The Tsar's Wife

Mornings

Olive woke up at six in the morning everyday except for Saturdays, when everyone got a day off. She ate a small breakfast with Maria, Anastasia, Alexei, Nicholas and occasionally Tatiana, Olga, and Alexandra. Alexei and Nicholas always woke up earlier than everyone else, even on Saturdays. They all would get dressed then meet in the kitchen for breakfast. Breakfast was usually Blini- small pancakes in a bowl of butter, a famous Russian food- and coffee or juice. Olive had gotten used to the palace over the last seven months, and all the lessons.

The lessons weren't  that hard, they were focusing mainly on Russian right now. Olive now knew over two hundred words in Russian, though she had many more to learn. She learned basic words in the lessons, but if she was in the gardens with Alexei she sometimes asked him what the Russian word for flower, or bee was. She was learning bit by bit, and she hoped one day she would know all Russian, though that was very wishful thinking on her part. The Imperial children were taught Russian alongside English, and they probably didn't even know all words in Russian. She knew the hardest part of learning Russian would be writing it down, since their symbols and such were very confusing.

  This morning, Tatiana and Olga were awake, greeting Olive with wide smiles. "We thought we'd get up early today," said Tatiana, nodding to Olga. "It certainly couldn't harm us." She joked,  passing Olive a plate of warm Blini. Olive thanked her and sat down next to Maria, who looked even more tired than usual. "What's wrong Mashka? " Olive asked, using Maria's family nickname. Maria didn't mind Olive calling her that, or at least didn't seem to. "Nothing, I'm just tired is all." She replied, smiling. Tatiana rolled her eyes, putting on her signature governess face. "Well, if you would have went to bed instead of giggling with Anastasia, you might have gotten some sleep." Tatiana scolded and Maria flushed.

"I tried to go to sleep, but everytime I'd close my eyes, she would say something. " Maria protested, though her cheeks were tinged pink. Olive smiled at her, pouring herself some orange juice. Anastasia, who had been uncharacteristically quiet- probably from a lack of sleep too-  piped up, her arms crossed. "Oh hush! Don't put the blame on me. You could have easily told me to quiet down." Anastasia said, staring daggers at Maria. Olive smiled at their little scramble, which happened almost every morning. It was true that they got along the best as sisters, but they argued a lot too, though it was never really a serious argument between them.

Alexei walked into the room, looking very awake for the early time, which wasn't unusual. Nicholas wasn't with Alexei, which was odd. He was here every morning almost, unless he had papers or other things to work on. Alexei walked over to Olive, kissing her forehead like he did every morning. "Morning Love." He said, grabbing two cups from the table. Olive smiled, taking a bite of her food. "Good morning. " She said, smiling at him. Maria looked at the door, then to Alexei. "Where's papa?" Maria asked, confusion lacing her voice and expression. Alexei didn't look up from the coffee he was pouring, and Olive noticed he had two cups. "He's working. He can't come to breakfast today. " Alexei replied, putting down the coffee pot.

Olive and the Grand Duchesses frowned, all of then could sense Alexei acting distant. Olive knew something was wrong,  but decided not to ask in front of everyone. Alexei kept bad news to himself if others didn't need to know, he never wanted people to worry- especially about him. "That's a shame. I hope he comes tomorrow morning. " Olive said, shaking her head. Alexei kept his eyes focused on the two coffee cups, not looking at anyone in the room.  Tatiana and Olga exchanged knowing glances and olive knew they knew something was wrong.

Not one person asked though, everyone keeping their mouths shut. Alexei sighed, walking the door with the cups of coffee. "Where are you going?" Olive asked, her brows furrowed. Maria looked sad, her pretty face in a pout. "Are you leaving too?" She asked. Was Alexei really going to walk out without even saying goodbye or telling them where he was going? It was true he had a right to do what he pleased, but it wasn't like him at all. Alexei turned, his face a deadpan.  "I need to help father, but I'll see you all later." He said, smiling.

Before anyone could say goodbye, he left. The dining room doors slammed behind him, making them all jump. The dining room now had a solemn mood to it, knowing there was some kind of peril going on with Alexei and Nicholas. They were both being a bit distant, and Alexei had almost no spare time anymore. Olive knew once he became the Tsar her time with him would be even more limited,  but the only thing she could do was cope with it. "Something's wrong." Tatiana stated frankly,  frowning down at her plate.  Anastasia scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Obviously! Alexei and papa never act this strange, maybe one of them is dying. " Anastasia said. Olive paled at the thought, though she knew not to believe it.

"Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov! Do not say such things even in a joking manner!" Tatiana scolded, and Olive hid her smile. Tatiana looked more like Alexandra when she was scolding someone than ever. Anastasia rolled her eyes, not the slightest but phased by Tatiana's scolding. Tatiana was the strictest of all the children and fit for royalty. Olive had to learn to be like Tatiana, who would be the perfect empress if it were allowed to happen.  Women weren't allowed to be the main rulers of Russia unless there were no males at all to take over.

Breakfast drug on slowly and silently, a great difference from the usual chatter of the imperial family. Olive hoped whatever was wrong with Nicholas and Alexei hurried up and resolved itself, because Olive had caught her self looking at Alexei's chair several times.  It was empty everytime she looked at it, and she had no clue how much longer it would be empty.