I won't get to kill him. That was my first thought when the semifinal pairings were revealed. While an arm for an arm had contented me where the leonid was concerned, the Primarch had murdered Warrick, and I had planned to return the favor in kind if given the opportunity. My fists tightened at my sides. I could still see Warrick's face as he shoved me aside – the malice he had affected toward me all but gone, as if in that moment he had forgotten I was someone he now hated, or perhaps always had.

The hope I had silently harbored was to be the cause of an equally extreme change in expression in the Primarch's eyes before he died, though the place I wished to take him before he guttered out was one of complete despair.

"Competitors Esmi and Basil," Rakkoden called to us, "if you would."

"There is no need," I answered the centaur tersely, frustrated at having my prey snatched away. "We will decide amongst the two of us who shall adv–"

"I'll see you out there," Esmi interrupted. She gave me a challenging look, softened by a coquettish smile. "You'll need this if you're going to stand a chance." She flicked a card at me that I caught out of the air.

It was the Bodyguard I had tucked into her belt before her last bout. So she had found it. By the time I looked back up, she had already reached the exit. She turned, giving me another look, this time with a raised eyebrow before leaving our watcher box entirely.

Bemused, I went to follow, but something caught against my right leg, arresting its movement.

"She has a plan," someone growled nearby, and it was then I realized that what was holding me back was the leonid's tail.

"So it would seem," I replied. It was impressive how quietly such a large creature could move – probably something to do with his padded feet.

"I did not expect her to defeat Stafford," he continued. "Her deck is quite fast and could easily overwhelm yours."

"I am well aware." I wasn't going to reminisce about how that very thing had happened during the Rising Stars Tournament – not here, not now, and not with him. I narrowed my eyes. "And you care, why?"

His expression seemed to say that the answer should be obvious. "To be defeated by the eventual champion of a tournament is a loss that can still be borne with pride. To lose to someone who then falls in their very next fight is quite another." His mouth widened in what I think was meant to be a smile. "You cannot use the Legendary you won off of me, but some of my lesser buffs would keep that Soul alive longer." A clawed finger pointed at my Master Shieldbearer. "Your match has yet to begin. A trade can still be made."

Now that my brother had been avenged and my hatred of the leonid had quieted, I noticed that there was something familiar about speaking with him – the air of casual violence he wore like a musk and how no one else wished to converse with him and thus gave us a wide berth. It was oddly nostalgic, pleasantly so even, but I couldn't put my finger on why.

"You are not entirely wrong," I admitted, and his rounded ears perked up. "But I did not get this far by making trades at times that favor the counterparty, especially not for a card of such value. My current deck will suffice."

He rumbled deep in his chest, but it seemed to me an acknowledgement, not a rebuke. "May Fang and Claw favor your blows."

Those names undoubtedly referred to the Twins, and while the one-armed leonid was the last person I would have expected to hear well wishes from, the reality was he had, and I would not be so uncouth as to ignore it.

I nodded in thanks before departing, and this time he did not attempt to stop me. I crossed the room briskly, Hull catching my eye.

"You two good?" he asked, his head jerking in the direction Esmi had gone.

"As of late, I've found it hard to say."

Hull grunted. "Ain't that the truth." Afi gave him a sharp look, and he coughed awkwardly before recovering enough to thump me on the shoulder with the side of his fist. "Luck."

I returned the gesture and continued on my way. The walk through the tunnel that distorted space was not long but I took it slowly, using the opportunity to rearrange my deck. The walk also gave me time to consider my next words, which seemed to be the root of my recent trouble with Esmi. I was not entirely sure why I cared – not with everything else hanging in the balance – but I could not deny the discomfort I felt each time disappointment flitted across her face of my making.

She was waiting patiently, which I hadn't expected, just as I hadn't expected her to march out here in the first place. When I stopped a dueling-length away from her and still she hadn't commented, I formed the question as best I could. "Will you enlighten me as to why we are doing this?"

"It is a tournament, Basil. Surely it should be obvious."

I sifted her words and tone. She had been largely happy during the break, giving Mekhi back to Stafford and in return receiving two Mythic kobolds from Alexi, so delighted was he that she hadn't killed the big vampire. She was no doubt eager to try those new cards – and she looked eager now – but she wouldn't risk our lives for so frivolous a thing. There were the winnings to consider, I supposed, elevations we would likely forfeit if we simply picked which one of us should participate in the finals. However, if that was Esmi's purpose, she could have simply said so. Perhaps she didn't want to admit as much with the Twins watching.

