"Your jumps are looking better today, Telvi," Irena says as I skate back to the boards after a round of triple jumps a few days later.

"I'm trying."

It's not like I have a choice.

The days still move forward, life continue. The world spins. Just without Eydis. She is still thought consuming. Walter, I hope she is safe. The fear of being cut still floats around my mind. But it is less crushing. I still cry silently most nights, but I can continue forward and skate. I still don't want to be here or skate. But I'm alive and as long as I preform, they will leave me alone. I suppose life is full of things we don't want to do.

"Good. We need you at your best because I got a call last night about a show on the edge of the Motherwealth. Run through your program a few times and get off the ice in an hour. We need to get on a train to the location," Irena says.

A show with such a short notice doesn't sound like the Motherwealth. They always plan days in advance. With having only an hour to mentally prepare, I am not sure I can deliver. The show will not be to their standard they expect from me.

If I do not do a good job, it will be a reason to cut me.

My heart races. I don't want to go.

"Telvi, you really don't have a choice. If the Motherwealth calls, you go. We all do," Irena says with a sigh as Ari skates over to us. "Ari will join you. Try to enjoy it."

"I always enjoy taking a break from our 8-hour training days," Ari says with a smile.

"Good," she says, not noticing his slight. "Warm up that program. Someone will be picking you up soon to get onto the train to Iver."

"Iver has an ice rink?" Ari asks in disbelief.

"Of course it does, Ari." She rolls her eyes. "Now go, get, do that lap." She huffs as she shoos us with her hands.

Ari and I push off from the boards.

"Iver is on the edge of the Motherwealth boarder. I've never been to the edge but I've heard stories," Ari says under his breath like a swear.

"What kind of stories have you heard?"

He shakes his head. "I don't want to ruin any surprises."

Ari's surprises are always unpredictable. I can't tell if this is a good surprise or not. Regal is clean and organized with skyscrapers and straight streets. I expect the same on the edge of the Motherwealth, but the smirk on Ari's face tells me I shouldn't have the same expectations.

______

What I am not prepared for are the broken roads and small shack like homes nearly stacked on top of each other.

Within a two-hour train ride, the full trains empty until we were the only ones in the cabin. That wasn't important though. I cannot tear my eyes away from the window. Too quickly, we went from skyscrapers to one story buildings that are as gray as the sky. These buildings do not shine like everything in Regal. They are dull. Dingy.

This cannot be the Motherwealth. We took a wrong turn somewhere. The Motherwealth is beautiful. Regal is beautiful. The uneven roads and dusty cars we pass are anything but that.

Finally, the train screeches to a stop. We pull into the empty station that is smaller than the lobby of the ice rink.

The dark poorly lit station with missing floor titles and holes in the roof is all but inviting. This really isn't the right place.

I meet Ari's eyes hoping for more of an answer. He stands and stretches, looking unphased by the state of the station. He slings his skates over his shoulder. "Iver." He points to a sign outside of the window. In faded white letters reads Iver. "This is our stop."

It can't be. What happened to the polished marble floors and sparkly chandeliers? "No."

"Surprise," he says casually.

I grab my skates and dress bag and trail after him like a lost puppy. "Have you been here before?"

"No, but I had an idea of what it would be like. All edge towns are the same. I've been to a few others."

We step off the train onto the uneven ground. I am so busy trying to avoid any large holes, that I don't see we are walking towards a man dressed in black.

"Are you two the figure skaters?" he asks.

I look up at him with my mouth open. With shoulders like his, could he even squeeze through the door? He is massive. Looks more like a body guard then someone to lead us to the rink.

"Yup, we're the figure skaters," Ari says.

"Come with me," he replies. He turns around and walks out of the small station that smells of must and smoke.

A car is waiting just outside the door. Unlike the cars in Regal, this one looks more like the few in Hell. Dusty and dented. Barely hanging on. Barely working. It clatters more than hums, resembling a baby rattle.

"The show time has changed. It will be in an hour. So, you will not have much time to get ready and practice on the ice," the man explains as he drives down the road, avoiding potholes that are as large as my skates.

"Walter, are you serious? How can we get used to the ice?" Ari protests.

He shrugs. It doesn't apply to him. He doesn't care.

Ari looks at me, hoping I would chime in, but I am too busy staring at the broken windows and the worn faces on the people. They look defeated, broken, tired. They look like people in Hell. Maybe even worse than Hell. At least there is a glimmer of hope that the Motherwealth somehow sweep in and save the day, but this is the Motherwealth. If they haven't saved their own people, they won't.

"I've been told you are the best skaters the Motherwealth has seen in a long time so why are you complaining?"

Ari shuts his mouth and pouts at his shoes.

"Do you live here?" I finally ask.

"Born and raised." He sighs.

He doesn't seem so proud of that statement. What is life like here? What struggles did he face?

"What do you think of my town?"

