March 3, 1910
"Anastasia, can you read the last few sentences of this page?" Pierre asked the young princess.
"Alright," Anastasia mumbled, not bothering to stifle a yawn.
"Just those last few sentences, and you and your sister will be finished for the day."
Anastasia began to recite the paragraph within the book written in French. She managed to read it aloud, but she stuttered over a few words. She looked at Maria, who smiled back before reciting the same paragraph. To combat the boredom of studying French and English with their tutors, they had a secret competition. One would attempt to do better than the other at speaking the foreign languages. Maria read aloud the paragraph with only a single stutter, and she smirked at her youngest sister. In response, Anastasia stuck her tongue out at her sister who rolled her eyes.
"Please behave, you two. At least you have finished your session for the day. Now, I must go tutor your two older sisters, so do not do anything foolish to upset your parents," Pierre said, packing up the book and his notes into his bag.
"Of course, Monsieur Pierre," Anastasia said, crossing her fingers behind her back.
As Pierre left the study room, Anastasia sighed. "You always win, Mashka."
"No, you beat me during the chapter before. Also, you can silent read faster than me," Maria said.
"But..."
"You need to be serious about your studying, Nastya, if you want to win."
"But studying is so boring, I could drop dead!"
"You are a princess, and me too. Both of us will need to speak to other leaders of other countries, so we need to study English and French."
"I do not care. I would rather play with snow outside, if Mama let me," Anastasia said.
"You can follow me. We will find something else to do," Maria replied, taking her sister by the hand.
Maria led Anastasia out of the study room, and they went through various hallways decorated with classical paintings. Eventually, they reached the Mauve Room. The Grand Duchesses often spent time within that room learning how to knit, listening to records, and playing the piano. Nothing had been moved or remodeled. The wallpaper still bore a striped yellow design, and a large portrait of their father hung above the cabinets and shelves. The only thing that seemed to be different was a new framed photograph of the first summer of the Romanovs at Livadia in 1905. Picking up the framed photo, Maria laughed from a memory of their first time in Livadia. Anastasia, still mischievous as a four year old, had kicked apart the sandcastle that Olga spent hours making.
"Olya, finish the main tower," Tatiana commanded.
"I just did, Tatya," her sister replied, standing up from the sandy ground.
Stepping back from the castle, she could not resist smiling. The castle that the Big Pair created was a masterpiece with tall towers, well-formed crenellations, and a moat around it. They marveled at the results of their hours of work, and they turned to look at their parents sitting on their beach chairs.
"Mama, Papa, look at our sand castle!"
Looking up from her book, Alexandra glanced at the castle and nodded. Nicholas instead got up from his chair and he walked over the warm, soft sand, savoring the cool and salty sea breeze. The sun bathed him in warm sunlight, and he wished that he could enjoy more summers as a family with his daughters and his beloved wife. Of all the roles of his life, he desired to be a father first.
"That looks perfect! How about we take a picture?" Nicholas said.
"Yes!" both of the Big Pair sisters shouted.
Sometime later, Nicholas and Pierre placed the camera in front of Olga and Tatiana as they stood beside their sand castle. In the distance, Alexandra and the Little Pair were walking towards them, but Anastasia was running straight towards the sand castle. Nicholas widened his eyes when he realized the devious intentions of hi youngest daughter.
"Smile!" he said, and The Big Pair smiled, not knowing what would happen in a few seconds.
The camera clicked, and the photo was taken. To the surprise and displeasure of The Big Pair, they watched as Anastasia laughed as she stomped towards their creation. Before Olga could warn her sister to stop, Anastasia jumped onto the sand castle, imitating a roar in the process. It was soon a disorganized heap of sand as the enthusiastic four year old kicked apart the castle. The Big Pair sisters were furious, and they scowled at Anastasia.
"Nastya!" Olga yelled, and Anastasia looked up with her blue eyes, whimpering with a quivering mouth.
"Oh no, she is about to cry," Tatiana thought, losing her scowl.
Nicholas knew what was about to happen, and he attempted the change the subject. "All of us can play in the water!"
"Really?" Anastasia said, ceasing her whimpering.
"Yes, as soon as your Mama and your sister comes here."
After her brief reminiscing, Maria decided to continue talking with her youngest sister. To restore the happiness her sister lacked for a few weeks, she would mention the best memories of their family vacations. The sandcastle incident was one of them.
"I remember that I kicked apart Olya and Tatya's sandcastle. They were so angry with me!" Anastasia said before laughing.
"Yeah, her face was as red as a tomato!" Maria spoke, and she snickered.
Maria and Anastasia took their seats around the small table in the Mauve Room. They spoke more about their first trip to Livadia, laughing whenever one of them said a joke. As they enjoyed their time in the Mauve Room, Dimitri continued to work in the kitchen. Carrying a bag of potatoes, he made his way to the kitchen storage room, huffing out a breath as he placed the bag down. He thought about his newfound friend, Anastasia. The first meeting in The Little Pair's bedroom had gone well, as Dimitri and Anastasia managed to talk to each other. Anastasia, between tears, told Dimitri her feelings about her parents since the corporal punishment. She loved her parents, but fear still prevented her from spending more time with them. Both daughter and mother had become estranged. Before he could think more about his friend, he was disturbed.
"Are you finished, boy?" the cook called out from the kitchen.
Dimitri snapped out of his flashback. "Yes, Mister Leonid!"
After Dimitri returned to the kitchen, Leonid said, "Alright, boy, that is all for these hours. It is break time now... you have half an hour until one past noon."
