"I hate traditions," he/she mumbled...
“I hate traditions…” Nadya mumbled, pulling at the wide, starched collar of her festive dress. Aleksander winced in sympathy. “Why do we have to goooo?” she added, the last word drawn out in a pitiful whine.
It was the last Sunday before the winter solstice, which meant two things: one, a very public, very solemn mass with a length befitting the season, held at the cathedral, which, despite best efforts, remained finger-numbingly cold in winter, and two, giving out alms afterwards in front of the cathedral, probably for an even longer time than the mass, and in an even less comfortable temperature than in the pews. Two holiday traditions faithfully observed by the royal family, something their position required them to do—as the children were told repeatedly.
“Because,” Alina said with just a note of strain in her voice as she righted Taisiya’s misaligned buttons—getting all four girls ready to go was nerve-wracking—, “it’s our duty to help the people who are less fortunate than us, so they can have a nice holiday too.”
It was a thin explanation and Nadya noticed it too.
“Alright, but can’t we have some of the servants hand out the money at least?” she asked, still messing with her collar. “We have enough of them!”
Alina shot her a look. Not, not just a look, but one of those looks. The kind that would have made any less feisty child cower. “Nadezhda,” she said, her tone a warning in itself, “show some respect. And remember, you are a princess—it’s not just a privilege…”
“...But a responsibility too,” Nadya finished the oft-heard sentence less than enthusiastically. “I know,” then, added in a whisper once Alina turned her back on her, “but I still don’t want to go.”
“Don’t look so miserable now,” Aleksander said, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder and shepherding her towards the door, right after her mother and sisters. “It won’t be so bad. And once we get back, we can get a little treat, what do you say?”
Nadya’s eyes lit up. “Hot chocolate? And gingerbread? Sitting on the floor by the fireplace?”
“Isn’t that what we do every year after the holiday mass?” Aleksander smiled indulgently.
“Oh, I love when we do that.”
Aleksander could barely contain a chuckle. “So you don’t hate traditions after all?”Nadya frowned in the most adorable way. “I don’t hate all of them.”
