Anastasiya shrugged as he took the weapon. "A family name is given, everything else must be earned. It would hardly be fair of me to judge you based upon what has been given." She had seen one too many sons of great men fall short. "Papa had only bragged about your scholarly ways, but I suppose you are more than that." Anastasiya watched the man disassemble, and then reassemble. She smiled again. "We will have to go shooting sometime."

She walked to stand beside Nikolai and picked up a different pistol, resuming what she had been doing. When she had been much younger her father had understood it so well - that politics came out of the barrel of a gun, nothing else. Then people grew rich and they grew [i]soft[/i], and weapons grew rusty. Anastasiya was the only one who comes to this room now.

At the question she turned her body to face Nikolai again.

"I hear we are to be wed." She answered, but it was also a question. Did he want to be wed? Why wasn't he already?