“Meluzmi Madoda, you seem eager to see me,” Hugo said.

“Xhosa White, you don’t deserve to be here, and I am going to show everyone how beneath me you are,” Meluzmi said.

“That’s not my name. I am going to beat you until the only thing you remember is the name Xhosa Bandile,” Hugo retorted. He took out his nguni sticks and beat them together as emphasis.

Meluzmi just snorted and turned away. That made Hugo even more angry. He had come up with a badass retort and Meluzmi didn’t even have the decency to respond. Come on. That was cool.

As soon as the judge started their match, Hugo burst forward. He was angry and wanted to end this fight decisively. Following his mother’s example, he attacked from two sides at once. He brought his full force down on Melumzi, staring him in the eyes as he did so.

Meluzmi wasn’t so easy to intimidate, he caught all four batons on his own. Hugo’s strength meant that he was pushed back a few feet. His eyes widened, but then he came at Hugo again.

The next few exchanges were more equal, Meluzmi seeming to know exactly how to counter Hugo despite being weaker. It wasn’t just that Meluzmi had great dexterity, he was a virtuoso with the sticks, predicting Hugo’s attacks even before he moved.

The frustrating boy had managed three glancing blows on him, and Hugo hadn’t managed a single one. The frustration caused Hugo to overreach. He stretched out just a bit too far, and Meluzmi cracked his upper left wrist. Hugo dropped the baton in that hand and clutched his injured hand to his chest.

That was the effective end of the match. Hugo’s three baton’s vs Meluzmi’s four would have been tough if they were evenly matched. Which they weren’t. A few short exchanges later, and another baton was knocked spinning away. Melumzi had another baton heading for Hugo’s head while he was distracted, but he pulled the hit at the last moment.

Thankful that he hadn’t gotten brained, Hugo stepped back and conceded. Melumzi gave him a grudging nod of respect.

Hugo was frustrated at his performance. He always knew that this was going to be his second best event. He had allowed himself to get injured, and that meant that he was weaker for his final event. The rock toss, iliwa, required the strength he had just traded away in his loss.

Frustrated, he stomped over to Celia and held up his injured wrist as he said, “I don’t suppose you have a healing potion on you, do you?”

She just rolled her eyes at him and said, “Give it here. We need to see how bad it is.”

Hugo gingerly placed his arm in her care. She grabbed it roughly and massaged his bones. She ignored him when Hugo cried out in pain.

“Good news, nothing is broken. We can wrap it and you can use it today,” Celia said.

She walked off and Hugo followed her, indignant. “Hey, that really hurt. You didn’t have to be so rough.”

She just turned and raised an eyebrow at him. They arrived at the first aid station and she tightly wrapped his wrist. That made his hand hurt even more, but she assured him that he would be able to use it. She also got him some willow bark to chew on for the pain.

Instead of going right on to his final event, Celia held him back until there were only twenty minutes left of the competition and then sent him in. The pain in his wrist was still prominent, but Hugo found that he could ignore it.

Iliwa was fairly simple. Competitors had three tries to throw a round stone into three different circles. The closer to the center it was, the higher your points. There were five different stone sizes, from a hefty stone to one as big as a nox torso. The previous throws weren’t cleared out, so there was a bit of strategy in how you threw your stone to make sure it landed in the middle of the circle you were going for.

The two competitors in front of him chose the smallest rock to lob, hoping for some points with the small rock instead of no points with the larger rocks. They each misjudged the field though, it was covered in plants and slowed their rock’s roll before it could get to the center.

Hugo ignored the smaller choices and went immediately to the biggest rock they had. With all four hands he lifted it up and stared at the circle twenty feet away. He could do this. He threw the rock with all his might, and it barreled down the course. When it got to the circle, it knocked away the smaller rocks in the center, sending them flying and leaving his in the dead center.

The second circle was twenty five feet away. His next throw went much the same way as the first. This time he misjudged the weight of the other rocks and was stopped just shy of the center. He still got plenty of points, just not as many as he could have.

The last circle was thirty feet away and strangely had several medium sized stones sitting in the center. There must have been a few good throwers before him. His previous strategy would not work. He knew what he needed to do, so he centered himself and stared at the center of the circle.

Then he spun himself around, just barely keeping hold of the huge rock. At just the right moment he released his rock. It few through the air, before coming crashing down in the middle of the circle. It knocked the other rocks away with a loud boom and left his stone sitting in the dead center.

The loud noise drew some heads and Hugo stood there proudly. He knew he could get this one right. The rest of the events were hit or miss, but he nailed this event. He walked back to Celia with a big grin on his face.

“Don’t get a big head, they haven’t done the bidding yet,” Celia said, but she was hiding a smile that took the bite out of her words. “It’s important to remember that the bidding goes both ways. The masters bid on you, but you also have to show up to their bidding floor. If you aren’t there, they can’t bid on you.”

She led him over to the center of the room as she talked, “You show up in front of the masters, the attendant reads off your score, and the bidding starts.”

“What do they bid, exactly? Are they paying me money?”

“No, you don’t get anything but a master. They are bidding chits, little round things that the city hands out. It’s basically a measure of their reputation with the city. The more public service you do, the better apprentice you can afford. It’s this whole politics thing,” Celia said.

Hugo nodded. It sounded complicated and boring.

