4
As scion of the highest Russian nobility, Katyusha mastered several of the activities expected of someone of her rank, despite her young age: she was a good rider, could use a bow, and knew a few notions of fencing.
All things that several other young princesses from all over Europe surely were not very well acquainted with, but with parents like hers it was logical for her to grow with the purity of a gem and the blood of a soldier.
Besides, thanks to her surroundings' multilingual nature, other than Russian she could fluently speak German and Polish, as well as understanding decently the French and Turkish languages.
But, considering any other topic, the situation became dramatic, and it reached the bottom when anything concerning sciences of any kind and degree became involved.
Put very simply, Katyusha couldn't get into her head any notion involving formulae, numbers or scientific stuff, either out of difficulty of organizing such logical things, or out of lack of interest for it.
Unfortunately, as if for a perverse punishment, the scientific subjects were precisely what Padre Ansaldi insisted on starting from day one, likely out of explicit instruction from the Tsar.
Each day, at nine o'clock, the priest reached Katyusha in her personal studio near her bedroom, and there they remained for quite a good part of the morning, while in the other rooms Nonna, Nina and the other servants tidied up.
Most of the times the lesson began with the request, or rather the order, from Padre Ansaldi to solve some tasks written on the blackboard, and each time for the princess it was like facing the firing squad.
There were times when she would have rather faced a horde of furious cossacks than solve yet another equation; and that was just the last of a long line in the last period.
Unable to find a sense in what she read or wrote down, Katyusha did her best to try and solve the simple expressions that Padre Ansaldi had written down before her arrival, understanding from the look of the priest's face that her solutions were far, far removed from the proper ones.
"Your Imperial Highness." he commented, wiping on the round lenses, rigorously worn only for the lessons. "Begging license to be completely honest, I am afraid that arithmetic is by far not Your forte."
"I just hate numbers." she protested, puffing her cheeks. "They are so dull and so stupid. And useless. They have no meaning."
"Do not be so harsh, Your Highness. Truly, numbers can tell us many a thing, if we are able to listen. A great philosopher and scientist called Galileo claimed that numbers were nothing short of the alphabet in which God has written the universe."
"Strange words, especially pronounced by a holy man. The monks around here would likely call you blasphemous."
Padre Ansaldi hesitated a moment: the voices on the Grand Duchess Ekaterina's unusually determined and mature personality were hardly exaggerated, after all.
"We can be men of faith and at the same time believe in the power of math and sciences."
"Aren't the two things mutually exclusive?"
"Only for the fools and for those who reason in absolutes. I like to consider myself prone to curiosity and discovery. And according to what I heard, the same could be said for You."
"Perhaps." smiled a resigned Katyusha. "But even if it were true, I wonder how could I satisfy such passions imprisoned in here, and with this lifestyle imposed on me."
The priest couldn't help but notice how the Grand Duchess' gaze would often fall upon the corner of the room where a mannequin stood, engulfed by an exquisite uniform of a Winged Hussar, a gift from the Governor of Poland.
"Very well, I believe that for now we can leave math alone." he said, rising from behind the desk. "But perhaps I have what you need to reawaken Your interest."
After fumbling in his voluminous bag for a while, the holy man pulled out one of his numerous volumes, dropping not without a hint of a smile before his pupil, as she returned to her place.
"What is this?"
"Look for Yourself."
Almost with unusual shyness, Katyusha lifted the hand-bound cover, and after turning a few pages she found herself behind a world that tasted like a fable to her: everywhere a lot of maps and sketches, glosses and handwritten notes, all surrounded by drawings of foot soldiers, riflemen, artillery and even sections of fortifications.
"What is it?"
"It's a copy of the Vom Kriege, a treaty on war and strategy redacted by a Prussian general, Carl von Clausewitz, and commented by General Mezzacapo, from Piedmont."
Her eyes filled with awe at the sight of such a treasure. And she would have immediately started to devour each and every page, had Padre Ansaldi not pulled it out of her all of a sudden, as quickly as he had dropped it beforehand.
"Give it back now!" she shrieked, vainly trying to grab it from the unreachable hands of the priest, like a child protesting for some sweets denied to him.
"What would You say if we were to make a deal?" said the holy man with a smile.
"A deal?!"
"For each task You solve correctly, I will allow You to read and study one page of this book, as well as those of several others that I will be able to retrieve.
Furthermore, for each day that You will dedicate yourself to Your studies with conviction, we will spend half an hour to the study of military arts."
