l

o set up for the tournament, Michael had plenty of large open fields at his disposal for both the throwing challenge and the fighting contest. He was

he spent her time working on other things. However, her father was so excited about the entire event, she wandered

through the village at first, where everyone greeted her with a bowed head an

leachers in what he deemed the viewing location. Michael had put their best carpenters on the job of making plenty of seating, as well as everything else he could think of that would be necessary for t

eachers over, stepping to their left as Michael waved them over. “A little more. A little more. Perfect! Put it ri

in. “Now, that doesn’t quite look right,” h

ke them move it again,” she in

ming. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders a

there were lines measured out and drawn to show how far each toss was. Plenty of bleachers lined the sides, though it was obvious Michael was in the pro

d over, still breathing hard and wiping their brows. Ellie would have to do somet

o another, often pointing out the same things she’d seen the day before, or even the things

e features with her, he said, “Oh, and th

bracing herself for someth

peared on her

again,” Hans said with a wink as he leaned again

at look about hi

ed. He reached into his back pocket and pulled o

she asked, af

tter not be an invitation to rearrange all of

at him playfully. “He woul

” Michael

and opened the envelope, taking out

weight of what this meant settled in on her shoulders, and she hardly even took a moment to read the name. She would

eth asked for all

.” Ellie lifted her eyes and looked at her father. Of all of the men to RSVP first, it had to be the one with the worst reputation. He was clearly too excited about

ed her into a bear hug. Ellie tried to be as enthusiastic as

like a boulder. For the first time since this entire tournament idea had