Chapter 1:

Maura walked to one of the large windows of the bedroom to observe the view: trees everywhere - covered in snow - a dozen of high-rises similar to the one she was currently in and if she looked down then she would see people the size of ants coming and going through the Olympic village of Gangneung. The place still looked unfamiliar but she knew that within a matter of days, she would remember it for the rest of her life.

She wasn't tired. She didn't feel jet lagged. As a matter of fact, a surge of excitement was already rising in her stomach. Adrenaline was rushing fast through her veins. Her heart was pounding loud.

She wanted to go outside. She wanted to walk the alleys and see the rink. She needed to touch the ice, to understand its soul. Then and only then would she allow herself to ice-skate on it. People used to say that her rituals were some kind of superstition whereas she simply saw them as a sign of respect towards the rink and towards the ice.

Ice-skating was just like a romantic relationship to her: it required time and patience to understand each other. It was made of compromises, of frustration and of victories.

"Alright..."

She turned around, crossed her arms against her chest and cast a glance at the room. It was small but nice even if she wasn't very fond of the fuschia and coral shades. The blanket featuring an image of each sport represented at the Games made her smile. She liked it not as much as a fashion statement but because it highlighted the idea that details did have their importance, that they could make the difference at times. And it was exactly the motto she tried to apply to her life.

She walked to her travel bags and opened one of them but instead of the smoothness of her clothes, her fingers hit something hard as she plunged her hand in it.

"What is that?!"

She took a puck out of the bag, then another one. She looked at them closely. They both had a named engraved in the vulcanized rubber: Jane Rizzoli. She sat on the bed and proceeded to take a couple of shirts and hoodies out of the bag. These weren't hers, they belonged to someone taller.

She sighed.

"Oh, come on..."

In four olympic entries, it was the first time that her bags got mixed with the ones of another athlete and as much as she had some spare time, she didn't want to waste it looking for an American hockey player named Jane Rizzoli.

Someone knocked on the door.

What was it now? She rolled her eyes – barely hiding her annoyance – and walked to the door. She opened it but immediately made a step backwards as she came face-to-face with one of her favorite pairs of skates.

"I think these are yours and I think you got my stuff."

A dark-haired girl stood in the doorway holding Maura's skates; a travel bag on her shoulder. She was tall and athletic. She looked blasé. Casual. Full of self-confidence. Even cocky maybe.

Hoarse voice.

"Oh. Are you Jane? Jane..."

"Rizzoli, yeah. That's me. I think our bags got mixed at the reception desk. What a brilliant idea the delegation had to force us to use the same ones..."

"I'm..."

"Maura, Maura Isles. I know who you are. We all know who you are!"

The remark made Maura feel uncomfortable. Not knowing what to say back, she opened the door to let Jane come in before rushing to the bed to put the pucks, the shirts and the hoodies back in the bag.

"So you... You play hockey?"

Maura bit her lower lip. She blushed. What was it that she always failed at trying to sound casual? She wasn't good at making conversation, even less with someone she didn't know at all.

"Nah, actually I'm in the bobsleigh team."

"... Oh..."

Jane burst out laughing as she realized that Maura had missed her sarcastic tone and she now looked completely lost.

"I'm kidding. I'm the captain of the hockey team, yeah. Yeah, I play hockey. It was a joke, just a joke. Nothing but a joke. You know... Something that's supposed to make people laugh?" Maura stayed blank. "Never mind."

Jane dropped Maura's bag and skates on the floor. She grabbed her own belongings instead then cast a quick glance at the bedroom.

"So that's what individual apartments look like..."

It wasn't a reproach but it made Maura feel bad nonetheless. She knew that most of the athletes had to share their bedrooms. She had shared hers in the past. Individual apartments were a privilege, no matter how small they were. She knew that.

Yet something pushed her to find a justification to her special status.

"I need quietness to focus."

"Don't we all need that?"

Maura swallowed hard wanting nothing but to die right away. She was mortified and just like every time it happened, she began to stutter and mumble inaudible words.

"Oh... Yes, of course. That's not what I... It's not... I mean... I know. It's..."

Jane didn't wait for her to finish her sentence. She walked back to the door with that almost insolent casualness, said hi to a couple of girls in the hallway and winked at Maura who was still trying to apologize for what she had just said.

"See you later, Maura Isles."

Jane disappeared as fast as she had showed up. Maura remained still for long seconds - lost in her thoughts - until the brouhaha of the corridor made her come back to reality. People were coming and going joyfully shouting at each other. If it weren't for the olympic logo on the walls, the place oddly looked like winter camp.

A guy walked by and whistled as he checked out Maura's legs.

"Hey, sexy..." He froze the moment he noticed whom he was talking to. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Maura looked at him walk away shamefully. She stepped back in her bedroom, closed the door and leaned against it before closing her eyes. The quietness of the place enveloped her right away. She needed that.

A loud sigh passed her lips.

It was not how she had imagined her very last Olympic Games to start.