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Marianne watches Edelgard's penultimate stone rumble down the sheet, curling perfectly to strike her own red rock in the eight-foot. The raised stone ends up, as far as Marianne can tell, right on the button.
"That was perfect," Marianne says softly. She's still finding it hard to believe that they're here, at the Scotties, in the final, playing the best team in the world. And they really are the best--Edelgard seems to be unstoppable, and capable of every type of shot. Team Hresvelg was the only one they had lost to in the first draw.
"They lost their shooter," Leonie points out. She throws her ponytail over her shoulder. "I think they ended up a bit behind tee, to boot."
Marianne stretches to get a better look, but it's hard to tell with Petra and Bernadetta standing near the hog line and Edelgard making her way down to evaluate the shot.
"We're tied, anyway," Leonie says, practical as ever. "Just holding our own against Hresvelg is impressive."
"You're right," Marianne admits. But it's hard not to be worried about making the shot. Lysithea needs this win. She leaves Leonie where she is and pushes Lysithea's final yellow stone to the hack, bends down and carefully lifts it up to clean the bottom, and finally sweeps her broom gently over the path from the hack to the hog, just in case there's any debris. She can see that Lysithea and Hilda are debating the next shot already, and are most likely at odds about the plan.
"I've gotta see where that raise landed," Leonie says, gesturing for Marianne to follow.
They walk down to the other end. Marianne can see that there are three cameras fixed on her skip and vice, and her heart flutters with nervousness. She's been doing her best to ignore them, but it's so hard when they seem to be everywhere she looks. Dimitri had told her to think of them as just big black boxes, nothing more. It's easier said than done with the camera operators watching through them.
As Marianne and Leonie get closer to the other end, she hears Lysithea positively growl with frustration.
"We can not 'just blast 'em', Hilda! Look at the angles! Do you even see the angles?"
"I dunno," Hilda says. "If you nail our corner guard with, like, peel, literally everything's gonna move."
"If I 'nail' it with 'like, peel' all that's going to happen is both the shooter and the guard end up flying off into the audience!"
Hilda laughs. "Lysithea, you're not Raphael Kirsten, you can't toss that much weight!"
"This isn't the time for jokes," Lysithea grumbles.
"I'm not joking," Hilda says. "If you hit this one on like, this angle--you figure that part out--it'll fly into ours on the twelve and--"
"I can't make that shot," Lysithea snaps. "They're too spaced-out. I have about a two per cent chance of making it. Leave it."
Hilda grumbles, but follows Lysithea to the hog line to survey the guards from there.
Marianne sees that Leonie was right--Edelgard's shot ended up just behind tee. It's a surprising error for the skip based out of Enbarr, but not so terrible that she won't be able to make it work.
"All of these angles are wrong," Lysithea hisses, crouching for a different perspective.
"Um," Marianne says.
The attention of all three of her teammates snap to her. Hilda says, "What is it, Mari?"
"Well, there's--it's very small--but is that a port?" She stands behind Lysithea's right shoulder and observes the mess of guards out front. Edelgard's social media handle isn't 'Edelguard' for nothing. She doesn't get a lot of big ends, but hardly needs them when she can steal single after single.
"That's what I was thinking from the start," Lysithea says. "It seems like the only thing we've got."
"Your normal, or a little more?" Leonie asks. She and Hilda have their own normal, and that's basically A Lot of Weight. Marianne is grateful that she doesn't have to throw many hits as the lead. She loves being able to set up the perfect centreline guard, followed up with a shot that gently covers the pin.
"Soft normal should be perfect," Lysithea says. "As long as you and Mari can hold it until it reaches this clump of guards."
"Easy," Leonie says.
"We'll try," Marianne says. She isn't confident in her ability to sweep this, not after the gruelling week leading up to this. But she'll definitely do her best. She tells herself that this is the last shot of the Scotties that she'll have to sweep. The pressure is mostly on Lysithea, but Marianne can't help but feel nervous.
"You've got this," Hilda says.
Marianne smiles, trying to keep her nerves from showing. She glances at the stands, where she can see her fiancé sitting under the big blanket she knit for him using instructions from his friend Mercedes. He waves happily. Dimitri knows nothing about curling. No matter how hard she tries to explain the free-guard zone, he can't see why they don't exclusively throw hits. Regardless, he's watched every big game Marianne's been in, cheering loudly despite not knowing what he's cheering for. It's sweet, and helps Marianne more than she thinks he realizes.
Also in the stands is the Leicester men's team. Marianne knows them from other Grand Slam events, but they're a new team, themselves. Still, they've managed to earn a spot in the Brier next month, so Marianne tries to not think much more about their presence.
