Author's note: Time to get back to writing this again! Yay!!

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Leila:

She packed her bags and was ready to go when daylight broke.

Leila could barely contain her excitement at the thought of going to the Capitol! She had never been outside of the East before this outing, so it would certainly be an adventure.

Too bad there had to be a bloody competition over who would get to rule.

The rules were simple enough-no killing of any kind.

Four families from the East would fight in three secret games testing physical stamina, academic intellect and political prowess without killing each other. Only one winner would win.

The other three families would come back to the East and face utter shame as well as suffer humiliation at their defeat. Like they say, finders keepers losers weepers.

Leila didn't want her family to win-that would mean she would be a princess and would be forced into arranged marriage with a noble.

However, if her family didn't win, they would become outcasts in the current system.

It seemed like there was no option except to hope for the best and pray that it was enough.

For the past centuries, only males had been allowed to compete, however, a new law passed recently declared females to be of full right and thus able to compete as well.

This was the very reason that caused her anxiety to increase and her hand to reach into the farewell basket the servants had prepared.

What could a biscuit hurt?

"Leila! Are you eating right now? You know you must have the tiniest waist for the finest eligible bachelors at the Capitol to even consider you!", her mother's voice boomed and echoed throughout her bedchambers.

"Let me eat mother!", she yelled back.

"Why are you not wearing a corset?", her tall dark-skinned mother asked as she grabbed the corset, placed it on her and pulled the strings as far as they could go.

Ugh. Why was her mother stuck in the times?

"Mom, it's the 25th century! I can wear a dress without a corset!", she huffed as the air in her lungs kept disappearing into thin air.

Gathering her long skirts in one hand, she hurried off towards the door only to be stopped by a short stubby light-skinned man with a fierce mustache planted firmly on his face.

"No daughter of mine is leaving without a proper examination first."

A voice shouted from Leila's back, "I am not done prepping her yet, Reginald! Do make sure to not let her out of your sight."

"Duly noted", he answered back and made sure to block Lelia from exiting the premises.

"Father! Please let me through...we'll be late if we don't hurry!"

"Aha!", the mother exclaimed before placing the last finishing touches of makeup on her eldest daughter's face and said, "Now it is finished."

"Aren't we leaving soon, Auntie?", Leila's cousin, Zac, asked, seemingly popping out of nowhere.

"No nephew of mine... or daughter for that matter...", the mother slyly addressing Lelia as the aforementioned daughter rolled her eyes, "will use contractions in their sentences. We are of the House Amber for goodness sake. No one out there will be able to say that propriety is not kept in this household. "

"I shall call the servants over and remind them of their ongoing duties while we are away," Reginald stated before turning to leave.

Leila's mother intervenes, saying, "Reginald, let us first pray to God for safe travels."

Reginald paled, closed the front door and hushed his wife. "Are you mad, Woman? You know in our society that one should only trust in the government and science, not some foreign entity?"

However, Leila's mother, Rhea, stood her ground and insisted that they should first gather as a family to do this as it had been tradition in her family to do so as well.

He answered, "It may have been tradition in your family, but in this family, we will abide by the name of the Law and not utter the name of some forgotten deity lost to time."

Then, he looked to Leila and asked, "Do you remember the story of our nation's founding?"

"Yes, Father."

"And how we are blessed to have been in a place not affected by the strange weather that imminently destroyed the rest of the world save our territory?"

"Of course, Uncle", Rohan, another cousin, replies.

"Then we, who have been chosen for a chance to become the nation's leaders, should act as role models and stop it with this petty superstition."

Rhea eyes Reginald, but stays silent. It may be the 25th century, however, Reginald is not wrong. Her faith must be kept in secret if the family is to have an opportunity at saving face.

Leila along with her cousins and brothers is sent to board the vehicle that shall bring them to the Capital. She lingers a while longer and happens to overhear the heated conversation in the kitchen.

"She is only a child!", a female voice cries out.

"Unfortunately, her brothers, Aaron, Neil, and Cameron are too young to participate and her cousins, Rohan and Zac, strong as they may be, not academically suited for the challenge. Leila, therefore, must be the one that takes on the tests", the male voice that Leila would recognize anywhere as her father says.

"But my baby..."

"She is an adult and the laws have changed to include female competitors."

"Who will she fight against? Answer me."

Reginald sighs and mutters, "House Lotus, House Wolf, and... House Magnolia."

The sound of plates shattering on the floor shakes Leila to the core and makes her beeline for the exit.

There is no way in all of Champ Paisable that she was letting her family be publicly shamed and eternally humiliated by House Magnolia. Not even pausing once to hear her mother's response, she sprinted towards the vehicle and leaped into the nearest open seat.

It was time to, as a book she once read said, get this show on the road.

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