So the thing to get is that I need Focus to withdraw from the competition.
His mater organized the event; the guy knows the rules and will use them to his advantage, but he would not have done something explicitly against the rules.
If we retcon such that multicasting was always against the rules, then Focus enters, casts one attack per round, fastcasts all his defenses without fatiguing himself, smirks when his opponents pass out, and he wins. Game over.
For what it's worth, I always thought that, for the Dimicatio, multicasting was against the rule.
One spell, one counterspell.
That's not to say that, when multicasting, one defense (say, create a wall of stone to protect oneself from multicast BoaF) cannot apply to all attacks.
Are fast-cast spontaneous spells allowed? Excellent question.
On the one hand, I can't see why not. On the other, if my memory is right, it seems to go against the very spirit of the Dimicatio, where magi must be creative in both attack and defense. I'd need to re-read tLatL. Maybe it's quite open, maybe it's not.
But then, even with Flawless Magic, would Focus really have, not only suitable spells for all attacks, and then, all of them mastered for fast-cast? Maybe, especially if he relied upon the same defense (like a ReCo teleport) against a lot of similar attacks.
For what it's worth, I enjoyed a lot the very few rounds, at one spell with creative defenses. To me, this is what Dimication must look like!
Yup, if she stays here, he'll stay, of course, but avoid cygna at all costs, not until she tells him she'd like to see him. He could be friends, and he miss her, but he doesn't want her to suffer too much.
Hole up in the lab, spend time with lisette, things like that.
It can work for me, in that the net effect is the same (it explains any eventual slow posting or absence)
It would take a while for Cygna to start to recover. She won't go out of her way to avoid Hiems, won't leave the room if he walks in. But neither will she make an effort to be the first to offer the olive branch, as it were. She still doesn't trust her feelings around him, nor does she know where her suspicions about him and Lisette come from; but if she thinks about them, she will be prone to blame it on her jealousy and her lingering feelings for him (which she will Confess every time she goes to Reconciliation, which will hopefully be at least once a week if possible).
Eventually (say, three or four months later), she will feel strong enough to sit near him at dinner (assuming a great-hall/feast-hall type setting) and engage in idle chatter, putting on a brave face as best she can.
I have no idea why, but for some reason I'm hearing this in Shrek's voice.
And, in unrelated news. I am too soft-hearted for my own good...I found myself tearing up a little bit in the Trial thread, especially when people started reacting to her testimony. Or maybe I should skip over some of the songs on my playlist (Josh Joplin, Mortimer's Ghost).
But, still...1400 words, from scratch, in a little over two hours, with breaks to take the cat carrier up to the attic, bring down two boxes of pictures, and get lunch? One of my better accomplishments this month, I think.
Definite kudos with the output.
I thought it was a bit verbose, but I'm suspecting it was because Cygna was trying to get the burden off her back, coupled with the need to confess.
And I definitely felt that twinge of shock when Bethany's description was revealed. Bravo!
Stay soft-hearted. Once you become hard it is painful to go back. (Yeah, I know that'll get quoted that out of context, you dirty bums.)
Tektonius says, to no one in particular,What you need my good man is some comic relief!
That was fabulous by the way!
Yeah, this is great 
Thanks PB. Cygna will definitely be racking up the story exps this time around.
I have to wonder though... You do your best writing, by far, when your characters are unhappy. You're not going to turn into another GRRM, are you?
"Oh, you all like this character? BEHEADED! You like this one too? BEHEADED! AND, I'll cut the head off his pet and sew their heads onto each others' corpses, because I'm an evil bastard! Haha! You like the bad boy with the heart of gold? Shit, I have prophecy he still has to fulfill, so I'll just chop off his hand. Everyone hates Cersei? TOUGH, she gets to live! Oh, and you like Dany? Let me waste 600 pages reminding you that 15 year old girls are actually quite annoying!!!"
I'm actually thinking that the mc in my wresting mysteries, down the road, is going to become a detective when she blows out her knee in a match and can't compete anymore.
Assuming I actually get back to working on them again, that is.
Randomly reading through threads I didn't participate in has reminded me I was planning on sending letters to Julia. I should get on that.
That's a question I forgot to get explained. The book says that Fast Casting is only used in spontaneous spells... except for Mastered spell abilities, right? So anyone who fast-casts a formulaic spell is clearly mastered at that spell.
And leading into this: Is it standard for Magi to have lots of mastered spells, a few mastered spells, etc? Because I'm really new at the rules and traditions of Ars Magica. I'm trying to figure out ways that my character needs to develop, Hermetically. Because I know where I want to go with my normal skills.
Finally... I still need 2 covenant services: One BEFORE the Tribunal, one after.
For what it's worth, the only magi I have that have mastered any spells are those with Flawless Magic, and even her I didn't put any xp into any of the Mastery post-gauntlet or post-creation.
(I'm a failure and have spent seasons both PG and in-game doing mastery, with Attravere even. Yay!)
And then you have combat monkeys like Marcus in Bibracte...
He's designed as a combat monkey. He's also extremely fast, and can attain a 12 initiative point on an average die roll making him very hard to defend against. He has several spells mastered with obfuscated casting which makes it dificult to tell what Form the spell is.
For a second, I read this as "Or the library, under his wife."
Corrected! "Or the library, under his wife's care." His wife is the tyrannical overseer of the covenant library.
In 5th ed, my Flawless Magic character is the only one with mastered spells, with the exception that I tend to spend time mastering Rituals to mitigate botch dice when using tons of vis.
But I don't have any magical-combat monkeys in 5th ed.
Hiems is lost.
On the one hand, he misses cygna, when he thinks about her (that is, when he's not with his other self), but he fears very much to hurt her, and doesn't know at all what to do.
He'll write to her, though, figuring this to be easier.
Around her... He'd be very tentative and ill-at-ease, fearful of hurting her even more. He wouldn't have a hard time being friends with her, because he fails to understand/realise how someone as wonderful than her could love him (in a way, he understands it, more like "cygna is so wonderful she has compassion and love for everyone, including me"). After the trial, he'll figure it's because he reminds her of Adorjan, and she punishes herself by thinking she's in love with him, although he doesn't deserve her.
He won't trust him much, though, as he felt it the last time, when holding cygna in his arms: He can be friend, but will avoid physical contact at all costs.
Well, it was quite moving and touching. Writing this, in-character, I understand your reaction, especially if you had some -not the best idea to have* music around.
And it was awesome.
I concurr.
To both statements.
I just realized I have only one Flambeau who is neither a jerk nor crazy. 
Uh thats 3! ...unless you already included Sinmore.
Don't forget, cute too!
Sinmore is totally crazy But I meant of my NPCs.
And, of course, by slapping the taste out of his mouth, I probably just confirmed his theory about why Georges didn't like Cygna. At least part of it anyway.
that doesn't make him any less of a jerk, though 