Lysithea asks the team for their opinion on the ice she thinks she needs to make the shot, but of the four of them, she's the best at calling line. Marianne agrees that hits ran straighter on that section of ice in the last end, although there have mostly been draws and guards thrown in this final one.
"You should've let me clean up the front while I had the chance," Hilda says, setting her broom where Lysithea indicates. She pouts and makes sad eyes at her skip.
Lysithea rolls her eyes. "They still have hammer, the point is to guard the centre."
Hilda sticks her tongue out. Marianne giggles and Hilda winks.
"Leonie, you take the right side," Lysithea commands, as she begins sliding down to the hack. Marianne and Leonie follow, not in a rush. They know Lysithea will take her time setting up for the shot.
The other team's Petra smiles at Marianne as she passes by. Marianne gives her a quick smile in return before getting into position on Lysithea's left. She gets her stopwatch ready, because Lysithea likes to know the specifics of her weight.
A hush falls over the stadium as Lysithea settles into the hack, gripping the yellow handle of her stone. Leonie catches Marianne's eye and grins wide. It's so quiet, and Marianne's heart starts to pound. This is it. They really made it to the finals. Marianne glances to the other end, where Hilda holds the broom. Behind her are Edelgard and her vice, two of the very best curlers in the world. The score sheet reads 3:3. Team Ordelia is just as good as Team Hresvelg. Marianne is part of a world-class curling team.
It all hits her in the short space when Lysithea is spinning her rock to get rid of the frost underneath it. We're here! Marianne thinks, thrilled. We're in the finals of the Scotties! Win or lose, she's so proud of her team, and herself.
"Ready," Lysithea breathes.
Marianne raises her stopwatch. Lysithea pulls back, raising her hips. Marianne holds her breath. Lysithea pushes out, her sliding foot tucking slightly across her front and her chest getting low to the ice. The stone rumbles. Marianne clicks the button on her stopwatch when the rock passes the tee line, and begins jogging along with Leonie. She stops her timer when the rock gets to the hog.
"The weight's right," Marianne says.
Leonie bellows, "Weight's good!"
"Stay close," Lysithea calls.
Marianne had no intention of leaving the rock, and neither did Leonie. They stick near it, ready with their brooms to begin sweeping. Marianne is so glad that there aren't any other games on--it was so hard listening for her skip's high voice when the crowd was cheering a shot made on one of the sheets beside them.
There's no trouble hearing when Lysithea calls them on, today.
"Yeah! Hard!"
Leonie takes the rock, pushing down on her broom with all her might. Marianne knows that her own efforts are mostly token, but sweeps as hard as she can, anyway. Beside her, Leonie grunts with the effort.
"Hard, girls!" Hilda calls from the other end. "Looking good! Hard, girls! Keep going!"
Marianne glances up, taking in the mess of guards. From this angle it's hard to see the port at all, but she trusts that they've made the right call. They're coming close to the opposite hog line. Marianne knows this is when rocks tend to break into a sharp curl, so she directs her attention fully back to the shooter.
They cross the hog.
"Looking good, looking good," Hilda's voice calls.
"Stay on it," Lysithea says. She's trailing a few metres behind them.
Marianne pants and keeps on sweeping, noticing the way the rock is starting to bend around, but Leonie is doing a great job of--
Marianne's foot catches on a guard. She stumbles forward and her broom flings into Leonie's and pushes it into Lysithea's stone with a loud crack!
The ice rises up fast in front of Marianne. She tucks her shoulder in and twists, falling on her hip. She hears gasps all around, from Leonie, Lysithea, from Hilda and the other team, and one great, horrified sound from the hundreds of people in the audience.
If Marianne stays on the ice for long, she'll ruin the pebble. She springs back onto her feet, but the damage is already done. Leonie has stopped the rock with her broom. She reaches out to help Marianne.
"You all right?"
"Oh goddess, Mari! Are you okay?"
"Marianne, are you all right?" Lysithea slides around her now-disqualified shooter to rest her hand on Marianne's arm.
"I'm fine," Marianne says, nodding. Her hip is smarting, and she's startled, but she knows she's unhurt. "But--I'm so sorry--"
"It's fine," Lysithea says.
"Yeah, as long as you're not hurt," Leonie says. She guides Marianne off the ice, while Lysithea pushes the guard Marianne tripped over back to approximately where it was.
"Don't worry about that," Edelgard says. She slides over to Marianne. "Hey, that was a hard fall. Are you okay?"
Throughout this tournament, Edelgard has seemed nothing but intimidating. Marianne is touched by her concern.
"I'm all right," Marianne assures her. "Thank you."
