so it goes.

Lena had been a bit hesitant to even come to the party that day. But the hot weather had drawn her out of the castle- the Hungarian had always adored the summer, and warmth had finally come to Khatanga. So she’d shown up, and soon gotten involved in the ongoing paint war. 

She dipped her brush into her paint and cocked her arm back, inadvertently sending the paint flying backwards instead of towards her intended target. Lena turned around to double-check that she hadn’t hit anyone, but instead came face to face with an unsuspecting victim. She grimaced apologetically, setting down her paint. “I am so sorry, Rosamie, that wasn’t meant for you! Are you alright?” 

~

Settling into a new space was always an ordeal, and generally left Greer in desperate need of a drink. Her new room was all wrong mostly in that fact that it was not her old room and entirely in the wrong part of the world. Luckily she’d packed a case of her favorite scotch (partially for Duncan too, of course - or that’s what she’d promised her parents), and was digging through the the various trunks in an attempt to remember exactly where it was she’d put them when the knock came at her door. 

For a moment, Greer felt a jolt of panic - who knew she was here? She’d sent away all of the staff an hour ago; irritated and anxious surrounded by strangers. she’d rather either do it herself or have them do it later when she was elsewhere. But then, Lena’s all too familiar voice called out and Greer rushed over to open the door, throwing her arms around her friend and pulling her into the room. 

“Lena!” Her sour mood brightened instantly, the two were bonded by blood and trauma, the love and intimacy that came from holding hands at the absolute rock bottom. “I just got here, I hate it already, you want a drink?”

Lena broke into a smile as she wrapped her arms around her friend, returning the hug and holding her tight. As she did, she let out a sigh of relief. Seeing Greer was a comfort of sorts, a reassurance that she really was- physically speaking- alright.

.

Klaus continued smiling at the princess, dipping his head at the acknowledgment. “Likewise, my Lady.” At the words, a breathy chuckle emerged from his lips. “I could lie and tell you you are completely foreign to me, but,” he allowed the sentence to trail off, his shoulders moving with the gentlest of shrugs. “Although you should rest assured that I only know what the security team believes to be essential information about you.”

Nimah couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t question your intelligence,” she promised. “It’s just that any of us could do something that’ll get us hurt under this much pressure. Stress is a good way to ensure you don’t think straight,” she explained, not wanting her friend to think she meant anything insulting. Nodding, she made her way over to the cabinet. “I think that’s a good idea. We’ve done so much already, I doubt they’ll mind us going through for something to help us out. We can always pay back.”

The woman frowned. “I don’t think so. I think all ovens are electric,” she replied. “We might just have to look for extra fabric to keep us warm and safe.”

Lena nodded in understanding. "No, that makes sense! I didn't really think about it that way but... Stress can be a hell of a drug." The Hungarian princess was intimately familiar with stress and its effects, after all, she should've realized. She approached the kitchen cupboards, opening one at random to find, by some stroke of luck, some metal mixing bowls. "I'm going to have to leave a note and promise to replace these once we ruin them with candle wax," she said, "but like you said, I doubt they'll mind."

Magdalena hadn’t been into the village since the avalanche- she hadn’t exactly had a good time last time she’d ventured into town, after all, when she’d ended up trapped in the bakery due to the avalanche. But when a guard from the palace had offered to take her, pointing out the warm weather, she’d taken him up on it. 

As she passed the bakery, however, she pointedly kept her head down, focusing instead on her shoes. And, before she even realized someone was approaching her on the sidewalk, she’d walked headlong into them. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, before realizing who she’d, quite literally, bumped into. “Rasa! Hello, it’s been a while. Sorry again,” she said. “How have you been?”

Ivan looked up at her with her words, his green gaze boring into her for several seconds before he took another drag of his cigarette. “I know they refuse to go back on their decisions because it would be seen as weak. I also know they consider their pride to have taken a hit.”

Reaching down he pressed the stub into the stone step to extinguish it, before resting both arms across his knees. “Does that give you any answers?”

Lena held his gaze unflinchingly, though her heart pounded in her chest as she did. As the future queen, it was important that she retain her composure. Doubly so when dealing with her country’s allies. She sat down next to him on the steps, nodding. 

“I suppose it does,” she replied. “Not quite the answers I was looking for, but I’m not sure anyone would have those, anyway.” She paused for a moment. “So it is true, then? There’s been military movement?” 

She nodded at the other girl’s exclamation, smiling softly though it didn’t reach her eyes. Better than expected was only possible because she refused to truly process what had happened to them in those six months. Compartmentalizing her emotions was something Rosa had never thought she was good at but she was proving herself wrong with this one. “Yea, I suppose.”

This time her smile did reach her eyes though, pride shining through as well as she listened to the crown. “I’m so glad to hear that. I know the pressure is a lot but you seem to be holding up well. My brother spoke of Hungary a few times before I left and he seemed impressed with the way things were going after the abdication.” Looking around the place, she couldn’t help but agree with Lena. “I was kind of excited to be in a new place when I got here but after the avalanche I’ve been more homesick than ever. I wonder how much longer we’ll have to be here.”

