Chapter 118 - The Refuge of the Birches

​The ISU organizing committee had granted a full day of rest before the start of the official rounds of the Espoo Trophy—a blessed truce in the tight calendar that the skaters welcomed with a sigh of relief. By Friday morning, the blizzard that had been battering southern Finland withdrew completely, leaving in its wake a clear, blue sky and a landscape where the dense birch forests surrounding the Olympic village looked like something out of a fairy tale. The air ran crisp and pure, sweeping away for a few hours all the tension and nerves breathed inside the stadium. The sunlight filtered through the clouds like threads of gold, reflecting off the millions of frost crystals covering the pine branches and the wooden railings of the pedestrian paths. It was an idyllic, almost surreal setting, one that invited them to completely forget technical scores, gala costumes, and the heavy gazes of competitors.