"Good," Edelgard says. "It can happen to anyone."
Marianne nods, but she's still miserable. Edelgard's vice, Dorothea, isn't even holding the broom for her. With the last shot and one rock already counting, Edelgard can hog her final throw and be guaranteed the win.
"I cost us the game," Marianne sniffles. "I'm so sorry." She can hear the crowd thrumming as it reaches the same conclusion Marianne did about Edelgard's final shot.
Lysithea has pushed the burned rock to the space behind the house. She approaches Marianne now, looking frustrated.
"Don't worry about that," Lysithea says. "Even if I'd made that shot, Edelgard would've been able to follow us down the same path. It's fine."
"I--I'm so sorry," Marianne repeats. She feels awful--she's tripped at the Scotties, on national television. She puts her face in her hands.
Hilda rubs her shoulders. "No, no, don't say that! We're still here! We're getting the silver medal! That's amazing."
"Yeah," Leonie agrees. "And we couldn't have got this far without you. Don't beat yourself up about this."
Dorothea approaches. "Hey, how are you doing?"
Hilda answers for Marianne. "She's fine, just upset."
"I know," Dorothea says. "I know. It's awful. At my first Scotties I fell throwing a big hit. But you know, Marianne? You've made it so far. You're going to keep being an amazing curler. You gals make a great team, you know?"
"We know," Hilda says. "Right, Mari?"
Marianne sniffles, and nods. "Thank you."
Dorothea smiles. At the other end, Edelgard is throwing her last stone. Her sweepers aren't moving at all. The rock doesn't make it halfway down the sheet before dying.
"One red," Hilda says.
"One red," Dorothea agrees. She shakes all their hands.
Team Ordelia congratulates her, and the rest of Team Hresvelg when they reach this end of the sheet. Each of the latter offer their own words of comfort to Marianne.
"You are being a great curler," Petra says. "I had an honour--I was honoured to play against you."
Edelgard tells Marianne that she hopes to see them at the next Grand Slam event.
Bernadetta, the other lead, says, "My first big game I fell right out of the hack! But it's all okay--everyone has accidents!"
Marianne thanks them all, then gathers up her equipment and heads to the stands on the way to the locker room.
Dimitri is standing right at the barrier. "Hey, what happened?"
Marianne drops her things and leans over to accept his embrace. "I tripped on a guard. I burned Lysithea's rock, so it didn't count."
"Why did she even leave that guard there?" Dimitri asks.
"Because," Marianne laughs softly, leaning away to look at his face, "we were supposed to put one of ours behind it. That's why it's called a guard."
Dimitri smiles to see that she's cheering up. "You played wonderfully, anyway."
It doesn't matter that he doesn't know a thing about the game--it makes Marianne feel very warm and loved to hear that.
Another man is approaching, climbing down through the stands.
"Hey, Marianne!" She recognizes him as the skip of the Leicester men's team--Claude Riegan. "So sorry about that fall--honestly I won't be surprised if I break my nose on a rock in my first game--but anyway, have you seen this?"
He holds out his phone. Marianne shifts away from Dimitri and peers at the screen. On it is her headshot, and a list of percentages. She puts her fingers over her mouth.
"Oh, my, is that for this game?"
"For the whole tournament," Claude says, boasting almost. "You were curling first among leads. Ninety-eight per cent."
"That's incredible," Dimitri says.
"It is," Marianne agrees.
The rest of her team stops to see what the fuss is. Lysithea rolls her eyes. "So you'll believe when Claude Riegan says you're an asset to the team, but not when we say it."
"I believed you," Marianne protests. "I was still--it just happened--"
"She's just kidding," Leonie says, already bending to pick up Marianne's forgotten equipment. "Hey, Dimitri. Claude."
"Great game out there," Claude says. "Do you ladies want to celebrate your medal with us after the ceremony? You ladies and Dimitri, of course."
Hilda laughed. "Ooh, that sounds fun. What do you say, girls?"
The team agrees that it would be nice to spend some time with their male counterparts.
"We'll get your revenge on Enbarr," Claude promises. "Vestra won't know what's coming."
"You can't beat Vestra," Lysithea says. Claude just raises his eyebrows and smiles enigmatically.
"You'd better go," Dimitri says to the team. He kisses Marianne on the top of her head. "I'm so proud of you. You'll do even better next year, I know it."
"Thank you," Marianne says, blush spreading over her cheeks. Hilda puts her hand on her back, and the ladies' team head to the locker to talk about the game, pack up their things, and then return to the ice for their medals.
For their first time at such a high-level competition, they've done incredibly well. Marianne looks around at her teammates'--and friends'--smiling faces and can't help but mirror their expressions.