Chapter Text
Kaz looked down over the arena from his place up high in the stands, taking in the activities unfolding below him with great interest. The stands weren’t completely filled up anymore, as it was already late afternoon and most of the competitors and their teams from the morning programs had already left, either to start preparing for the next day of competitions or to use the free time to rest and recover.
He liked being up here to watch the competition down on the ice. The view was way better than from the first few rows of the stands - you didn't just see the rink, but also the surrounding spectators, something he always paid close attention to. The panel of judges might've been the one deciding on the final score at the end of the day, but the audience's reactions were just as important. You never knew who could be watching - and whose opinion might become of importance in the future.
He also preferred his current position because it allowed him to be right next to the changing rooms - an underrated access to useful information about each contestant, he had learned throughout the years. The ice might’ve been where your performance counted, but what happened before and after said just as much about you, if not even more. And he was convinced that knowing who you had to beat to climb the scoreboard was just as important as getting those technical executions right.
Currently, he didn't even have to try really hard to overhear anything, because the argument being held in the men's changing room right behind him was more than loud enough to be audible through the half-opened door, even with the music blaring through the speakers. And lucky for him, it was held entirely in Kerch - accent free nonetheless.
"An 85? For Ghezen's sake, are you trying to make me look bad out there?" a deep, booming voice complained loudly.
Kaz immediately searched through his mental catalogue of people, trying to match the voice with a face, as it lit a spark of recognition in him.
"I - I'm just having a bad day, Dad. It will be better for the free program tomorrow, I promise," a younger and much softer voice replied. Softer, or more careful? Kaz wasn’t sure.
"It better be. Considering all the money I've invested in your training..."
Kaz raised an eyebrow. He'd had a suspicion about the owner of the voice before, but now the pool of suspects had just gotten very narrow.
There was one thing that was true for every professional figure skater, no matter where you came from. If you weren’t good enough to get your skating journey supported by your country - one of the reasons why the Ravkan delegation always sent the most contestants, as important as it was to them to flag their dominance wherever and however they could - you had to either finance it yourself or find someone who was willing to pay the kruge for you because they believed that you were worth the investment.
And Kaz knew in detail with whom he always had to fight over Ketterdam’s two public rinks for the best training slots, and who conveniently didn’t need to because they had their own private rinks to use whenever they wished.
"I'm sorry. I'm just - I wasn't in my element,” the younger voice apologized. “I know I can do better, it was just that one stupid Axel jump…”
There was a scoff, followed by something that was said too quietly for Kaz to hear. Then, the sound of a zipper.
“I think…I'm gonna go back to my hotel room and rest for a bit." The voice sounded defeated.
“Don't forget that I'm expecting you back on the ice tomorrow at six bells!"
Kaz had just enough time to turn his attention back to the arena in front of him, pretending to have been watching the current performance happening down on the ice all this time instead of listening in. Then, the door to the changing rooms burst open - and a second later, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs, like something heavy had been slammed directly into his side with full force.
"Oh Ghezen, I'm so sorry!"
Once Kaz had regained his balance by grabbing at the railing in front of him, he caught sight of a purple shoulder bag in the corner of his eye, which got quickly pulled away from him. He didn't need to check to know that it contained a pair of skates because he could still feel the sting that the - hopefully protected - blades had left behind.
Kaz tightened the grip on his cane and turned around.
There was a flash of wide blue eyes and red curls damp from sweat before the person they belonged to quickly hurried away from him before he could say anything. He had just enough time to make out the KER - VAN ECK print on the back of a tracksuit before it disappeared around the corner to the next exit, leaving him alone once again.
Kaz couldn’t help but smirk at the confirmation of his suspicions - before he felt another wave of pain in his ribs and he cursed under his breath.
Slowly, he tried to breathe and turned his attention back to the rink, where the audience had just started to jump from their seats to applaud the last performance.
“And with a complete score of 189 across both programs, Shu-Han steals the third place on the board for this year's ice dance competition, leaving the second team from Ravka behind with just one single point in advance!”
Kaz watched as the two athletes - twins, as far as he was aware - bowed and left the ice, leaving behind only the booming applause still echoing from the arena’s walls for them.
He scoffed. Home advantage.
