Chapter 77: Politics and Playdates

Dimitry and Victor were invited over for a hunting trip. Alex knew Dimitry was not the biggest fan of riding or hunting, but he assumed that this was partially a test. Victor practically had to drag him through the stables. Sarov had made an exception to the 'we look after our own horses' rule. Something about not looking poor. Alex had been willing to get up early, but Sarov had dismissed the idea, saying he needed his sleep, given the amount of trouble he was having with it. Alex had huffed. Sarov had cuffed him. Dimitry looked resigned as he was handed a gun. Fenrir was already barking excitedly running around outside the stable exit for the horses. "I wasn't aware that you had a hunting dog."

Sarov mounted his horse in one smooth movement that Alex envied, even though he still wasn't the biggest fan of horses. "Fenrir is Alex's dog. He is quite something."

Victor saw Fenrir for the first time as he ran around the horses. Sarov gently tugged the reins on his bag. The horses were still getting used to Fenrir. Dimitry looked delighted at the sight of a dog. "Can we pet him?"

Victor glared at his son. "I'm sure we'll have time after the hunt."

They continued across the plain, Fenrir trotting alongside them. Dimitry looked like Alex's floof was the highlight of his day. Even Victor's scowl lightened at the sight of an overjoyed Fenrir. "How old is he?"

Alex paused from adjusting his gloves. "About two years."

Victor nodded. "He is an impressive dog."

Alex pulled his left gloves back on. "Thank you."

They continued into the forest. Fenrir jotted off. Alex knew that Sarov had been training him to act like an actual hunting dog. To be fair, Fenrir was highly motivated by food, and hellhounds were essentially made for hunting, so it probably hadn't been that much of a stretch. Sure enough. Fenrir came back and let out three yips. Sarov nodded. "Three kilometers."

They stalked the prey behind Fenrir. Aside from the occasional bear, Fenrir mostly found them deer. Even Alex couldn't convince him to go after rabbits or smaller animals. The closest they had gotten was Fenrir going after an endangered fox, which Alex had to call him off of. Victor looked impressed. Alex mentally grinned. His baby was the best. They soon came across the herd of deer. Alex pulled his hunting rifle and prepared to take aim. Sarov made a downward gesture and Fenrir ran out and began herding the bucks away from the does and baby deer. Alex aimed for one with a decent set of antlers. He fired a shot straight through the eye of the deer. Sarov and Victor had also succeeded. Dimitry's shots had gone wild. Victor sent his son a disappointed look. "Marksmanship is not Dimitry's strong point."

Fenrir let out a cheerful bark and hauled their deer up to them. Victor looked impressed at the sheer weight the dog could carry. He gave Fenrir a light pet. "Good dog."

Fenrir's tail waved back and forth as he ran behind them back to the home on the estate.

Sarov was particularly eager to butcher the game with Alex. They usually used it as an opportunity to talk. Victor was glaring at Dimitry the entire time they rode back. Sarov thought the reaction was a bit extreme. This wasn't a public hunting event and they weren't starving, so it wasn't as though it mattered that they had three large deer instead of four. Sarov got off the horse and began to help Alex unload the deer. It was a bit much to expect him to lift over a hundred kilos at his age. Alex, oddly enough, seemed able to lift the weight. Even Victor looked shocked as he lifted the large buck off the horse. Dimitry had his mouth open. "How?"

Alex gave his trademark rascal grin. "I lift."

Sarov had allowed him unsupervised gym time. Perhaps that had not been the best plan. Then again, as long as he was being safe, Sarov didn't mind if he trained extra. Dimitry looked nervous as Victor shoved his son forward. "I hear Alex can already clean a whole deer. Perhaps you two would be willing to assist my son in learning."

Sarov shrugged and began to gently explain how to cut into the deer to the boy. Dimitry's hands were shaking as he was handed a hunting knife. Alex stepped in, thankfully. Sarov carefully watched from the corner of his eye as Alex talked to Dimitry as he gently guided the boy in slicing up the deer. Victor looked at him. "Alex seems to be helping him."

