Part 27

The blast of noise from the crowd as the barrier fell was intimidating in its intensity, reaching new heights of frenzy.

The Meds sprinted over and rolled them apart, one of them ready with a bag of blood for Tira.

Tika, standing alone in Tira's paddock, found she was crying as she looked across and met Davdan's eye. Davdan gave her a warm little smile, and Tika ran around the side opposite her group into her loved elder's arms, and cried even harder for a pair of minutes, and when she was done that they walked over to their group for group hugs. Most were smiling, but they were strained smiles as they worried about Tira and Menak's medical conditions. They waited twenty minutes before they were told.

Both fighters would be fine, though Menak faced a two hour session of micro-surgery to repair severed vocal cords, and he would not be able to speak for weeks while they healed if he wished his voice to return to normal. The rest of their wounds had only required routine treatment, and they had repaired Tira's femoral artery and replaced her lost blood before she suffered any serious ill effects.

As the Med reported this, they saw that Tira had regained consciousness and was demanding something from the Meds who still hovered over her. They spoke to her a moment, and she angrily replied, then they gave her a pair of crutches, and she hobbled down the stairs and around the platform to where Menak was being lifted to a powered stretcher for his transfer to hospital via priority transit. She started crying as she made her way there, and she pushed past a pair of Meds to grasp his hand, tears streaming down her face.

He gave her a warm little smile and caressed her cheek. He tapped his chest, then placed his hand over his heart, then tapped her chest, to be sure she would understand as he silently mouthed the words: 'I love you.'

She did the same, crying even harder, then kissed the back of his hand as the Meds activated the stretcher and it rolled away. She reached out to hold his hand until the last possible moment, when it was pulled gently from hers.

The rest of her group waited at the edge of the med station, and they waved and called goodbyes to Menak as he rolled by. "We will be there when the Meds let us visit!" Naz called, and Menak waved in acknowledgement. Tira took two steps toward them with the crutches, then looked down and carefully tested her leg. She tried a pair of steps, then handed the crutches to a Med and limped over to her group.

"Oh Tira-Mother, congratulations!" Tika cried as she hugged her mother's waist, bursting into tears again, her emotions in a turmoil.

"Thank you Tika, thank you, oh Gods thank you so much!" Tira told her, laughing and crying at the same time. "By all the stars, we have done it! You have made me Grande Champion!"

That realization began to truly sink into the minds of the group, and soon they were laughing and cheering and jumping around almost as joyously and enthusiastically as they would have if Menak had not been injured.

"When will they hold the ceremony?" Raz asked when they had finally calmed a bit.

"They have not said." Davdan told him. "That is why no one has left yet. "The judges will be consulting, and they will either hold the ceremony tonight, within the next thirty minutes, or make an announcement that they will not."

"Until when, tomorrow?" Pina asked. "Why would they wait?"

"Though I do not see how either Tai Truong or Samuk could fight tomorrow, stranger things have happened." Davdan shrugged. "Tai Truong was still walking at the end, and though Samuk's wound was ghastly, he only took the one. They have the right to come to the draw tomorrow with their opponent's tokens, if they can do so. The judges will consult as a group, then with the tournament's medical authority, then with Tai Truong and Samuk's trainers, and if they all agree that there is absolutely zero chance that either could fight tomorrow, then they will hold the ceremony tonight. If their agreement is not that sure or that unanimous, then they must ask the fighters themselves. Either way, the decision must be made within an hour after the end of the last scheduled match. And since I am sure that Tai Truong and Samuk will both still be in surgery then, if they need to be consulted the ceremony will have to wait until noon tomorrow at least. If at that time either of them shows up to fight, Tira will fight. If they both show up, the Grande Champion will get a bye, and Tira will fight Samuk. If the winner of that fight is still capable of fighting after that, then there will be another match the next day as well."

"Oh." Pina said. "Well, I do not think it is worth going back up to the suite. We might as well take a seat in Tira's paddock and wait."

"I agree." Tira nodded, and they did so.

They had only waited seven minutes when Kimagme approached, and bowed to Tira. "Congratulations, Tira." she smiled. "Tai Truong and Samuk have both been judged to be medically eliminated with absolute certainty. We will hold the ceremony in five minutes."

"Thank you, Kimagme!" Tira smiled, bowing in return. Kimagme smiled as she bowed again, then turned and walked away.

"Here, let me brush your hair out." Jela said as she took her brush out of her pack.

Tika and Davdan also brushed their hair out, and all three put on all the rest of their best items that they were not already wearing. They realized that Tira had left her fighting knife at the med station, and Raz ran over to get it.

"Meds." he chuckled as he handed Tira her knife. "They cleaned and sterilized it."