“He did?” Lena asked, surprised but pleased- she couldn’t fight the small, satisfied smile on her face. It was something that she was still adjusting to as the crown- the idea that other royals, other heirs, had opinions on her, that she would be the topic of conversation in other countries. But it felt good to know that the conversations were positive- in the Philippines, at least. “I’ll be sure to thank him for that next time I see him.” 

“I kind of hoped after the devastating natural disaster we would be sent home,” Magdalena admitted. She pushed her plate aside, abandoning any pretense of eating dinner. “But I suppose, considering everything, it might be safer here.” After all, her home was where she’d been taken from. “Avalanche aside it can be terribly boring here, though.”

Magdalena typically wasn’t one with an ear for gossip, but when she’d overheard a maid mention that the youngest Scottish princess had arrived, she just had to confirm it for herself. She needed to see Greer for herself, and see with her own eyes that the younger woman was alright. The two of them were a part of a club that not many were- the kidnapped, the ones who’d been to hell and back. It was a bond, of sorts, and she and Greer seemed to understand one another.

As soon as she’d gotten directions from a housekeeper, it was as though her feet were moving of her own accord, and she found herself outside Greer’s room. She stared at the door for a moment, second guessing herself- perhaps she should’ve given Greer some time to settle in before paying her a visit unannounced. But then the moment passed, and Lena knocked on the door. 

“Greer, it’s Lena,” she called out. “I really hope you’re in there,” she added, more quietly. This place felt awfully small sometimes, but she knew that if she were to try to track down a specific person within the castle walls she might have some trouble. And realistically, the Scottish princess could be anywhere. 

The woman nodded her head. “I would hope so,” she admitted. “Just for safety reasons. Accidents in a kitchen can happen, as can natural disasters. I know that the cars we keep at the palace all have emergency kits just in case. Shouldn’t businesses? Especially if avalanches in the area aren’t completely unheard of,” she mused.

Niamh thought about it for a moment, scrunching her nose up. “We don’t need holders if we can get some bowls. As long as they’re not made of plastic. if they’re glass, they’d be excellent to hold the candles. And we’d be best off setting them up where we’re going to be staying,” she decided, thinking it through. “Not that they help too much with warmth.”

“Bowls would definitely work,” Lena agreed. “But just for the record I was kidding about holding lit candles in my bare hands, I am somewhat smarter than that,” she said with a small smile. She glanced towards the kitchen, shining the flashlight on it and noting the drawers and cupboards near the oven. “Should we look through the cabinets and see what we can find?” Lena suggested. “Warmth is something we’ll have to figure out. But at least we’ve got light.” 

“The oven definitely won’t work without power, right? I know some gas stoves don’t need electricity, but I’m afraid that’s about all I know about them.” The princess couldn’t have been less prepared for this sort of disaster if she’d tried. Lena knew, in the grand scheme of things, she’d been sheltered, but she hadn’t really realized how much until today. 

“I would assume so but i’ve never had a job before to know what sort of things businesses keep on hand for the safety of their employees.” Moments like this made Niamh painfully aware of how….unworldly she was. Outside of royal life, she didn’t have much of an understanding of how life worked. 

Frowning, she passed her phone over. “Try using the flashlight on the phone.” Thinking about it further, she nodded. “I would assume that if there are matches, there would be candles but I imagine that matches can be used for other things.”

Lena made a face, realizing how true Niamh's words were. The princesses were both sheltered, their only experiences in kitchens likely being the ones in the castles they grew up in. "Good point. But logically there should be something around here."

She took the phone from Niamh, the screen seeming too bright in the darkness. She fumbled for a moment before switching on the flashlight, searching through the third pantry. And there, on the bottom shelf, was a case marked with a cross. "I found a first aid kit," she said, handing it over to Niamh. Looking closer at the bottom shelf, she found a pair of tapers- perhaps once used for decoration, now shoved in behind other miscellaneous items. "And some candles. No holders though. Though I suppose if we have a first aid kit we can treat any burns we sustain holding them in our bare hands."

Nodding her head as the other spoke her name, Rosamie tried to send a smile her way but the heaviness of the time they had spent together previously was too much in the moment. She couldn’t put on that façade. Though, when she noticed the other has lost complete interest in her food Rosa felt better knowing she wasn’t the only one feeling these effects. “I’m…better than expected, I think.” She still had a cheery disposition most days and still chose to see the good in most situations, but her fantasy world had become so extravagant that her parents had gotten worried about sending her to Khatanga. Still, it was what she had to do to hold it together.

“How are you doing? You’ve had a lot of changes happen since…” She trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud. Rosa didn’t talk about that time in her life much and she didn’t expect the others to want to either. 

She managed a smile. “Better than expected is good!” she pointed out. In the time since she’d first met Rosamie, Lena had gained some distance, some perspective. It was hard, but better than expected was more than they could really hope for. 

Lena shrugged. “Only about as well as could be expected,” she admitted. “But I don’t mind being the crown princess, I like to think I’ve taken to it quite well.” And that was true, in part, she did feel she was doing a good job as the heir, though she did feel as though she may crack under the pressure any minute. “I’m about ready to go home, however. It feels like we’ve been in Russia for a lifetime.” Keeping talk light, focused on where they were now rather than where there’d been, felt like the right move.