Victor scowled. "His hands are shaking so much that Alex has had to stop him from poisoning the meat thrice already."

Sarov continued to watch as Dimitry eventually calmed down and simply let Alex's hands guide him. Victor's face softened as he watched them slice up the deer together. Sarov wondered what was going on. It wasn't like Alex was perfect, but they mostly got along. Plus, the more pressure you put on a child past a certain point, the worse things usually turn out. Eventually, the deer were butchered and sorted. Victor had watched and Fenrir eagerly downed the entrails that they were not supposed to eat and a few of the less desirable organs. Dimitry had eagerly cuddled Fenrir until it was officially time for them to go. Victor had given the dog a few more affectionate pets. Sarov hoped that the man didn't set his sights on Alex's dog. Dinner was going to be interesting. Sarov only hoped that Alex kept his temper around Victor. The man was extremely dangerous and well-connected.

The dinner they had after the Ivanovs left was closer than usual. Alex knew Sarov typically ate in silence because of the number of noisy meals he had been at in politics and the army. "So, you and Dimitry seem to get along."

Sarov was using English, so this was probably an important conversation. Most likely, it was a meeting about political stuff, then. Alex tried not to grin. "I feel like you're trying to arrange a marriage between us."

Sarov choked on his drink. Lemonade. "I would say not."

Alex put his drink down. Sadly, there was no alcohol allowed for him. "Relax, I realize that there's other stuff at play."

Sarov still looked miffed. "He's rather...soft, isn't he?"

Alex was trying to take Sarov and his repressive gender roles seriously, he really was. "I think it's more a confidence issue."

Sarov shrugged. "I don't care, as long as you enjoy his company. Has Victor tried anything?"

Alex looked away from Sarov. "Alex."

Alex sighed. "Dimitry and I decided to go for air on a balcony. Victor kind of cornered me as we went back in. The thing is, Dima tried to warn me, but his dad found us pretty quick."

Sarov paused mid-drink. "And what took place during the conversation?"

Alex sighed. "He accused me of being gay and Dima of falling for 'unwholesome influences.' Then I asked him if he was projecting."

Sarov gave him a look that suggested he was about to get a beating or something. "Continue."

Alex stirred his lemonade. "Then he laughed. We talked a bit more about my friendship with his son and then he left."

Sarov was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alex, there are acceptable insinuations and unacceptable insinuations."

Alex pouted slightly. "He started it! Besides, that question was completely inappropriate. What kind of weird controlling asshole asks a thirteen-year-old about their sexuality?"

Sarov placed his knife down. "You may have a point, but we are trying not to start fistfights with our fellow oligarchs, Alex."

Alex grinned. "I think I'd enjoy fist fighting Victor."

Sarov cuffed him with an amused look. "Bad Alex."

Sarov sighed. "More seriously, we have been socially called on. Do you know what that means?"

Alex wanted to faceplant into his dinner. "More hoity toity uppity shi-er, events?"

Sarov didn't reprimand him for his swearing or descriptions. "Indeed."

A horrifying thought occurred to Alex. "Does that mean I need another suit?"

Sarov gave him a dry look. "We will both be needing a full season wardrobe, plus a winter wardrobe."

Alex let out a groan. "Fuck me."

Sarov whacked him. "Language."

It said a lot that Sarov had dessert served that night and that he wasn't beaten for swearing at the dinner table. Alex felt very vindicated. Also, Sarov clearly knew when to break out the bribery for him and it was scary.

The next day in school, Mandy sat down at Alex's lunch table. This was one of the days that Dimitry did not sit with him, due to the block schedule. The two of them did not get along. Alex was starting to suspect that they were going to be actively competing for his time. "So, how was the event?"

Alex refrained from smiling. Good old Mandy. At least she wasn't mad at him for attending that event. "Political."

Mandy pouted at him. "Details, Alex. They didn't even let the press in the building."

