Nikola arrived on a cloudy, windy Autumn day secretly hoping he'd get a proper greeting with appropriate joy and delight at his arrival; he was so used to being away and lonely for months on end that people making a whole ceremony of his arrival was something he already considered normal, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself. He got off the train slowly, admiring the advantages of a civilized society that he almost forgot about while hiking through wilderness for several months.
Amelija waited for him at the train station alone, sitting with a sour face and umbrella in her hand just in case. Nikola felt a ting of disappointment as he walked with his bags up to her. She didn't offer to help him out with the luggage, which made sense - she wasn't particularly strong - but it added to the overall unwelcoming impression he was getting.
"Good morning", he looked at her. "How are you?"
"Not great."
"I'm sorry for making you get up so early. You could have sent Alina." Why was nobody else happy enough about seeing him to even come and greet him properly?
"I wanted to talk to you. Alone.", Amelija stood up. "I have problems. I need advice."
"My advice?" Nikola frowned. "Could I possibly get some coffee and breakfast first?"
"Yes, yes, of course. I know a good coffee shop nearby."
"Aren't we going to Alina's house? I'd like to put down my bags-"
"Yes, yes, later. They're panicking about your arrival too much anyway - if we're late an hour or two they'll have just enough time to tidy up or for Alina to make ice cream or whatever else she thinks of doing. You know how she's always all pomp and circumstance."
Nikola sighed. A little pomp and circumstance would have been nice, actually.
"Right", Nikola nodded as Amelija led him through what seemed to resemble a little village rather than a suburb of a massive city, "so, at least it wasn't boring, I presume?"
"That's all you have to say?" Amelija fumed. "After everything I've told you?"
"It's a bit much to take in all at once", Nikola shrugged. Hey, I'm fine, I'm alive and well, I have a lot to tell you too. "So, the important thing is, you're in love."
Amelija said nothing.
"I'd say congratulations, but it feels out of place", Nikola mumbled. "Well, Amelija, has anyone told you that you like to overcomplicate very simple things?"
"I-" Amelija turned to him, furious again. "You're no help at all!"
"Good. You don't need my help. You need to get yourself together and take hold of your life. If you don't pick someone you want to marry, your parents will start having ideas that perhaps they should help you out with it, and you definitely don't want that. Why are you so hellbent on missing this opportunity to live your own life on your own terms for a change?"
"Because I don't know- I might be wrong!"
"Everyone is wrong sometimes, Amelija. That's just life. Your family is making decisions for you knowing full well they might be wrong. Why aren't you giving yourself that benefit?"
"But what if-"
"For God's sake, if you marry the American and he starts treating you badly I will personally swoop in and save you. I'll gather all of my male friends and cousins and we'll all have a chat with him, like the Italian mafia. Or, I'll sneak inside in the middle of the night and save you and you can bore me on my travels for the rest of eternity. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Yes", Amelija gritted through her teeth. "Yes it is, actually."
"Oh." Nikola raised his eyebrows at her, taking one of the cigarettes he'd rolled on his long train ride out of his pocket. "Well, there you have it."
Erik didn't really know what to do with his hands or where to sit or if he should find somewhere else to be until all of this mess was finally over and all these people finally got on their boat. He knew Nikola Boričević's coming was some sort of big event; if Alina's hurry in making pancakes and coffee wasn't enough to instill a sense of urgency in him, his own anxiety at having yet more people in his house certainly was. But, time passed, Alina made pancakes and annoyedly decided that if they had better things to do than to come meet her, they were very welcome to do so without her breakfast. She curled up next to him, still mumbling about how Nikola should know better than to play favourites, and settled down. Erik enjoyed a few rare moments of peace in the early Autumn morning until the loud and cheerful knocking accompanied by loud and cheerful jabbering outside pulled him out of his comfortable daydreaming.
"Nikola!" Alina exclaimed as soon as she opened the door and threw her arms without any dignity around her cousin's neck like a child; the man laughed in response and hugged her so tightly he lifted her off her feet as he exclaimed, "Well, at least someone is happy to see me!"
