May 2004
She was stressed. So very stressed indeed.
Zhenya had reached a strange state when she felt guilty when she collapsed on her bed at around midnight. With her O.W.L.s approaching, lessons, homework, the training for the next junior season, the artistic flying club, and her, more or less, secret relationship with Conrad, Zhenya barely found time to relax. When she went to bed at night, she usually fell asleep immediately only to be woken by her alarm after what felt like just a few minutes later.
She was busy as a bee and there were times when she hated her life. However, she was also excited. Excited that there was an actual artistic flying competition at her school for the first time ever and that she, Yevgeniya Yegorovna Shishkina, was the captain of the first artistic flying club.
She was relieved that there was no competition for professional junior athletes, though. The conditions at Durmstrang were alright now but far from the standards she was used to from the flying school. The showcase that was planned for them seemed like a good opportunity to present new programs without the pressure of a competition. They wouldn’t have to risk any really risky elements. Their task was to advertise the beauty of the sport, not fight and risk injury.
Training was different at Durmstrang, too. Back home in Rybinsk she, her sister and cousins were treated as competitors and eyed each other with suspicion. At Durmstrang, with the lack of a proper artistic flying coach, the competitors were working together to some degree. It was far less competitive than in Rybinsk or that, at least, was Zhenya’s perception. She even felt somewhat responsible to help her relatives to improve although that meant that they might become stronger competitors and threaten her at actual competitions in the future.
It was late afternoon, the sun was standing relatively low already, painting the scenery in pleasantly warm colours when Zhenya headed to the pitch where she was meeting with her distant cousin Anna. So far Anna had not been a serious competitor but Zhenya had noticed that the other girl was improving and she felt a little torn about that. On the one hand she was really happy for her and proud of her. On the other hand she feared that it wouldn’t be long until all her relatives would overtake her in the sport and leave her without a ticket for international competitions.
Her future was something Zhenya sometimes dreamed of - she dreamed of becoming a champion who impressed the artistic flying world - but also something she dreaded because she was quite certain that her dreams would not come true. Her generation of artistic flyers was probably the strongest yet and what would happen if she wasn’t competitive anymore? What would she do after graduation if her chances for a senior career were barely existent? It was a scary thought. She wasn’t a good student. There was nothing except for artistic flying that she was really good at.
Her train of thought was interrupted when Anna joined her on the pitch. Although Zhenya managed a sincere smile, she still looked somewhat tired. “Hey Anna,†she greeted her distant cousin. “Shall we work on our showcases?†she asked, almost hoping that Anna would rather want to have a chat and not train.
@Anna Filimonova 