Alex chuckled as he finished off his lunch. He always ate fast after almost a year of barely having time for lunch. "Oh, it was spectacular, I'll give Major Ivanov that."

Mandy perked up. "There was a tower of crystal glasses with champagne and the lighting came from golden wall candle holders."

Mandy huffed. "Private balls are weird."

Alex rolled his eyes. He found the politics of it all rather Victorian, in some cases quite literally. "Even if Dima wanted to invite you, it would start whispers if he did."

Mandy didn't seem very appeased. Then again, Alex knew that she was far more interested in politics than he was. It would probably irritate him if their positions were reversed. Sure, Alex had more real consequences and so did the nation-state he technically ruled, but Mandy was the one who wanted to instigate social change from the start. Alex had simply had the means and ability to topple a reign that he found intolerable. "Was the President there?"

Alex blinked. He had zoned out a bit in his musings. "Yes, he's close friends with my host father and the Major."

Mandy looked more than slightly put out. "Can I come over to your house?"

Alex grinned. "I want you over, but we'll see if your host family and mine agree to it, eh?"

Mandy pouted again. She was aiming for something. "What if they say no?"

Alex let out a long, slow sigh. It was no secret that Sarov was not Mandy's biggest fan. In a way, they were very much opposites. And Mandy's host family was already quite reluctant to cross Sarov. "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it."

Mandy smiled right back. Alex saw the mischievous girl he'd once helped out on a rainy day again. Mandy walked with him to his next class, since their classrooms were right next to each other. The teacher leveled a glare at his friend. Ah, what the hell? Unsavory rumors about Mandy already? Ivanov's dad decided not to like her either? Her host family's politics? Eh, who the fuck knew? Grim was strangely silent on the matter, so Alex assumed it was not going to be a life-and-death kind of thing. Knowing his life, this would probably come back to bite him. Alex was herded to the front of the class by the said teacher, not that he was sitting anywhere but the front row, given that Sarov was probably getting daily reports. Alex dutifully opened the book. To his mortification, it looked like today was the Russian version of 'the talk.' The teacher had his gaze fixed on him the entire time. Shit, did they think he and Mandy were together? She was pretty and smart, but Alex wasn't sure if he'd like her like that. Alex made eye contact with nobody and made sure to look as studious as possible. He wrote in his notebook, just in case they had a quiz at the end of class. Great, just what he needed. Another sex talk in a room full of older actual teenagers.

General Sarov was sorting through the invitations that Alex had received after the two events he had attended. It was unsurprising that the gathering had gotten them both invited places. Strictly speaking, Alex wouldn't be a bad catch. What father would complain about his daughter marrying a king? There was also more speculation about a possible marriage for him. What was the term Alex had used? Ah, yes. Rag Mags. General Sarov had taken the marriage his parents had offered. It was awful. He couldn't bring himself to touch his wife after the first night, so it was fortunate that she had gotten pregnant with Vladimir. In fact, that had been the only sexual experience he'd ever had the displeasure of having. He never had understood the appeal that sex had for most of the population. Sarov had publicly stated that he was married to his work and uninterested in another marriage multiple times. Perhaps he could keep Alex after the exchange program and adopt him in earnest? Possession was ninety percent of custody battles, right? His uncle probably wouldn't even notice the difference, given his track record with abandonment charges in several European child services. Alex had also mentioned other, more modern methods of having children or adoption, but he wanted Alex. Another child was no guarantee of quality and, given the state of state care, he doubted he wanted to adopt from any orphanages. There was a knock on his office door. "Come in."

Alex was standing in the doorway with Fenrir. Sarov put down his papers. "You're not supposed to be up at this hour."

Alex sat down. "I'm not going back to sleep."

Sarov resisted a sigh. He hadn't expected the insomnia to be this bad, but he supposed it could always be worse. At least Alex was still mostly functional. He scooped up the letters and rose to leave the office. "Join me in the living room, Alex."