"You're alive!" Alina pinched his cheeks. "Didn't get mauled by any bears?" The man was olive-skinned like Alina and very tall; with the same sharp nose and firm jaw as the rest of them, but eyes completely dark, framed with dark eyelashes. He had a somewhat wide frame but was thin and wiry, as if he was built strong but weathered by long days in the wilderness. The skin on his clean-shaven cheeks and jaw was lighter than the rest of his face, indicating he was until recently probably not as shaven and not as clean.
"No bears this time, no", he shook his head. "Alina, you look great! Do I smell coffee?"
"You'd be smelling fresh coffee if you two hadn't decided to go eat breakfast without me and left me all alone like I don't matter to you anymore-"
"You don't", Amelija interrupted. "I'm joking. I wanted us to make arrangements for our ship first, get that out of the way. We're leaving in three days." while she was finishing her sentence, the man's gaze already searched over the room and landed on the only other person present.
"I'm Nikola Boričević; from the letters. You must hate me right now", the man flashed a brilliantly charming smile at Erik as he offered his hand, the corners of his dark eyes wrinkling slightly. "If Alina ever barged into the house where I live with my lover, I'd kick her right out the window." Nikola's eyes moved, barely noticeable, across Erik's masked face with interest, but he never said anything. Instead, his gaze fixed on Erik's eyes as he kept smiling at him.
Erik took his hand and shook it, deciding not to comment on anything. He did hate Nikola, only slightly, for the way he seemed to have a lifetime of stories with his fiancee, and a little more for the amiable way he was talking to Erik right now.
"Amelija actually asked me to come a little early and have coffee with her, because she needs love advice. Why she thinks I care about her love life, or give advice for that matter, I have no idea. But I've never let my dear cousins down, and I can't start now. I'll be out of your hair soon. I'm sorry, sir, how may I call you?" Nikola kept smiling at him, seeming completely undisturbed by Erik's cold behaviour.
"Erik." he bowed his head ever-so-slightly before he realized what he was doing. I'm… not that easily charmed. Am I?
"Well, sir, - Erik, if I may", Nikola tilted his own head at Erik, releasing the grasp on his hand. He put his own hands behind his back, looking at Erik with interest. When Erik didn't respond, he simply kept talking. "I'm very glad to meet you. It wasn't too much trouble to have Amelija stay for so long?"
"It really wasn't, or I would have told her so myself."
"He really would have", Amelija chirped in a sweet voice, her eyes throwing daggers at Erik. "My gracious host would never bother himself with unnecessary politeness."
"That's what I thought too, until a few months ago", he replied with equal sweetness. "Alas, I had to adapt to survive my guests."
"Um", Nikola drawled, unsure what to think of all this. "Well, good to see you're getting along. Alina, is it possible to get any of your delicious coffee?"
"I'll smoke outside", Nikola announced after coffee and his second breakfast that day. The best part of an exhausting trip was getting spoiled after said trip. "I won't be ruining your lovely house with the smell. What are you three doing this evening? Are we having dinner anywhere?"
An avalanche of options erupted in Croatian from both Alina and Amelija for about five minutes, until the quiet man who had barely spoken until then (and sat patiently all through the gift-giving, story-telling, nagging and bragging and all the banter of people who have known each other for ages) got tired of waiting - he tapped on Alina's arm and said something very quietly to her; Alina immediately stopped talking to listen to him and Amelija waited with uncharacteristic patience. It was massively strange and even considerably awkward to Nikola, but the sisters didn't seem to find it unusual.
"Ah", Alina said. "That's fine, if you're sure." she gave a barely noticeable gesture with her head and the man turned to Nikola again.
"I work afternoons and early evenings", he said.
"Oh! Of course, no problem at all! We'll wait, of course", Nikola hurried, misreading the room completely. Alina opened her mouth to say something, but the man tapped on her arm again.