"It's different then the capital."

Ari elbows me in my ribs.

I glare at him.

The man shrugs as he turns down another road. "Never been so I don't know anything different."

How could he have never been? Commonwealth citizens couldn't travel between towns, but I was told that people in the Motherwealth had more freedom. The Motherwealth has rights that we could only dream of having. "Do you want to go to the capital?"

"Everyone does, but that doesn't mean we can."

Ari frowns at me. He wants me to stay silent. But that feel wrong.

"Is it just too expensive?"

He chuckles. "You Commonwealths don't know much, do you?" He pulls up to a large metal building. Its domed structure tower over most of the buildings around it. It is grand in size, but it does not shine like anything in Regal. It looks like it was constructed with straps, barely hanging together with bolts.

He gets out of the car and opens the door to the metal building just as a kid comes out of a bush nearby.

He is a small skinny boy with clothes hanging loosely around his shoulders. He holds his hands out, silently asking, although I cannot take my eyes off his black eye.

"You're the skaters from Regal, do you have any spare change?" a boy asks.

"You know the rule, don't talk to the capital folk," our driver says as he pushes the boy to the ground.

He doesn't cry as he scurries up, dusting himself off. His pants are torn and between the gap of clothes, I see his bleeding knee.

I freeze, unsure what to do. He is a child asking for money. I have money. More than I know what to do with. He could have it all. I will give it to him happily.

Our driver pushes us inside the building before the boy says anything more or before I can give him all my money. Regret fills me. I should have been faster. I just- I didn't know what to do. It happened too fast

"Remember, one hour," he says before shutting the door, leaving us.

"Son of a twister." I run my hands through my hair under the flickering fluorescent light. "This is the Motherwealth?" I ask Ari in disbelief.

He nods as he looks down the hall, unfazed. "This is the edge. They all look the same."

"But this is the Motherwealth." Wasn't it supposed to be all beautiful and cheery? It is the land of all and plentiful. But there is nothing beautiful about this place.

"And this is the Motherwealth, Telvi. I don't know what to tell you. Not every place can be as shiny as the capital. And these people don't know about the shine and glamor of Regal. It's best for you to shut your mouth about it. You do not need to be the one that shares anything with them."

"They have a right to know!" I shout, raising my voice at him.

He takes a step closer. "That's a good way to get-"

"You're dressing room is this way," a young girl says as she rounds a corner to face us. She wears a smile, but it seems a little too fake. Her outfit is clean and tidy, but I can see where it has been patched. She points down the hall. "You can follow me if you like."

We follow her in silence. She walks slow with a limp but that doesn't seem to stop her.

"I'm really excited for your show tonight. We haven't had figure skaters in years. But with our ice rink just fixed, we have no reason to not host," she says quickly as she opens the door to another room.

"Do you skate?"

She shakes her head. "They say I'm not good enough..."

"Well you can do it for fun, can't you?"

She frowns. "Not this. You only skate if you are good. It's a waste of recourses." She steps aside, allowing us to walk into the room. "I'll come back in 30 minutes."

Ari and I walk in. It has wooden benches lining the room. The cinderblock walls are painted with white chipping paint. Hints of cream showing beneath it. There is nothing special about this place, but I was expecting more.

Ari sighs as he sat on a bench. "I'm surprised you haven't caught on. The Motherwealth is built on smoke and mirrors."

"But this is nothing like I read in books for school."

"Well," he starts as he got his skates from the bag, "people lie."

I frowns as I sit down beside him. What is the end game for any of this? Regal has all the wealth and everyone else remains poor. My stomach twists. "The talent program is to build a better Motherwealth and Commonwealth, but this place looks just like my town I'm from."

"I'm not here to better anyone but myself. Aren't you? You look out for yourself. At the end of the day that's all you have. I thought you hated the Motherwealth anyhow. Why does all of this matter to you?"

I shut my mouth. He is right, why does it matter? I want to leave. I have to leave. We all had to. But still, there is something that pulls at me. I want to know why these towns are like this.

"Don't you want to know?"

He shakes his head. "No, I really don't. I don't even care. Now Telvi, can we please get ready. The only thing I care about is landing my jumps with no warmup time."

Landing my jumps are the last thing I want to worry about.

He is angry. I think he is worried I said too much to the man. He is afraid of something. Maybe he knows about the training program. He knows about something. That's clear.

"The training program is not what you think it is."

I held my tongue for too many days, fearing I would be caught. I can't hold it any longer. I don't care if this is the right moment or not. We are in a private room. It feels safe enough.

"Telvi, nothing is what you think it is. Now can we talk about this later? You can change into your outfit first," Ari says as he points to door on the other side of the room. "I'm pretty sure that's the bathroom."

He is too distracted. He won't listen even if I tried.

I stand up with my dress in hand. Maybe after the show. Maybe that will be a good time.

