After months of almost daily training, the day of the competition finally came. Gathered at the event venue was the entirety of House Washington. The location's staff had packed the entire patFam in a room usually used for small wedding receptions and they were awaiting their turn to enter the main hall.

Christiana was pleased with this. It had been a long time, months even since everybody in the family had gotten together and she could see everyone at once. Sitting behind a set of tables at the far side of the chamber were the Mothers and Wives.

At the center of the row was her own Okaa-sama, and next to her was someone who she had only seen a few times before. This was her grandMother, the Dame of the House. Despite living together on the same estate, the girl's path rarely crossed that of the former head of House Washington. This regal lady had handed the reins of the family to her youngest and only natural-born daughter on the day of her wedding, some twenty-seven Years ago. That meant that her grandDame had to be somewhere in her eighties. Even at her advanced age, her green eyes were just as sharp and as piercing as her Daughter's. In fact, she currently served as the Chairwoman of the Board of all three Washington companies.

Sitting on the elderly matriarch's opposite side, patMother Patricia was attempting to engage with her in conversation. The older woman was doing her best to ignore her and was constantly talking with her geneDaughter. If Christiana, who was at the far end of the room, could discern that she was being ignored, then her patMother had to have known as well. However, she kept persisting in her vain attempts to gain the Elder's attention.

While this confusing mini-drama was going on, she shifted her scrutiny to her secMother Karen. She was talking to patMother Sydney. 'I almost feel sorry for her,' she thought, while watching the youngest member of the bunch. She looked uncomfortable sitting among the leaders of the House. That was why the second newest Wife was trying her best to keep her company. Little Gabrielle-mouto was helping as well by resting in the nervous girl's lap and being her adorable self.

PatMothers Morgan and Karla were next to them, talking animatedly with each other. 'Chances are patMother Morgan is pushing her to bet on who will win the tournament,' she mused. Those two were consistently close, and the sports enthusiast was constantly attempting to convince the older woman to wager on athletic contests. 'She always has competition on her mind.'

Suddenly she was dragged out of her reverie by her womb-mate's cheery voice. "Hello, space cadet," she said jokingly. "Is there anyone in there or has your brain checked out for the day?"

Christiana couldn't help but burst into chuckles and her Sister gigged along. "What do you want?"

"It's more like what you will want. They just brought out a platter of your favorite dessert."

Following Haruhi-nee's pointing finger, she could see the event staff placing plate after plate of deserts on the table next to the rear door. Most of them held large portions of golden sponge cake, topped with synth whipped cream and thinly sliced oblong-shaped red berries.

"Strawberry shortcake!" she exclaimed as she made her way to the dessert buffet.

She wasn't the only one who was excited about the sweet offering. Her patSisters quickly lined up in front of the table where an event staff member was giving out the snacks along with a beverage of the child's choice. Because there had been an extended delay for admission into the main hall, the venue was providing refreshments to the family while they waited.

'It's nice of them to give us a treat,' she thought as she took her place in the rapidly forming line. 'At this rate, it will be Alterday before they're ready.'

"Can I get in front of you, Chris-onee?" came a high-pitched voice off to her side.

The question was from Wendy-mouto. She was only eight Colonial Years old, but she was very polite around her elder patSisters. The small, dirty-blonde-haired child was looking up at her with cutely pleading eyes.

"Of course you can!" she responded with a smile.

"Yay!" the little girl reacted as she hopped in front of her older patSister. "Thank you!" she said as she looked over her shoulder with an enormous grin.

"You're welcome."

"You just keep spoiling them," Haruhi-nee complained jokingly from immediately behind her. She may not have loved shortcake as much as Christiana did, but she still liked it, anyway.

"You are only a kid once," she replied with a smile.

"True," her oneechan quipped with an equally enormous grin. Her womb-mate easily saw the irony of her statement. They were both children themselves. However, it was a wonderful excuse to give their youngers preferential treatment.

"I wonder what's taking so long," came an interjection from Wendy-mouto.

"That's a good question," Haruhi-nee responded. "Why don't we ask the nice lady who is serving dessert when it's our turn? Okay?"