Alex trailed after him. Sarov removed the blankets from the cupboard and started on some decaffeinated tea. He gently placed the blankets on Alex and sat next to him. Fenrir was taking up most of the couch. The tea was placed on the table. Sarov lightly placed an arm around Alex. "What was this one about?"

Alex sighed. "I killed two people so a secret wouldn't get out."

Sarov shrugged. "It is not an uncommon event in war. Was it necessary?"

Alex hadn't touched his tea. "Yes."

Sarov gently rubbed his back. "Do your comrades blame you for it?"

Alex deflated slightly. "No."

Sarov shrugged. "Then it was probably the best judgment call you could have made with the information you had."

Alex leaned into him. "I just wish it could have gone some other way."

Sarov rubbed circles into Alex's shoulder. "That just makes you human. Very few people enjoy the necessity of killing. We would be having a very different discussion if you did."

Alex seemed to be calming down. Perhaps it was a good idea to try to get him back up to bed. "Do you want help sorting letters?"

Sarov was thoroughly entertained at Alex's attempts to avoid sleep, though it did spell trouble for the future. "I appreciate the offer, but I would rather you at least try to sleep. You might not have school today, but we will have things to do."

Alex slumped into his side. "Ew."

Sarov felt himself repressing a snort. Alex seemed to have similar opinions to himself when it came to the social gatherings and the excess. Sarov sorted letters for a while until Alex fell asleep. The dog was almost entirely covering Alex at that point, so Sarov decided to leave them be.

Alex woke up to Sarov gently brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Alex, it's time to get up."

Alex was met with a face full of fur on Sarov's couch. Again. Fenrir was the best. Fenrir was not getting off of him and let out a whine. Sarov gently stroked the wolf as they both slowly woke up. "Down, you fluffy brat."

Fenrir chose that moment to shake all of his loose fur onto Sarov's uniform. "You, uh, might want to get the fur roller."

Sarov was already moving to remove the fur and grabbed Fenrir's leash. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

Fenrir let out a bark and nearly bowled Sarov over. Alex stifled a laugh. He went to get dressed while Sarov took the excitable ball of fluff out for a walk. This was going to be a fun day. His outfit had been helpfully laid out by the housekeeper. Sarov's house was too large to reasonably clean on his own. Alex pulled the clothes on. At least there was no damn tie to deal with. He hated the stupid things already. Sarov had seemed thoroughly entertained by his 'ties are a security risk' arguments. Alex chanced a glance out the window and saw Fenrir happily running around the front of the house. Sarov was following at a slightly more sedate pace that Alex assumed was his normal jogging pace. After closing the curtains, he finished getting dressed and went down to where he knew breakfast would probably be waiting. Alex rarely saw the staff and they usually fled at the very sight of him. When asked about this, Sarov had noted that the best staff were rarely seen and never heard. Also, the man had noted that they were fully aware of his status as a foreign monarch and likely very nervous around him, given that any mistake could become a minor diplomatic incident. He went downstairs to find his usual breakfast waiting for him. There were also several newspapers helpfully laid out next to his plate. Sarov came in just as he was wrapping up the last newspaper. "The breakfast was good, I hope."

Alex finished the last paper. "It was."

Fenrir was still outside. "Your friend will be arriving after lunch. I expect your homework to be done to the usual standard by then."

Alex knew that meant Mandy. Dima got a name from Sarov. He had a sinking suspicion that neither Sarov nor Dima liked Mandy. "It already is."

Sarov gave him a somewhat amused glance. "You realize that homework is meant to take a significant portion of your weekend, right?"

Alex huffed. "You realize that I have a kingdom to run, right? Besides, most kids take Friday and Saturday night off to party, not to mention I don't need to reread chapters to remember the whole thing."

Sarov shrugged. Alex had a sneaking suspicion that he had just gotten himself into some sort of assigned extracurricular. Or maybe Sarov would just have him do more sports than riding and shooting. "You know, I can ask your teachers for extra homework."

Alex grinned as he grabbed his light coat. "I thought you wanted me to sleep!"

Sarov cuffed him on the way to the stables.

