Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Seventy-Eight
15th September 1972
Wahlstatt, Silesia
Their belated return to Wahlstatt had not gone unnoticed. Everyone seemed to have known where they had been and what they had been doing. Niko had enjoyed telling everyone about what he had seen, how it was very different from watching it on television. Bas though, he was deeply annoyed with his youngest sister. Gretchen was totally unrepentant and told Bas to sod off in the Mess Hall the first time he had tried to talk to her about the matter. She had done this in front of the entire school didn’t help matters and she had gone on to tear into Bas using several choice terms that Niko was unaware that Gretchen would have ever been in a position to learn. It was common knowledge that no one messed with Bas unless they were asking to land in a world of hurt. His little sister had done so in the most ruthless manner possible, and he couldn’t retaliate against her in the manner he would have with almost anyone else. At the same time, he was perfectly happy to take out his frustrations on anyone stupid enough to speak ill of Gretchen.
It all stood as a reminder to Niko of how the Schultz family worked. Even with how much time they spent squabbling with each other, they would close ranks and would go back to it being them against the world in a heartbeat. Niko had already seen that a few times as Bas and Gretchen had put aside their differences and dealt with someone who they found particularly offensive with absolutely shocking speed.
That also resulted in Gretchen spending most meals with the fourth-year students. Everyone joked about how she needed to have friends her own age, but it was okay because they had needed a mascot. Niko knew that she had friends her own age but liked to be around Niko and Bas whenever she got the chance. However, it was a joke that everyone laughed at.
The talk had however turned to Frau Pavlichenko. She taught history, but the things they studied were different from years past. There were details that their textbooks overlooked or were not as cut and dry as they had been taught. Rote learning had always been the order of the day, learning dry facts and being able to repeat them on examination, what happened on what date. She wanted them to learn the “why” as well.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that there were a lot of rumors flying around about their new History Teacher. That she had been a Sniper in the Red Army and as a prisoner of war had been a head case who had landed in the University Clinic in Jena, which where many of the worst cases of Traumatic Stress got sent, before joining the Pioneer Corps.
Niko personally thought that most of those rumors were absurd.
For starters, during the Soviet War Snipers were seldom captured. Something that was doubly true if they were women. Niko had heard stories about how front-line troops would just tear them to pieces and their Officers would look the other way. As for her getting sent to Jena, if she was that bad off, how had she been allowed to join the Pioneers and teach in Wahlstatt?
Over the Mid-Atlantic Ocean
This wasn’t a flight that Kiki wanted to take. As far as she was concerned, her never setting foot again in South America would be better for everyone. Freddy, President Martínez of Argentina, and the Medical Service disagreed with her though. So, here she was on an overnight flight to Buenos Aires. At least they had seated her in First Class, so at least Kiki could be comfortable while she was unable to sleep. Ben was snoring softly in the seat beside her, and she didn’t have the first as to how he could be so comfortable aboard airplanes.
Instead, she was paging a magazine that had been left in the pouch in back of the seat in front of hers. It was typical tabloid trash, speculation about which actors and actresses were sleeping with each other, who had gotten themselves arrested, and other celebrity drivel. It was fortunate that the tabloid press considered Kiki’s family boring. It was something that got them left alone for the most part these days. After all, outside of the House of Hohenzollern who cared about Kiki’s niece Alex learning to ride a bicycle? Not when there was the latest scandal brewing in England whose Royalty were always a hot mess. Small wonder that Alberta had been so keen on marrying Michael. Prague might not be London, but Birdie seemed to prefer the former to the later. Not that the tabloid press wouldn’t have reason to cover Michael and Birdie in the near future. Kiki had noticed it while they had been in Munich, as Doctor and a woman she had more experience in certain matters than she would have liked. When they had finally gotten a chance to talk, Birdie had told Kiki the truth, but she had also said that she hadn’t known how to tell Michael and had not screwed up the courage yet.
She had told Birdie not to worry about it and to just say something the first chance she got. If Kiki knew nothing else, it was that her older brother would be over the Moon with the prospect of becoming a father.
Flipping to another page, Kiki cursed aloud. Earning a stern look from the woman sitting across the aisle from her. It was a recent picture of Nina playing with wooden blocks aboard the Epione, on the floor of the saloon the previous summer. Rauchbier was curled up less than a meter away, ostensibly sleeping, but his ears were perked up as he listened to everyone nearby. He had become extremely protective of Nina, needing little in the way of encouragement by Kiki and it was something that she liked to see.
As adorable as the picture was. It was part of a batch that was never intended for public consumption but for Kiki’s father. When Kiki got back to Berlin, she would need to have a few strong words with the Office of Royal Protocol over this this matter.