"They always do, every chance they get!" Tira laughed.

"How many may accompany you on the platform?" Pina asked.

"Only my trainers. They will be introduced first." Tira told her.

They were ready when the lights dimmed and a rousing song played, and Kimagme ascended the platform. She stood in a dignified pose for a moment as the spotlights focused on her and the music swelled to a crescendo, then faded.

"People everywhere, let it be known that the thirty-second Grande Tournament of Fighters has been won, and we have a new Grande Champion!" she grandly announced.

The audience gave a vast roar of approval.

"First, let me introduce the trainers of the Grande Champion! I present Davdan of the Tiger People, proud Elder of the Green Band, of the Northern Zone of the Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forest, Custodian of The Davdan Elder's Enclave House, The Ambassador of the Tiger People to the White Elves, Chair Holder on the Council of All Tiger People for the Great Indian Forest, Senior Elder of the Council of the Judges of Fighting, and five times Grande Champion of All Fighters, Davdan!!!"

"Wow! Good introduction!" Naz laughed, as Davdan stood and bowed for the cameras with a smile, then gracefully made her way up to the center of the octagon, where she bowed four times to the quadrants of the cheering crowd, then stood two paces to the left of Kimagme as they faced Tira's paddock.

"And now, to introduce the primary trainer of the Grande Champion!" Kimagme continued. "I am proud to present; Tika of The White Elves and of the Tiger People, eight year old prodigy without equal, a proud Adult of the Green Band of the Northern Zone of The Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forest, Champion and Leader of the Council of The White Elves, daughter of the Grande Champion, and ranked twenty-seventh most dangerous of the fighters of All Peoples, Tika!"

Tika smiled and waved to the crowd as she lightly jogged up to the center of the octagon, where she gave herself a bit of a spin while balanced on the ball of her right foot, and made a deep and graceful curtsey to the crowd while she slowly rotated three times, to finish facing Tira. The crowd cheered appreciatively as she stood and waved again, and moved to stand beside Davdan, beaming with pride and happiness.

"And now, people everywhere, the winner of the thirty-second Grande Tournament of All Fighters! Tira, of The White Elves and of the Tiger People, proud member of the Green Band of the Northern Zone of the Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forest, mother of Tika, ranked first and most dangerous among all the fighters on the Earth, Tira!!! Your new Grande Champion of All Fighters, Tiraaaaa!!!"

Tira walked with a slow stride to minimize her limp, smiling and waving to the frenzied crowd, and occasionally giving her fists a victorious little shake over her head, to take her place on the octagon.

"Congratulations, Tira. You have fought with honor, and faced difficult challenges during this tournament." Kimagme smiled, as she and Tira clasped each other's right forearms with both hands. "Though the Grande Tournament is shared by all, it is truly the championship of the Wild Hunting Peoples, and you are a most fitting representative of our peoples and our cultures. And, you are a most fitting Grande Champion!"

She paused, to give the crowd another chance to fill the air with their excited adoration.

"And now," she continued a few moments later when the noise had fallen a little, "To present the trophy of the Grand Championship, here is Manasingh Termeji, Director of the New Delhi Federation of Sport, who have so graciously hosted this tournament. Their hundreds of workers and thousands of volunteers have made this a smoothly run tournament indeed, and they have achieved this without attracting any notice to themselves, so that the rest of us could enjoy the tournament with our full attention. Let us show our appreciation, as those of this fine organization take a well deserved bow!"

Manasingh Termeji, a matronly Indian woman of middle years in a shimmering green silk sari, smiled and bowed to the crowd, and the rest of the event staff who were present also bowed where they stood, most with sheepish grins.

The tournament host waited while the audience finished their round of applause, smiling and holding a white satin gift box three feet long, five inches wide, and two inches thick. When it was quiet enough, she spoke. "Tira, on behalf of the Council of the Judges of Fighting, and the Federation of Sport, in honor of the courage and skill you have shown, I am very proud to award you the Triumph Sash, trophy of the Thirty-Second Quadrennial Grande Championship of the Fighters of All Peoples!"

She opened the box to reveal a band of gold chain mail, four inches wide with links even finer than Tika's belt, and each tiny link was faceted, so that it shone in the spotlights with an incredible glitter. It had a plaque made from a half-inch thick slab of man-made sapphire almost four inches wide and six inches long in the shape of a diagonal trapezoid, with complex faceting around the outer half inch. It had been laser etched with an old English font and the letters filled with gold, naming Tira with the same phrasing that Kimagme had just used to introduce her, and naming her the Grande Champion of the Thirty Second Grande Tournament of All Fighters, and listing details in a smaller version of the font. She carefully lifted it out of the box with one hand and handed the box to Kimagme, and Tira bowed her head so Manasingh Termeji could settle it upon her. It was shaped perfectly to hang diagonally around her body from her right shoulder to her left hip, and when worn this way the plaque was over her right breast, and it's top and bottom edges as well as the lines of text were horizontal.