Mandy was glad that she got to visit Alex, but General Sarov was glaring daggers at her the entire time. They were not allowed unsupervised time together. Mandy knew it had to do with their respective ages, but it was still sexist and annoying that Ivanov got to spend all the alone time with Alex he wanted and nobody said anything. "Are you, ahem, together?"

Mandy bit back the reply she wanted to answer with. "No. We've been friends for years."

Sarov accepted that reply for now. Mandy sat down next to Alex in the, admittedly very nice, library. "What are you reading?"

Alex closed the book. "The Human Body and Drug Interactions, Volume Three."

Mandy resisted a yawn. "What about other Russian classics?"

Alex looked at her. "Like?"

Mandy huffed. "War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, you know, classics."

Alex looked amused. "I've read the top hundred. Most of the literature class is review and class discussions for me."

Mandy looked at him. "Really? Why don't you tell anybody?"

Alex gave her a half-smile. "Class discussions are fun. Plus, if I got stuck reading and writing essays in the library, I'd miss Petrov trying to discuss books that it's abundantly clear he didn't read."

Mandy snorted loudly. "You're kind of mean. Tom doesn't normally do the reading either."

Alex shrugged. "Tom has an excuse, plus, it's not like he paid for his spot in an academically elite academy. Petrov is just a slacker who passes via daddy's bribes."

Mandy choked on her water. She had forgotten how blunt Alex could be. "Alex!"

General Sarov was simply sitting there, pretending to read. Mandy could see the faint twitch of his lips. "Besides that, he's proud of the fact that he has to bribe his way through life. At least Tom has some shame about not doing well in school."

Mandy took a drink of the lemonade. "So, your point isn't the grades, but the lack of effort?"

Alex paused, rant impending. "Yes."

Mandy rolled her eyes. "Isn't that rather contradictory? You're normally a results kind of guy."

Alex placed his lemonade down. "My point here is that there are no results. It's the illusion of results."

Mandy knew that Alex wasn't the biggest fan of the 'pissing away the money' aristocratic types, but this was a lot more than she realized. "And you care because?"

Alex snorted. "I don't, really, aside from the poor suckers whose lives he destroys on his way down."

Mandy sighed. "What do you plan to do about it?"

Alex arched a brow. "Take bets on whether he dies from the cocaine he started using or an intoxicated car crash with one of his dad's sports cars?"

Mandy whacked him. "Bad Alex!"

Sarov had risen from the chair and left the room. Mandy had a sinking suspicion that he'd just left to laugh himself sick in private. "What? You know you want to, Mandy."

Mandy would like to state for the record that Alex could rival Milton's Satan when it came to persuasion and mischief. "Alex!"

Alex grinned and sat back in his chair. Mandy was enjoying their conversations together.

The next day was a visit to Victor Ivanov. Alex was not entirely thrilled, but Sarov had assured him that this was a normal number of visits. "I still can't believe you didn't tell anyone about Petrov."

Sarov had been grumbling about Alex not telling him about the whole cocaine thing. "Look, I have no intention of doing the shit myself. Plus, it's a time-honored tradition of the British Parliament."

Sarov glared at him. "What? It's true. They did an analysis of the sewage pipes and the ones connected to the Parliament had the most cocaine."

There was a slight pause as the man considered his reply. "There is an anonymous report box."

Alex was going to helpfully ignore the box. Nobody ever used it, so it would be suspicious if he did. "That nobody uses. Trust me, they'd notice if I put anything in."

They continued down the path to the house. This was a separate property for hunting. It was rabbit day today. Given Fenrir's propensity for eating rabbits whole (and sans permission), they'd left the fluffball behind. Sarov had been mildly puzzled about how Fenrir digested the skulls but had decided to put it down to Fenrir being a healthy boy. Victor met them outside, with two horses. Dima was already mounted on the back of a pretty nice-looking one. Alex was not the biggest fan of horses. He probably couldn't even name three different breeds. "Nice horses."