All of this flowed through my mind as our cards were displayed along with our antes and then she was drawing her opening hand, so I did the same.

"Do you know why I first fell in love with you, Basil?" she asked over her cards.

"I don't believe you ever shared a specific moment," I replied, letting a Life Source drift upward to float above my head. I had considered playing an Air first, potentially even attacking with a Raven Nightguard, but she would quickly outdamage me on the return swing.

"That is because there wasn't one. It wasn't like the flames I cultivate that are quick to ignite," – she played a Fire Source, matching her words – "but instead a slow burn over years. I met strong duelists aplenty in Charbond, ones with cold hearts and chiseled minds, who lived for nothing more than to see their enemies bested. But you? You listened to my troubles and woes. You supported me through my hardest times and you cheered my successes as if they were your own." She smiled in a way that I hadn't seen in some time, and the shape of it tugged at something in me. "It made me want to be as good a friend to you in turn, someone you could equally rely on, and it was that sharing I came to treasure."

She didn't need to say that we had fallen out of practice when it came to the latter; it was written all over her face as she summoned two kobolds, sending them at me.

While I tried to determine what I was to do with her words, I devoted my Life Source, casting a permanent buff on myself.

The punch I slammed into the Fighter's chest didn't have near the same power as the one I had unleashed against the leonid, but it was still strong enough to burst him into shards as his blade cut at me. That and the smaller one hit me for a combined total of 5 damage, most of which I stopped with an Execution from hand.

I didn't see red or green in the remaining two cards that sloughed off of me, so I didn't let myself linger on the loss – taking early damage was just the way of things against a deck such as hers.

"And do you recall why you fell in love with me?" she asked.

It was a question I wasn't prepared for, and yet my mind readily supplied an answer. You were so high above me in all the ways that mattered and yet you treated me as if I had worth. You cared about me when it felt like the world didn't. The raw truth of the thoughts stunned me, but none of it felt right to admit out loud. Also, I wasn't entirely sure it was true anymore. Those were feelings from when I was still young, hunched over a desk deep into the night, penning my most intimate thoughts. It wasn't even romantic love I had felt at first, just heartfelt gratitude that there was someone out there who appreciated me for me.

At a loss for how to answer, I played an Air Source when my turn came round and summoned a Soul of my own.

I didn't bother attacking, not wanting to take extra damage from Esmi's Fire Skin, and then passed the turn to her by admitting, "It's hard to say exactly."

"I see," she said. "I'll give you some time to think on it, then."

She played another Fire Source, along with two more kobolds. All three charging at me since the little one's Bloodlust meant it hadn't been slowed any by attacking its first turn summoned.

I would have liked to stop the smallest kobold with the Zephyr, to give the bird two chances to defend, but letting an extra point of damage through might spell my doom later. So, I had the Zephyr swoop into the Cold-Blooded, both of them destroying the other, while I punched another Fighter into motes, some of my frustration at being unable to answer Esmi's question coming out in the strike.

I only had a Protection from hand to block with this time, and it felt like a gush of cards came out of me, one of which I saw was my Pantherkin, which burned. However, as the pieces of my Zephyr drifted away, its Dying Breath sent a fresh wind stirring, which I directed toward the very Air Source I had used to summon it. Now, when I played my first Order, I had three Source at the ready. Using two of them, I summoned a Master Shieldbearer.

And with the Life, I summoned a Spiderkin, whose Dodge would let me avoid and destroy a kobold each turn.

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"You have a bit of a wall now," Esmi commented. "Impressive."

Of course, not two turns later, she had whittled my forces down, burning a hole clean through my Spiderkin by using a Kobold Fire-Eater after the Elf had Dodged.

I didn't care for the forces she was massing, so I went ahead and played one of my two Equalities, sweeping the board clean but for my wounded Shieldbearer and a Spitfire on her side.

Esmi began rebuilding, but strangely, didn't use her extra Death Source to return any kobolds from her discard to her deck. I might have thought she was distracted by our earlier conversation, but each turn she seemed to become more like those duelists she had described: calculating and focused entirely on the match.

Is that how I look? I wondered.

The next time she played I found out why she had been preserving her Source: it was so she could summon one of the kobold Mythics she had gotten from Alexi.

Suddenly, her hand was overflowing with cards, every single kobold in her deck now at her disposal thanks to the Mythic's Arrival effect. What's more, his Aura made them practically free, and one after the other they misted into being before charging en-masse at my poor, wounded Bodyguard. They overwhelmed her in a pile of scaled bodies, to which I replied with a second Equality, fully clearing the board, and then a second Shieldbearer, taking nearly all of my Source.