"Congratulations Tira, Grande Champion of the World!" the Director of Sport pronounced.

"Thank you." Tira nodded, grinning down at the golden sash, then she looked to the crowd around her, and waited for the wave of cheering to quiet some before she spoke. "I have worked hard to achieve this, but of course no one could achieve such a thing by themselves. There are many I would like to thank. First, my fans!" she waved again as the crowd yelled and whistled their appreciation of her acknowledgement.

When they had settled a bit she continued. "I would like to thank the Tiger People of my zone and the Elf-kin for all their wonderful support!" Which drew a big cheer from those present of her neighbors.

"I need to thank the Green Band, my family, for the love and support and the wonderful life they give me." And she smiled at those in her paddock, who stood and clapped and cheered as vigorously as any others had that day, almost delirious with happiness and pride.

"I would like to thank my betrothed quadmate Menak, though he cannot hear me now, for still loving me after I beat him for the Championship."

That drew as much laughter as cheering.

"I thank you, Davdan, for your love and support, and for all of the moves and the fighter evaluation skills you have taught me." She shared a hug with Davdan, and gave her smiling elder a kiss on the cheek.

"And most of all I must thank you, Tika." she said as she carefully went to one knee and hugged her daughter. "Though we have gained a lot of love in our lives since the Green Band formed, yours was all I needed before then, and yours is still the love I need and cherish the most.

"As my trainer, you are more responsible for this victory than I am, because I know that if you had chosen any other Magnificent fighter to train, or even some of the better Excellents, instead of training me, that fighter would probably be wearing this trophy right now, instead of me. You gave me my reactions, my quickness, my strength, my strategy, and more fierceness than I thought I could ever have. I have thanked many people for helping me, but I think that if you were still the only person in my life, you would still have brought me to this championship. You are the greatest trainer in the world, and I am the happiest mother. You believed in me completely, right to the end, and that gave me the confidence to win. Thank you so much for everything, Tika-Love. Thank you."

Tika was so overcome by emotion she was unable to answer, tears were streaming down her cheeks as she grinned at her mother and the others around her, on the platform and in the seats. She tried to think of something appropriate to say, and swallowed hard twice around a lump in her throat, then gave it up and just buried her face in Tira's shoulder and hugged her.

Finally Tira stood, gave a shallow bow to Kimagme and Manasingh Termeji, waved to the crowd one last time, and walked away with one arm around Davdan and one around Tika. Her group joined them at the bottom of the stairs and they continued to the exit, grinning happily.

"That's it?" Assan asked in surprise as they reached the corridor. "Don't they give out anything for second or third place or anything? I mean, it sure seems to me like there wasn't very much ceremony or procedure, compared to other big events like the Olympics or the World Cup of soccer."

"No. The wild peoples have little use for ceremony, nor does the average screen viewer. And it is winner take all." Davdan grinned. "In blade fighting, there is the Grande Champion, and everyone else is just a number. The Grande Champion is the only one who cannot be ranked down at the judges' discretion. Theoretically the Grande Champion can be ranked down during the Grande Tournament only, but in practice it never happens. No one can take the championship from Tira without fighting her for it and winning. And as long as no one does, she will always get the bye in any tournament rounds with an uneven number of fighters, which is a huge advantage. So being Grande Champion means much more than simply being number one, and it carries a great deal more prestige when it is won in the Grande tournament, rather than in single combat between tournaments. Winning the Grande Tournament requires winning several bouts, so of course it is much more difficult to do it that way."

"I think Tira-Mother could have beaten Tai Truong for the Grande Championship a month ago," Tika mused as the elevator arrived, "But that could never be a fraction of the wonderful experience this has been!"

"I bet Menak will wish he had taken it a month ago! At least that way he would have held it for a month!" Pina laughed, then ducked her head in embarrassment. "Sorry. I guess that was insensitive."

"Perhaps a bit, but it is also true!" Davdan chuckled. "And Tira, I hope you do not mind too much that I thought Menak could beat you, but I truly did! And you certainly proved me wrong! That was a damn convincing win!"

"I hope it was fate, Davdan." Tira mused. "Anyone would rather win it with a good fight, than because your opponent Declined in the last fight of the tournament."

"So true." Davdan smiled as the doors opened.

"We will stay here until we can visit Menak?" Slin asked.

"Yes, and I will stay in New Delhi until he can come home." Tira nodded. "Is anyone else staying until then?"