A month passed. Yao spent his days tasting Sveta's cooking, taking walks around Moscow and watching winter slowly raise its clutches, and learning Russian from Lena. Still, the sun refused to shine for more than a few supple hours in the middle of the day. Ivan had yet to arrive. He was due to return in several days and Yao, who had otherwise let Ivan slip from his mind, felt a strange excitement rise up inside him. It balanced on the thin precipice, ready to leap from the happy excitement to the apprehension sort of excitement.

On the third day away from Ivan's arrival, Yao woke to smell eggs and to see the sun peaking in through the curtains. He slept in a once guest room with a neat, quilt-covered bed and a fine nightstand holding all his materials he brought from his country as well as some souvenirs from Moscow. He stood and dressed in not his fine red silks, but in a cotton shirt and pants. Though they were not quite as smooth on his skin as his other clothing, they provided considerably more warmth. His hair still remained at its long length and continued to grow uncut, reaching below his shoulder blades, even when plaited as it was now.

In the kitchen Sveta and Lena were preparing for the day, bidding him good morning. Yao understood enough Russian to respond to that as well as their queries as to how he slept.

"Did you have any dreams?" Lena asked, smiling.

Yao sat down and picked up a slice of black bread. "Yes," he responded in accented Russian.

"She's silly this way," Sveta said, turning off the gas stove and starting to clean up the counters. "She deigns to learn about people's dreams! I think it's ridiculous and dreams are nothing more than your brain keeping your mind at work through the night."

Yao smiled and said, as best he could, "I think dreams are more than that."

"See that, Sveta?" Lena said proudly, going through the laundry while Yao ate. The two maids had long since eaten and since Yao made it clear he had no problem with them lingering while he dined, they gave him company while doing their chores. "So, Yao, what did you dream about?"

Yao paused, gathering all his vocabulary and staring at his tea pensively.

"I dream about… horses. Many horses," he repeated, pronouncing the word and feeling foolish. Lena listened with her dark eyes wide and curious. "Running horses going somewhere very far away… I do not know where, but I see them do it many nights."

"You're getting so good at our language!" Sveta cried in elation. "How is your reading?"

"He's still learning the alphabet," Lena answered for him, seeing as Yao was lost from Sveta's quick speaking and strange accent.

In that month Yao had learned quite an amount about the two maids. Sveta used to live on a farm in the woodland areas with her multiple sisters and brothers. She lived there for fifteen years until her father found a job in the city and moved them there. Upon arrival some of her remaining siblings who had not died from illness spread out. Most of her brothers ended up at a monastery. She had a husband and they had a daughter who was still learning to walk.

Lena worked as a teacher and had lost that job when her sister fell ill and she had to take more time to tend to her. The school could not permit her to take such a leave in that impoverished time. She, finding her sister more important, decided to take care of her instead. Her sister then died some time later that year.

Yet, Yao had yet to learn of how they came across Ivan or how Ivan discovered them. He decided to ask them that during evening tea.

After breakfast, as always, Yao read to himself while the two women completed their daily tasks. When they finished, Sveta left to buy some produce and Lena took him out to take a walk around the town again.

They entered the bustling street shortly after, in fur coats and boots. Cassocks appeared in nearly every other person the closer they got to the very same monastery that Sveta's brothers had departed to. Lena led Yao to another part of town, this time, and this was in front of a school. Today was a day off for the students and still some lingered outside of it to meet with some friends and exchange news.

Lena showed Yao around, telling him the names of various objects and asking him to repeat the strange words. He did and as he was repeating the word for "gate", a little girl came up to him. She had several others trailing behind her eagerly, like ducklings after their mother. It was obvious that she was the leader.

In her high pitched voice she asked to touch Yao's hair. Lena laughed and Yao, baffled, bent down and pushed back his hood.

"They've never seen such smooth, ink-black hair." Lena explained.

The girls giggled as they felt Yao's recently washed hair. He stared at them in confusion for some time, his cheeks tinting when they commented on his beauty. Eventually a smile appeared on his lips and he, too, laughed.

The girls dispatched and went to tease some boys who were tormenting a spider they had caught. Yao put his hood back on and, still flushing, looked at Lena for answers. She had none to supply to him.