The young kitchen boy nodded and left the kitchen for his quarters. He arrived in his quarters, and he shut himself inside his room. Looking at the clock within his room, he knew that the Big Pair were being tutored in English by Sidney Gibbs. He also knew that the Little Pair had finished their French tutoring for the day. For certain they would be frolicking in their bedroom or somewhere else in the palace. Despite his desire to see Anastasia again, he knew that the guards would be suspicious of a kitchen boy going towards the bedrooms of the Grand Duchesses. Dimitri sighed, staring at a blue scarf that the Little Pair had given him. Even under the same roof, they were still separated by birthright. He was a lowly kitchen boy and his friend a princess.
Picking up the scarf, he wore it around his neck to savor the feeling of soft cotton. Dimitri looked at his simple bedside table before picking up a blank journal, a gift from Olga. He picked up a pencil, and he wrote his first entry in it. Thanks to some tutoring by the Big Pair, Dimitri could write.
March 3, 1910
Today was long. I worked in the kitchen from seven until noontime, and I'm exhausted. I can only wish that I will get to see my new friend, Anya, during break time. She said that I can call her Anya instead of Your Highness. She is a princess after all.
After finishing his entry, Dimitri heard a knock on the door. "Could it be Anya?" he thought.
He opened the door to see Anastasia and Maria dressed in their plain white dresses. Anastasia wore a grin on her face, and Dimitri was happy to see that he had helped her regain some of her liveliness. He opened the door even wider to allow the two princesses within his quarters, and they entered the room. Peeking his head outside the room, he looked around the hallway to check for any incoming people. He could not afford to lose his job and friendship with his newfound friend. If the royal couple found him and the Little Pair together, a disaster would occur.
Closing the door, Dimitri began to speak, wondering how his new friends lived in comparison to his life as a kitchen servant. "So, Anya..."
"Yes?"
"How were the French lessons? Boring? Fun?"
"Both, whenever we are bored, we try to see who can do better than the other," Maria said.
"Yeah, and she wins much more than I do," Anastasia added.
"Well, do you study? I thought princesses had to learn all kinds of languages."
"Of course, Dima. Mama makes us learn them in case we marry some other prince from another country," Maria said, gazing away from Dimitri.
"And... when I do get married... I will have twenty children," Maria slowly whispered in his ear with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Dimitri, who was uncomfortable with the closeness of Maria, backed away from her. He did not dislike Maria in any way, but she acted strange when expressing her dreams of motherhood. Maria giggled when Dimitri pulled himself away from her.
"Does twenty children seem like too much for you?" Dimitri said, wearing a confused expression on his face.
"No," Maria replied, shaking her head.
"Well, good luck feeding twenty mouths and changing twenty diapers."
"Uh..."
Silence passed, and Dimitri smirked, enjoying the conversation. "If you do get to have twenty children, who would be their Papa?"
"I think Louis would be my future hubby."
Anastasia grimaced, saying "Ew! He is your cousin!"
Dimitri turned a shade of green. He did not mind the lovesick dreams of the second youngest Grand Duchess, but he did not like the thought of inbreeding. While the Little Pair and their friend chattered in the quarters, the Big Pair were still being tutored.
"Can you read this passage, Olga?" Sidney Gibbs spoke, pointing to the page of a book.
Olga took a deep breath before reading the paragraph. She hesitated when pronouncing a word she had never heard before. Sidney nodded, approving for her to ask a question.
"What does esoteric mean?" she asked.
"It describes something not well known," Sidney said.
Olga nodded. Sitting beside her closest sister, she read her passage again in silence. Tatiana was asked by the English tutor to read the same passage that Olga had read, and she did as told. Unlike the Little Pair, the Big Pair took their education seriously, sometimes studying in their mere two hours of leisure time. Olga, realizing the importance of acquiring a well rounded mind, started to read books in different languages such as English and French. Different topics besides politics were covered as well: history and math.
Sidney hummed in approval. Smoothing his blonde hair with his hands, he looked at both Olga and Tatiana. His blue eyes brightened, as he was happy that a lesson had passed without complaints or any other misbehavior.
"Alright, I would like your written exercises. I will check them and return them to you both tomorrow," he said.
"Yes, Mister Gibbs," both Olga and Tatiana said.
After they had given their papers to Sidney, he winked at them before saying goodbye. "I will see you two tomorrow. Make sure to take care of yourselves."
"Goodbye," both girls said.
Tatiana looked at Olga, who sighed. She knew something was bothering her sister, and she wanted to help her resolve it. As the moodiest of all the Romanov daughters, she often was bothered by various things. The dreamful look in her light blue eyes reminded Tatiana of the lovestruck gazes of her younger sister, Maria. Could her oldest sister have a crush?
"Olya, can we talk in our bedroom?" Tatiana asked her sister.
Olga stopped gazing at the wall. "Uh, of course!"
Both sisters went to their bedroom. As soon as they entered it, Tatiana closed the door. Again, Olga stared at a framed photograph of her first trip on the Standart, and her sister walked to a spot besides her.
"Is something bothering you, Olya?" Tatiana asked.
"It's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, nothing!" Olga snapped.
Tatiana flinched at the outburst of her sister. "Olya?"
"I... I am sorry. I did not mean to burst at you like that."
"It is fine, you can confess your feelings and thoughts. I think that I may feel what you feel."
Olga continued to look at the photograph, her eyes settling on a tall adolescent boy in a naval cadet uniform. "Pavel..."
"Who? What do you mean?"
"It is about Pavel Voronov, a cadet in the Royal Navy."
"So... you have feelings for him?"
"I was ten, and he was sixteen. We were on the Standart, and we were visiting relatives in England. And I now know why he kept looking at me... he had affections for me. Now, I cannot help wondering what he is like now. Oh, Tatiana... what do I do?"
"I do not know what to tell you, but I think you should listen to your heart," Tatiana said.
"Thank you, Tatya," Olga said, and the sisters embraced each other.
