I could hear Ethan pacing the hallway, trying not to make noise, and failing completely.
“I think we need to go check on your son, he seems a little nervous,” Kimball suggested with a smile, I should have known he was also awake.
“It’s not the same to fight those you know, than to face new enemies.”
It had been a month since Ethan’s school tournament, and the International version was about to start, with more than a hundred opponents in every category. I didn’t expect Ethan to be worried about it, but I was kind of glad for that, because it meant he was taking it seriously and with the necessary respect.
I got up and got ready for the day. I was still feeling a little guilty for leaving Ethan after his victory in the previous tournament. He had insisted he had no issues with that, but I still felt like I owed him for that, and I had decided to be with him all through the new tournament.
“Good morning,” I said, as I walked outside my room, I knew he was just around the corner and he would be able to hear me.
“Good morning, mom,” he said, just pushing his head around the corner and smiling at me nervously.
“Can’t wait for the tournament to start?”
“Kind of, I’m not sure what to expect, I don’t know most of the participants. Nos that Emily is no longer in charge of it, a lot of people decided to be part of it. Which is kind of weird, since people still claims you are worse than her.”
“What you did the last time, blocking your powers, I don’t think you should do it again, I would feel better if you let your powers active and use them to have some protection, a psychic barrier around you would be a good idea,” I said, focusing on my own worries about the tournament.
“Do you think I won’t be able to win without my powers?” he asked, his voice the same as always, but I could feel he was feeling hurt by my words.
“I trust you to win this tournament without trouble, with or without your powers, but I fear you could be hurt. I don’t want you to suffer any pain if you can avoid it,” I could tell he felt better with my statement.
“Your mother is just being a mom, worried about her son,” Kimball said, walking out of our room. “You have a long day ahead of you, you need a big breakfast to be ready to face it.”
“I’m not really hungry,” Ethan complained.
“You have nothing to worry about, everything is going to be fine and you will realize there was nothing to worry about.”
“Did you have a vision?”
“I don’t need my powers to tell that you are strong enough to defeat all your opponents and win the tournament. You are my son, you have the blood of great warriors running through your veins, and I know you will keep a cold head and would be able to defeat every opponent.”
“Thanks mother, I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
“I would be proud of you even if you lost your first fight, but please, don’t do that, it would be super embarrassing for my son to lose so soon,” I added, going for my cold persona, and getting a fit of laughing out of Ethan.
Out of everything Emily had done, the tournament was one of the few things people agreed had been a good thing, so I had never tried to end it. But unlike the previous tournament, the international version was much bigger and was going to last the whole weekend.
From the moment we arrived, I felt the presence of all the people there and finally understood why they had moved the venue to a bigger place. The number of fights that were going to be taking place at the same time was bigger than the last time. The number of people attending was also bigger, and the number of attendees made it easier for me to justify why I was there without having to confess that I was there because of my son.
Several Representatives from different countries were also there to cheer for the participants from their countries, and because of that, many of the most powerful men and women in the Dominion were in attendance, which explained why they had requested increased security.
“It seems that this event has more people interested in it that I expected. I never came with Emily to one of these while I was working with her, this is not what I expected,” I told Kimball, who was by my side.
“I don’t think the event used to have this many expectators in previous years. The fact that there are so many people now has more to do with you, and the trust the people in the Dominion has on you. Even if it doesn’t look like it, the fact that so many people are willing to send their children here, means that they trust you with them. Everyone knew that Emily used these events to recruit children for her army, so many people hid their children from her by avoiding the tournaments. It’s a little like what we did with Ethan, by asking him to hide his abilities so he wouldn’t catch their attention. But now everyone knows that they are going to be safe, or at least most people.”
“But I still have the same prize, that if a kid wins, they will have the option to come live here and study at Capital City school.”
“You said it right, the option,” Kimball repeated, “you made it clear it was an option, and I think that is one of the reasons so many people came.
At that moment I noticed a little blonde girl that was running at top speed, directly to where Ethan was, and I realized she had no intention of stopping. Kimball felt my tension and turned to see what had caught my attention. Just as I was getting ready to act, I felt Kimball’s hand on my arm.
