The tournament organization, as it turned out, was on the surface outside of Grandbell's central pit, which meant it was in the rain. And the storm showed no signs of abating.
"Bananas, is it just me, or is this way more persistent than the Ironridge weather?" Valey complained, rubbing the back of her shoulders and wincing from her lingering wounds. "Feels like it's been raining forever!"
"Only a day, actually," Amber remarked, not at all caring that her fur was plastered to her skin by the downpour. "Granted, it was a very long day, but this just started last night."
Maple trotted beside them, herself and Starlight contained in a single oversized Riverfall poncho, rain streaming off the slick material. "Are you two sure you don't want one too? I have several more of these..."
Valey folded her ears. "Yeah, there's no way that thing's gonna feel good when I'm all beat up. But I can take it. I'll just dry off and warm up later."
"And you know I'm happier when I'm soaked," Amber chuckled. "We're fine, Maple."
Shinespark had no qualms about wearing one of the ponchos, her horn lit sapphire for light beneath its large hood. "So all of Grandbell's surface is used for crop production?" she asked, glancing around at the scenery. Well-ordered groves of trees sat in tended soil on either side of a curved stone road, and Valey was sure if seen from above in the day, it would form some kind of pattern. In the distance, the aqueduct walls protected the fields from the plain's wind, and the mountain wall of the Aldenfold loomed like a black void in the distance.
"Yes," their guide said, wearing an expression that said he was paid exorbitant amounts of money not to be bothered by the rain. "Grandbell attempts to provide as much of its own food supply as feasible in this climate. The area inside the walls is entirely used for crop production, save for the parade grounds, which serve as our arena."
"And it looks like we're almost there," Valey observed, the road widening and coming to a gate.
Their guide had a short discussion with the gate guards, after which they were permitted into the gatehouse and led down a short staircase inside. That led to a hallway, and suddenly they were in a long, well-lit room half-covered in tables and paperwork and filled with talking ponies. Valey blinked, dripping, heads starting to turn at their arrival.
"IT'S YOU!" a familiar wall of muscle called from the back, grinning an overeager smile.
"Hello, star power," a mustard-yellow unicorn mare with an angular face and slim barrel greeted, floating over a stack of emergency linens. "Need a towel, sugarcube? Or are you too cool for caring about the weather?"
Valey blinked, taking the towels. "Uh, hi. Have we met?"
"Everyone who is anyone knows who you are," a griffon in chef's attire who looked vaguely familiar mused. "Well met again, by the way. It was an interest, being bested by you in battle."
"It's an honor," a pink mare whispered, wearing a sparkling medallion from the earlier ceremony. "You're here to help us, right?"
Valey tilted her head. "Help? Why, what's going on?"
"Hello, Admiral Valey," another voice declared, and the temperature in the room rose several degrees. The crowd parted, revealing a mare in a sleek metal suit with flowing, luminous lines of coolant energy, several jet fans idling on her sides. Meltdown evenly met her eyes, and Valey winced. "What's going on is that your shenanigans in Stormhoof last night caused three of the tournament's top organizers to resign and flee to the countryside for fear of the Empire's instability. This is back-to-back with last month's devastation in Izvaldi, and things have reached a point where this year's tournament won't continue unless those who care about it make an effort to save it."
Valey's jaw dropped slightly. "Wait, this thing could be canceled?"
"Yep. That's what they say," the unicorn who had offered towels said, leaning against a large barrel with the faintest hint of danger in her voice. "So what'll it be, hon? Think we can be friends?"
In the back, standing on his hind legs as always, Randorf nodded hopefully. Meltdown waited, impassive, and the rest of the room seemed to hold their breath.
"I mean, yeah?" Valey furrowed her brow. "I have no idea what it'll involve, but of course I want the tournament to go on."
A collective sigh of relief swept through the room, and the momentary shadow disappeared from the atmosphere. "Whoo, that's a relief," the towel mare sighed, wiping her brow and offering a hoof. "I'm Saffron Sunflower. Best friend you ever did make."
From Maple's back in the entrance, Starlight blinked. That name sounded like it belonged to a pony from...
"And I am Pierre, in case I failed to be memorable," the chef griffon greeted, extending a talon while Valey was hoof-bumping Saffron. "You out-dueled me and my friend quite significantly not two days ago. I am still feeling it sorely..."
"Well, look who we have here," a new voice greeted, Diego shouldering his way out of the crowd. "Valey! Hey, buddy!"
"Uh, wow, hey guys!" Valey turned in a circle from all the attention, trying not to spray anyone with her dripping mane. "So what actually are you all doing here? I assume everyone's a tournament fighter, and stuff?"
"Yes. We're all career fighters," the pink mare murmured. "Some who are still in, and some who... aren't, but still care enough to try."
