They were halfway up the aisle when the announcer stopped them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, remain seated. Our next exhibition bout is an A-rank special match."
Finn turned toward the stairs.
James did not.
The crowd had already changed. People who'd been filing toward the exits reversed. The low hum of conversations that had run through the whole D-rank bracket dropped off almost completely. Guild scouts behind the tinted glass up in the private booths shifted forward, and the two nearest James and Finn in the aisle both went quiet in the middle of whatever they'd been saying. The medics near the side exits stepped closer to the ring perimeter and unzipped their kit bags without being asked.
An A-rank bout in an open bracket was not something any of them got to see often.
Finn looked back at him.
"We have someone to find," he said.
"Two minutes," James said.
Finn checked the tunnel entrance, then looked back at the ring, then stayed.