____________________

My nylon laces dig into my hands as I lace my skates. A faint clatter of people are muffled against the dressing room door. They are here for the show. But I am not sure what to expect. These people are not like ones in Regal. This show will be different.

"Are you ready in there?" A voice rings out from the other side of the room.

"Not really, but I guess we need to be," Ari says. His bubbly personality is not present. He has been in a mood since we got off the train.

He stands up and pulls on his sparkly outfit. He looks at me and smirks. "You look good, I like your outfit."

"You've seen me wear it before."

"Yeah, but I don't know, this time looks even better. Probably because you're not competing against the sparkle of everything in Regal."

My outfit is nothing to be worried about. All I can think about is running. If we are on the edge, how easy could it be to run. We can do this show and flee. Make it to the border and run for safety. Ari can come with me if he wants. At least I could save one.

"Want to do something crazy?" I ask, standing up. I rock back and forth on my skates, breaking them in.

He shakes his head with a chuckle. "That doesn't sound much like you."

"The Motherwealth changes people."

He nods with a smirk. "It does. Walter, I'm in. What is it?"

"I'll tell you after the show."

"Of course you well." He reaches down to fix his laces again. He is worried about them. Laces make or break our performance and Ari wants to deliver. He always does though. He should not worry about anything.

"You'll do good out there."

He nods. "I just hope the ice is decent. There was a reason why I wanted to skate on it before the show."

"You'll do fine. You have skated on worse, haven't you?"

He shakes his head. "Not in a long time." He tries to open the door, but it doesn't budge. "It's locked. I think they locked us in."

My heart speeds up just a little. That makes my plan a little harder. It is probably locked all the time. For safety or to cage us. I will have to make sure they avoid that when we come back. Maybe prop it open with a skate cover or something.

The door opens, revealing the same girl that led us to the room. She put the keys in her pocket and smiles. "Ooh, you two look beautiful. Full of that capital sparkle and shine. Now follow me." She turns on her heals and we follow through the halls until we are behind a black curtain, stepping onto the ice.

The crowd is louder here, it is deafening. I spin behind the curtain. The ice is soft. It is probably a little too soft to even skate on. But we are here, and the crowd is expecting us.

"Walter. This Slag ice," Ari mutters as he runs his fingers across his blade, flicking off the snow that has collected on the bottom of the skate.

There isn't use swearing. We have to just push through. As I have done for the last few days.

I skate around the small patch of ice, warming up behind the scenes. Hopefully the ice on the other side of the curtain is better than this.

The presenter hushes the crowd then talks about Regal and the Motherwealth. He mentions how the Motherwealth is the best place in the world and that they should all be lucky.

I saw the faces of those we met. They didn't look so lucky. They probably don't feel lucky either. How could they in this place?

The crowd cheers but the energy is different. There is less of a buzz. Probably because some know better.

"Skating first would be the charming Ari Devon from Polock."

Ari never talked about his town. I wasn't sure why because Polock is close to Hell. Maybe an hour or two away by car. He knew I was from Hell and never once did share how close we came from.

"Polock?" I ask in shock. I feel slightly betrayed.

He shrugs. "It's not like a place to be proud of. You know that edge of the world. It's backwards. I don't want to be associated with those kinds of people" He sighs and shakes his hands. "Here goes nothing." With that, he pushes his way through the curtains.

I continue to warm up as I hear Ari's music play. It is a song that I know by heart now. I can picture his jumps, spins, his footwork in my mind. It is burned in there. By the cheers from the crowd, I know he is skating well. But that is Ari. Always consistent.

As the music dies down, Ari pushes his way through the curtains. He smiles at me, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "The ice is fine on the other side. Good luck out there."

"And from Hell we have Telvi Edman!"

Fake the smile. Look nice. Give them a show. This will all be over soon. Then I will make my run for it. Just one more show.

I take a deep breath and step through the curtain to see a full stadium. People smile, cheer and wave to me like I am a celebrity. I skate around the rink for a quick lap, checking the ice, waving to the crowd. Ari was right, it does look good.

My blade drag along the ice, stopping me. I freeze with my arms over my head, waiting for the music to start.

The music begins and I start forward.

I turn backwards, setting up for my first jump when a bang echoes the building. The ground shakes, throwing me onto the ice, knocking the wind out of me. Fire and smoke fill the air. With wide eyes my head snap up just in time to see a blinding flash of light erupt from the side of the building.

Screams echo the building as another blast comes, throwing bits of debris onto the ice, at me.

My ears ring, and my vision swarms but I can still make out the panicked screams of people fleeing the scene.

Gritting my teeth, I push myself up onto my hands and knees. But as I stagger to my feet I feel a sharp pain radiate down my body. My attention shifts to a piece of shrapnel embedded into my dress. My dress doesn't sparkle any more as blood oozes from the wound.

Another blast shakes the ground, knocking me to the ice again.

Above the burning ceiling fade into black.