"Whacha doing?" Nikolai skipped into the room his mother was working in. Irina sat at her desk, sorting through some papers and adding a mark or a name every so often.
"Paperwork." Was her short reply. She didn't have much time to talk. Irina wanted to get it over with already. You know, the worst part of a murder wasn't the dead body, as many people presume. It was the paperwork afterwords. How would you like to try and write out a signature while your bloody hands are shaking?
"Will you come play with me?" Irina shook her head no. Nikolai waited a few seconds, then asked again. "How about now?"
"No, Nikki! I have to work."
"Fine." Nikolai pouted and left the room. Irina sighed. She wished he'd realize how much she would rather be with him. But her work was confidential, and six year olds had constantly running mouths. That's what she told her coworkers. But she just didn't want him to see the names. The names. Cold black letters on a stoic white background. The reminders of people who were no longer. No matter how many operations she had been on or how thirsty she was for revenge, the names always got to her. Her mother had once told her that names were a window to the soul.
---
"Really, mama?" Irina looked skeptically up at her mother.
"Yes. Do you know what your name means?" her mother replied.
"Peace."
"Right."
"Does that mean my soul is peaceful? It doesn't feel peaceful." Irina asked.
"But it is, and because of you, so is mine."
---
Irina stared at the names running down the paper.
Alexander. Warrior.
Adam. Man.
David. Beloved.
Not anymore. Irina thought of her own son. Nikolai. Victory. Her victory. She hoped to never see him on the back page of the Lucian newsletter like these men were sure to be. Irina took a deep breath, because that was her duty. It would do her well to finish. When she had filled in the last blank, she locked the papers in the cabinet and went off to find her son. He sat on the floor of his bedroom, absentmindedly stacking colorful blocks. He looked up at his mother with hopeful eyes.
"Are you ready to play now?"
"Almost."
"What must you do first?" Nikolai asked, slightly disappointed.
"Nikolai, did you know names are a window to the soul?"
