February 23rd, 1899

Dear Nina,

Your silence is childish. But, I cannot be angry with you for it. I only hope you at least read these letters and know that sending you to St. Petersburg was for your own good. I regret not explaining it to you further when I had the chance and to be honest, my sweet daughter, I've gotten some news from the doctor that is less than ideal.

If your silence continues and my time seems to run short, I may have to leave you my secrets in writing. I only wish I didn't have to. If anyone found out my secret, your father and I's secret, it could cost you everything. I do not want you to pay the price of a foolish choice I made young, any more than I wanted to see you make my same mistake.

I love you always,

Mama


October 13th, 1907

"NINA!" The squeal of delight was almost ear-splitting, and had the effect of immediately bringing Nina from her sleep. It was quickly followed by a sudden weight on top of her as her best friend, Natalia Malakhov, leaped on her. "Wake up, sleeping beauty." She crooned the Russian words into her ear, her voice going low, her hot breath tickling Nina's ear.

Nina groaned, "Get off me, you morning troll." She grated out, pushing her friend away and huddling further under her bed covers. This scenario was a daily tradition upheld by the friends for close to nine years. This routine was so well-known, in fact, it had become common knowledge among the company that Nina Teleshova was not a morning person. Natalia, on the other hand, was notoriously renown for being a sun-shining ray of annoyance to anyone who was not up before her.

"Oh, but Nina, you must want to catch the first glimpse of New York's harbor." Natalia's voice had evened out to a respectable volume, allowing Nina to peek her head out of the covers.

"We're not supposed to be there for another few hours." Nina replied.

Natalia looked smug as she informed her friend, "But, you'll be able to see the Statue of Liberty soon!"

That brought Nina out of bed, the prospect of catching sight of America waking her up more effectively than a mug of coffee. Although, she still stopped to grab a cup of that on her way towards the deck.

The RMS Baltic had been the largest ocean liner up until two years ago. However, Nina found the ship to still be quite a luxurious ship, having been on her fair share of them. This was the longest she had been on one, though. A week on the sea had taken time to adjust to and she couldn't imagine how tough it would be on the entire Ballet company to get back into dancing after being rocked by a ship for seven days.

Natalia caught up with Nina, a trail of five other girls behind them as was usual when you were a prima ballerina. "Nikolai says we should be docked by noon." She sighed wistfully, "Land. How I missed solid ground."

Nina sipped her mug of coffee before she sighed, "I can't wait to see New York." It was bound to be a different sight than Paris. The Imperial Russian Ballet had never once left its home country-up until a year and a half ago when the company manager decided to do performances in Paris. It had been exhilarating for Nina, to be one of the first Ballerina's to go on what they were calling 'tour'.

And now they could claim going international.

"Sergei says a Frenchman called New York appalling. Dirty and loud." Natalia told her, seriously, as they stepped up towards the bow of the ship to see New York.

"Sergei is a mandjuk." Nina informed her friend, ignoring her gasp at Nina's language. She didn't know why Natalia was surprised she called him a dickhead, Sergei may have been the lead male dancer, the one she danced with more often than any other, but that didn't mean she had to like him. He had the biggest ego of any man she had ever met and he seemed to think all of the women in the company were only here for his pleasure.

They fell into silence as the ship gently rocked them, the rush of the ocean booming in their ears as the ship raced forward. Nina closed her eyes briefly as her dark hair whipped around her face, the smell of the sea overwhelming her sense of smell. She loved the ocean. It smelled the same wherever they traveled; salt, brine, and seaweed. Crisp and refreshing.

As much as she loved traveling, she also found herself desperately wishing to stop. To slow down. She was almost twenty-six, her career as a ballerina quickly coming to a close and she felt a looming wash of relief waiting for when she would finally, finally retire.

Now, all she needed was the right place to call home and a part of her felt as if America was it. Her mother had always wanted to come here, had talked of America so much growing up that she had developed a longing for it long ago. What charms did the Americans have that enticed the rest of the world to leave everything they knew to come here? What adventures awaited her?

"There it is." Natalia breathed and Nina barely heard her over the roar of the ocean. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second longer and then opened them wide so she could take in everything.

A fog had settled on the harbor that morning, but it's tendrils were losing their grip and ever so slowly they dissipated and out of it rose the commanding, yet somehow welcoming form of the Statue of Liberty. Freedom, at last.