He’d seen them compete before and even though he hadn’t exactly been paying attention throughout their program right now, he knew from experience that they lacked significant technical precision - definitely more than the Ravkan team. But he wasn’t surprised. Skill had always only been one factor in the big picture. He wasn’t under any illusion that money and politics would ever be fully left out of the competition, even after there had been a unanimous vote in the international figure skating league a few years ago to fix the old scoring system and replace it with a better, supposedly less biased one.
He was well aware that this decision had been based on politics, too, in its own ways.
He twirled his cane in his hand and watched as half of the stands cleared out, now that the Shu team’s performance was over. He’d hoped for a better starting number for his own team, but there was only so much you could do when they got assigned at random. And you didn’t want to fall in disgrace by trying to meddle with things. At least not for this.
"Kaz!"
He snapped his head around and frowned when he saw Kuwei round the corner as if on cue, awkwardly hurrying towards him because he was already in his skates - luckily with the blade guards still on.
"Have you seen Jesper?" he asked, cheeks reddened and out of breath.
Kaz looked him up and down with a frown and pulled out his black pocket watch. "You're supposed to be down at the ice warming up," he scolded with a look at the time. “You’re up next.”
"I know. And I was," Kuwei was still breathing heavily from climbing up the stands to the top. He reached for the railing to hold on to for support. "But Jes disappeared, so I was worried and wanted to check if he was with you…"
Kaz’s head snapped up, alarm bells immediately ringing in his ears.
“Well, he isn't," he quickly clarified. "I expected him to be with you. Down at the rink, getting ready for your program. As he should be. As you both should be.” He had a hard time keeping the harsh edge out of his voice.
"That's...not the answer I was hoping for," Kuwei admitted, distress now openly written all over his face. "Oh Saints, I really hoped you'd know where he is."
Kaz frowned. Well, at least they shared that sentiment. This was also not how he'd planned for today's competition to go. He had expected that he’d be able to trust the two of them enough to leave them alone for a small half hour. And yet...things never seemed to go how they were supposed to without his supervision, because apparently, it was hard to listen to a set of simple instructions.
He sighed. "When did you last see him?"
"I don't know, like fifteen minutes ago when we were warming up? He said he'd quickly have to get something from the changing rooms. I didn't question it until it took him, well. Ages to come back?" Kuwei shrugged helplessly.
Kaz looked up, narrowing his eyes at him. "The changing rooms you said?"
Kuwei nodded eagerly. The movement made a bit of the blue glitter on his temples flutter down, landing on his costume which was luckily equally glittery so it wouldn’t matter.
Kaz's frown deepened. He'd been standing next to the changing rooms for at least the past half hour. He would have noticed anyone passing. Especially an athlete from his own team, for Ghezen’s sake!
"What do we do now?" Kuwei asked after Kaz didn’t say anything else for a minute. "I can't go down there alone!" There was a hint of desperation and a please don't make me in his voice.
Kaz checked his pocket watch again. Five more minutes until it was their turn. Five more minutes for Jesper to show up and do what he was supposed to. What they had spent months of intense training and a whole lot of kruge on. What was his job.
He started to spin the handle of his cane around in his hand. "Where's Inej?" he asked.
"I don't know," Kuwei groaned and crouched down to the floor, burying his face in his hands. "I think I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled. “Shouldn’t have run up here.”
As if on cue, Kaz felt just the hint of a gust of air around him. It immediately made the tension in his shoulders ease a little bit, even though he would’ve never admitted it out loud.
He turned around, already knowing who he’d be facing. At least one person in his team knew how to do their job correctly.
"I haven't seen him either," Inej said, not even the slightest bit out of breath. She had long since changed out of her performance dress and exchanged her own skates for more comfortable shoes. Shoes that allowed her to move around the arena quickly and soundlessly. "He's nowhere in the arena."
"Did you check the restrooms?" Kuwei asked from the floor.
Inej nodded, then turned to Kaz. "Want me to go do another tour?”
But before Kaz could say anything, there was a speaker announcement.
"Next up for their free program, representing Kerch, Kuwei Yul-Bo and Jesper Fahey."
Kuwei lifted his head to look at him in panic. “Do something!” he pleaded. “We’re gonna get disqualified!”