“I am going to get you in line for the formation masters first. Only accept their offer if it is over eight hundred chits. If the bidding ends before then, you say ‘thank you for the offer, I will consider it while I bid with the runic masters.’ Sometimes the big dogs like to wait until the end to enter the bidding. I know you don’t want to take the runic domain, but it’s all part of the game.”

“Thank you Celia, I don’t know what I would do without you,” Hugo said earnestly.

She nodded absentmindedly as she looked around, “You are family. And someone might as well benefit from all of my research. Now, be quiet for a bit while the grand masters do their bidding. They usually only pick four apprentices. Then we will walk over to the formation masters and pick the right moment.”

Hugo nodded and looked up. The grand masters stayed on the third floor and called people forward one at a time for them to bid on. The applicant in question just stood in the middle of the room awkwardly while they talked far above.

After three people were called forward, Hugo was surprised to hear the name Xhosa Bandile called. He didn’t even move at first until Celia pushed him forward. He hurried to the center of the room.

An attendant quickly read off his scores in the eight competitions and opened up the bidding. Two different formation grand masters bid on him, their voices just loud enough for him to hear down below.

“800 chits,” a small man said.

“Oh don’t be a cheapskate, Ramaphosa. I bid 888 chits,” the other grandmaster said.

“You just got an apprentice last year, what do you need this one for? 1120 chits,” Ramaphosa said.

The other man scoffed, but didn’t say anything.

“1296 chits,” another voice chimed in.

“Oh shut up, Dandre, you heard the boy’s scores. He has to become a formation mage, not a runic mage,” Ramaphosa said.

“Well then, bid higher!” Dandre said with an amused voice.

Ramaphosa mumbled something that was probably a swear and said, “1428, and not a chit more.”

“1536,” Dandre said.

“That’s too much! Have some decorum, Dandre! I am not bidding more. Why are you trying to waste my money on an apprentice you don’t even want?” Ramaphosa said.

“I want him, he seems like an excellent candidate. He won his runic match, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that all of the light grandmasters did a double take when they checked his stats. I stand by my bid.”

“Yeah right. Let’s ask the boy,” Ramaphosa said. Yelling down, he said, “Xhosa, you have two bids, formation domain with the foremost fabricator on the wheel, or the runic domain with an idiot.”

Hugo considered it for a moment. It seemed like he actually had a choice. If his previous life was any indication, as soon as he got any domain, his previous domains would become active. With that in mind, the choice was a simple one. He bowed to the grandmasters and loudly said, “I humbly accept the offer of the runic grandmaster Dandre.”

There was a shocked silence and a few titters from the masters on the second floor. Dandre guffawed and said, “Glad to have you, my boy.”

The attendant quickly led Hugo away and the bidding continued. He walked over to Celia in a daze.

She looked him up and down and said, “You are either brilliant or an idiot. Probably both.”

Now that he had a few moments to accept the fact that he had an apprenticeship with a grandmaster, he was able to form coherent sentences. He smiled and said to her, “I wanted to be a runic mage. I know it isn’t my highest stat, but a few rank ups can change that. People are too concerned with natural stats. I am going to be great. Maybe my second domain can be formation.”

She shook her head as they walked over to the administration booth. “After that stunt you pulled, I can all but guarantee that you won’t ever be accepted for a formation apprenticeship. You pissed off a grandmaster, you are going to deal with that for the rest of your life.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Today is a good day. I have an apprenticeship with a runic grandmaster.”

She smiled, “They aren’t going to believe it.”

...

“Xhosa, I love you, but if you are lying to me I will murder you in your sleep,” Themba seriously.

Celia laughed, “No murder needed, he got an apprenticeship with a grandmaster. We are telling the truth. Trust me, would I lie to you?”

“Yes!” Themba said and threw up her hands. “You would totally lie to me if you thought it was funny."

“Ok, that’s true. But seriously, he has an apprenticeship. It’s official and everything,” Celia said as she tried not to laugh again.

Hugo waved all four hands in front of Themba’s face, “Mom, seriously. I have an apprenticeship with Grandmaster Dandre. It starts in two days. I need to order some apprentice robes tomorrow. You can come with me if you don’t believe me.”

She looked back and forth between the two of them, “It’s... I just...” she threw up her hands again. “Well I guess this is cause for an even bigger celebration. Madoda, can you go out and buy some Umqombothi?”

“Yes dear,” Madoda said. He had believed them right away and was happy to splurge on their celebration.

Dinner was fantastic and they partied and drank late into the night. Hugo discovered that umqombothi was a gross looking corn beer. It tasted better than it looked. Nobomi wasn’t allowed to drink, but she enjoyed talking about painting the house with everyone. Apparently the color for the runic domain was maroon and some designs worked in maroon and some didn’t. Hugo didn’t have an opinion, he was just happy to be with such a loving and happy family.

He was glad that the nox apprenticeship culture meant that he would be staying nights with his family, only spending days with his master. It meant he had more nights like this to look forward to. Although perhaps the future family gatherings would have less drinking.

Two days later, he presented himself at the Dandre compound. It was huge, taking up a whole city block. He was led through the compound, past a large courtyard and up to the second floor. The doorman left him with a different attendant, and he was instructed to sit and wait for the grandmaster to have a free moment.