That was all the invitation Victor needed to start on about his magical horse flock. Personally, Alex didn't care, but it was a safe conversation topic. Plus, Victor was a known horse enthusiast. "...so I went back to Siberia to get the female, and then…"

Alex was mostly tuning him out in favor of watching Dima. He was fairly certain that Sarov would tell him about any critical details he missed later. The fellow boy did not look any more comfortable than when they had been hunting deer. "Are we supposed to be riding horses near rabbit holes?"

Ian and Sarov had managed to force the bare minimum of horse facts into his brain. "Their hooves are wide enough that it should not be an issue, not to worry!"

Alex had no idea how to evaluate that statement, so decided to take it at face value. These horses seemed fluffier and sturdier, though. They started out for the rabbits with their appropriate rifles. It would be a few hours of stalking the tiny things before they got anywhere, even with the dogs. Personally, Alex wished Fenrir could have come, rabbit snarfing and all.

Victor Ivanov was a paranoid man, to be sure. His main concern lately was Dima. Alexander Rider. English. Thirteen. Spy. Revolutionary. King. A man whose wealth would far outstrip Victor's before he reached eighteen. Plus, he had essentially built it himself. Alex was not, in any quantifiable way, soft. Victor admired the sleek grace that was most of his movements. The marksmanship. The fitness. The academic achievement. Even his dog was delightful. A bit over-excitable, but the dog was still young. It was everything that Dima should be but was not. Yet, Alex still seemed to like his son anyway. "Dad quit being paranoid."

Dima claimed that Alex was nothing short of absolute perfection in terms of manners and public appearance, and in private was still good company. "You will thank me later."

Dima wilted a little bit. "I'm telling you, he's not the schemer you think he is."

Victor turned towards his son, away from the office window. "You do not conspire with the upper echelons of the Russian government by accident. You do not win a war by a series of fortunate coincidences. You do not execute your main enemy publicly after a trial, sham or not, by accident. And he did not become King by accident."

Dima looked as exasperated as Victor felt, but for entirely different reasons. Ever since the mysterious takedown of the Point Blank Academy and the resulting press conferences, Victor had decided not to use the traditional boarding school structure. "Now, I would like you to deliver this letter to your friend the next time you see him in school. It is from the President personally. You will not open the letter yourself, and we will all know if you do."

Dima crossed his arms. "Doesn't the government have official ways of doing this?"

Victor knew his face betrayed his disappointment. Dima seemed to wilt even further into his chair. "Sometimes, Dima, it behooves both governments to operate through less...official channels. Besides, Alex will know how to handle it from there. Don't overthink this, you're just delivering a letter."

Dima took the note. It was an open invitation for trade negotiations. Alex had been relatively well-behaved in his time in the country. Boris was a little more confident about allowing more of the government into Russia. Alex would likely let his governors handle most of it. Each one headed both a piece of land and headed or co-headed an area of government. It was essentially an oligarchy with a constitutional monarch, but Alex had absolute power over most areas involving citizens. The money of the country was already looking up value-wise, but it was too soon to tell if this would be stable. "I still think you're overthinking this."

Victor resisted a sigh. Dima had been less than pleased at his mother's disappearance. "Leave the government affairs to those knowledgeable about the topic."

The rest of their meal was eaten in silence.

Alex knew they were going to be punctual since this was an informal gathering. At least, he assumed so, since Sarov had them both dressed in riding clothes. It was yet another family. Sarov had mentioned that they were sponsors of universities in Russia in their spare time from chemical manufacturing. Alex took that to mean that they would be important to butter up for the trade deal Victor had written him about. He had immediately forwarded it to Lance, who said it would be handled by their army of treaty-writing administrative staff. Fortunately, they seemed to be hitting it off well. Alex was not fond of the memories that clay pigeons brought back, but he was perfectly good at shooting moving targets. For someone who said he got no handgun, Sarov let him have rifles with alarming regularity when it was party time. "Your birthday is in the Spring, yes?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, I had it shortly after I started my campaign against the CIA."

