She stuffed her disguise into a nook in a nearby tree and decided to make her way to the plaza to buy food. As she entered, there was a commotion going on.

The entire plaza was being covered in colourful decorations and lights. Red Lanterns hanging from the structures, pink and purple streamers dangling overhead. Long banners emblazoned with coats of arms hung from the walls and circled the plaza below. Esme was in complete awe of everything that was going on, there'd been events back home, but nothing as elaborate as this. She tapped someone on the shoulder

'Excuse me, what's going on? what's the occassion?'

A man of about 5'7 turned around, he was around the same age as her, with platinum blonde hair and clad in blue and white. His puffy white blouse and long socks underneath a pale blue stringed tunic and breeches.

'Is it your first day around here?' He said rudely

'No, of course not', Esme lied, 'I was out of town for a while, so I'm a bit out of the loop'

'Makes sense', he responded, 'didn't recognise you'.

He pointed to the huge sign that was being strung up in front of them,

'Annual fencing competition. It's only the biggest event of the year, all considering swordfighting is the equivalent of living and breathing here in Bellicosus Kingdom'

'Of course, I assumed it would have something to do with fencing'

He paused for a second and looked her up and down

'You going to compete?'

'Oh, I'm not so sure, I'm a bit of of practice right now', of course she was going to give it a go but since she was on the run, she couldn't risk word of her being here getting around, she had to blend in.

'At least give it a go, it'll boost your reutation here, which can only lead to good things'

'My reputation?'

'The more you win in duels, the more respected you are, have you seriously not seen the board? You must've been away ages. The board over there to your left, every fencer in Bellicosus is written on the board. Themore you duel, the more points you earn, and then you progress up the board. You really want to be number 1, because then you'll be the most highly respected here, and I hear that means perks like free food and financial rewards, am I making any sense?'

Esme nodded, she was so excited by this prospect, she'd finally found a place that she could feel at home. 

'Look, you're really out of touch here and that could work against you, you'll need help.' He reached out his hand 'I'm Colin, I'll give you a hand'.

She hesitated, but she could use a frind right now

'Esme, thank you for your help, it'll be nice to have a familiar face around here'

'Anytime, and hey, at least consider entering the competition? Even come and watch, who knows, you might find more friends'

'Maybe I'll watch, but I'm so out of practice that I'm not sure I want to embarass myself in front of the town'

'Your call, I'll see you there'.

The next morning, Esme got her outfit out the nook in the tree and prepared herself for the big day. She pulled her hair back, tied it up with some clips she found at the market and put her sword in sheath on her waist. Pulling on her boots and tying her cape around her neck, she took a deep breath and reminded herself that although times had been tough, for today she was in her element.

The plaza was completely filled with spectators and fighters. She made her way to the centre, keeping her head down and her hood up.

'Good morning, Bellicosus Kingdom!',  a short, stocky man called from his podium above, 'Welcome to the Annual Fencing competition, I want a good, clean fight today, any funny business will be seen and penalised. How you play now will set you up on the learderboard for the year, so bring your best tactics'.

The crowd cheered

'This year, we are joined by Colin Alder, Sadie Drake, Theo Duval, Gabriel Bouchard....' He read out what seemed like an endless list, 'and...Countess Raven?', he said as he pulled down his half-moon spectacles and peered down at his subjects.

Esme looked back up, 'That's me, Sir, Your Highness, King, your-' 

'Mayor Atlas to you...well, new girl, reveal yourself to the Kingdom'

Esme advanced into the centre of the Plaza and pulled down her hood, revealing her costume.

'My name is Countess Raven. I appreciate that I'm new to this, but I'm here to show you my skills and hopefully impress you'.

The mayor turned to his daughter, a young girl in pink with a long twisted plait draped over her shoulder and they whispered together. He looked back at Esme,

'Very well, Countess Raven, for today, I grant you permission to show us what you've got.'

The fencers dispersed as they took to their pistes, the town crier announced who was fighting who and they prepared to begin.

'En garde, prez, allez!'

Esme slowly advanced towards her opponent, trying to figure out his techniques and test the waters. She made some movements to entice him to fight her, and he lashed out and clashed her blade. She kept her movement small and fast, and dodged his blade, he kept reaching out and trying to avoid her. She moved fast, stepping back and forth and slowly pushing him backwards before quickly swishing her sword and hitting him in the collarbone.

Her next opponent was one of those extremely fast movers, one of those fighters who act without thinking, and she found it pretty easy to get her winning hit by quickly slashing his torso when he wasn't focusing.

She fought so many people that afternoon, they all seemed to merge into one. Before long, Colin from the day before took to the piste opposite her.

'Right new girl, you may have defeated the others, but I've been training, I won't take a defeat'.

He swished his blade up to salute her and she returned the gesture. They took their en garde positions and advanced at the sound of the town crier's bell. Colin was a tough opponent, she had to admit, she had to work hard to get a hit, but eventually he attempted a fleche and missed, as he ran past her, she got him on his upper back.

'Dammit, woman.'

'It was a matter of luck to be honest, you just missed this one, you could easily have had it.'

'No, I couldn't. You were such a difficult opponent, I couldn't get my blade to any position that would allow me to actually get the hit...you're good, perhaps we can get together some time and you can help me train?'

'Errr....perhaps'

Mayor Atlas announced the conclusion of the competition and updated the leaderboard, with Countess Raven topping it. He glared down at Esme with a suspicious expression and turned to his daughter,

'Keep an eye on her, I have to find out who that is, she's trouble'.