Kaz ignored him and turned to Inej. “Have you tried calling him?”
She nodded but still pulled her phone out of the pocket of her tracksuit jacket, tapping around on it. “I’m guessing he left it in the changing rooms anyway, but I can try again…” she offered.
They waited for an awfully long moment for the call to connect. But once it did, it went straight to voice mail.
“Hey! You’ve reached Jes! I’m probably busy at practice…or I’ve lost my phone. Both are equally possible. Anyway, call back later! Oh and if you’re Kaz - I know I’m late, I’ll probably be there in a second so stop calling me!! Bye!”
Inej pressed the red button to end the call and slipped the phone back into her jacket. “Oh Jes…” she sighed and shook her head.
Kaz didn’t know how she managed to stay so calm. He rapped the floor with his cane in frustration. "For Ghezen's sake and all that's -“
“The Kerch team represented by Kuwei Yul-Bo and Jesper Fahey is asked to immediately come down to the rink for their performance,” the speakers loudly interrupted him, drowning out his swears.
Inej reached out to place a hand on his arm, squeezing it. He knew that it was meant as a gesture to calm him down, but it didn’t help. Yet, he didn’t pull away either. Instead, he just stared down into the arena, eyes tracking rapidly over the rows and rows of stands, searching for something - someone - he knew he wouldn’t find.
Beside him, Kuwei had proceeded to start reciting what sounded like a prayer under his breath, still crouching on the floor. His for the performance perfectly slicked-back hair was now falling into his face in a mess of loose hairspray and glitter.
Normally, Kaz would have scolded him for not taking better care of his appearance right before showtime, because even the smallest details mattered during a performance. Now, it was very far down on his list of complaints.
“How long do you think they’ll wait before they move on to the next pair?” Inej asked carefully after a moment of resigned silence from the three of them.
Kaz shrugged. “Not long enough probably.”
"Final call for the Kerch team consisting of Yul-Bo, Kuwei and Fahey, Jesper. The contestants are asked to immediately take their positions on the ice," the speakers confirmed his suspicions without any compassion.
Kaz didn't need compassion anyway. He needed answers. He also maybe needed to destroy something. Or someone. Once he'd found him.
There were murmurs around them now, people walking past them recognising Kuwei and wondering why he wasn't down on the ice, wondering why the whole team was just standing there without doing anything. Because nobody wanted to miss a last call. Everyone knew what that meant.
Kaz knew what it meant too and it did nothing to lower his blood pressure right now.
A no-show led to zero points across all scores of the competition. It also meant that the skaters in question would be blocked from competing for a full two years before being allowed to reenter. Two years, in which there would be no prize money. Prize money which he'd already planned into his future investments.
Kaz knocked the tip of his cane against the wall of the railing in frustration.
"Ghezen, Jesper. What did you get yourself into this time?" he cursed under his breath.
He didn't get an answer, only Inej’s warm hand on his arm.
What he did get was a succession of fluttering noises as the letters on the big scoreboard above their heads flipped over, sealing their faith once and for all.
Kaz already knew what the board must look like now, and yet, he couldn't help but check to make sure that he was correct in his prediction.
Kuwei let out a strangled noise. Inej crouched down next to him and ran a comforting hand over his back. She offered him a bottle of water, but only received a head shake in return so she shrugged and helplessly turned to look at Kaz, waiting for further instructions on what to do next.
Kaz gripped his cane, taking his time to think.
The speakers crackled back to life. "Next up in the competition for their free dance program, representing The Wandering Isles,...."
Kaz didn't listen to the rest of the announcement. Whatever would happen in the competition now wasn't relevant to him. Not anymore. It might've been just a few minutes ago, but now he had bigger fish to fry. His thoughts were already running wild, his brain working at high speed while he ran through his options. Sadly enough, they were pretty limited. But he could work with that.
"Get changed," he ordered, lightly nudging Kuwei's curled-up figure with his cane, "I have some people to interrogate."
Inej raised a questioning eyebrow.
Kaz just gave her subtle a head shake - I'll explain later - and turned to leave, trusting that she would take care of Kuwei because he wasn't very keen on losing another one of his athletes today.
He had more important things to do. Like people to interrogate and some kruge to offer, to whoever would be willing to take it in exchange for information.