Payson found their visit to the next pavilion relaxing from the moment they approached the brightly-colored gate with its four red columns and golden roof. The group passed through one of the three wide openings, Nicky craning his neck up to take in the architecture.

"Watch yourself," Kelly warned her boyfriend. "I do not want to end up at the ER because you got distracted by some building design."

Nicky grinned brightly and did turn his attention back to where he was walking. "The Chinese have some really amazing architectural elements."

"Oh?" Kelly prompted.

"Did you know that even though there have been major earthquakes in the Forbidden City area, the buildings have survived pretty much intact? They actually built a small scale model of one of the buildings on top of a pad that could simulate earthquakes and pushed it all the way up to a 10 on the Richter scale and the building still stood!"

"Isn't that supposed to be a really awful earthquake?" Jordan asked, now dropping back to the conversation.

"I thought they used something else besides the Richter scale now?" Luke asked.

"There are other scales that seismologists use for more detailed measurements of earthquakes but the Richter scale is what the general public relates to the best," Emily spoke up.

Jordan focused on Emily, "You seem to know a lot about earthquakes."

"Well, when I moved into a state that's had a few big ones, I decided that I wanted to know more than just the basics about earthquakes," Emily replied. "So I watched some TED-talks and then took a short online learning course through the local library on them."

Payson smiled at Emily's continued pursuit of knowledge. The woman had always been smart with a wide range of interests; she was glad to see that becoming a mother had not pulled Emily away from her love of learning. Payson had worked hard to stay out of gym gossip, but she had not been able to completely avoid overhearing some disparaging remarks about the likelihood of her former teammate being able to do much more than chase after a toddler.

"So living in California explains why you know about earthquakes," Jordan said to Emily and then eyed Nicky. "You live on the East Coast, what's with your interest in them?"

"Oh, it's not earthquakes actually," Kelly answered for him. "Nicky is studying architecture in college."

As the group murmured in response to that reveal, Payson realized with a small jolt that even though they had been together for almost two days now, this was the first time anyone had really delved into what Nicky was up to now besides sticking by Kelly. Granted that was part of his personality. Nicky knew how to smile for the press and answer questions as well as the rest of them, but he rarely offered information on its own. Now that Payson thought about it, leading up to and following the Olympics, Nicky had always done a brilliant job of keeping the questions focused on the gymnastics side of his life, never the personal unlike the women's team whose off-the-apparatus-lives had received almost as much attention as their medal-winning performances.

"You've chosen a degree program?" Austin asked.

Nicky nodded. "I'm not sure if I'll stay in school after the summer or go back to training full-time since I've been given the clear from my injury, but I'm really enjoying the major."

Payson felt another grin growing. Nicky's determined drive for Olympic gold had certainly matched hers. While her career had ended after London, he had continued on—until a devastating ACL injury in the floor final at Nationals last summer. Payson had been watching the event on TV when the mishap occurred and had immediately known he would be out of competition for some time if not forever. It was good to see that he had found another passion.

Nicky continued to discuss his latest architecture class as they wandered through the China pavilion their steps taking them along a white pathway leading through a garden marked with reflecting ponds. To their left was another golden-roofed building, but Payson's attention focused on the building in front of them. The three detailed blue tiers of the replica of the Hall of Good Prayer for Harvests from the Temple of Heaven complex in Beijing provided a beautiful representation of Chinese symbolism in architectural design. It also supplied the entrance and waiting area for the attraction in this country, a movie named Reflections of China.

Their timing worked well with the next showing starting in less than five minutes. While the others settled in one spot to keep talking, Payson and Luke wandered around the space admiring the careful attention Imagineers had given to the importance of numbers in Chinese culture.

Lauren, on the other hand, seemed to be admiring the face of her cellphone. So much that when the doors opened for them to proceed into the theater, she waved them ahead.

"I'll catch you guys on the other side."

"You're not going to watch the movie?" Jake asked. His voice was calm but his shoulders were tighter than earlier.

"It's just a movie," Lauren replied, dismissively, glancing up for barely a second. "I'm having issues with getting one of my designs from the computer to a sample piece. Apparently without me there, they can't make decisions on their own."

Jake looked like he wanted to argue but instead he just shook his head and motioned for the others to follow him to where a Circle-Vision 360o movie was waiting.

"Lauren is being quite a piece of work," Kelly muttered to Payson, her eyes on Jake who was grinning at something Austin had just said yet still looked disappointed.

Payson sighed, "I'm not sure where her head is right now, but I'm not going to let her distract me from enjoying this time."

"Good policy," Kelly agreed. Payson's plan seemed to be the same one her friends all individually agreed on as well as they watched Li Bai, an ancient Chinese poet, guide them past several wonders in China such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. After that they glanced at the museum exhibit in the House of the Whispering Willows Gallery before wandering through the House of Good Fortune and its merchandise. Nearly all the women were tempted to buy something although only Kaylie succumbed and walked away with her favorite item: a stuffed panda.

"I really liked this pavilion even if it didn't have an attention-grabbing ride," Payson said to Luke as they took one final look around.

"Is it as good as the real thing?" he joked although Payson's face turned serious.

"I don't know."

"Didn't you compete in China?"

She nodded slowly. "I did."

"So you've been there."

Payson grunted, "And spent 99% of my time either in our hotel or the gyms where we trained and competed."

"Really?"

"Well, maybe only 95%. We did eat at a restaurant or two not in those places. Oh, and the airport arriving and leaving."

"So not much tourist time."

Payson shook her head. "Some of the other athletes took a half day early and then a day after the competition to see some sights but I was too focused on my gymnastics."

She paused and then added, "I traveled the world but saw so little of it."

Luke just reached over and squeezed her hand. "Plenty of time to travel it now."