Lena later bought Yao a brown, bitter drink which he detested. When he showed disinterest she shrugged and drank it all. On the way home she explained that it was made of bread and Yao stared in disbelief. He asked to buy another of the exotic concoction and she agreed she would the next day.

Content with that deal, Yao kept quiet until they reached home. Once there and cleaned up, they had a tiny lunch of bread and slices of salami. Lessons started then. Lena taught him more of past tenses and other words, happy to see that her student was bright and eager to learn. The more he learned of the culture and the more he wanted to impress Ivan, the more he longed to learn proper Russian.

Lena went to do her chores and Yao studied until tea time. The question Yao itched to ask earlier that day bobbed back to the surface of his mind. He asked Sveta and Lena shyly.

"How did we meet Ivan…?" Sveta said smiling nostalgically.

"Oh what a good day that was!" Lena giggled. "I remember it clearly. When Anna was at her worst, shortly before her death, I was very desperate. Oh how horrible it was to see my sister in pain! And I was more than desperate. I sought constantly for more money, going to lengths to beg at door steps and cry for mercy. One day I came across Mr. Braginsky. He was in a garden, softly strumming his guitar. You must ask him to play it for you when you're with him! I heard and I cried from such beauty. I hadn't heard anything so pure and nice for so long. He told me to come over and he has such sorrowful eyes… You'll understand soon enough. He told me that he was going to be a soldier and that he came from a rich family. He just bought a home in Moscow and needed a maid. Lucky as I was! The sun smiled at me that day. I told him I needed a job and he welcomed me right in. But he is such a mystery."

Sveta agreed. Yao raised his tea cup to his lips, hiding a smile. Ivan seemed amicable already. However he did not want to get ahead of himself.

Sveta licked her lips and looked upwards. "Well, when I came to the city with my family, father told me to find a job or not to return home. I was of age to find a job and settle down on my own. I had already met Victor, but I was so afraid of him at the time to ask him a place at his home. How could I have guessed that he would marry me soon! But, that is another story, a romance to be exact. Anyway, the day father told me to find a job I could not. I searched in bakeries and in grocers but no one was hiring. I was desperate and weepy, a pathetic little girl at the time. I didn't go home, even when it was dreadfully cold and dark. Instead I decided to run away, crying the entire time. This was before Lena met Ivan, though, about a year. I discovered Ivan had escaped from his house and was walking around, very disgruntled. He noticed I was crying and asked why I was crying. He asked it in such a sweet and genteel voice I couldn't keep quiet. Instead I blurted it all out and he, miraculously, offered me to be a cook for him. He lived only with his parents, who were remote and always distant. His sisters had gone off on his own, even his youngest one. He was endowed the house at the edge of the city, which he has since sold, and I lived with him there. I never learned why he was out of the house at the time. Maybe you should ask him. Just as Lena said; he is a mystery."

She finished and looked at Yao, whose eyes were unexpectedly glittering with emotion. The grandfather clock ticked on incessantly to fill the silence. Lena played with her cup and set it down. "I'll go ready your bed."

Yao nodded.

That night he dreamed of roses and gardens, as well as a sprightly girl looking through them for a particular flower—a chrysanthemum. She never did find it.

The next two days passed uneventfully. Yao's Russian grew stronger and he became accustomed to the streets around the building. Lena and Sveta talked of the gossip which was meaningless to Yao, as he didn't know any of the people involved. He still didn't mind, enjoying their presence all the same. The servants and maids he had back at home were stealthily hidden in the background, hardly daring to venture out of their shadows when unwanted. Here it was different. Here their personalities were powerful and loud, which seemed at first disrespectful to Yao but he grew used to it. Nonetheless, it gave him a heavy feeling of homesickness. He longed to see the greenery, the houses, the people, and most of all the few friends he had.

During lunch on the due date, the door shook open and Ivan walked in, stamping snow off his shoes and shedding his jacket. He hung it up along with his hat. Yao watched shyly from his position. Silvery, fair hair reached Ivan's strong jaw and his eyes, a dark color and impenetrable located Yao. His pale lips formed into a smile and kissed the maid's cheeks hello.

They babbled in Russian, happy to be reunited not as a boss and his workers but as good friends, even like family. Ivan walked into the living room where Yao sat. His expression did not falter, as brazen as his uniform and strong gait.

"Who are you?" He asked in a soft, troubled voice.