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"Thank you, Kayla. They look wonderful." Despite the compliment, he continued to wait before digging in. Normally, he might not have waited, but meeting Kayla's father and prior Arena champion, he felt he should show good manners as a sign respect and honor in hopes of a good impression. "Umm, yes! Siom responded, "I've been here virtually every year for as long as I can remember. Granted, back then, I wasn't actually in the tourney." He paused only for a moment. "As for Miran, he's typically keeping an eye over the arena." He looked back at the door, seeing it still missing. He clicked his tongue loudly twice.
Miran, who had been in the sky for quite awhile, dove down rapidly. The phoenix flew low and quick, nearly colliding with Roy without faltering. He seemed to be headed right at Siom, only to veer off last minute, seeing Siom's shoulder had already been taken. Miran instead landed on the back of a chair on the far side of the room, scowling at Siom and Isabelle, seemingly offended by this. "Oh c'mon! She's not that bad! Siom said to the bird. Miran turned his head away to no longer make eye contact. Siom turned back to Isaac, "See. Told you. Though he is normally better than this."

((lol, oops. edited and fixed.))

Siom shrugged to Isaac, "It's hard to say if he doesn't tell me. I'm not a mind reader. Seeing Kayla sit and begin eating, he too stuck the fork that was brought with the steak into the potatoes and scooped up. They were warm - still steaming - as he brought the spuds to his lips. His assumption was right; they were delicious. He proceeded to shovel another forkful into mouth and swallow before speaking. "Thanks to everyone who helped with this fine meal." Siom then turned to Isaac. "So, why did you leave the arena?" He looked to Kayla with a quick smile before looking back to partially answer his own question. "Well... Family of course, but why didn't you return to the fights?"

Miran leaned away cautiously as the second phoenix landed next to him, constantly eying it. As it nuzzled into him, he jumped over one chair, body still parallel to Isabelle's. Miran continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye. "My human calls me Miran." He seemed hesitant and nervous of the second bird. He knew he was tough, but he really had never encountered another phoenix before.

Miran stated nothing, he did however straighten his posture to a glorified or dominating demeanor - to hide the nervousness. He continued to stare from the corner of his eye.

Siom, gave a soft smile, "Well, you've done a nice job teaching her." It wasn't exactly the answer he was hoping for, but then, he wasn't certain what answer he was. He continued eating. The steak was still juicy and well prepared - Graff had done well making them. "Haven't you even been challenged for your title? I know on my travels this year, on two separate occasions, random fighters I came across challenged me to prove themselves."

Pausing to acknowledge the brief interruption, Siom found it curious that she asked, but he supposed it would make sense given her abilities. "Well..." he thought for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. "For magic specifically, there hasn't been an 'arena' in Mahil. But, you see, the Arena didn't always have its magic restriction. Those were set into place after an incident only five years after its creation in which magic users dominated the field. Given the typical set up, that meant only elves could win the tournament. The other races, deeming this an unfair quality, decided it would be better if no race could use magic. The elves of course, disliked this thought, but in order to preserve peace and honor the Arena, they helped in placing the magic-blocking barriers that are still in place now. Since the barriers, we haven't really had a strictly magic based contestant enter the arena." Siom again thought of the conditions, as he had done so many times already, and again questioned if punishing magic users is any worse than punishing muscular types - mostly dwarves and dragonborn - for their build... but all in all, it is a strange comparison to make, no matter how 'fair' (or not) it may be.