[Lehvant]

As Delphine was escorted off the field, she could see the medal recipients being congratulated by their teams. She felt guilty to hope for their downfall, but she did.

“Listen, I’ve got the most easily corruptible olympic doctor on speed dial. You’ll get your blood drawn, a light tap on your knee. You’ll be a gold medalist faster than you can say… whatever.” Louis turned to one of Delphine’s handlers, “Have her changed into something quick and meet me in the hotel lobby in half an hour.”

Delphine’s legs had turned to jello by that point, and she felt humiliated as she had to ask her handlers if she could sit down while she got changed.

She thought back to when she was a little girl, before she’d ever even felt snow. Back then, when her feet hurt, all she had to do was tug on her father’s pant leg twice for him to pick her up. This was the liminal space she occupied — too old to be carried home, but helpless enough to be seated on a bench and have two middle-aged women undress and dress her. They did their best not to gasp upon seeing the open wounds on her feet and the fact that they were now covered in blood. Instead, they silently went to Delphine’s closet to retrieve her slippers.

The last thing Delphine needed today was to be picked and prodded, but she knew that it would all be worth it if she would get a medal. It wasn’t just today, she’d been telling herself this her whole life. She had had a lonely life filled with rice cakes instead of birthday cake, trainers and managers instead of friends, training videos instead of cartoons… the only light at the end of the tunnel was that it would all be worth it as long as she could win a gold medal someday.

“You know the drill. Test her blood and get whatever you need to diagnose muscle spasms,” Louis told the doctor.

“But won’t they find…” Delphine began to ask in a whisper, before Louis could motion her to shush. The needle was in and out of her arm in an instant. As soon as the doctor stepped out, Louis began to explain to her that the injections that made her faster had chemical properties resembling heart medicine. The doctor would include in his report that this had in fact been the case. All Delphine had to do was sit and wait.

And wait she did. Eventually she fell asleep from exhaustion, that is until Louis shook her awake.

“You need to get ready, NOW!”

Delphine took a moment to adjust to her surroundings. She was now in her hotel room, and it was still bright out. She must have slept through the night. “How long was I asleep for?” she asked, while trying to mask her general confusion.

“Long enough to miss me making you a gold medalist,” Louis responded. “I stayed up all night for this, but it worked. They replayed the footage of you starting a billion times and went through every aspect of your medical history before finally admitting that they jumped the gun with your penalty.”

“So, that means I…”

“You won. Good job, you’ve made your country proud. Now you have exactly 30 minutes to get ready for the medal ceremony.”

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The door slammed behind Louis, and Delphine jumped out of bed. She galloped across her room, punching the air while jazzy pop music played in her head. For 15 seconds or so, she was overcome with pure ecstasy.

Soon enough, she was out of breath and her injuries began to sting. She threw herself back on the edge of her bed. “This is what it was all for,” she whispered to herself. She felt a twinge of disappointment as she heard herself say it. “This is what it was all for,” she repeated to herself. Her joy was replaced with simple relief. Sure, she was glad to not have brought shame on her family and entire nation. But she also didn’t feel happy, not the way she thought she would.

Instead, she stared blankly ahead as her handlers dressed her in uniform. She disassociated looking into the edge of her bed, thinking of all the years she put into this. By the time she was being escorted into the car, she was able to snap out of it. “Of course it didn’t feel that good!” she thought to herself. “Seeing the medal, holding it as it gets put on my neck. Now that’s the stuff dreams are made of! That’s when I’ll know it was all worth it.”

This thought put a giddy smile right back on her face. Even as she heard other skiers whisper the words “technicality” and “fluke” behind her, she didn’t care. This was her moment.

Ironically, Delphine thought it was harder to be nationalistic when you already dedicated your whole life to your country. Although most days she resented Lehvant more than she loved it, it still felt damn good to hear them play the Lehvantian national anthem. I did that, she thought to herself.

Standing on top of the platform, she felt the heavy weight of her gold medal around her neck. For the first time in her life, Delphine truly felt proud to be Lehvantian.

“Did they already distribute the medals? Okay… okay. Just stop filming.”

The voice sounded familiar. As Delphine squinted into the distance, she could make out the face. It was the man from the day before with the stopwatch, and standing next to him were two security guards.

“Ma’am. You’ll need to come with us.”

Delphine was jerked into reality, with a sinking feeling about what this was. One she didn’t want to admit just yet.

“Upon further examination, your blood test came up positive for steroids, and we have started an official investigation,” the man said.

“So that’s what they were…” Delphine whispered to no one, saying out loud what she had always suspected to be true. So much for plausible deniability, she thought to herself.

The security guards dragged her off the platform, and she immediately locked eyes with Delphine from Laeral. The other girls looked shocked, and some were laughing. The two Delphines simply exchanged knowing glances, and the other Delphine mouthed something to her that might have been "I'm sorry."

In the background, the Lehvantine national anthem was still distantly playing.