Kazimir's grin beamed once I removed the cold snow from my face. Why would he throw it at me? I didn't understand, and I suddenly felt like maybe my oldest brother hated me.

He rushed up and kneeled in the snow once he saw the tears start. "Don't cry sestra, it is just a snezhnyy shar!"

I'm about to whine about how cold it is, but he directs my attention to his hands. He grabs a handful of snow and makes it a ball. After a moment of him shaping it, he lifts it so I can see it at eye level. It's not a perfect sphere, but it's still a ball. Kazimir grabbed my gloved hand and put the ball of snow comfortably in my hands.

"Throw it at Yevgeni!"

I considered the idea and changed my mind by tossing it to the face half a foot away from me. Kazimir grinned as he wipes it off of his face, and I giggle towards getting my revenge. "See? It's fun! Try making your own now!"

I squatted to gather a mound of snow. Kazimir laughs and reduces the size before letting me continue. I took a while in making my ball, wanting to make sure it was a ball. "Okay, now throw it at Yevgeni."

Yevgeni is a fair distance away from us, in the process of building a fort out of the snow with my other brother, Vladimir. I had been interested in helping them, but my brothers told me I would 'mess it up'. Instead, I watched until Kazimir had thrown a snowball at me.

I threw it with as much force, but it fell apart in the snow a good two feet away from me. Kazimir chuckled and made another sizable mound of snow before me, encouraging to try again. Not allowing my failure to stop me, I made another snezhnyy shar, and I was much faster at molding it into a ball this time. My throw was better, hitting my second-oldest brother just below his right knee.

This earned his attention, and he scowled as he figured it out within mere seconds. "Rodnoy brat, what are you doing?"

"Teaching Sestra how to fight back, Yevgeni." He stood up from the snow as he said this. "I think I'll show her how to destroy her brothers' pathetic fort next."

Yevgeni paled, seeming embarrassed now to the confrontation our oldest brother is giving. Vladimir was the one to pipe up, "She will ruin it, Kazimir!"

Kazimir approached their attempt at a snow wall, and immediately shoved a 'brick' off from the top, crumbling on top of a now embarrassed Vladimir. "She would build better bricks than you apparently can, Vlad."

Yevgeni now peered down at me, seeming rather upset now. "Vika, would you like to join us?"

This earned himself a slap upside the head from Kazimir. "Too late glupyy! Enjoy your failure of a fort. We'll be enjoying goryachiy shokolad."

Yes! My dear brother makes the best hot chocolate! The other two perked up in interest, looking as if they would like to join. "No, just us. The two of you must learn respect."

"That's not fair!" Vladimir protested, about to start whining.

Kazimir glared him down, intimidating him from continuing. "Now you know how she feels." He stepped away from the wall that now looks like it will fall on top of Vlad at any moment. "Come with me, Vika."

While it had been nice that my older brother stood up for me, I couldn't help but feel bad for them. Kazimir seemed like he noticed as he helped me shed the winter coat off upon entering the palace. He even brushed some of the snow out of my hair from the snowball he had thrown earlier.

"Do not feel bad. You are a Menshikov as much as they are, sestra. You will not let them tell you what you cannot do. Do you understand?"

I nodded, earning a grin from my brother to finally replace the hidden rage that was in his green eyes. Kazimir's anger frightens me, I worry he may hurt our brothers at times. He then led me towards the kitchen for his famous goryachiy shokolad.

Our roditeli had left the twenty-year-old in charge of us during their leave. This is not the first time, and it may not be the last. Sometimes the seventeen-year-old Yevgeni will challenge his rules, deciding to stir up trouble that he will be punished for later when our father comes home. Vladimir seems to want to follow his behavior, being as he is only five years younger.

Our parents as currently in Cairo, Egypt. They never say what it is about, but they do this yearly. Important business with the Chief Lector of the Per Ankh, but that is all we know. I would like to go there to learn, but our roditeli insist we will learn much faster staying in St. Petersburg.

Kaz is a skilled statuary magician. He had made me a music box with a beautiful ballerina shabti that dances to the music whenever I open it. I received it last month when I turned seven. Except such a skill is not needed in the work our family is in.

My brothers are learning to become well-versed in curses and magic that is otherwise considered forbidden. Menshikovs are trained to kill, primarily rogue magicians. Being descendants of priests of Ra, it's our duty to keep Isfet down.

I won't start my training in this until I turn ten. For now, I get to dabble a little to see where my skill actually lies. So far, I'm awful at fire and water.

Yevgeni is a water elementalist who would rather learn more about it than the scrolls our father gives him to study. Vladimir is an animal charmer, sometimes he can be seen playing with a bird during the summer. I know Kazimir practices making shabtis on his free-time, sometimes letting me observe so long as I can keep relatively quiet.

The hot mug of chocolate sat before me at the table. Kazimir slid a spoonful of the orange crème fraiche into the middle of the mug. I watched him pour his as well before sitting at the table with me. We took a sip at the same time, letting a satisfied sound escape shortly after.

I dipped my right index finger into the crème to taste it by itself. Kazimir chided me for this behavior, but I just grinned at him after licking it off of my finger. "It's delicious though!"

"Otets would label it nesvoystvennyy," Kaz was quick to remind, earning an immediate pout from me.

Somehow, I am to be expected to be a fighter and a lady. Mama has been teaching me how, but I'm more interested in learning magic and I tend to forget my lessons. This annoys her, and she has even gone so far as to close me off from learning magic to retain my focus.

"You must stand up for yourself, Vika. I won't be around all the time to slap Yevgeni. Soon, Otets will be sending me out to work." Kaz frowned as he swirled his mug a bit.