"It doesn't seem very fair to me." protested Katyusha, puffing once more. "Like this, I'll get at most two hours and a half each week."
"What if we were to use those two hours and a half in lieu of the math lesson of Friday?"
Hearing that, the young girl bounced back twice, and thinking it over it was difficult to say what promise made her happier.
"This is more like it." she smirked. "So, do we have a deal?"
"We have a deal." said Padre Ansaldi. "Now, however, enough with arithmetic. Let's get started with Geography."
And the deal worked.
Even though solving the exercises and following most of the lessons was worse than having her teeth pulled, the thought of being allowed to do something that really interested her made Katyusha try her very best, and surpass her own limits.
With lots of sweat and blood, even the most complicated notions finally began to stick into her head, making studying no less intense, but much more tolerable.
And although a few times the fatigue and discouragement had prevailed, Padre Ansaldi was always ready to pull out his book when needed, granting her pupil a few moments of peace before returning to the task at hand.
And then, at last, the Friday was upon them.
After lunch, routinely prepared in that very room to allow the Grand Duchess not to distract herself from her work even for a minute, Math, Arts, History and Geography were left behind for at least two hours, leaving room for the infinite and magnificent secrets of the art of war and of battles.
Out of that topic, nothing looked to Katyusha less than marvelous, and she absorbed it with great ease: from the descriptions of various equipment to tactical doctrine, from planning to the lives of the great generals of the begone ages, everything tasted as a great discovery that would never leave her sated.
"I must admit I am quite impressed." said one day Padre Ansaldi. "I was told You were special, but I was not quite expecting that such topics would be of interest to You."
"Actually" she said, somewhat embarrassed but without dropping her smile. "I don't know why I have such peculiar interests. I could not even say when I started to have them. It just came to me."
"Some say that passions are a thing of the blood. And nobody could say that war is something foreign to Your family. Who knows, perhaps your forefathers passed onto you the propensity for the military arts."
"Arts that I will be able to study, but truth to be told, in reality I wonder whether I'll ever be able to put into practice." was the answer of a saddened Katyusha. "But so be it, for now this is enough for me."
All of a sudden, from the open window that watched over the courtyard came a solemn fanfare that caused the Grand Duchess to jump up, stunned.
It was well known that each member of the Imperial family had his or her own melody to announce its arrival in the palace, and that one had not been heard from such a long time that Katyusha thought she was dreaming it.
As agile as a cat, she went to peek out of the window, just in time to see an elegant black coach bordered of gold getting through the main gate and slowly making its way on the driveway, sharply saluted by the guards arrayed for the occasion.
"I can't believe it, he's back!" she exclaimed.
Then, fearing no rebukes nor punishments, she flew out of the room and down the stairs, weaving in and out of the servants and other guests, with the happiest expression that some had ever seen on her face.
Just as she had passed the main doors, the coach was being stopped before the monumental staircase before the doors.
"What are you doing here?" asked Olishka, awaiting the new arrival herself. "Our father had forbidden you from getting out of your lessons."
"He does not need to know." she answered, with a wink. "And you won't tell him, will you?"
"Of course not."
At last, a servant went and opened the door of the coach, and before the two girls emerged from it an elegant young man with dark hair, wearing a black dress uniform sprinkled with medals and embroidered in gold.
"His Imperial Highness" said the announces, as solemnly as he got. "His Imperial Highness the Tsesarevich, Grand Duke Alexandr Nikolaevic!"
"Brother!" shrieked Katyusha.
The newcomer had barely the time to kneel before she crashed into his arms, hugging as hard as she could and at the same time shedding tears of genuine joy.
"Brother! You're back! I was so worried about you!"
"It's good to see you again, Ekaterina. Forgive me for not managing to write all this time."
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter! What matters is that you're here."
After several minutes the prince was finally able to convince Katyusha to let him go, allowing him to greet his other beloved sister.
"Welcome back, brother."
"Thank you, Olga. I was told you had returned to Saint Petersburg. How were all these months away from home?"
"Hardly dull." the Grand Duchess said, before her expression darkened. "But not as much as yours, I am afraid."
At that point, even Aleksandr's mood shifted, as his deep blue eyes filled with much disquiet.
"Unfortunately so."
"Were you called by our father?"
"No, I asked to be received, myself. There are many things that ought to be discussed."
A honour guard reached the doors just then, making for the three princes.
"If you wish, you may come with us, Your Highness. Your father awaits you."