Page 54 of Renaissance Bear

"Yeah, and I was just kind of wondering if maybe it makes an onion smell like an apple. Because Shelly has been out the past three days."

"That," Saunders said slowly, "is a fascinating observation. I'll look into it, Ms Capellas. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I hope it helps." Alis hung up and stared at her phone. She still couldn't call Jon, and there wasn't even much point in texting him. He wouldn't have his phone on himduring the fights, for fear of it getting broken. She never did, herself.

Jasmine, on the other hand, would, and she'd see Jon before Alis would. She texted her sister withif you get the chance, tell Jon I think Shelly's involved in all this.

After a minute she got back a very reasonable series of???!?!?followed by'all this'? You mean the whole mayor and land sale thing?

Alis gave it a thumbs up and Jasmine texted again withI NEED DETAILS, ALIS,but there was nothing Alis could commit to text without the risk of exposing shifter secrets, so she answered withI swear I'll explain as soon as I can,and put her phone away so she could go fight.

Today's fights were about whittling away the competition until it was herself against whomever could match her in the lists. Odds were that it would be Argent. His biggest advantage—besides cheating—was that he wasn't intimidated by her. A lot of her opponents, even at this level of the fight, still were, even if they might otherwise be able to defeat her.

But the swordsman in her first match wasn't one who could beat her yet. It was partly nerves: even she could practically smellthat, and now she was definitely thinking too much about scent. But whatever the reason, she dispatched the first round quickly enough to sit in the shade and wait for her second round in relative comfort.

Shewasobsessed with scents now: the dry air, the wind off the mountain carrying a hint of spruce and cold, the sunblock and sweat from the audience. Alis had never noticed sunblock as anen massesmell before, but it was clear now: edges of coconut here and there from whatever that particular brand was, but more broadly a general sunblocky smell. At least people were keeping their skin safe.

The fighter Argent defeated smelled like he didn't know what deodorantwas, as he walked by waftingEau de College Boy, followed byEau de Too Much Cologne,which was nowhere near enough to actually drown out the sweat. Alis actually wheezed, though, and hoped somebody in his life would explain to him about the wonders of deodorant soon.

Argent walked by, sneering triumphantly in his victory, and if nothing else, she had to give him credit for not smelling bad. His armor smelled like warm metal, just like hers did, but otherwise, the 'elf lord' was almost neutral in scent. Honestly, that seemed vaguely appropriate. Elves, she felt, shouldn't stink. Alis closed her eyes, breathing deeply and trying to take advantage of the time before their upcoming bout to relax.

Something familiar was in the air now, though. It registered somewhere in the back of her throat, a sort of hollow metallic smell. She could almost taste it, and it tastedweird, like she had swallowed some of Shelly's perfume, but nowhere near that bad. She opened her eyes again, following Argent's path as he went to rest and relax after his bout, too.

ItwasShelly's perfume in his wake. Alis was certain of it. But it did something completely different to Argent's scent than it did to Shelly's. Shellysmelled, wearing it. So did Alis. So did Jasmine.

Argent…didn't.

It was that same flat unpleasant metallic smell she'd noticed the first afternoon of their scenes together. It had been stronger then, but she'd been closer to him, and not thinking about Shelly's perfume at the time. Alis stared at him through her helmet visor, trying to see anything about him that suggested he was more than human.

There was nothing, but then, she wouldn't have known Jon wasn't quite human, either. Even looking for it, there was nothing to see. If there had been, shifters probably wouldn'tbe able to survive alongside true humans so successfully. Alis stared at him a long time anyway, sweat dripping between her eyes and off her nose, but she couldn't remove the helm to blot it away. She'd gotten used to that over the years, though.

She was almost surprised when they called her name along with Argent's, for the last round of the day. There would be one more final round of armored fighting over the weekend, and Alis had kind of assumed that they'd make sure to pit Argent and herself against each other for the last battle. Maybe they'd actually drawn lots, though. Eliminating either herself or Argent in the semis would shake up the finals, and even Alis thought that would be kind of cool. She might end up fighting somebody she'd never taken on before. That would be interesting.

