<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#bfbfbf">When the darkness dropped all but one of the judges stayed sitting. They had agreed beforehand that Sinex would be the only one needed for this last test, since he had senses well beyond the others. He stepped forward, narrowing his eyes at the five people left where the darkness used to be. He looked each one of them over, trying to avoid using scent unless he had to to try and find her. He spoke with a hiss, directed at both the judges and at her.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#808080">“I can’t see a single thing wrong with any of them. They are flawless, in looks at least.”</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#bfbfbf">With a confident smile he started tasting the air, his tongue flicking out as he took in the scent of sweet cream and chilis. He followed it around, trying to figure out which one it was coming from, but...he couldn’t. He tried again, circling through all of them a second, and then a third time. Finally, he moved away from them and bowed in their direction, accepting his defeat.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#808080">“I cannot tell which one she is. She managed to disperse her scent over them all, a very clever trick.”</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#bfbfbf">With a smile he moved over to the rest of the judges, who turned off the inner block on sight and sound, revealing to Ayla the audience she had accumulated as they went to deliberate about her results.</span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ccff">Lucian started clapping in earnest when Sinex bowed out of the search, feeling his apprentice had earned it at this point. Sinex was known as a trump card for the panel in this test. You almost never saw him fail, and to see it happen here was just another testament to her skill. The other people watching the test joined in, until a full round of applause was ringing through the testing facility.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“That’s my girl, I knew you could do it.”</span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff99ff">Ordenel was practically jumping for joy when he saw her beat the lizard. He hadn’t seen that in close to fifty years, if not longer. Then again he wasn’t surprised, as he looked over at Lucian. She was apprenticed to the only person that could out sniff Sinex after all, and he had heard about some of the grueling training he had put her through to get her here this fast. Looking down on her from here, he could see a remarkable similarity to another young witch he had once known, and it brought a bigger smile to his face.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff4dff"><i>Ardinya, if only you could see your daughter. You would be so proud.</i></span>