"LIKE ME!" Randorf added, shoving his way to the front and taking up the space of three ponies.
Saffron nodded. "A lotta passion and a lotta talent. Miss Meltdown here can take care of all the business making things official with Garsheeva for us, but it's up to us to figure out how to schedule five fights in the time bracket of four, promote the whole thing, and keep a lid on the cheating so the half of us who aren't doing it for the love of competition don't make fools out of the rest of us."
Valey rubbed the back of her neck, grinning sheepishly. "Yeah... maybe I should read the rules on how things are supposed to go normally before I go getting too caught up in that. But I totally don't want the tournament to stop, or anything."
Pierre raised an eyebrow at Randorf. "Pay up on our bet, moneybags. I told you she didn't even realize two against one was illegal."
"AWW." Randorf drooped, tossing several golden coins.
Diego beckoned Valey through the crowd to one of the bigger tables. "So the third round of the tournament starts with two-hundred fifty six fighters. From there, it's a straight bracket to the top, which means half of the fighters drop out every round for eight rounds until you have a champion. The first four fights are round three, and they're supposed to be in Stormhoof. The last four are round four, and they're usually held in the parade grounds we're sitting under right now. The first four are flexible, because you have a lot of creatures getting spared with golden regents, but those are much rarer to see used this close to the top."
Valey frowned at the diagrams, careful not to drip on them as she continued toweling at her mane. "And we've finished three of those? Or four? I wrecked Grandpapa, got a pass from Senescey, fought two dudes at once..."
"We've finished three," Diego said, pointing at a long row of short trees. "Here's the record so far. The problem is, if we want this to go as smoothly as possible, we have to use the battle timeslots they were already counting on before all the organizers quit and we got kicked out of Stormhoof. There are four of those, intended to go from a pool of sixteen challengers to one. But we're a round behind, and counting everyone who got spared with a Regent and hasn't had their rematch in the last round, we have to use that time to find a champion from among thirty-seven."
"Thirty-seven?" Valey blinked hard. "There were five dudes spared last match? If I'm mathing right, at least. Can't you kick people with your thingies too, or something?"
Saffron nodded, coming up behind her. "Oh, there's other uses for them, alright. But a good number of us who regularly make it up this far just do it because we enjoy the challenge. Don't let Wallace Whitewing fool you about needing goals and determination to make it to the top. Maybe that's true for being the champ, but I just enjoy a good tussle."
"We spare each other a lot," the pink mare added, still not having given her name. "You remember the fighters you get knocked out by, and sometimes we become good friends."
"Sorry to interrupt, but maybe we can help with this?" Shinespark slipped up by Valey's side, pulling her hood back and glancing over the tournament structure sheets. "I have a lot of experience with organizational work."
Pierre's beak pursed. "Ah, the captain! It is a pleasure to meet you as well. And your friends?" He gestured to the rest of Valey's entourage, where Amber was socializing and the guide had disappeared and the rest looked unsure where to go.
"Yeah, they're cool. And Sparky knows her stuff." Valey nodded confidently.
Saffron had been giving Shinespark a strange look, and her ears suddenly wilted. "Oh, I do remember you! You're that poor gal who got taken apart standing in for Miss Valey back in round two, aren't you?"
Shinespark winced from the memory. "...That was me, yes. Though I recovered better than my armor..."
"You still haven't gotten that thing put back together?" Diego raised a concerned eyebrow. "You should let me have a look at that sometime. I specialize in magitech and arcane machinery."
Saffron shook her head. "I still can't believe that Grandpapa somehow got to borrow Yulio's sword to do that to you. He must have thought you all were a bigger threat and wanted to take you down a notch. Or maybe he was just being rude."
"Wait, you know Grandpapa?" Valey blinked in alarm. "Bananas, I don't like that dude."
"SADLY." Randorf pouted.
"Well, you could say that, yes," Pierre mused. "He has been around longer than any of us. We do not often talk. They do things differently in Gyre, where he is from, and he has his... uniqueness. My muscle-bound friend is unamused with him after having him end last year's run early."
Randorf sulked.
"Aww, he's not so bad," Saffron countered. "Grandpapa, that is. At least, he usually isn't. He has some weird philosophy and always goes hard on sarosians. Doesn't really like them being in the tournament. But he seems to try his best to look out for everyone, even if he's got some eccentricities."
The pink mare turned her head down. "If you want someone to complain about, Yulio is far worse."
"Sounds like someone's got a grudge?" Valey raised an eyebrow, Shinespark poring over the table beside her.
"Fresh wounds." Pierre shrugged. "She is out of the battle courtesy of him from last match."
