17th January 2004
Finally, things were starting to feel a little more normal. Mostly, at least. She still had a quietly nervous feeling when she stepped outside, and everytime she saw someone from the media, but it was nowhere as bad as it had been, and it was slowly getting better with each day that went by. Anastasiya was regaining her confidence rapidly, but she remained just a little more wary now. She didn’t think that would ever go away. Safe in the knowledge that no one outside the immediate family knew the full details of what had happened, she felt she was able to start to move on, but she could never forget the previous year’s events.
Since she had returned to training, she was steadily regaining her power and stamina, perhaps even stronger than before. Finishing her free program had certainly helped her in that regard. She had a gut feeling that it was her best yet in her career in either junior or senior, feeling self-assured in her ability again. There was no question that it was a demanding and extremely formidable program. In fact, because of it, Nastya was still making many slip ups and mistakes, rare for the usually consistent athlete, but she was confident that she would stamp those out soon enough. She always did. Nastya was certainly bolstered by her coaches’ praise after finally landing her original element on her broom, and it already had a place in her free program accordingly. When others were around however, Nastya switched it out for a plain split jump, not wanting anyone (especially Aglaya) to see it before competition. She only trusted her mother with a glimpse of it, but had not felt ready to show her just yet, though she felt the time was coming soon.
By the end of the season, Nastya was determined her secret switch split would have a place in the technical exercise at least once, and she was going to add a second in the free program. To make it a program that would be impossible for anyone else to do, she wanted it to be the first and last element of her free program, on both sides, to prove how unstoppable she was. Even if she couldn’t win because of her lacking C mark (which she refused to give up on this season unlike previous ones), Anastasiya was going to make sure everyone in the world knew who the technically superior Tikhomirova was. She was determined to dominate the technical exercise, to put her in such a great lead that the gap between her and her elder sister would be as tight as possible after the free program. If the European silver medallist couldn’t win Worlds just yet, then she’d make sure she’d get close enough to scare her sister into knowing that one day she
would beat her.
Despite this unshakeable drive to win, Nastya had learnt her lesson. She was more sensible about her limits again. She knew when she needed to rest, when to get a change of scenery, when to engage (and who to engage) with others when she wanted some attention. This was currently such an occasion. She had some free time after visiting Anzhelika in Döttrar Vik. The little coastal marketplace was slowly becoming more and more familiar to Nastya and becoming quite a special and comforting place for her with each passing visit. The artistic flyer was grateful that Anzhelika had given her an excuse to visit the place again, and pleased to see them too, of course. Anzhelika had surprisingly written to her a few days prior and asked Nastya for some advice. Seeing the opportunity, Nastya had offered to give it in person, happy to have been asked and liking that apparently her opinion mattered and was trusted by others in the family.
However, she still had just less than an hour to kill before she needed to get back to Rybinsk. Nastya decided she’d indulge in something she hadn’t done for a long time. Pulling the thick, fur-trimmed coat that was covering her purple robes closer towards her to keep in the warmth, she quickly stepped inside a small, quaint looking cafe by the coast, grabbing a cup of coffee to take away and making her way back outside to lean on the wall by the water. Nastya looked at her reflection in the water, gently using her free hand to smooth out her ponytail. She watched her reflection’s red lips quirk into a satisfied smile before she took a sip of her coffee, raising her gaze out onto the marketplace and just watching the people go by, sighing contentedly.
@Kalevi Aare 
