Chapter 1447 (1/2)
“Hotdogs! Hamburgers! Fries!”
“Sweets and treats! Ice cream and funnel cakes!”
“Long odds and prop bets! First contestant to swear, first to bleed, first to be knocked unconscious!”
The cries from the shopowners along the thoroughfare were just a few drops in the bucket. Around them, the general babble rising up from the thousands of gathered people was practically deafening.
Hydie Mordath didn’t like crowds. When she was younger, it was because she didn’t feel like she fit into the groups of happy people. After the System arrived, it was because she feared the broad, negative effect that she would have on those same fragile, happy people. Her Skill seemed only bound by distance; the more people that were crowded into a small space, the more people would suffer accidents due to her presence.
But the crowd of people that churned happily through the broad roads leading to the arena for the round of sixteen couldn’t even be called a crowd any longer; it was a veritable sea of people, with waves crashing in from every direction. People joined lines for stalls or just wove through them to save time. Others rushed out of bathrooms and were practically hopping with anticipation of getting a good seat for the matches. The surroundings were absolute bedlam.
Even with their Order Ducis uniforms, there simply wasn’t enough room for anyone to give them some respectful distance. They were completely pressed together and Hydie’s mood rapidly degenerated into irritation as elbows and shoulders kept knocking against her.
Derek Moss, as annoyingly observant as he always was, glanced back over his shoulder at her and then grinned. “Why don’t we stop and grab a bite to eat? We’re just supposed to keep any incidents from escalating anyway. No need to follow all this traffic.”
So the two of them cut sideways through the main flow of bodies and swam toward a side path to another section of the fairgrounds. There had originally been only a single food court arena planned, but the number of the attendees for the tournament was so high that the original plan had to be scrapped and expanded to include four large food courts with stalls running up and down the paths around the stadium. Otherwise, the lines at the single food court would have been hours long as the tournament wore on.
Once they were on the side path, the crowd thinned out a lot and Hydie could release a breath without spitting on someone. Then she scowled over at Derek. “Can’t we just watch from up on Kharon? Why do we need to be down here?”
“Being immersed in the crowd’s image is the best way to spot the first signs of trouble,” Derek replied. Then he glanced over his shoulder. “When my partner isn’t dominating the surrounding space with her surly image…”
“You are literally a shiny piece of military shit,” Hydie said without any venom. She took several more deep breaths. The cool autumn air flowing into her body was a relief from the heat of the crowd. They continued off of the dirt path into the well-paved Northwest food court. “I just wish once I got to see you… I don’t know, looking like an idiot. Maybe we could walk past a pie shop and you get one splattered over your gob? I just feel-”
Hydie paused because Derek was no longer walking beside her. He had frozen, the expression on his face studiously blank while his lips mimicked the mouth of a fish. He stood with one leg slightly off the ground and one arm raised, perfectly midstep. Hydie couldn’t help but be impressed by the casual athleticism he displayed by stopping like that.
She followed his gaze and saw a pretty young woman sitting at one of the dozens of wooden picnic tables situated in the middle of the food court. Hydie looked back at Derek and then turned again to the woman, noticing this time that the table around her was filled with a half dozen grey spiders, three strange people seemingly made of stone, and a towering ogre woman that hunched over in order to listen into the conversation. More impressively, all of them had very poignant and restrained images; they were not just ordinary people.
“Derek Moss…” Hydie said lightly. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she felt her mood rapidly rising. “Oho, ohohohohoho. Do you happened to have a crush?”
“I- No, that’s… Gertrude is just an acquaintance.” Derek finally finished his step and began fussing with the buttons of his uniform and wiping his sweaty palms against his slacks. “We simply happened to move to Kharon at similar times.”
“Uh-huh, I see,” A gloating Hydie practically glided forward and slid her arm through Derek’s as a queen would imperiously grace a dust-covered knight. “Well, perhaps I’m not such a constant source of bad luck after all. Truly quite serendipitous for us to run into an acquaintance here. Why don’t we go say hello? Ohoho.”
Derek licked his lips, his eyes were still locked on Gertrude. “That… would probably be inappropriate. We are currently on duty. And besides, it appears they are in the middle of an important meeting…”
“A meeting at a picnic table? Don’t mind that. Didn’t you just say we are here to deal with any escalating issues? I certainly don’t sense any big issues. The first match doesn’t start for another hour anyway; let’s just go over and say hi…”
Although Derek’s face continued to be dominated by an uneasy frown, his feet were more honest. When Hydie pulled him forward he followed easily. They wove their way through the wooden tables and Derek was so distracted that he actually stumbled over a discarded beer can. It was with Hydie bearing a sunny smile that the two of them arrived at the table of Gertrude the teacher.
Seeing as Derek was tongue-tied, Hydie took it upon herself to start the interaction. She did her best not to giggle. “Miss Gertrude?”
“That’s why the location should match- oh, yes? Oh! Mr. Moss, hello! And you are…?” Gertrude looked over and met Hydie’s wide smile with a politely reciprocated smile.
Hydie withdrew her arm from Derek’s. “I’m Derek’s partner in the Order Ducis. He’s told me so much about you; it’s nice to meet you all. I must say though, your images are all very powerful. It’s very impressive.”