The Deathless Tsar

Part VII (incomplete)

One morning, I wake up because I can't stop shivering. I slowly get out of bed, taking my blanket with me. Outside the window, I see icicles hanging, and past that, the hills are covered in patches of blotchy snow. I smile a little, thinking about the fast approaching Winter Ball, and Winter Vacation. I go back and sit on the bed.
Above me, Leo lets out a long groan, "I'm so cold."
"Me too," moans Mikhail from under his blanket.
"I feel great," says Ivan snarkily.
"Good for you," I snap, "It snowed last night."
"Did it really?" Mikhail sits up, smacking his head on the wood beam over his bed.
"Yes, and there are icicles blocking our window." I say.
"What time is it?" Leo mutters.
Just then, the waking bells ring. "Seven o'clock," Ivan smiles.
"Thank you." Leo frowns.
"Let's go get breakfast, I'm starving!" Mikhail leaps out of his bunk and quickly gets dressed.
"Wait for the rest of us," Leo slurs from above me. He lazily rolls out of bed, and so do I.
I layer on about five layers of clothes, underwear, thermal shirt, tunic, fur coat and all, and lazily manage my thick hair before hiding it under my ushanka. "I'm ready" I say.
We head down the hundreds of carpeted steps, nearly tripping on other students, to the Dining Hall. For breakfast this morning, the domoviye decided to give us a nice treat, blini, pirozhki, fruit, and other pastries and sweets. I serve myself a single blini and a lot of fruit. Carefully, I spoon in four spoons of sugar and use four lemon slices for my tea. Leo takes his tea plain.
Leo and I sit down at the same table we always sit at. Mikhail and Ivan soon join us, followed by Galina and Karina.
"Do you guys have any plans today?" Karina asks, stuffing her face with a whole blini, folded over several times.
"I wanted to study a bit, and play with my dog," Mikhail says, feeding his huge, furry dog a whole sausage.
"I was gonna exercise, then meet Oleg for some studying in the library," I say.
"Can I join you, Konstantin? I have no plans for today." Leo asks.
"Sure, you can come, but Oleg and I were going to study for Alchemy," I warn him.
"Oh it's okay, I'll just study something else," Leo has always hated Alchemy.
Galina's girlfriend, Katerina, soon finds her way over to us.
"Hi everyone," She says, sitting next to Galina.
"Hello, Katerina," frowns Karina.
"How is everyone this morning? Sure is cold isn't it?" Katerina smiles. She is an interesting girl, she wears bangs and always has dark eyelids and maroon lips.
"Did you see that it snowed? Not a lot, but still," says Karina.
"No, Karina we didn't see, it's not like there giant windows the whole walk over here," I say sarcastically.
"Well, I don't know. Maybe you weren't paying attention." She laughs with everyone else at the table.
"I can't wait for the Winter Ball!" exclaims Galina.
"I'm so excited," Mikhail says.
"Oh yeah, my dress is so cool this year, I'm so excited for you guys to see it!" she says, suddenly perking up.
Oleg suddenly appears at the head of our table, "Konstantin, we're wanted by the Administration."
"What why?" I say, puzzled.
"Oh what you guys do?" grins Leo.
"Shut up, Leo." I mutter.
"Come on, let's go." Oleg waves for me to follow him.
"I've never been to Administration. Where even do we go?" I say, following him out into the hallway.
"The offices are on the first floor somewhere. I think it's by the Library"
We wander around the gilded and painted hallways for quite some time before finally coming across a large door, near the Library, labeled "Administration Offices"
"There it is, I guess" admits Oleg.
Students and Administration never really see each other much. Generally the Masters keep students in line. Administration is fairly distant. Headmaster Lilova is rarely seen unless it is an event, or a student has done something very serious. We step inside the large door, and are greeted by a domoviye with a special hat. He reaches out his hairy arm.
"Uh, are we supposed to give you something?" Oleg stutters.
He nods once.
"Oh, did you get a note?" I ask Oleg.
"Oh!" Oleg feels his pockets and produces a small slip of paper and gives it to the domoviye. He reads it, and leads us down a long, plain hallway to the very end. The door is labeled "Headmaster's office" The domoviye opens the door and gestures for us to go inside.
Oleg and I look at each other, and step inside