The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Six - Year-Group Eleven

The High Council had met a week after their decision to hold a tournament. They had already advertised where and when it was going to be. Aath, the most excited to see the Prodigies, proposed that some officials should hold a betting system to get more money for the government. At first the High Council was against the idea. This tournament was to choose who would be saving their skins, not who would win the King's Favor gold prize. This tournament was quite serious and having the government officially set up a form of gambling would take that away. The public didn't know that this was serious business though. As far as the public knew, these were heroes of the ongoing war showing their prowess in the art of war. It was mainly advertised as propaganda. Though, the more they thought about it, the more they thought it would work in their favor. Whoever placed bets were, in one way or another, choosing who their favorite year of Prodigies were. From that information they could see who the public thinks should win. This information could be vital later on.

Fliers of the year groups of the Prodigies were everywhere, though they weren't labeled as Prodigies. Identities were changed and information was forged. Prodigies who never saw a day of war were labeled as heroes of a battle that didn't exist, though the public didn't know. They didn't need to. The military was also payed to keep quiet about the whole thing. Prodigies were displayed as individuals and as groups, each flier had something to say about them. Their actual feats and records were not listed though, so the public had nothing to go on except for their looks, almost meaningless info, their names, and their hero status. Older folks would base their bets on experience, middle aged people would base their bets on what battles they attended, and the youngest of betters based on looks.

Young men would say things like, "She's too pretty to lose," or, "He looks like he's the strongest," and they would rave on about who they thought would win. Older people would say, "They have worked on the field the most out of all of them, they would obviously win. No doubt about it." Every one had an opinion of who should win. Who would defeat the others, who was stronger, and who was overall better.

Most of the Prodigies didn't like what they saw. All of them were given a copy of their group's flier and one of themselves. They thought the whole thing was simply a waste. Why would they need to know that Nano was the shortest of his year? Why would they need to know that Fox weighed the least of her year? That Halt experienced the most battles in the war compared to other Prodigies? That all of their eye colors began with the word "light"? This didn't mean much if they were going to spar against another Prodigy, or if they were trying to shoot a target. The youngest Prodigies, currently sixteen, cared only about showing off and being as flashy. They couldn't care less about some fliers that had their faces on it. One thing that the younger participating Prodigies found useful about the fliers is they learned who they would be working with. They never met Prodigies of a different aspect. They weren't old enough to be sent on assignments with the rest of their year-group.

Celesta and Nano traveled together to the capitol city of Aviagard, the great Vera's City. They traveled as a caravan, and they had separate personal wagons that they would sleep in. Celesta's wagon was large, extravagant, flowery, white, and had banners decorated with the Emblem of the Magus Uni. The Emblem was two snakes, one black and one white, conjoined to each other around half way down their body. Nano rode in a simpler wagon. It was a modest size, black, rather plain, sturdy, and it too had a banner of the same make as Celesta's. The personal wagons were only made for sleeping because the Council class of the Witch Community wanted them to ride together as a symbol of unity present to all who spied upon them, so they rode in a grey open carriage for most of the trip.

Nano and Celesta rarely talked to each other in their "normal" lives, so sitting so close to one another was slightly uncomfortable to the both of them. After a few hours of silence after they started their travel Nano decided to talk.