Part 137, Chapter 2359
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Fifty-Nine
19th March 1975
Breslau, Silesia
With the wedding preparations in full swing and the rehearsal dinner in only a few hours everyone was in the reception hall for lack of anywhere better to be. Zella found herself sitting with Kiki. Her instructions were not to just keep her friend company, but to keep Kiki from taking on too much. Everyone knew she could be, and acceptance of physical limitations had never been something that Kiki was known for. Her having some sort of accident or causing an incident was the last thing that they needed right now on top of everything else that had been going with this wedding that had become a three-ring circus complete with elephants, lions, tigers, at least one stag, and a bear or two.
“I wish that people would stop trying to assist me whenever I try to do anything” Kiki said to Zella. She was generally annoyed with the world these days and it had grown worse since word had leaked out that she was expecting a boy. Despite changes in the Law that governed inheritance that permitted daughters to be heirs of their parent’s titles and fortunes, there was still a deep cultural preference for sons to play that role. Kiki said that she was looking at like if it were some sort of sick joke that the world was playing on her.
“I don’t know about that, there are reasonable limits considering that…” Zella started to reply but was interrupted.
“No one wants me to do anything, this is incredibly boring” Kiki said, “I have worked as a Surgeon for years, so I know that at events like this there are always Medical Emergencies just waiting to happen.”
“I don’t know Kiki” Zella said starting to get frustrated after having grown tired of listening to Kiki complain some time ago. Kiki was eight months and change pregnant. Did Zella really need to point out to her what one of the most obvious medical emergencies that might happen was? That there was a reason why no one wanted her doing anything too strenuous and that Kiki was whistling past the graveyard? “Perhaps we can convenience one of the caterers to cut off a finger so that you can be entertained?”
“Don’t be silly Zella” Kiki said, “That would be a terrible thing to have happen.”
Speaking of silly, what the Hell was the matter with Kiki? Or Aurora when it came right down to it? Zella thought to herself. A few weeks earlier, Aurora had finally given birth to a baby girl who she had named Gisela after her grandmother. Despite Aurora now having the family that she had dreamed about for years. She had been totally despondent when Zella had visited her the other day. Now today, Zella saw how Kiki, who was normally rather serious when it came to life and death matters, had taken on a frivolous attitude that was completely unlike her.
Then something across the hall caught Kiki’s attention, something that she found incredibly amusing. “Nina just cannot figure out that it isn’t a game” Kiki said, “I hope she is always that innocent.”
Like in the past at formal events like this, Kiki’s daughter Nina was always interested in whatever the older children were up to. This time however it had been in the midst of some unfortunate domestic drama. Albrecht and Ilse’s six-year-old daughter had ended up watching a movie that was a bit too much for a girl her age on one of the new entertainment television channels. In this case it was a movie set in Argentina during the Patagonian War and while Ingrid had little understanding of the events which the film had been based on, she understood perfectly well that the grinding campaign depicted was supposedly in the same place where Nikolaus, the big brother she adored was. She had taken about as well as a child her age could be expected to, which meant about as badly as was possible.
Now Nikolaus was back, having hitched a ride with the President of Argentina of all people and he found that his little sister was clinging to him, apparently to keep him safe. To his credit, Nikolaus was happy to humor his little sister even though he didn’t have the first clue as to what was actually going on. Nina thought that it was just a game until Kat’s daughter, Marie Alexandra, who had arrived from Canada only the day before, began gently trying to encourage Nina to do something else.
“That is something that has been good about our moving to Bavaria” Kiki said, “Nina finally has friends her own age.”
“That is actually wonderful” Zella replied. She knew that Kiki had been worried for a long time about how her daughter might end up with the sort of childhood that Kiki had, retreating into books because that was one of the few things that had been allowed. There were considerable differences though. Kiki had been declared an “Enemy of the People” by the Soviet Union the instant she was born. So, the threats had been very real back then. “You had me and Aurora, so you were not entirely alone.”
“That was after I convinced my mother that I should go to school” Kiki said, “I remember what a troublemaker you were back then. There was that other girl you went to war with, what was her name?”
“Klara Bohn” Zella replied. Klara had attempted to bully Aurora and Kiki at separate times, Zella had seen to it that she had paid a heavy price in return. “The last I saw of her she had been accepted into University in Strasburg, she said she was trying to get as far from us as she could get.”