The last clay pigeon exploded. "I think it is time for sandwiches and lemonade."

Alex shrugged. He didn't care. "Sounds great."

He gave the man his award-winning press-conference smile. It took longer than Alex would like to admit to realize that the lemonade was spiked. He shot Sarov a look and got a half-shrug in return. Alex knew that his augmented metabolism would include alcohol as a poison, so lemonade at 3% wasn't going to do much. He was more concerned for the other children, who were acting like this was perfectly normal. The party continued into the early evening when it was time for them to go. Alex waited until they were back at the house. "What the fuck was that?!"

Sarov sighed loudly. "I apologize. Spiked lemonade is considered acceptable for young teens around here. I did not think he would serve it, considering he knows my policy on alcohol."

Alex was a little mollified, but only just. "I don't like it."

Sarov lightly patted his head. "Let's just hope that Boris doesn't serve you vodka."

Alex snorted. Sarov had no faith. "I'll just be me with fewer filters, you know that."

Sarov shot him a look that suggested he needed those filters. "I doubt that your brand of drunken honesty will go over well, entertaining though I find it."

Alex grinned. "I know who I'm sending to the conference now."

Sarov gave him an exasperated look. "No Lance Larson."

Alex pouted. "But General-"

Sarov's look cut him off. "Bad Alex."

Alex crossed his arms. "Fine."

Sarov put down glasses of water in front of them. "I would also advise against anyone with a history of foreign intelligence on Russian soil."

Alex pouted. "You're killing my soul."

Sarov cuffed him. "No, I am preventing it from prematurely entering heaven."

Most of their dinner continued in a similar vein.

Dear Eijet,

I am afraid my Amazonian project was cut off prematurely due to a lack of funding. I'm sure you know the feeling. I'm now stuck on a project run by some young upstart with some sort of delusion of Antarctic plants being the future of renewable energy. My joints are killing me and my plants are struggling to stay alive. The temperature is so low that my hands have cracked! Twice! I almost wish I had taken the job the South American university had offered, but my grandson is about to enter the university and will likely not make up the price difference of myself not being a professor there in merit scholarships if you catch my drift.

On a more practical note, I have attached several pounds of South American coffee to this letter. There is also a surprise at the bottom. It should brew spiffingly. There's not a point in caffeine for me these days, especially since having the runs on a frozen tundra is unpleasant. Not to mention my heart medication. At any rate, I would ask for advice on keeping the moss alive, but it seems to be doing great. No scrapings are enclosed because we're being monitored for that sort of thing. Something, something, industrial espionage. A load of hogwash if you ask me, I mean, look what we accomplished together. How is your hydroponics garden going?

On a more personal note, I hope you have been receiving the clippings I sent you. They are quite valuable and customs tend to get techy about these things. Besides, I think you appreciate them more than my colleagues. I suppose that if I can get my room warm enough, I might up my paper output, considering the solitude and lack of anything to do. Ah, there goes the heater again. I should wrap this up. I'll try to find something suitable to send you. If all else fails, perhaps a penguin egg might do. Or some of the whale bones we found on the ice. Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of souvenirs here.

All My Best,

Emerys

Jet opened her Emery package and letter with no small amount of anticipation. Call her childish, but she always opened the present first, despite protests from The Countess. Gordon, naturally, smelled the coffee and was now circling like a vulture. The coffee had gone up in price due to the war and the fact that SCORPIA now paid export taxes on said exports. Though coffee was technically free for professors, they now stocked much less of it for them. It was a lovely gift that would probably last her several years. There was a box at the bottom of the coffee that wasn't coffee. Jet opened it to find a complete set of silver and opal jewelry. A necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring, and diadem. There were a few gasps from the students, who were silenced by death glares from their teachers. Gordon let out a low whistle. "Damn, are you getting engaged?"

Jet felt her cheeks darken. It was a fantastically expensive gift, even for one of the staff. "No, the note says that they're a small token of his affection."

