The Peculiar and the Tsarevich - Major AU!!!!!

Joy and Lessons

Olga, Tatiana,Maria, and Olive were all in the Gardens, where Olive's first Russian lesson would begin. Olive knew that learning Russian would be hard, but Tatiana said that learning it wasn't the hard part, trying to write it out was. "We understand what you're feeling." Tatiana had said in the motorcar that morning. "Mother had insisted that we learned German. None of us were good at it, it was very hard and frustrating." That had made Olive feel a bit better, though she knew she would trip up on words or maybe even forget them completely.

  Once they were in the Gardens, Maria started jumping up and down. "I'm so excited she will know some Russian! This seems so fun!" Maria said, and Tatiana gave her what the little pair called the 'Governess Look' crossing her arms. "Maria Nikolaevna Romanov! How dare you act such a way in public! Stop it at once!" Tatiana scolded. Maria frowned and shrunk down, and Olive felt bad for her. Tatiana could be hard on people sometimes, Olive understood what that was like. Enoch was the same way, and Olive knew what it was like to be thrown into their beam of anger.

Olga cleared her throat, breaking the tension. "Okay, why don't we start with the basics, like greetings and simple questions." Olive nodded, and furrowed her brows. "I know hello, dravstiye right?" Olive asked, and Olga laughed. "Zdravstvuyte, you were close." Olive blushed and Tatiana sent her a look of pity. "It is a bit hard to learn, I know." She said and Olive nodded in agreement. She had trouble with the simple word hello. She wondered how she would do with the rest of the language.

Maria clasped her hands together, and smiled. "Now for the most powerful phrase in the world, ya lyublyu tebya." Olive tried to focus on the words, which were hard to grasp. They were spoken so quickly and smoothly, it was hard to understand. Tatiana put her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrow. "Really Maria? We are trying to teach her basic Russian, that can wait." Tatiana said and Maria rolled her eyes, but said no word. "What did she say?" Olive asked and Olga shook her head, but smiled. "As she said, the most powerful phrase in the world, though some would argue. "

Olive nodded, but said no more. "Okay, how do you say " how are you?"" Olive asked, thinking of some phrases she would need to know to show her manners, she couldn't afford to be rude due to her bad Russian. Tatiana nodded to Olga, and curtsied. "
Kak Dela, Olga. "  Tatiana said, in a mock greeting, and Olga rolled her eyes, but smiled and curtsied too. "Khoroso, Ty? Good, You?" She said, and Olive's brain was grasping the words now, her brain starting to put the words and sounds together. Olive smiled, and turned to Maria. "Okay, now Maria, how do you say, " Good Morning and Good Night? " I may need to know those."

Maria nodded, and smiled. "Okay, whatever I say, you repeat. Dobroye utro, Good morning. " Olive thought for a moment then hesitantly answered. "Doboye Iltro?" She asked and Maria wrinkled her nose giggling, "Close," she said, winking "But it's utro." She corrected and Olive nodded, seeing where she had gone wrong. "Oh, Doboye Utro." Olive answered and Maria clapped, and nodded enthusiastically. "Great! Just try to speak your words by rolling them and speaking them faster, and you'll be speaking like a true Russian in no time!"

  Olive blushed, and doubted she would ever be able to speak Russian as fluent as a true Russian. The Romanovs had been taught Russian and English alongside each other, so they learned from a young age. Maria cleared her throat. "Okay, now say, Dobroy nochi. Goodnight." Maria instructed, a d Olive tried to pay close attention to the way she spoke the words, as well as the words themselves. "Dobroy nochi?" Olive said, and Maria giggled. "Yes! Good job!" Tatiana and Olga clapped, smiling. "You're catching on very quickly, Olive. I'm impressed." Olga noted, and Olive blushed.

Before she could thank them, she heard a sharp bark. Olive turned to see a black and white spaniel running towards them, yipping happily. "Joy! There's the good boy!" Maria said, and Olive smiled, realizing that this was Alexei's dog, Joy. Tatiana patted his head and Olga bent down, scratching him behind the ears. "Is this Alexei's dog Joy?" Olive asked and Maria nodded, laying on the ground with him. "Yes, I forgot to let you see him last night. " Maria said, smiling apologetically, and Olive laughed. "Its alright, he's a beautiful dog. My mother would never let me have dogs." Olive said, and Tatiana smiled.

"You can pet him Olive, he won't bite." Tatiana said, and scratched Joy behind the ears and then moved out of the way so Olive could pet him. Olive reached out tentatively, and the dog sniffed at her hand. She slowly rubbed her hand over the dogs head, and Joy waggled his tail, breathing with his tongue out in the hot sun. "He likes you!" Maria exclaimed, rubbing her nose against the top of Joy's head, even though Tatiana was giving Maria a glare. Olive chuckled and got on her knees, trying not to look unladylike or get her dress dirty. "How long has Alexei had him?" Olive asked, and Olga rolled her eyes.

"Him and that dog have been inseparable since Alexei was 10, he is an old dog. " Olga smiled sadly, and swallowed. "One time, whenever Alexei had got hurt, Joy was so disappointed whenever we wouldn't let him see Alexei. He whined that whole time." She said, and Olive frowned. Poor Joy. How many things had the Imperial Family and Alexei missed out on because of Alexei's condition? It somehow didn't seem fair, even though it wasn't even the slightest bit Alexei's fault.

Joy cocked his head to the side, and Olive laughed. "I think we are done with our lessons for now." Said Tatiana and Olive felt a bit relieved, not only was it steaming hot outside, but she wanted to visit Alexei as soon as she could. She had seen him yesterday, but she wanted to see him again. Olive nodded, and Maria stood up. "Come on Joy! Let's go inside!" She said, and Joy followed her , wagging his tail the whole way. Olga turned to Olive, "Hey Olive?" She asked, smiling. Olive raised her eyebrows, and smiled. "Yes?"

"You'll be a Russian in no time."

Okay , so am I the only one that thinks it is adorable that Alexei had a little four legged friend? Its so cute!! Anyways, I want to know who your favorite Romanov sister is, and why. Mine is Tatiana because she is so regal, and beautiful. Thank you all for reading!!! 💖💖💖