45. Avonova

The next day, they went to Delfinifled after breakfast. They traveled rather slowly and arrived only in the afternoon. The four had a late lunch and took the rest of the day only to relax. After the last trap, that's all they wished for.

The next day, after breakfast, Isabella said:
- "I guess were more energized now, how about some we stay active at the beach?"
- "Let's play avonova!" - said Caoilainn.
- "I'm in" - replied Mazanlold.
- "What is this avonova?" - asked Richard. Caoilainn replied:
- "It is a ball sport that we can play on the beach!"
- "Basically we will split in two teams, with two pitches. The objective is to get the ball and get to the end of the foe's pitch." - Mazanlold explained.
- "The caveat is you can only walk three steps with the ball and then you have to pass to someone from your team." - Isabella continued - "As we are in only four people, we will remove the rule that passes cannot be made to someone closer to the foe's pitch than you are."
- "Good point" - said Mazanlold.
- "And" - Caoilainn said - "when you reach the foe's pitch you receive 5 points. You get two more points if you can shoot the ball into the foe's goal. One of the foes defends the goal." - Richard listened to it all, before answering:
- "I'm in. This is similar to some sports of my world and I used to play one of those, handball. I think I'm ready."
- "Let's go!" - Caoilainn said, already going ahead.

When they arrived, the beach was empty. They quickly took the pitch for themselves and got ready to play. The teams were Caoilainn and Richard against Isabella and Mazanlold. First, Richard observed a small demonstration from them. Isabella and Mazanlold advanced and passed the ball as Caoilainn tried to either intercept the passes or hold them down.
- "When someone is held down and cannot move, they lose the ball and the other team starts from their end of the pitch" - said Isabella with the ball as Caoilainn held her down.
- "This is about holding their arms, not breaking their bones" - said Caoilainn laughing - "this is no martial art!" - at the end of the demonstration, Isabella also showed a shot to the goal with Caoilainn as the keeper.
- "We will finish the match when the first team scores at least 21 points." - said Mazanlold, then he turned to Richard - "So, Richard, is that clear? Are you ready?"
- "Sure, I'm used to these things!" - he replied.

Richard started with the ball. He quickly passed it to Caoilainn and advanced, receiving it back. In a second however, Mazanlold was in front of him holding him down. Mazanlold resumed the play passing the ball to Isabella. Both advanced quickly, exchanging the ball and avoiding Caoilainn and Richard's defense. Mazanlold scored 5 points. Then, he shot against the goal defended by Caoilainn, scoring 2 more points. This time Caoilainn started with the ball, but it did not work. Isabella intercepted Richard's first pass and scored another 7 points.

- "Come on Richard!" - Caoilainn shouted - "let's wake up!" - Richard started with the ball. Again he passed to Caoilainn, advanced and got the ball back. This time however, he feinted, avoiding Mazanlold and passed again the ball to Caoilainn. He ran and Caoilainn passed the ball above her head. A risky move, but perfect to avoid their foe's defenses. Richard got the ball and scored 5 points.

- "Let's see what you are made of!" - said Mazanlold defending the goal. Richard set his right leg behind his left one, turned all his body towards it and lunged his entire body forward, moving his arms in a flash and releasing the ball near the end of the movement. The ball passed to Mazanlold's right and Richard scored 2 points. - "wow" - he said.
- "Goals are clearly not the focus here, but they were in handball." - Richard said as he raised his closed his left fist.
- "That's my partner for you!" - shouted Caoilainn, celebrating.

Now it was Mazanlold who started with the ball, passing it to Isabella, then back to him, them to her, then to him. But, Richard intercepted this last pass and passed the ball to Caoilainn, making it kick on the sand before reaching her. She took three precise steps and passed the ball back to him, who scored 5 more points. Caoilainn tried but Isabella defended her shot.
- "So, the best of Kitatik defended" - said Isabella. Caoilainn showed her tongue.

Mazanlold started with the ball, passed to Isabella and ran with all he had. Caoilainn tried to block her, but was fooled by her feint. Mazanlold received the ball next to the end of the pitch, but Richard held him down, saying:
- "Who is the strongest warrior right now?"
- "We shall see!" - he replied, but lost the ball. Richard restarted the match and exchanged passes with Caoilainn without advancing, confusing Isabella and Mazanlold until they saw a opened way which allowed Richard to score again. He tried for another goal, but Mazanlold reacted like a flash and defended it.
- "17x14 we are ahead!" - said Caoilainn.
- "Not for long!" - said Isabella. This time, it was her who ran like crazy to receive the ball from Mazanlold and score in a flash. Richard tried to hold her, but she threw herself on the ground and scored 5 more points. Mazanlold went to shoot for the goal and try to end the game. He used full force and aimed at Richard's head. Richard simply stood there and held the ball, barely protecting his nose.
- "Come on Mazanlold!" - said Isabella - "this is no fight! Were you expecting him to flinch?"
- "Sorry" - replied Mazanlold, annoyed.

- "17x19 Richard, let's win this!" - said Caoilainn. She started with the ball, passed it and received it back. At the same time, Mazanlold was very close to her. Instead of passing or feinting, she used her ring to release small firecrackers, pushing Mazanlold back and giving her room for a long pass to Richard. Richard got the ball and went for the score, but Isabella lunged in front of him. Caught off guard, Richard feinted to the right and went to the left. Isabella however grabbed him on the left. Unable to move, Richard heard her whisper:
- "You cannot flee from me, Richard." - Richard dropped the ball. Isabella released him and picked up the ball to restart the game. - "Come on Caoilainn, I will pretend you didn't cheat as you didn't score any points." - Caoilainn was annoyed. Isabella passed the ball to Mazanlold and back to her and back to Mazanlold. Caoilainn tried to defend, but Mazanlold faked a pass, allowing him to advance and pass to Isabella. She had Richard in front of her who said:
- "I won't let you pass." - Isabella however feinted twice, Richard didn't fall for the first one, but fell for the other one and fell on the sand. Isabella scored 5 points.
- "24x17 it's over" - said Mazanlold. Richard got up. Isabella approached him and said:
- "It's gonna take much more to stop me."
- "You will see!" - Richard replied.
- "We were just heating up" - Caoilainn continued. Then, they started another match.