Gordon rolled his eyes. "The man gave you an opal and diamond baguette ring. That's got to be at least a full carat of diamond."

Jet stared at the ring and snorted. "That's nicer than the ring I was proposed to with."

Gordon grinned. "See, he does like you."

Jet felt herself flushing even darker. "He hasn't even seen a picture of me."

Gordon's eyes danced. "Well, considering he's got professor emeritus, he probably wants you for your brains."

Whatever Gordon might have said afterward was cut off by the entrance of Doctor Three. The man eyed the jewelry set. "A rather handsome wedding set."

Jet wanted to die on the spot. Or maybe teleport to Emerys and tell him that this was way too much. "It's not an engagement set."

Doctor Three was amused. "I'm sure it's none of our business anyhow. However, I would recommend getting it appraised, just in case."

Jet mentally sighed. This was why she couldn't have nice things. And she was going to wear that set - sans ring, of course, she wasn't risking losing it in the garden - when it came back. Jet sighed. Emerys was going to get a nice thank you note and something from her handmade home products collection. Perhaps a nice, oil-based hand lotion? "Naturally."

Plus, SCORPIA was still trying to find out who he was. His university job was not his sole source of income. Three read the letter over her shoulder. Jet was fairly certain that he got copies of all her mail, so it was probably an intimidation tactic. "We could probably eat a penguin egg."

Jet smacked Gordon for that. Three looked at the man. Gordon wilted. Jet sighed. Sometimes, she was tempted to just marry the old man and run off with him. Surely retirement from this madhouse with a suitably wealthy and decrepit husband would be acceptable?

Yassen Gregorovich was getting antsy. He decided to text Alex. It had been over two months since he had heard from the boy, after all. And television appearances didn't count.

-A

How is Russia this time of year?

-C

Alex grinned as he saw the phone go off. Yassen had been off the grid for a while. He would have texted sooner, but Sarov kept him busy.

-C

Cold. And political. My delicate skin is dying a slow death by dehydration from the air. :(((

-A

Yassen felt his eye twitch. Alex wasn't good for his blood pressure. There were these great things called details.

-A

Then tell your lovely guardian that you require some hand lotion. I hope you have enough connections at the end of this to impress Winston Yu.

-C

Alex huffed. So little faith. Plus, he knew that Yu would back off as long as he made the news often enough for non-scandal items.

-C

Look, Yassen, I know how to appease the board. Relax, I've got a plan. Besides, I think I'm doing well so far. Look at all my pretty press conferences.

-A

Yassen glared into his phone. Brat. He should fly to Russia and meet up with Alex himself, though he doubted the boy had any kind of unsupervised time. Sarov would take the responsibility of Alex not dying on his watch seriously. Anything less would be an intolerable embarrassment.

-A

You're a brat. I'm not sure how you made so many, friends.

-C

Alex grinned like a maniac. Yassen was so much fun to wind up. Besides, it wasn't like he was gallivanting around Siberia unsupervised.

-C

You like me. :))) Besides, it's not like I'm running around Siberia naked.

-A

Yassen scowled at his phone. Alex knew all the best ways to make him on edge. Yes, he did like Alex, he supposed. It wouldn't save him from getting stripes tanned into his back if he ever pulled such a thing.

-A

Yes, like a broken foot. And I hope you would call me if you were in such a situation. Goodnight, Brat.

-C

Alex grinned at his phone. It was pretty late at night in Russia. Sarov had him going to bed early, but sometimes he had trouble getting to sleep. This time, he didn't think he would.

Author's Note: For those of you unaware of Russian naming conventions, "Dima" is the nickname Dimitri's family/close friends would give him and use in a private setting and in an unofficial capacity. It's very common to do this in Russian families if your name is more than one syllable. For instance, Olga might be pronounced "Ol-ya" and Daniil would be shortened to "Dan-ya". You could also shorten Victor to "Vi-ca" but Alex does NOT know Victor like that. They are not close friends or relations so he would be considered very presumptuous if he used a nickname for Victor like that.