"Okay!" Wendy-mouto cheerfully answered in her high-pitched voice.

Luckily, the line was moving swiftly, so they didn't have an extended period to wait.

"What would you like to drink?" the venue staff member gently asked their tiny sibling.

"Apple juice, please."

With precise movements, the server quickly poured the child a tumbler filled with her order.

"I'll carry her cake for her," Haruhi-nee volunteered. Little Wendy-mouto had her hands full with just her cup.

"Then I will get your glass for you, oneechan," Christiana offered. "If you can grab my dessert for me."

"Deal!"

She ended up ordering water. She didn't want to become hyped up on sugar and then crash before her bouts. As it was, she was pushing it with the shortcake.

As the woman was pouring her beverage, she politely asked, "Excuse me, but do you know the reason for the delay?"

"Miss, the only information that I have is that they are waiting for some form of a government official. Once she arrives things should return to the schedule."

"Okay, thank you," she responded as she took her cup and Haruhi-nee's drink order. Then she went to find a seat at one of the empty tables for her two siblings and herself.

----

Christiana had been right. The wait had stretched on until it was about an hour into Alterday before they finally ushered the family into the main event hall. By this point, the entire House had been waiting for hours, so long that the venue had provided everyone tuna salad sandwiches for dinner.

While the bread, fish, lettuce, and tomato had all been excellent when they had served it, she simply hadn't been hungry. As time wore on, her nerves were getting more and more on edge. Despite her best efforts to distract herself by playing cards with her patSisters, her mind kept returning to the upcoming tournament. Thus her stomach was a wreck as afternoon turned into evening and Alterday slowly approached.

After choking down her sandwich and another glass of water, she had tried nibbling on some leftover carrot sticks. After all, she had to keep her energy up while avoiding large sugar spikes and the resulting crashes. 'Being careful what you eat before a tournament is as important as maintaining your weapons and equipment,' she recalled. This was something that her martial arts sensei had drilled into her as part of her advanced training.

Apparently, this essential fact hadn't been taught to the other competitors. She had seen two of her fellow participants downing glass after glass of juice. Mandy-imouto had even gotten a second slice of cake. Of course, both of them had been at the venue all day, since they had to take the 'written' test in the morning. While the delay had given them a much longer break than planned before the martial arts portion, they had to be mentally exhausted by this point. Therefore, their excesses were understandable.

Sakura-nee seemed to understand the dangers of blood sugar crashes since she had only been drinking water. Despite this, she had eaten a slice of cake, followed by not one, but two sandwiches. Afterward, she was constantly consuming celery and carrot sticks. 'It's like she just wants the long burn, but is not worried about being weighed down by the excess food,' she observed. At least this competitor had some idea about eating properly before a competition. 'Of course, this is her second tournament, so it makes sense that she also received some advanced lessons.' Sakura-oneechan was definitely going to be her most troublesome opponent.

Right now, she was doing her best to keep these musings under control, as she was putting on the traditional clothing for these types of matches. After donning the white training jacket or keikogi, she added her dark blue puffy hakama pants and her tabi socks. Finally, she put on a pair of woven zori sandals.

When it was her turn, she subsequently went into the main hall. This was a large chamber with a sunken area in the center, surrounded by a metal railing. Surrounding it on all sides was stadium-style seating capable of holding four hundred and fifty people. That way, everyone in the vast room had an unobstructed view of the cordoned-off space.

They usually used this event site for weddings among members of the middle class. They also utilized it routinely to host Keeper tournaments.

Every mid-sized or larger town had one of these government-owned and run facilities. They were available for use by anyone who could afford the rental fee and they were booked twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Even with the constant operation, families scheduled the venue up to a year in advance to utilize it for various occasions.

While there were many outside amphitheaters obtainable by short-term lease scattered across town, people had to wear masks while using them. There was also the issue of rain, storms, and other natural events that could interfere with the scheduled festivities. That's not to mention the lack of artificial lights at most of these places which limited their hours of use. These factors combined meant that only the working class carried out their ceremonies in these outdoor locations.

Middle-class clans routinely held their first weddings in this venue. Since members of a minimum of four families had to gather for those functions, there was no other local indoor location large enough to hold that many individuals.