“That’s young Juliana, one of Ethan’s cousins,” he explained before I could act. “She is not in line for the throne, still I’m surprised she was allowed to participate.”
“I don’t remember her.”
“She is from my mother’s side, you know she is related to some of the European royalty, and we have many relatives there, even if I’m not as close to them as to my mzansier relatives. That is my cousin Zaria’s daughter, she is one of my cousins with voice powers.”
“That’s right, you told me you recognized Molpadia’s power because of your experience with your cousins,” I remembered. Kimball had a big family, and I hadn’t had the chance to get to meet all of them. The whole issue with the Dominion had left me a little isolated, and even if my new position had put me in contact with a couple of royals that were part of Kimball’s extended family, I didn’t know most of Victoria’s close family, since they weren’t as politically involved.
Little Juliana had reached Ethan and had jumped into his arms. Ethan didn’t seem to have a problem with that, and they were talking happily while we watched.
“I think my mother likes to talk to Ethan about our family, it’s very likely she introduced them before. They seem to know each other very well.”
“Do you think we should make a bigger effort in staying in contact with them?” I asked, worried that I wasn’t being a good mother by keeping Ethan away from them, not letting him establish connections that could help him in the future, but especially connections that were useful to a sensible kid like him.
“It seems they have it under control,” Juliana and Ethan were introducing their friends to each other, and the group around them was getting bigger.
“What do you think will be the results for this tournament? Do you think any country has an advantage over the others?”
“It’s hard to tell. Some kids come from rich families that had invested a lot of time and money training them, while others come from difficult situations where they had to fight to survive, for them every day was a constant fight. As you know that gives them different styles that in turn can cause very different results. None is better than the other, they are just different, but both styles can create amazing warriors.”
“I was thinking about offering some of the most promising kids the chance to come here to study, no matter if they win or not. Do you think we could do that? Could we afford to offer them a place here?”
“I think we could find a way, it’s just a matter of shifting some numbers in the budget, or we could even use our own money to sponsor them. As Prime Minister you have a high salary, and you hardly touch it.”
“You are right, I think we could make it work. If you see someone you think could be a good match, let me know and I will do a little research to see if they are a good fit.”
“I don’t care what anyone says, you are a good woman and a great ruler,” Kimball said, taking my hand and caressing it discreetly. Even if the way people saw me, and the general feelings about me were changing, I wasn’t comfortable with public displays of affection, despite all the changes I still felt better by showing people a colder, harsher side of me.
Just a while after the inauguration of the tournament I felt the overwhelming presence of the participants, their emotions were intense and diverse, so much that I had to focus not to let it get to me. Again, we could see many fights taking place at the same time, which made it a little harder to follow all of them, luckily finding the best fighters was easy. As Kimball had said, it was hard to identify a country that was best one, but there were a few that were better than others, or at least had more participants moving on, and Capital City was one of the few countries that had almost all of its participants moving on, but it was too soon to point to a clear winner.
At first it seemed as if Ethan was going to have an easy time moving forward, but then a couple of his opponents proved to be good enough to give him a real fight. The fact that he was using his powers to protect himself was leaving him at a disadvantage against the other kids, since he had to focus on maintaining his defense, and that caused his movements to be slower, but at the same time it gave him a higher level of protection that others didn’t have. The other advantage for his defense is that his opponents thought they were hitting him, and hurting him, when in fact they were only hitting his barrier, and while they were thinking they were doing damage, they were the ones getting tired, and slowly falling apart while Ethan, with his higher than normal strength. Even if Ethan wasn’t as strong as a mutant, he was strong enough to defeat them.
At midday the kids, and their parents, were given a break so they could get some rest and something to eat. I decided to invite a few of them to a private dining room. I invited Kimball’s family, both sides, his European and African relatives, also a few of the families I had had previous contact with, those that I knew well enough to feel comfortable being myself.
