The ribbon was there.
She had taken it out of her hair to sleep. Something she had started doing again only this week. For 7 months, she had worn it through everything. Through sleep and showers and the worst of the grief. But sometime in the middle of Tuesday night, she had decided she didn't need to hold it that tightly anymore. That she could put it down, and it would still be there in the morning.
It was still there.
She picked it up. Held it for a moment. Then set it on the desk beside her empty cup. She would put it in after she braided her hair, the way her mother had always meant to do it.
She got dressed. Training shorts, a long-sleeve shirt. She laced her shoes sitting on the edge of the bed, and she thought about her mother doing the same thing 22 years ago, in a dormitory room not very different from this one.
She thought about Sandra Callahan at 19. New to Harrove. New to being away from home. New to the particular loneliness of a place that hadn't yet made space for her.
She thought about how Sandra had shown up anyway.
Mia finished lacing her shoes. She stood. She picked up the ribbon from the desk.
She braided her hair in the mirror, the way Connie had taught her. When the braid was done, she tied the ribbon at the end. Adjusted it. Looked at herself.
The braid was shorter than it used to be. Sloan's scissors had taken 4 in. The ribbon sat differently than before. Lower. More visible, somehow.
She looked at herself for a long moment.
Then she picked up her bag and walked out the door.
The competition was in the main athletic hall. Not Studio B. The bigger space, with proper spectator seating along two walls, and mats that had been laid and taped the night before.
When Mia arrived at 8:00 in the morning to check in and warm up, the space was already being set up. People testing lighting. The sound system running a check. Folding chairs being arranged in rows. It looked like what it was. A real event, properly organized.
The Hartwell Family Foundation banner hung across the back wall. Wide and prominent. Blue and gold.
She checked in with the organizing committee, signed the final paperwork, received her schedule. She was in the second match of the afternoon session. 2:15. Plenty of time.
She went to the warm-up room and started moving. Slowly at first. Just getting the body awake. A few rounds of shadowboxing, keeping it light, not burning anything she would need later.