Sergi understood, in the fortitude that his daughter-in-law possessed, what exactly Max had seen in her.
It was not her pretty face. It was not the graceful way she held her head, nor the sweetness that peaked through her stern actions. It was not the fact that she had seen something in Max, in his dreamer of a boy and saw something worthy that many had never seen. It was not the fact that she had been determined to be learned in a country that had pressed the importance of female obedience. Or that she had done this all underneath the thumb of a father that wanted to control her life and was all too eager to enforce such obedience. Or that she was genuinely faithful to her religion that most still saw as lesser than their own.
It was all of that.
But it was also more.
"Look at me," she said, firmly, her eyes narrowed.
The police officer, a man that had been directing most of the questions toward Sergi, blinked and did indeed turn to her. She leaned forward, and despite the relative smallness of her frame, she managed to seem menacing.
"This is my child," she said, firmly, and she slammed the polaroid of Jupiter onto the desk in front of them. She lifted her chin, and pressed her fingertip to the photograph, "She has gone missing after an explosion in this Hospital. You are charged to find her. Or so help me, I will make sure you suffer for your idiocy!"
Max, you found yourself a fierce one. How much you have been glad to see us so united. I wonder, my son if you will forgive the fool I was? I will find your Jupiter, I swear.
"Ma'am-"
"Don't Ma'am me!" Alseka let out a fierce swear in Russian.
Sergi, despite everything, suppressed a grin.