"Oi, you didn't need to hurt yourself." Sonic said in a little bit confused tone. He did not know what to say. He wanted to rebuke her for being so careless but wanted to be eulogistic in the same time. Amy just smiled and looked at the others' performances in amazement.
"Wow, they're doing so much better than me." she said with a said tone in her voice. She became even sadder seeing that the other competitors did not make a mistake and executed every jump and turn perfectly. They are so good, she thought.
"Don't be so sad. You did an excellent job on the ice. Executing such moves without practicing it for years. That's more than outstanding by itself." Sonic said. Amy was blushing while taking small looks at Sonic's face.
"Thank you." she said
Not much later, Shadow and Silver walked to Amy and Sonic. They were smiling in amazement. The youngsters even shook hands with her. Honestly, they did not know what to do.
"Wow, this was amazing, Amy. I'm really stunned by your program. Where did you learn those moves?" asked Silver excited.
"W…well I learnt them by myself. I memorized everything from watching pros" said Amy reluctantly, trying to think up something believable. She did not want to make them to catch the slightest suspicion of lying. Though saying those words reluctantly, would have been enough to blow her cover to the Moon, since Silver and Shadow was not that dumb.
"Hm….you have talent then. Much talent. These moves are not easy. I tried it before and failed on the first try." chuckled Shadow. He just remembered his first try of jumping a Lutz, but when he tried in he had tripped in his own leg and fell on his face. Sonic and Silver had went to help him while chuckling.
They then sat down waiting for the results of the competition. Amy finished on the 3rd place. She jumped up and cried out in happiness, then began jumping like a cheerleader. They then went to Sonic's house to have dinner.
Somewhere far in the center of the known world, in a place called the Vatican, a man dressed in long coat and head was hidden in the shadow of a big hood was walking. It looked like he was in a hurry to see someone. The man even bumped into the walking peasants dressed in white ornate clothes with a huge crimson hat prevented the sun shining on their faces. They looked so noble as they walked across the square chatting among each other. The mysterious figure rushed across the square with mosaic on the floor about a story from the Holy Book of the Religion. It was about the creation of all living on the world made up from small colorful rocks that was guarded by angel looking statues. They were probably archangel from the pages of the Holy Book as well. The person entered an enormous ornate building through a large gate and in the distance, there was a person sitting on something that looked like a throne. This is because when the building was build, the leader of the religion called the pope had more power and ascendancy than the king himself.
The pope was dressed in a long white cassock and white linen rochet. Around the pope's neck is hung the symbol of the religion on a gold and white cord or suspended by a long, gold chain. On his head was a triregnum or a tiara for short. He was enveloped by colored light, coming from the direction of a colorful mosaic window making him look more majestic than he already was. The mysterious figure took off the creepy hood revealing the person's face. The head was completely shaved, so he was some sort of monk. His clothes and feet was dirty from the long journey. The man was looking towards the pope with a serious look on his face, trying to hide his anxiety and started walking forward. It took him a couple of minutes to reach the throne where the highest authority of the religion was sitting, looking at the scroll in the monk's hand curiously.
"I welcome thee, traveler. What did you brought with you?" the pope said, who was surprisingly younger than the predecessors of him. He was in his early thirties which was not a good choice for a pope since a person this young does not have the experience to lead a religion. It seemed they had no other choice back then when the previous pope passed away.
"I brought interesting information for his excellency. Looks like people of the Church found a sorceress in the far north." the monk said with a low pitched voice.
"You know that the Vatican stopped hunting down who were practicing witchcraft over the decade. We lost control over the nations' kings. Why would I be interested in a case where we turn the nations against us?" the pope asked. The monk smirked and walked up to the pope and whispered something in his ear.
"So you have a plan too? And who is this man you are talking about?" the pope asked
"He was an inquisitor back, during the Hunt. We could ask him to get the sorceress and bring her here so we can use her as a catalyst to make fortune. We shall hire that mad man with differently printed gold coins" the monk answered.
"Not a bad idea. I will write a letter to the treasurer to take care of that matter"
Back to the calm town in the north Amy and Sonic accompanied Shadow and Silver home around eleven in the evening. They then began walking home slowly but Sonic had the idea going somewhere secret. To a place where he brought his previous girlfriends, but of course he did not tell this to Amy. She agreed then they walked to a place not far from the town.