Esmi had overextended in my estimation, but she didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, I thought I saw her eyes twinkle as she played another green-bordered card.

It was all a setup, I realized, as at least a dozen little kobolds filled the board – their number equal to the amount of kobolds Esmi had in discard, which was now practically all of them. This new mass made short work of my second Bodyguard and would promptly do the same to me after recovering from attacking. If the only resources I had were my usual cards, the match would have been over here and now, but I had my brother's too.

Pulling on my Air Source, I summoned a Relic, the throwing weapon landing lightly in my hand.

With a flick of my wrist I sent it spinning, and the glittering blade shredded the small kobolds, bouncing from one to the next as if buoyed on fresh currents after every kill. In the end, only the Hearthmother was left standing, who hissed in anger about the loss of her horde. I thought myself in a rather strong position then, especially since the 1 damage I had done to Esmi had cost her Emerus.

And yet, not a turn later, Esmi stopped me with a Spell she was able to cast at fast speed: Melt.

I cursed as the Whirling Edge became burning liquid metal, losing me more cards, including my Twins-made Executioner's Blade. I could have sworn that it would have been her Albino Kobold she would have chosen to elevate, but I should have known that a duelist of her calibre would have put the quality of her deck over such sentimentality. The Mythic Kobold's attacks were also a problem and when her claws stripped me of my Legendary Dallon, she chittered in delight at me, as if that was revenge for her lost children.

I was low on cards now, too low, and so I was forced to do an Order Source Explosion just to have something to block from hand with the following turn. I lost my second Life Source in the Explosion, but that was preferable to losing the match entirely.

The next time the Hearthmother charged at me, I cleaved it in twain with my second Execution.

Then, on my turn, I brought out Atrea.

Esmi had no Souls on the field and only a single card in hand. It might be a Smoke Screen, or she might have sideboarded those cards out to fit the Mythics in.

"I know dying with your ability causes you pain," I called to her, feeling like it had been overlong since we had last spoken. "Why not just concede?"

"Don't falter now, Basil," she replied. "Not when it's just getting interesting."

I set my jaw and sent Atrea at her. Sure enough, Esmi didn't block from hand. Instead, she let the sword pierce her right through the chest, which caused me to flinch in pain for her. Esmi screamed and all of the Source she had summoned melted away.

When Atrea flapped backward, I could see that Esmi still stood on shaking legs, her body limned now in black flame.

"Gets easier every time," she gasped.

I had two Air Source, which would be enough to refresh Atrea next turn, but Esmi had been purposely not drawing the rest of her Source so she could do a Source Explosion.

"It was nice to face you, Celestine," Esmi said to my summon as she righted herself. "Goodbye for now." Darkness flickered around Esmi, and Atrea gurgled, dropping from the air and breaking into shards by the time she reached the arena floor.

I sighed: partially in regret, partially in relief. Esmi might still have one card in hand but she had no Source now to play it. I on the other hand did have Source, but the only card that remained to me couldn't be used to attack, even if I used my own ability to elevate it.

"We might as well call it a draw," I said. "We can't hurt each other any more."

Esmi smiled, but something about it was off. "You're wrong about that, Basil." Then, she herself came running at me.

I fumbled my last card in hand, barely casting it in time.

Esmi's fist swept past me as I Dodged, coated in the same black flame that raged across her entire body – flame that would have done 10 damage to me if I hadn't just moved.

"You could have killed me!" I snapped at her. "I said we can't hurt each other anymore."

"And I took you at your word," she replied calmly. "Even though I also knew you were wrong." She flinched in pain, and I heard small bones snap. Confused, I looked down to see my first buried in her side. "See?" she said.

Her skin blazed, and I felt my flesh burn, causing me to hiss in pain as I stumbled back. It had been my Feral Strength that made me strike her; it had been so long since I had last used it, I had forgotten about the buff.

"Why didn't you block with your card?" I asked, as I used my Life Source to ease my burns. With only one Life Source, I couldn't restore cards, but I could do small healing to my body.

"Don't worry," she said, wheezing a touch. "I will next time."

"Next time?" I said in bewilderment.

True to her word, she came at me again. Frantically, I dismissed the Feral Strength Spell – if I didn't hit her, her Fire Skin Ability wouldn't activate – but I felt a force resisting me. The Twins?!

