"Whoa! What's that?" asked Bloom in amazement.
"Oh, that's for the tournament." Mei explained. "The two fighters stand on the pole and try to knock each other off - the one who falls first loses. They can use weapons if they want, but nothing sharp. It all starts this afternoon - you'll get to see the champion in action!"
Riven rubbed his hand together at this prospect. "Can't wait!" he exclaimed, before being interrupted by something tugging at his leg. He looked down to see a large pair of eyes looking back at him, belonging to a cute little girl who couldn't have been no more than five years old.
"Hewwo mister!" the cute little girl said sweetly, fiddling with one of her pigtails.
"Umm, hello."
"I Sien Ko. What you name?"
"Riven."
"Ooh, that name is nice! I like your hair - can I touch it?"
Riven looked at Charlotte, who was doing her best not to laugh. "Aww, go on, let her!" she said.
Riven got down onto one knee and bowed his head forward. Sien Ko cautiously reached forward with her tiny little hand and gently patted his hair, giggling as she did so before jumping forward and hugging him.
Tegryn nudged Charlotte and said, "It looks like you have a rival now!" The group laughed as she blushed an intense shade of red.
"Come on Sien Ko, you can let go now!" Riven said, trying desperately to release himself from his new friend, but she was having none of it - she clung on as tightly as she could. "Ah well," he said eventually as he picked her up. "I guess I could carry you home." Sien Ko happily clapped her hands and grinned from ear to ear.
The group approached a small cottage, decked with brightly coloured flowers and local decorations.
"Okay, we're home." Mei said as they stepped through the front door. "Grandmother!" she called.
"Yes?" a voice replied from the kitchen.
"We have very special guests. Come and see!"
"Guests? We weren't expecting any guests, were we?"
Tegryn's eyes brightened as an old woman walked into the room, helped by her trusty walking stick. She smiled pleasantly as she looked upon Mei's companions.
"I'm very pleased to meet you all..." but before she could finish her greeting, her gaze fell upon a certain young man.
"Tegryn?" she said, her eyes widening.
"Grandmother!" he said. "Come here, you!"
She walked towards him and placed her hands on his cheeks. "I don't believe it! It really is you!"
"Yep" he replied as he hugged her warmly.
"It's so good to see you, my boy. I'd almost given up hope that we'd ever see you again... you got lost, didn't you?"
Tegryn blushed. She looked over at Musa and smiled. "I can see you're very close with my grandson... yes, very dear to him in fact. I am Jun."
"I'm Musa. It's a pleasure to meet you at last." Musa replied politely.
Jun studied Musa hard, placing her wizened old hands on her shoulders.
"You're no ordinary girl though, are you?" she said eventually. "In fact, if I didn't no any better, I'd say none of you girls are. Such energy... I haven't felt anything like this for a very long time. It's almost like... magic?"
Musa gulped. "Magic?"
"Yes... magic, definitely. You all have magic in you - I'm even getting the feeling that there's some magic in my Tegryn now... you're not witches, are you?"
"Witches? No, we're not witches." said Musa nervously.
Mei looked confused at all this. Witches? Magic? Her brother and his friends... they do magic? She had never even believed in magic before. She shook her head - this day was churning out shock after shock after shock.
"Um... I'm a witch." said Mirta, cautiously putting her hand up.
Jun walked over to Mirta and looked at her affectionately. "Ah yes, you're a witch... but you're not evil. That's a relief."
"If you don't mind me asking, how do you know about witches and magic and all that kind of stuff?"
"Oh, we used to have witches here, many years ago when I was just a little girl. There were so many stories about them, most if not all of them complete nonsense. They used to say there was one who lived not far from here, halfway up Panda Mountain, and if she caught you, she would turn you into a cat, or a dog, or something like that. As with all the other stories, that was complete nonsense. I knew that witch - she was good, just like you... but there were plenty of evil ones too. She once told me of a trio of witches known as The Coven who had hearts as cold as ice, and could freeze men with a wave of a hand."
"The Coven? Freezing people? Sounds familiar?" Stella whispered to Bloom.
"Yes, too familiar." Bloom replied. "So where is this witch now?" she asked.
"I don't know. She vanished soon after she told me of The Coven. Since then, there have been no witches around here until I met your friend. But what about you other girls - you're not witches?"
"No, we're fairies."
"Fairies? Hmmm... never heard of them. Anyway, we'd best be going - we don't want to miss the tournament, do we Mei?"
"Ooh no, definately not!"
Jun took Mirta's hand as they walked to the village square. "I'd like you to sit next to me, my dear. I like you - you remind me of my old friend."