Not until after she'd finished kicking Argent's ass, though. Alis rose, shaking any possible stiffness out of her body and raising a hand in acknowledgment as the crowd began cheering for the Black Knight. As in the exhibition round, Argent had his fans, too, but Alis thought the cheers for Lord Edward were louder. They met in the middle of the ring and nodded, neither offering the other a hand to shake, and a hoot went up from the audience, as if anticipating a good show.

Swords were drawn, blades touched for showmanship after all, and then they paced each other, a slow circle as they sized each other up. Alis was almost certain patience would pay off, and it did: Argent suddenly lunged, clearly trying to disarm her early. She avoided it, lunged in herself and smacked him on the thigh, less to disable than to startle, and it obviously worked. The audience loved it, too.

For minutes they tested each other that way, more cautious than they'd been in the exhibition fight. Alis wanted towin, this time, and wasn't going to blow it early by over-extending herself. Besides, once again, she thought patience would probably pay off. As the crowd started to grumble from boredom, she wasproven right a second time: Argent surged again, more to bring the fight in close than to get in a powerful strike. For a minute or so they were engaged in furious, close combat, before the moment Alis had been waiting for finally came.

He turned his wrist, a motion she hadn't exactlyseenin the bout she'd lost to him in the exhibition match, but now the way he did it was a warning. She jerked her head to the side, catching just the slightest glare of brilliant light flaring off the edge of her visor, and when Argent went for the same low blow that had undone her in their first bout, she was ready for it.

Their blades smashed together, and although she could only see his eyes, Alis watched fury sluice through him. His next attack was less disciplined, and for a few seconds she had him. Then he did that wrist-twist again, and she was too late to move her head, but she crushed her eyes shut, taking the worst of it in a flash of red through her eyelids.

She remembered where his sword was and managed a partial block on his next blow while her vision was still dancing with spots. Her whole body vibrated with the hit, though: she couldn't take many of those and still win the bout. The third time he tried to use his flashing light, she threw her arm up, stepped in, and reversed her sword to knock the hilt against his helm's chin piece.

She had half hoped she could knock it all the way off. It did jolt out of line, though, badly enough that an indignant roar went up through the crowd: that was unsportsmanlike, against the rules. Well, so was using a blinding implement in the fight. Alis went in after him again, knocking his helmet far enough askew that he was forced to pull it off in a swish of soft blond hair.

"You see?" he yelled. "The Black Knight is dishonorable! No true knight attacks another's helm!"

Confusion filled the crowd's cries, which was fair enough. Lord Edward was known to be a stickler for the rules, which was obviously dawning on the audience. The referee yelled for the fight to end, but Argent threw himself back into it, fury contorting his face as he rained blows on Alis, who, for a few moments, could only defend, her arms growing number with each hit.

Then she spun out of the way, got her feet under her again, and came at him with low blows, never once threatening Argent's unprotected head. It kept him too busy to use his flashing light, until she finally managed a slashing cut into the palm of his gauntlet. Something sparked there, and Alis was confident she'd broken his little toy. Anger shot through his eyes again, and she rushed forward with a flurry of blows that nearly disarmed him even as the referee yelled for them to stop, again.

Lord Argent staggered backward, shock radiating through every line of his body, despite the full-body armor. Rage contorted his voice, but he lifted it loudly anyway. "No meremancan defeat me!"

Two very clear things went through Alis's mind: first, that although the Silver Court was made up of 'elves' and the larger audience was supposed to understand his claim in that context, Alis herself was absolutely certain that Argent was, in his way, revealing himself as a shifter with that comment.

The second was that nobody on earth, least of all Alis herself, could possibly resist that opportunity. With a huge, shit-eating grin already plastered across her face, she pulled her helmet off, shook her hair loose from the pins that held it in place, and cried, "But I am no man!"

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