I Dodged fluidly out of the way of her black flame covered body, my fist careening toward her face despite my every effort to hold it back. Thankfully, she did use her remaining card this time, the Soul that would have stolen my Executioner's Blade even if I had drawn it drifting away.

The blowback of the card had separated us some: her, nursing her wounded ribs, and me trying to use my Life Source Power to heal her body, as I had done for myself. However, since our duel had yet to conclude, she still counted as my enemy, and the Twins didn't let it reach her.

"Blast you!" I shouted up to the sky.

"It seems the Twins want this to last as much as I do. They have my thanks."

"What are you trying to prove?" I said, unable to understand her. "Do you wish for me to concede? Is that it?"

"Don't you dare," Esmi said, and the black flame seemed to burn as much in her eyes as it did in her body. Again she came at me, and again we traded blows, her limping away and me blistered anew.

Anger rose up in me, clean and pointed. "If you don't want the win, then what do you want, Esmi? Your death on my hands? Do you hate the changes in me so much?" She didn't immediately reply, and I found the silence easy to fill. "I had to survive, Esmi. Why can't you understand that? You speak of the support we once had for one another. Why can't you do that for me now, when I am in need of it the most?"

She said something then, but I couldn't tell what.

"What?" I said, marching closer.

"You didn't seem to need anything from me," she whispered, rocking on her feet. Seeing her dizzy made the anger in me flicker. "We've both been reborn. Me, one too many times I think." Her eyes focused on me, bright and clear suddenly. "You don't have to hold onto the past out of obligation, Basil. If our paths diverge, so be it, and I will support you, I swear it." She shook her head. "It was wrong of me to expect you to change to fit my whims, and I'm sorry for that. But I ask you this: what do you want, Basil? I think I see glimpses of it but then in the next moment they are gone. Do you know?"

"If that is what you wished to know," I said, my voice thick for some reason, "you could have just asked."

"Could I?" she said softly. Her hand lifted up to my cheek, touching it with care. No longer was she aflame, and my body didn't shift away from her.

"No," I admitted, first to myself and then to her. I had locked so much of who I was away, buried it to die, I had thought. And yet… a bit of me had surfaced in this ordeal, enough to recognize that I missed pieces of who I had once been. I missed who we had been together. What did I want?

I had closed my eyes at some point while searching within and opened them now to see Esmi standing before me – to see this woman who had nearly killed herself to reach me. I placed both hands gently on her shoulders, pouring all the Life Source I could into her.

"You would really support me if I called things off between us?"

Her breath hitched in her chest, but she didn't look away from me. "I would," she said, and I believed her.

Confident that I had healed her of her wounds, I pulled her close and kissed her fiercely.

"What –" she sputtered when I released her. "What does that mean?"

"It means I want to be with you." The look she gave me made it clear that I wouldn't be getting off with that as my only explanation. I ran a hand through my hair. "You were right, in a way. I was holding onto something I felt I owed you. And with it there, alongside the mess that is the rest of me, I couldn't rightly tell who we were to each other anymore. But when you lifted that away…"

What?" she asked again when I didn't continue.

I rubbed a thumb across her cheek. "I want to share this life with you. I want it just as much as I ever did. If you will still have me, that is."

This time she kissed me; she even bit my lip – no doubt for making her believe for a moment there I would be ending things between us.

No sooner than we parted than she said, "Instead of asking for elevations, I think we should have the Twins marry us. Do you agree?"

"I –" – now finding it was my time to stutter – "I very much approve. But Esmi… it was a draw."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "We both won." She looked skyward. "Blessed be the Twins who led us to this moment. Share your love with us, as we have shared ours with you. Grace us with a bond eternal, in your names."

I went to protest again but caught myself. We had confessed our love to one another while they looked on. What more proof could they desire? "In your names," I echoed.

Warmth bled into my every pore – a gentle, calming warmth – but then, instead of sinking deeper, it flowed outward, wrapping my awareness around the body I stood beside, the body of the woman I loved.

I could feel Esmi in a way I never could before; in fact, I swore I could feel what she did: her surprise, her elation, bubbling up from her being and flowing into me. For a moment there, I saw double, me seeing her but her seeing me, on and on endlessly, until we both blinked. When we reopened our eyes, the afterimage was gone, but the heat remained, as did the feeling that my body no longer ended with my fingertips.

"Do you think…?" she ventured.

I didn't even need to ask what she meant. We both pulled the other closer, looking into each other's eyes and the red flakes that floated there.

That was it. We were wed. By the Twins' own blessing.

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