Woke Up In A New Decade

Chapter Twenty

Picture; Percy Jackson probably on crack

June 1913

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I was done with tutoring for today. I felt so glad for that! I was thankful because now I had vacation and a break from learning. The subjects I had to learn were odd, French, English (which I already knew a little though), Russian, Danish, Biology, History, Family History. Family history taught me of the Romanovs, grandmother even added the manners and etiquette. I was happy to get free of that.

Grandmother let me have three months exactly. We'd go to Russia for an event i do not care for. All I knew was that I would be able to see my family. I hadn't seen them in a while, November I last saw them to be exact. I had a few letters and had written back. Mama got me a necklace for my birthday, it came days after though. But we are 1,583.2 km away from where they are.

I stood looking out the decks of the Polar Star, grandmothers yacht. Caoimhe and Cian were painting the water quickly before they left. Grandmother and Olga were speaking, Olga had stayed with us for a while. Her husband returned to Russia. I grew very fond of her, I'm sure Cian and Cao did too. She told us many memories, Cian remembered most and they would both laugh. She was a brave woman, sometimes stories about her husband would slip out. Cian said it was okay and would tell funny stories about his childhood. She would have done many things if she was never a grand duchess.

I took my seat next to Aunt Olga and Cian. He was fiddling with his fingers. Caoimhe was laying her head on his shoulder. The horn went off, signalling our depart from Denmark, I was excited! I missed Mama so much! Sure, I would miss Denmark but seeing my family sounded more appealing. We sat quietly as we listened to Grandmama and Auntie Olga's conversation. "I hope Nicky is ready for our arrival." I heard Auntie Olga say. They began talking more about their estates.

None of us were listening or paying attention to their conversation. I was doing my needle work and Cian and Kiki were sleeping. Cian woke up once we heard grandmother say, "Let's just hope he won't run Russia to the ground because of them."

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We arrived outside the gates of grandmothers estate. We dropped of Auntie Olga to her palace, we will go there for tea later. Mama, Papa and the pairs with Alexei will be there. The doors opened, first came grandmother, then me, Cian and finally Kiki. I still wondered why we stayed in Denmark and not Russia. I know she lives in Russia but moving Denmark is odd.

I followed Liesel to the room I'd be staying in. It was larger than the one I had in Denmark, and triple the size of the master bedroom back in Berlin. I admired it as Cian and Kiki got their own, very pretty rooms. The servants brought in my luggage and Liesel started unpacking it, i automatically helped her even though she insisted I didn't. However, she just decided to let me help her. I placed Tanushka's, Mashka's and Nastenka's birthday presents in a drawer so it would be safe and secured. Eventually, the time came to go to Aunt Olga's house and I changed into a nicer dress. It was a frilly one and we left.

When we arrived our family was already there, the servants opened the doors and lead us to the spacious room everyone was in. All of my sisters ran up to me, Masha being the first. Nastenka attempted to trip Olenka as she ran over but instead got a scowl from a woman I did not recognise. Alexei was sitting next to the unknown woman as he was excited to see me, he had grown a lot since I last saw him. I gave him a little wave before OTMA almost tackled me to the floor with their hug.

Olenka looked different with her new hairstyle, but still had the same personality. She grew taller, Masha grew taller too. Nastenka had grown too which was nice, but Tanechka was a tower to the rest of them. I was the same height as her, I wasn't before. She smiled to me.

We stood in a group hug for a while until mother stood up with Anna breaking us apart so she could reach me, I gave her a little hug. Cian and Kiki got a hug from OTMA too and Anna.

Mama stood up with the help of her cane, and stood in front of me. Her face, i couldn't tell if she was sad, happy, disappointed, worried, shocked. Her eyes just moved frantically studying everything different about me. I have changed a lot since September. My dirty blond hair is curlier and grown out longer, my bangs are no longer covering my face, my face has matured a lot and my eyes are more sparkly and lighter. I had matured and grown a lot according to grandmother.

After an intense stare down of what felt like hours of just her staring at me, she took a step closer and took me into her arms while Anna held onto her cane. I could smell her lavender perfume. She looked the same but way more tired, the whole room watched us closely. She pulled back, her eyes teary. "My girlie has come back to me." She looked back at the Czar as he smiled at her. The room went back into a buzz with my sisters exchanging whispers. She took me by the hand as Anna gave her the cane back and we slowly walked back to the couch she sat on earlier.

Anna got Cian and Kiki, they had changed too. Their hairs curlier and Kiki has a curly fringe covering her eyes. We could all tell how much her health had decreased. Tatiana told me, Cian and Kiki about the number system for whenever mama got a bad migraine. But I didn't think her health would decrease that bad. We sat down on the couch and mama began questioning us. "How was your journey, you three?" She stroked my face affectionately and Cian and Kiki thought for a moment. "It was good, Czarina." They said automatically in sync. "It was fun, Denmark was really nice. I missed you a lot though." I answered.

She smiled at all of us and I hugged her unexpectedly. Cian and Kiki did the same so it became a group hug. And to be honest, we were all happy to be back.