“My dear cousin, is so good to see you again!” said a woman that I guessed was Zaria, since she was with Juliana, and had some resemblance to Victoria. She threw herself into Kimball’s arms, in the same way that Juliana had done with Ethan that morning.
“It’s been a while. Congratulations, your daughter is doing a great job so far, I can tell she will get far.”
“Are you saying she won’t win her category?” Zaria accused.
“She has some tough competitors, so we can’t be sure she will win,” he answered directly. “Allow me to introduce you to my wife,” he added, trying to change the topic.
As soon as I moved closer to them, I could tell that Zaria was planning something. Kimball has already told me a lot of stories about their childhood, so I had a good idea of what she could be trying to do, and when I noticed she was taking a deep breath, I didn’t need any more clues, I used my powers to apply some pressure in her neck, enough to affect her breathing and send her into a coughing fit.
“Next time think twice before trying something against me. Never forget who I am and what I’m capable of.” Kimball seemed to understand what had almost happened, but some of my others guests had no idea what was going on.
“I like her,” Zaria said once she got her voice back. “Good job cousin, you found a strong woman that can keep you under control.”
“It’s the other way around, I’m the one who has to keep her under control,” Kimball joked.
“Be careful with what you’re saying, or you will also lose your voice.” I warned Kimball, trying to sound cold, but if the smile he was trying to suppress was any indications, I was failing to fool him. Once he started laughing, I knew I had failed.
As usual in groups of people who knew me better, people started to approach me without any fear, willing to talk and offer their opinions about the fights. Those who were less used to me, or at least most because Zaria and her daughter didn’t seem to know the concept of fear, were keeping themselves away from me, and were doing their best not to do something that could make me angry.
At the end of the first day of competition Ethan and his cousins were still in the fight. The second day was easier, with less fights and more time between them, to give the contestants some time to rest. Once again, I invited people to have lunch with me in the private room, and I could feel people were more relaxed and comfortable the second day, even if a few of the kids, like Juliana, were still angry at losing their fights.
In the afternoon we had the semi-finals and finals. I did my best to pay attention to every fight, but my focus was on those where I could see especial kids that I was interested in offering a place in Capital City, so they could study and train with the kids that represented the future of the Dominion. Even if a few of them rejected my offer, I was going to find a way to help them get better opportunities. The future generations were very important to me. I just hoped that neither William nor Dante did something to try and stop me, accusing me of trying to manipulate the future.
Ethan’s last fight was harder than any of us expected, his opponent was a kid that could manipulate his body in a way made it look as if Ethan was never going to be able to connect a hit. Since Ethan was using his psychic barrier and had adjusted it to be farther from his body, so it would be clear that none of his opponent’s hits were connecting with him, the fight went longer than any other. I kept expecting Ethan to change his strategy and use his powers, but he kept true to his plan, and even if it took him longer to score all the hits he needed to win, he eventually managed to win.
We had a big party after the tournament to celebrate all the kids that had won in their categories, we had moved to a great hall, and once there I went to offer them the chance to move to Capital City and enjoy all the advantages they would have there, but most of them declined the invitation.
While we were celebrating with the winners, I sent some of my people to find the other kids that had proved to be good elements and give them envelopes that contained an invitation to study in Capital City. As I expected, the number of kids that accepted the invitation among that group was larger, and I had my people working on the details right away. The school year in Capital City was about to end, classes in other countries followed different schedules, but I knew that everyone would be free in time to start the year in Capital City.
By the time we arrived at our home, it was early morning, and Ethan was still full of energy from his victory, but we eventually convinced him that he needed to rest.
“You were right,” I told Kimball before we went to our room, “the tournament was a very interesting event. Maybe is not such a bad idea to bring back a few more international competitions. It could be a good way for the different countries to share experiences and connect again.”
“There are already a Committee and a Department that is in charge of that kind of things, maybe you could talk to them and get them to start working on that. But that can wait, you don’t have to do everything right in the moment. You did a good job today. I think more and more people is realizing that you are not a demon sent to destroy us all.”
“This is not how we planned things to be, but I can’t complain, everything is going better than I expected.”
Kaiserin Novel 