her finally came to it's conclusion. The knight with the serpentine wyvern emerged victorious. And while he was beaten the crowd gave the old veteran a round of applause and cheers. He had put up quite the fight and had earned the crowd's respect. Aria interrupted her answers to join in the cheering. It appeared that the veteran knight while banged up didn't end up permanently damaged. The healers of the area gave the crowd a thumbs up to signal that both competitors were in good shape. 

"Winning feels nice. But we've a long way to go. I don't think there's a prize for second place on this one. I could be wrong. As to where the serpintine wyverns came from.. no one really knows. Some say they are cousins to regular wyverns or a wild variant.. some are bred that way... but regardless.. wyverns are wyverns." And there will be no changing that. Aria could see that she was being flagged down from the jousting staff for something. The rider knew it wasn't her turn yet so she wondered what was up.

"Hey.. Looks like I'm being summoned. I know this is all a friendly competition and all.. but do me a favor. Keep your eyes peeled and your wits about you. Some of the competitors might not be so nice and since we've been talking they might do something to you to get to me." She gave Thorn a firm pat on the back and hopped back on Chewy. The wyvern and rider made their way carefully back up to the competitors area. She was given a quick rundown as to what had happened. Apparently, the rider that was scheduled to be here didn't show. So they had to change the brackets around a bit to accommodate. So, Aria's turn got bumped up. 

The audience wasn't aware of the going on's behind the scenes. The judges called for a brief intermission. And as part of that intermission a small band of entertainers came out to indulge the crowd. Tricks were being done, flips were being made, and there was plenty of juggling to be had. 

[Thorne]

    "Don't worry about it, I don't wanna be a burden. Anything'll do!" Secretly, Thorne was worried about what could be a danger to a wyvern, but he kept that to himself.

    The serpentine wyvern's victory distracted Thorne from the topic, as he politely clapped for the competitors. Both riders were very skilled, but the serpentine wyvern's speed seemed to be the deciding factor in the match. It was strange how two entirely different types of wyvern could exist without human intervention. Thorne pondered what it would be like to have his own wyvern. Elder mages were known to occasionally take horses as mounts, but he had never heard of a magic user with a flying mount. It didn't seem like that far of a stretch, though Thorne couldn't cast a single spell yet, so perhaps there was more of a barrier than he thought.

    Aria's departure snapped him back to reality. "Yeah, I'll look out for anything suspicious. I bet I can handle it. Good luck!" Thorne waved her off, then went to find a place to watch the match. He wouldn't be able to help his employers that day anymore than he already had, so he was content to enjoy the match.

    On the way to his old spot at the front of the crowd, Thorne recalled the last part of Aria's warning. Rival competitors would try to get him? He didn't expect anyone to care so much about a festival. Changing his mind, Thorne pulled his hood up and instead opted for a spot further away, where he could get a better view of the passerby. Trying to enjoy the fight, he sat down and let the thought lurk in the back of his mind.

[Aria]

Aria wished she could enjoy the sights and sounds of the jesters during the intermission. But, she was busy, looking at her competition. Her opponent for this bout was yet another veteran. A massive hulk of a man atop a large black wyvern that could very well rival Chewy in size. And Aria swore, she recognized the pattern of scars upon the wyvern's back. Perhaps, they had met once before? Aria shook her head. There was no way she knew the wyvern, let alone the rider. 

Aria sighed softly. She looked to Chewy and patted her head. 

"Look at that Chewy. That's who we have to beat." Chewy looked over past Aria's shoulder. And gave a bit of a snuff. The massive man was dressed with standard armor of Bern. And if Aria had to guess from the pauldrons, he had to have been some kind of general. A man who far out ranked her in just about every sense of the word. Aria mused to herself. Trying to figure out how she was even going to move such a man off his large wyvern. She supposed she would need to figure that out in the heat of the battle. After about ten minutes, the jesters were dismissed from the field. And so Aria took her place at the end of the jousting area. 

The other man took his place at the opposite end of the jousting ring. The crowds gave a mixed reaction. Most were happy to see two large wyverns about to charge at one another. Those who were fans of Aria booed at the man and called the match unfair. Those who were fans of the general himself, cheered, and claimed this to be an easy win.

His wyvern let out a bit of a roar prior to the sound of the bell. And when the bell rang, he man and his massive wyvern flew forwards towards Aria. And Aria guided Chewy out towards him. And she had absolutely no plan. She would come to think of one after this first round of blows. She wanted to see if there were any weaknesses within the man's physique, within his form, or armor. 

CLANG! SNAP!

Aria felt the blow of the man's lance against her shield. And at that moment she realized, that that man had no weakness for her to exploit. He was far to experienced. She felt herself knocked back but tightened her legs grip to the saddle. She was shaken but not out. She guided Chewy back to her place at the now opposite end of the jousting field. Her jousting lance was ripped to splinters. Aria did not know if she even made a dent into that man's shield. Or if he had even felt her blow. As he appeared to have shrugged off the blow as if nothing had happened. No plan yet. I need to try again.

Aria was given another set of jousting lances. And prepared for the next round of charges.