My eyes lit up in excitement. "You are done with your lessons?"

His green eyes lifted to me, and he seems worried. "No, but I will be learning from experience now. Father will come with a few times, and then he will decide from there."

"You will do great starshiy brat!" I spoke with confidence in my brother's skill. "Otets will be proud!"

"Blagodaryu vas Vika."

The goryachiy shokolad had warmed me up quickly, but my brother insisted on pouring me another. That's when Vladimir entered, choosing to pout by the table. Kazimir scowled to this behavior, calling it childish and that Vlad should be ashamed for displaying it.

"I'm cold though!"

"Mne vse ravno, Vladimir." Kaz purposely poured himself the last of the hot chocolate.

Vlad went for whining, and Kazimir's eyes are glaring him down. Afraid for Vladimir's head, I scooted my mug towards the twelve-year-old. His brown eyes lit up, looking at me to make sure that it's okay with me to take it. I nod and he quickly chugs it down before Kaz can speak.

He says his thanks and leaves as I notice Kaz's eyes on me. "You are too nice, sestra."

"I didn't want you to hit him," I admitted.

Kazimir smirks at this. "Don't do it too often, they will gladly take advantage of it."

I helped my older brother clean up before skipping off to find something to do now. I could practice some magic, but Otets would be angered if I did without his supervision. I found Radmila playing with her baby, Mikhail. I said my hellos, and Radmila welcomed me to stay with them for a few minutes.

Radmila is a close friend of Mama's, she's willing to help me learn how to 'be a lady'. They both think I should spend my time away from my brothers so as to not let them distract me. That's why I rolled my eyes to her asking if I had played with my brothers or not.

"The sneg is nice and sticky. Yevgeni and Vladimir were making a fort out of it."

She immediately went to scold me, saying that if my mother were here, I wouldn't be out playing in the snow. Then bashed Kazimir, saying he should know better than to let me play with them. "Kaz showed me how to make a snezhnyy shar."

That just made it worse, and she insisted I stay here and play with Mikhail instead. Apparently, there's a big difference between the two. Radmila says that a lady should know how to take care of the children. No offense to Mikhail, but I would much rather sit in silence to watch my older brother make a shabti.

Then we received word that my roditeli will be home in a few hours. So Radmila had cleaned me up a bit and picked the nicest dress I have to look presentable for their return. I hate dresses, they restrict my movement. The dress shoes are horrible as well, I've broken many heels because I insist on running in them. Why put so much time into putting my hair up when it will simply fall out to any activity? Why do I have to dress up when my brothers can look like they rolled in horse navoz?

We waited by the doors to greet them home. Yevgeni is trying to flatten Vladimir's copper hair, and Vlad is pulling away and complaining to Kazimir. Kaz seemed distracted by his own thoughts, so Vlad resorted to yanking on his sleeve to get his attention.

"Stop whining and fix your hair, Vlad," our older brother made sure to raise his voice much more than Vladimir had.

Vlad went to fix it, scared that he may be pushing his luck with Kaz. Yevgeni spotted me and a stupid grin formed. "There's the little printsessa!"

They tease for the nice things I have to put on. It's part of the reason I hate it. Again, a slap sounded to the back of Yev's skull, and this time he yelped. "What did I do?"

"Leave Vika alone, will you?" Kazimir scowled.

The doors opened, and our parents are back from Cairo. Otets seems to be beaming as he sees his children are welcoming them back. Mama looks exhausted, but she has enough strength in her to correct my curtsy.

"Kazimir," Otets places his hand on his firstborn's shoulder, "we have a rabota! The Chief Lector is interested in how well you will do. We will head out tonight. First, obed!"

Yev and Vlad congratulate our oldest brother, but I hesitate to the forced smile on his face. Why would he not be excited? He gets to apply the things he has been learning finally!

Though the Menshikov family wants to still act like royalty, we have our meals with the entire palace. Our meals are three or four courses, like a typical royal meal. First the soup, then fish, and then the main course, which is then followed by dessert. The main course happened to be ham with red wine.

Otets asked about my brothers' studies while they had been away. He had given them things to do while he had been gone. This quickly got carried away with the topic of the snowstorm that had swept in last night, discussing the fort that had apparently fallen over. None of us brought up the fact that I had wanted to join, or the fact that Kaz had me throw snow at one of them.

When dinner was done, Mama declared we go to bed early due to her exhaustion. Thankfully she allowed us to stay up long enough to say our goodbyes to Otets and Kazimir. "We will see you all in a few days," Otets promises.

Kaz is forced by his brothers to hug and hugs me without anything needing to be said. I'm upset to see our father go already, and even more upset to know I will have to spend a few days without my favorite brother. I know he will do well, he will honor our father with his skill.

I propped the music box open, the lullaby softly playing as the ballerina starts to dance to the music. I then went to bed and slowly drifted off knowing I'll be happy to see them come home.


Sestra- Sister

Snezhnyy shar- Snowball

Rodnoy brat- Brother

Glupyy- Stupid

Goryachiy shokolad- Hot chocolate

Roditeli- Parents

Otets- Father

Nesvoystvennyy- Unladylike

Mama- Mother

Starshiy brat- Older brother

Blagodaryu vas- Thank you

Mne vse ravno- I do not care

Navoz- Manure

Printsessa- Princess

Rabota- Job

Obed- Dinner


This was quite difficult to write. Mostly because I was unsure if I wanted to keep writing it or scrap it and do something else to start off Vika's story.

Let me know what you think by either review or PM.

Thank you for reading!

Happy Holidays!