"We're here." Nina murmured, a feeling of something great, something wonderful, settling in the pit of her stomach. She had learned over the last few years to trust that gut instinct, so she held onto it as they sped toward Lady Liberty.


"Uck, foul Americans!" Sergei's voice was, unfortunately, the first thing she heard right before she stepped off the ship and then she understood as she caught wind of the rather unpleasant smell of the city.

So, Sergei was a dickhead, but he had relayed the truth from the Frenchman. New York smelled fairly offensive, and that wasn't the only thing to assault her senses. Loud noises, ugly buildings, everything assaulting her at once. She supposed for those who lived here, they were rather indifferent to it all.

For a moment, she had second thoughts on living here. But, then a man ran up and offered to take her trunk to load onto the carriage and she thought that perhaps Americans were nicer than anyone had ever told her. She handed her trunk to him, smiling gratefully, until she watched him walk past the carriage where they were loading everyone else's things and took off running. "WAIT!" She exclaimed, shock having her shout in Russian when she should have been speaking English here.

The man would have gotten away, except he was tripped by another, much younger man in a navy blue uniform that didn't quite fit right. The new stranger pinned the thief down and wrenched the trunk from his hands. "Now, that ain't a nice welcoming ta da lady." He said, half sarcastically, before stepping over him and approaching her cautiously. "Sorry, miss. Gotta be careful who ya give things to."

She got a closer look at him, and was surprised by the jagged, thick scar that cut down his cheek. Other than that, he was tall and quite handsome with dark, brown hair that was longer than most men and laughing brown eyes to match. "Thank you." She told him in English, her accent thick even to her own ears. She hadn't spoken the language in a while, since the last time she had seen her father, actually, but he had passed away only a few short years after her mother.

"Jack!" A voice called out, causing them both to turn to watch a stocky, Italian jog over to them, "Ya supposed ta be loading the carriages, not flirtin' with the ballerinas." The man reprimanded, wearing the same uniform of Navy and white that Jack was wearing.

Jack smirked, "I was gonna load her trunk, Race, I just had ta recue it from some griftah."

"Hurry it up." The man groused, "Befoah someone sees ya and tells David."

"Yessir." Jack replied, his voice sarcastic again as he gave Nina a slight bow and went to load her trunk.

She smiled at the exchange, "Why would it be bad if this David knows he's here?" She asked him, curiously.

The man's fingers twitched, realizing she had heard the entire exchange and he looked half embarrassed, "We needed some extra workers so I asked Jack there. Except he's the only person whose pictuah hangs in the hotel for everyone to see he's banned from evah stepping foot in it."

Nina realized these men were sent from the Benjamin hotel, the most luxurious hotel in New York, owned and operated by the youngest hotelier ever. She had read a pamphlet on the ship about the hotel, how it had opened just six years ago but had become the main staying place of the rich and elite, how it was slowly being expanded, and the fact that it was the only hotel in New York at the moment who allowed female guests to stay in rooms alone-which was all but unheard anywhere else.

"Oh." She murmured, "Well, thank him again, for retrieving my trunk."

Race nodded, his focus turning on someone else from the company who had just gotten off the ship. Nina looked towards the carriage to watch Jack haul another trunk on a carriage before helping a dancer into it and clapping the horse to send it off to its destination.

"Nina! Over here!" Natalia called out to her, waving her over to a carriage she was just getting into.

"Coming!" She called out, hurrying towards the carriage and as it started away, she looked once more for Jack. She didn't see him as the crowds thickened and she found herself wondering what he had done to the owner of the Benjamin to get permanently and publicly banned from the hotel. She wondered if she'd ever get the chance to find out.

A/N: Yay! You guys finally get to meet our heroine, Nina! She's loosely based off of the first international Ballerina Anna Pavlova. I tried to keep things historically accurate, but every now and then I gotta twist history to fit my story haha. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I have the next one started and not a lot planned this weekend so hopefully the next update won't be too far away! Thank you to my wonderful reviewers last chapter! Two guests and my usual lovey dovey's Pixielou (who's been an awesome coach and source of inspiration through the planning of this story!) and coveredinbees14!

Please review!

Truly,

Joker is Poker with a J~