By the time Pita and Moltar made their way past the crowd of duelists who wanted to offer their congratulations to the little druid, and into the relative quiet of the ready room, the adrenaline that had been pulsing through Pita’s veins soured. He slumped onto a bench and rubbed at his face with a damp towel that Moltar handed him. He was grateful to find that, once inside, the other duelists no longer seemed interested in approaching him. That too was just a part of the show, after all. In many of the handshakes and back pats he received, he could feel his competitor’s disappointment and jealousy, though none of them would ever have expressed such sentiments openly. He couldn’t blame them; he might have felt the same if Elise hadn’t given him a bye. Even so, he wasn’t entirely pleased wi