"No", he continued, his eyes darting slightly from Nikola's face, "No, that's not necessary. I don't know how late I'll be, and in any case, I would prefer to meet you all later when I'm done." Not to mention he was not at all eager to sit in some unfamiliar, closed space with unfamiliar people around staring at him while he struggled to explain that he wouldn't eat with them.
"Where do you work?" Nikola asked with obvious delight in his eyes that was disarmingly similar to Alina.
"Conservatory of Music", Erik said without thinking, "We're rehearsing a symphony- "
"Which one? Can we come watch the rehearsals?" Nikola's eyes widened.
"No", Erik blurted out. "I'm sorry. It's not ready yet."
"Which instrument?" Nikola pressed, benevolently unbothered by the walls Erik was unsuccessfully trying to set up.
Erik blinked. "Symphonic orchestra?"
"He means which instrument you're playing, darling", Alina purred.
"None this time. I do... something else. You're a scientist? I understand you were on some sort of expedition this summer?" Erik tried desperately.
"I am, indeed!" Nikola laughed, finally getting the hint. "Not a single musical bone in my body. But I'm very good at writing very long and boring books about plant and animal life, and someone's got to do that, too."
"Interesting", Erik said, hoping the man would keep talking until his ears could stop ringing with embarrassment. "What is that like?"
"I'll gladly tell you! I'd like to go outside for a cigarette, if that's alright?" he looked around the table.
"Ah, don't be difficult. I'll just open the windows", Alina said.
"No, I insist. I'd like to go outside, in fact, it's a beautiful day. Would you care to join me, sir- Erik?" Nikola looked at him, taking out a small tin box with rolled cigarettes.
"Alright." Erik stood up and followed, wondering what the hell kind of ritual he was about to misunderstand next.
Nikola closed the door gently behind him and lit his cigarette on the front porch of Alina's house, watching his host stand stiffly with his hands in his pockets.
"Such an old-fashioned custom, to have the men and women separate after a meal", Nikola exhaled the smoke. "The girls will not like that I've brought it up - I'll apologize to them later. However, it seems to me that we're not letting you talk at all, with all of us jabbering in there, and that's not very nice of us."
"That's alright. I'm usually like this."
"Hmm." Nikola paused, taking another puff. "Thank you for having Amelija with you all summer. It really means a lot to her to be close to her sister."
"It really wasn't a problem."
"Wasn't it? It seems to me like you've become each others' closest enemy. At least she's out of her cynical shell, I suppose."
Erik shrugged. He thought it would be inappropriate if he agreed that, yes, Amelija was now occasionally snappy and temperamental, but it was definitely more enjoyable than when she was cold and uptight.
"I was talking about work", Nikola rambled on, feeling slightly self-conscious. Awkward pauses in conversation with his host made him nervous. "Yes, her parents wanted her to go with me. But with Amelija around, my focus would not have been on work; I would have had to watch carefully so that something doesn't happen to her. This was never meant to be a particularly dangerous trip; but I felt better knowing I could camp out for the night if I was too late to come back, instead of worrying how Amelija would cope with anything unpleasant that might happen. She's not built for hiking and trekking - definitely not."
Erik had a revelation, suddenly. "I wasn't asking to check why you left her here. I really wanted to know about what you do."
"My primary interest is flora and fauna. I'm a biologist", Nikola waved his hands. "The reason why I get sent on field expeditions, however, is somewhat funny, and nothing to do with that. I have colleagues who are more diligent scientists."
"And what is it?" Erik asked with interest.
"Well, a significant part of Earth's ecosystems is going to be humans, almost everywhere you go- I'm sure the Church would be at my neck for this classification but it is how it is. They send me on expeditions and most of the time, they put me in charge; because I have a low chance of antagonizing the native population, or getting myself killed. I am what is scientifically called likable. My colleagues are somewhat frustrated with that."
"I'm afraid I don't understand how that helps, or how you're managing to do it. Can you tell me?" Erik said. That same remark from any other man would have raised the hairs on Nikola's neck; the bluntness of it would have normally been rude but Erik kept looking at him with quiet sincerity.
Ah, I understand. This is a good man for Alina. He'll never bore her with anything but the truth.
