“No.”
The answer arrived before I’d fully processed the question. Years of practice, of knowing which answers were safe.
I could feel him weighing my reaction.
“They keep saying consistency matters more. That if we’re doing things right, we don’t need anything outside.”
I glanced at him. “And do you believe that?”
He hesitated. “I think that’s what we’re supposed to believe.”
The honesty of it caught me off guard. Most people learned quickly which subjects were safest to leave alone.
Marek was young, talented, and nervous enough to monitor every word after speaking it aloud. I recognized the behavior because I had spent years doing the same thing.
“You’ve competed internationally longer than I have,” he said after another silence settled between us. “Does it get easier?”
I understood in a heartbeat. The question landed somewhere deep and uncomfortable.
He wasn’t talking about competition.
“Yes,” I told him.
He looked relieved. The expression twisted unexpectedly inside me.
I remembered being his age—was that only four years ago?—and wanting someone to tell me the same thing.
I wasn’t sure why that made me feel worse.
By the time we reached the end of the corridor, colder air drifted faintly toward us from the direction of the practice rinks.
Marek slowed. “You’re heading back?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “I have physio.”
“Then go.”
He lingered a second longer, as though there was another question trapped behind his teeth, then thought better of it. “Good luck.”
“You too.”
I watched him disappear into the crowd.
A few seconds later, I found myself moving again. Not toward my room.
Then music drifted faintly through the corridor, and I stopped.
At first it blended into the arena noise badly enough that I almost dismissed it, but recognition arrived fast and sharp once I listened properly.
Velkarya’s anthem.
The sound drew me toward the smaller training rink before I fully decided to follow it.
Inside, only a few skaters occupied the ice.
Dean Foster stood near center rink beneath the speakers, head tilted upward while the anthem carried across the empty space around him. His posture appeared relaxed, arms at his sides while he listened with obvious concentration.