Saffron bit her lip. "Yulio's plenty nice outside of matches. Talks himself up and has a bit of an ego, but who doesn't when you're this good? But then he plays dirtier than an unbathed pirate the moment you're alone in the ring. Dunno why he hasn't used that paralyzing sword of his yet. If you go up against him, best advice I have is to pack a set of earplugs and ring his head like a gong. It's real unsporting of him when so many of us just play to have fun."
"The upside of being knocked out by you is that we won't have to deal with him," Pierre sighed. "The downside is we won't have the chance to teach him a lesson."
"And he has a sword?" Starlight asked, waddling up beside the table. "Is it black with a triangular hole in the hilt?"
Saffron's eyes went wide. "Awww! Aren't you the cutest thing?" She looked up at Valey. "She's with you?"
Valey grinned. "Yeah, Starlight's cool." Her grin turned to a frown. "You care about his sword, though? I've never even heard of this rando."
"This is his first year fighting, so neither have we," Pierre apologized. "And that is his blade, yes. You are familiar with it?"
"How long has he had it?" Starlight asked, sounding curious.
Saffron shrugged. "Shucks, I don't know. I just hope he keeps not using it. Not a fan of getting messed up by that thing myself. Who knows if a hoof clap can even catch its blade? I saw it go right through you, sugarcube." She nodded at Shinespark, who was too deeply absorbed in the tournament diagrams to notice.
"Heh..." Valey chuckled, nudging Shinespark's flank with her own wet one. "This table big enough for you, Sparky?"
Shinespark reddened, and her ears went down. "I'm concentrating. Don't you dare."
The others gave questioning looks, but Starlight quickly cleared her throat. "Is he here? Where could I find him if I wanted to talk with him?"
"Here? Being helpful? As if." Saffron chuckled. "Nah, he's probably showing off his shiny service medallion downtown, exactly the way our friends here aren't." She pointed at Randorf and the pink mare. "Better for productivity, if you ask me. He'll be around sometime or other."
"Speaking of who we were speaking of," Pierre interrupted, "Grandpapa is here, if you were hoping to find or avoid an encounter with him."
"Oh bananas, he is?" Valey's eyes widened. "Uhh... I mean... he's not gonna cause trouble, right? I'm not the biggest fan of getting monked up, and he's probably not going to get overconfident because I'm injured twice..."
Saffron bit her lip. "I noticed that. You alright, sugarcube? Don't worry about him, he's being helpful."
"Eh, I will be." Valey showed her shoulders, Gazelle's scratches somewhat visible beneath her wet fur. "Helpful, though? Really?"
Pierre coughed unscrupulously. "Seeing as someone brought Lord Gyre to a tragic demise, he is the closest thing the Gyre delegation has to a leader. He has stepped up to fill the role."
Valey winced again. "Exactly how tragic is this demise we're talking about?"
Saffron almost laughed. "There isn't no one who cared about Lord Gyre. All the other sphinxes are probably whistling and sweeping everything under the rug about him. I wouldn't worry your pretty little head about it, unless some vengeful expatriate shows up ticked you stole their kill."
Nearby, Diego sighed. "It's a shame the noble leaders of the Empire can sink to this. Not the reputation Wallace wishes they had."
"Yeah..." Valey swallowed. "Anyway, you have any idea where Grandpapa is now, then? I kind of would rather run into him on my own terms before he runs into me."
"I WILL FIND HIM," Randorf pledged, crossing his heart with a hoof and then lumbering away.
Valey blinked, watching in silence with her new companions for one minute... two... and then Randorf's very-visible head stopped looking and then cleared a path back through the crowd toward them, an older sarosian in tow.
"Well, Valey. We meet again," Grandpapa said, watching her with an expression of complete neutrality.
"Hey there, old timer," Valey returned, a hint of threat in her tone. "So I got you out of the tournament, right? You're not gonna mess with me anymore?"
Grandpapa sighed. "You've proven remarkably resilient to reason, my dear. But perhaps that's my fault for not speaking your language. You have good intentions here, trying to see to it that the tournament goes on?"
Valey glanced at everyone else. "I mean, that's the plan."
"Good." Grandpapa nodded, pleased. "I wish to talk with you if you will listen, but not now. You should continue helping your friends and building goodwill. You have a lot of eyes on you, and could still do much for the image of sarosiankind."
Valey blinked. "I'm never gonna understand you, am I?"
"That would be unfortunate, when you have a lot to learn." Grandpapa turned to leave. "I will be here for quite some time. Please pay me a visit when you are done with more productive things. We have a tournament to save, after all!"
He disappeared into the crowd again, leaving Valey staring. "Bananas. First he tries to kill me, then he tries to kill my friend, and now he's..." She straightened up. "Yeah, whatever. Hey guys, what's in that barrel from earlier? I dunno how much help I'm gonna be on the schedule stuff, but you all seem cool. Wanna hang out?"
A big grin spread across Saffron's face at the mention of the barrel. "I was hoping someone would ask."