"To be fair, expeditions are comprised of several people", Nikola started. "Not just a biologist, but an anthropologist, geologist, cartographer, and such. Only a fool would go to the uncharted wilds alone. In any case, it's usually anthropologists who know the native languages and customs. I usually pick some young, studious fool who's likely to listen to me, and have him tell me everything he knows about the area we're in. After that, I'm the one who makes decisions."
Erik listened intently; Nikola stopped to get any kind of reaction, but all he got was a little nod. He continued.
"From then on, it's a matter of etiquette, as everywhere else. I talked to Canadian tribes and occasional hermits the same way I now speak to you and Amelija's lovely American, if I'm so lucky to meet him - address them politely, explain you're just passing by, bring gifts of good will, and take care not to scatter any cigarette ash in their house."
Nikola shrugged, scattering his cigarette ashes notably across the little yard and not the porch. "It's easy to dismiss unfamiliar men as savages, but hard to ask yourself - am I really someone they'd want in their backyard? The answer, for most of my Western colleagues, is no. and that is why I have such a high success rate, and why they send me along: I have a very clear distinction in my head between research and colonization, and I'm adamant to keep it that way. They don't always like it, especially anthropologists, when they can't leave a place with all the sacred pots and totems their hearts desire. What is it with them, that they are such magpies? In any case. They do like it when they hear of another expedition that ended up dead or lost while we practically waltzed through the land. Sometimes we even pay the natives themselves to lead us through; you'd be surprised how many doors open when you approach with respect and fair barter. Of course, I'm not the Pope, nor am I delusional about my peacekeeping limits - if certain tribes are at war with the white men, I avoid them like anybody else. But I've not started any new conflicts in my career, and that's more than most of my colleagues can say."
"Interesting", Erik scratched at his temple, but only briefly. "And how did you come to be this way?"
"It's hard to say", Nikola smiled. "I'd say, when you're born into a certain group, and you manage to fool them from a young age that you belong among them, even though they'd shun you if they knew who you really are- you start to feel a certain disconnect from their values and way of life, and before you know it, you suddenly see a remarkable number of cracks in their way of thinking. I am not so emotionally tied to my culture, which I suppose, makes it easier to accept other ones. If you haven't got your own group, you haven't got the idea of the other group so deeply embedded in your mind. At least that's what I, with my scientific reasoning, and Alina with her enthusiasm for psychology, could make of it. It's as good an explanation as any."
Erik almost asked him what the hell he was talking about and why someone like Nikola would possibly be an outcast, but he changed his mind. He'd learned enough in the past two years to recognize that as an impolite question, at least.
Nikola coughed. "I'm terribly sorry if I'm being intrusive, but Alina has quite a history of rejecting men who show any interest in her, and she's head-over-heels in love with you. That she would be so infatuated with someone is… unexpected. Might I ask, what did the trick? Indulge me, please, I'm terribly curious."
Erik looked at him for a moment, not responding. The man's easygoing charm was hard to resist; even though they had just met, Nikola acted as if Erik was the sort of man he'd instantly like. Erik was aware this was how charismatic people talked; but hearing it directed at him disarmed him for some reason. It would appear I'm not as careful as I once was. Or maybe not as cynical.
"I don't know what did the trick", he finally said. "I never attempted any tricks."
"AH!" Nikola laughed. "That was incredibly clever of you. Now I see. Your secret is that you truly understand her better than anyone else who tried." Nikola looked at Erik, covering his mouth with his hand. He had noticed that Erik never kept eye contact with him for too long, and automatically started doing the same. Nikola's personality often clashed with the more bashful individuals when he was younger, making them uncomfortable; he had learned to tone it down in his recent years. A lot of very intriguing people he met in the scientific field were bashful too, after all, and Nikola thought it very important that people feel good when talking to him. One might even say some of his self-esteem depended on it.
"I would hope so", Erik said, even though he really didn't want to say anything about anything to some stranger, much less this annoyingly magnetic man.
"How did you two meet?" Nikola asked.