If anyone wanted a larger site, then they had no option but to travel to Planetfall or Cooper's Landing. Of course, their guests would have to journey there as well, which made that option a very pricey one. This was what the Washingtons had done when her Mother first got married. There was no way to even pack all of their House's guests inside of this large chamber, much less the people from the other prominent families.

Currently, the central section was not set up for matrimony. Instead, it contained foam mats designed for use in martial arts tournaments.

Looking upwards, she could see members of her family. Her Mother was in the front row on the side opposite the door from which she entered. On her right was her own parent, the Dame of the House. Even though the adults were in the first section, there was still a difference of roughly three emms from the arena floor to the initial line of seats. This protected the audience during combat exercises like the one she was about to engage in.

Her next observation really surprised her. The person sitting to her Okaa-sama's left was a totally unexpected individual. Miss Harrison had forgone her usual floral dresses and was instead wearing a navy blue three-piece suit. While she could tell that she wore a colorful tie, she could not make out its intricate design from this distance. Unlike her normally friendly demeanor, the young woman bore a very stern and businesslike expression. The bun into which she had gathered her long blonde hair emphasized this impression. It made her look considerably older than her normal youthful appearance.

Despite the adolescent's rigid bearing, Christiana could not help but give her friend a small wave and a smile as she approached the center of the floor. Much to her surprise the other girl's expression momentarily changed into a bright grin. She then quickly returned the gesture before resuming her former somber mien.

'I wonder what that's all about,' she thought in passing, but immediately suppressed those thoughts. Right now, she had to focus.

Christiana knew that a panel of experts would judge her performance. While these six individuals would normally be present on the stadium floor with the contestants, the lengthy delay had made that impossible. Instead, the event would be judged via the many concealed cameras scattered around the ring. That way, the officials could still do their duties from the comfort of their own homes at this late hour.

A few moments after reaching her position in the arena, an employee of the venue came out and faced her. In this first round of the competition, the contestants had to show basic unarmed martial art skills.

Because of the lack of livable space on the ships and indoor areas just after the Founding, some simple types of fighting had become everyday workout activities. After all, it was all but impossible to devote an enclosed area large enough to play bask'ball or baseball when you barely have the room to house everyone comfortably. As a result, they taught such exercises as Tai Chi and various forms of combat Katas in physical education class. After all repetitive tasks like doing situps, pullups, and pushups tend to bore children quickly.

Since she had already mastered all the required Katas during her gym classes, she had needed no extra training in unarmed fighting. That was why she thought the first round of competition would be a piece of cake.

According to the employee's instructions, she had to perform a long series of Katas. Even she was amazed at how extensive the listing was. Normally they only asked Keeper contenders to do four or five out of a standardized list of twenty. On this occasion, they wanted her to do all of them.

As with anything, she could only do things one at a time. Therefore, she started at the top and worked downwards. On autopilot, she moved her body through the sets of complex movements. From simulated blocks to punches, to kicks, to shifts in her stance, she did them all just as she remembered. Plus, instead of stopping in between she let the Katas flow from one into another, in an unpracticed manner. Doing it in this fashion simply seemed right to her.

After ten minutes of constant movement, she opened her eyes. She hadn't even realized that she had closed them, as lost as she was in the feeling of her muscle movements. Frankly, she was perplexed at how natural it felt for her to chain the Katas in this manner.

It was only then that the stunned expression on the employee's face registered in her mind. That was also when the cheering and clapping from the stands finally seeped into her ears. Looking up, she saw that almost every member of House Washington was celebrating what she had just done. There were only four individuals who were not on their feet. These were the Dame, her Mother, patMother Patricia, and Miss Harrison. The first two seemed impressed with her, judging by the looks on their faces. Her patMother wore a look somewhere between worry and hatred. Meanwhile, her friend Miss Harrison still maintained her stern, businesslike countenance.

It also took a moment before she realized she was breathing deeply and that she was covered in sweat. While she had been lost in the moment's beauty, she had used up a lot of energy. 'I hope I have enough left for the next round,' she worried, as she waved to the crowd and exited the arena.