19th March 1975
Breslau, Silesia
With the wedding preparations in full swing and the rehearsal dinner in only a few hours everyone was in the reception hall for lack of anywhere better to be. Zella found herself sitting with Kiki. Her instructions were not to just keep her friend company, but to keep Kiki from taking on too much. Everyone knew she could be, and acceptance of physical limitations had never been something that Kiki was known for. Her having some sort of accident or causing an incident was the last thing that they needed right now on top of everything else that had been going with this wedding that had become a three-ring circus complete with elephants, lions, tigers, at least one stag, and a bear or two.
“I wish that people would stop trying to assist me whenever I try to do anything” Kiki said to Zella. She was generally annoyed with the world these days and it had grown worse since word had leaked out that she was expecting a boy. Despite changes in the Law that governed inheritance that permitted daughters to be heirs of their parent’s titles and fortunes, there was still a deep cultural preference for sons to play that role. Kiki said that she was looking at like if it were some sort of sick joke that the world was playing on her.
“I don’t know about that, there are reasonable limits considering that…” Zella started to reply but was interrupted.
“No one wants me to do anything, this is incredibly boring” Kiki said, “I have worked as a Surgeon for years, so I know that at events like this there are always Medical Emergencies just waiting to happen.”
“I don’t know Kiki” Zella said starting to get frustrated after having grown tired of listening to Kiki complain some time ago. Kiki was eight months and change pregnant. Did Zella really need to point out to her what one of the most obvious medical emergencies that might happen was? That there was a reason why no one wanted her doing anything too strenuous and that Kiki was whistling past the graveyard? “Perhaps we can convenience one of the caterers to cut off a finger so that you can be entertained?”
“Don’t be silly Zella” Kiki said, “That would be a terrible thing to have happen.”
Speaking of silly, what the Hell was the matter with Kiki? Or Aurora when it came right down to it? Zella thought to herself. A few weeks earlier, Aurora had finally given birth to a baby girl who she had named Gisela after her grandmother. Despite Aurora now having the family that she had dreamed about for years. She had been totally despondent when Zella had visited her the other day. Now today, Zella saw how Kiki, who was normally rather serious when it came to life and death matters, had taken on a frivolous attitude that was completely unlike her.
Then something across the hall caught Kiki’s attention, something that she found incredibly amusing. “Nina just cannot figure out that it isn’t a game” Kiki said, “I hope she is always that innocent.”
Like in the past at formal events like this, Kiki’s daughter Nina was always interested in whatever the older children were up to. This time however it had been in the midst of some unfortunate domestic drama. Albrecht and Ilse’s six-year-old daughter had ended up watching a movie that was a bit too much for a girl her age on one of the new entertainment television channels. In this case it was a movie set in Argentina during the Patagonian War and while Ingrid had little understanding of the events which the film had been based on, she understood perfectly well that the grinding campaign depicted was supposedly in the same place where Nikolaus, the big brother she adored was. She had taken about as well as a child her age could be expected to, which meant about as badly as was possible.
Now Nikolaus was back, having hitched a ride with the President of Argentina of all people and he found that his little sister was clinging to him, apparently to keep him safe. To his credit, Nikolaus was happy to humor his little sister even though he didn’t have the first clue as to what was actually going on. Nina thought that it was just a game until Kat’s daughter, Marie Alexandra, who had arrived from Canada only the day before, began gently trying to encourage Nina to do something else.
“That is something that has been good about our moving to Bavaria” Kiki said, “Nina finally has friends her own age.”
“That is actually wonderful” Zella replied. She knew that Kiki had been worried for a long time about how her daughter might end up with the sort of childhood that Kiki had, retreating into books because that was one of the few things that had been allowed. There were considerable differences though. Kiki had been declared an “Enemy of the People” by the Soviet Union the instant she was born. So, the threats had been very real back then. “You had me and Aurora, so you were not entirely alone.”
“That was after I convinced my mother that I should go to school” Kiki said, “I remember what a troublemaker you were back then. There was that other girl you went to war with, what was her name?”
“Klara Bohn” Zella replied. Klara had attempted to bully Aurora and Kiki at separate times, Zella had seen to it that she had paid a heavy price in return. “The last I saw of her she had been accepted into University in Strasburg, she said she was trying to get as far from us as she could get.”
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