Best Birthday Tournament Ever! Jozua was excited for his birthday dueling tournament. It would just be him and his dad - no Lily and Finn this time - but Dad had gotten front row seats! This was shaping up to be a much better summer than last year. A research project on a cursed artifact, great seats at a dueling tournament, and best of all, the house hadn’t burned down again! In fact, it was even starting to feel lived in now, like a real house should. He was starting to accumulate dings and scorch marks on his furniture. (His folks were more than a bit lenient about all those underage magic rules, and frankly, with Granddad in resistance, the Aladren authorities really didn’t see Jozua as too much more of an additional risk. Honestly, Jozua thought they might be a bit afraid of entering the Sparks residence and used any excuse not to.)
He turned fifteen on a Thursday, and the annual Aladren Dueling tournament was scheduled for that following Saturday. They got up early, and were in their excellent seats by nine AM. They were so close Jozua could see the imperfections on the arena floor. This was going to be the best birthday tournament ever!
There was a family from Europe - Jozua could tell they were not speaking Dutch, but what they were speaking he couldn’t quite identify - sitting next to them. There were international duelists competing today, and they seemed to favor one of the German ones, so he guessed they were maybe from Germany, too.
On their other side was a couple who spoke English, but with a really thick accent that made it nearly impossible to understand. They were rooting for a Welchman.
Jozua himself didn’t know who to root for. All of them were so good and he respected all of them for their impressive skills in the arena. It was so awesome, being this close! He could actually hear them saying their incantations and clearly distinguish each wand movement. He thought his own dueling skills were improving just by watching these masters from such close proximity!