"She knows my mother", Erik blurted out. "Antoinette Giry introduced us." Well, that was a perfectly normal-sounding answer, and not exactly untrue; except it was not something Erik thought would come out of his mouth in a million years.
"Oh", Nikola blinked; Antoinette didn't mention that to him back when he saw her, but maybe she thought Nikola already knew (unfortunately, until now, the sisters had largely kept him in the dark about the details of it all). Antoinette seemed incredibly kind, but she was nevertheless terrifying; he wondered what kind of childhood Erik had. "I thought my mother was strict, but yours must have been an entirely different experience."
"I didn't mind it", Erik said against his will as the man's friendliness was impossible to resist. "I actually really like people who say exactly what they mean."
Oh, I can do that. "To continue my earlier point: seeing cracks in the group's reasoning doesn't mean one can point them out, or overtly try to pass through them. Sometimes, in both animal and human kingdoms, hiding in plain sight is the best option. Just because an individual is part of a group, doesn't mean they're not in danger from predators, internal or external", Nikola continued, watching the battle happen in his companions' very expressive eyes. "I almost learned that the hard way."
"Is that a threat?" Erik said flatly.
"It's a personal confession, and an observation. And as for you, a sort of warning. You seem to be remarkably good at fitting in, even though you think yourself an outcast. You've charmed my cousins, and you might charm the rest of my family too- but superficial adoration is replaced swiftly and easily by darker things. Keep your wits about you, if you ever do meet them. Don't listen to their words if their eyes are telling you a different story."
"That's a fairly basic lesson. I learned it decades ago."
"Fair enough, I apologize." Nikola smiled at him. "I'll be blunt then, since that's what you prefer. I do like you, and welcome you to our family, but I would have liked any man Alina chose who was capable of making her happy. Alina's father, on the other hand, is… a peculiar man. He hates change, and things he cannot control. He'll see you as the avatar of both."
"I don't see how that is", Erik protested. "Nobody forced Alina to leave, nobody forced her to stay, nobody forced her to be with me!"
"I said he was peculiar, not rational", Nikola shook his head. "Alina has been this way since the day she was born. If it wasn't for you and this life, she'd find another way to disappoint his wishes- for what it's worth, now that I've talked to you, I'm glad it was you. If any hell is raised about you and Alina back home, which I'll try to prevent- remember that law and witnesses, and your wife, are on your side. Don't try to prove anything to anyone; it's a losing game as soon as you get into a discussion with Ivan and Jelena. Treat them as particularly loud ghosts - don't mind their rattling, but try not to strike back. Their way of life has been dead for a while, and they're unwilling to let go."
"And you're suggesting… what?" Erik sounded annoyed by the conversation suddenly for reasons Nikola didn't understand.
"Nothing." Nikola lit up another cigarette. "They'll let Alina go, as they always have. They'll never make peace with the fact she's not what they wanted, but they still love her, you see. Their hearts are not so hardened that they could keep her around and watch her wilt day after day. Not now, when it's clear it will never get better between them."
The man stared at Nikola, his expression unreadable.
"Let them have their round of storms and fury. When it passes, you'll be left in peace", Nikola concluded.
"I don't know what they've told you, but we're not actually even married yet", Erik remarked.
"Well, then use this advice whenever you do need it." Nikola smiled at him.
"Nikola", Alina peeked through the window. "We've decided where we're taking you. You spent two months eating thorns and sleeping on the ground and now we're going to spoil you like no one's ever spoiled you!"
"Well-seasoned thorns are sometimes better than American food, unfortunately."
"Are you bothering my fiance?"
"He isn't", Erik stated firmly. "He was telling me about his work."
"I get it, I get the hint. I'm coming inside", Nikola said with slight irony in his voice. "Alina, you have great taste in men. He's the first person who asked me anything about myself today. Maybe you two spoiled princesses could follow his example." he nodded at them and went inside.
"Ouch", Alina grimaced. "You're… probably right about that."
Erik lingered at the window for a little longer, just long enough to lean in and whisper barely audibly to Alina,
"I really like him."