The room's tension dropped a rung on the ladder but didn't hit the floor. Nikolai rolled his shoulders with a crack, enduring the slow, throbbing pain. The itch kept humming through the bandages.
"Lucky or stupid?" Ursa mumbled when watching the boy, half smiling.
"Both!" Nikolai smiled back.
Mila pressed a small silver ampoule into his palm. "Break this and rub it into the wound when you get home to get rid of the itch, but know it smells horrible. But it works!"
He slipped it into his pocket, then used his item ring to store it safely. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me, thank my darling." She then pointed to the night's scoreboard. "I bet a huge amount of fruit on you and won." Mila made a victory sign before falling back onto the sofa beside Ursa.
"Fruit?"
"Hefty fruit," Bear said solemnly. "The expensive, smug kind."
Fruit. Another code word for cash in this Arena to keep the people outside from noticing the amounts carried was different types of fruit for money.
