Ekaterina
Ekaterina walked in with a smirk and dusted her hands. "Well then, it looks like I'll be collecting the rest of Lady Vyrubova's money tomorrow."
The afternoon was a good afternoon. She had found Potyomkin's letter from two months ago, when he wasn't sick and was telling her of his conquests and dreams for their empire. A headache throbbed warningly. I'm getting old, and I don't like it one bit. Ekaterina wished she could ride her horse like she used to and ride to where her beloved was. But that didn't matter right now.
As she briskly walked to the corner of the amber-laced room, her hawk-like paranoia forced her to make sure nobody was around before she opened the drawer. What is this? Her collection of memoirs, sketches and notes was in disarray."How...?!" She closed the drawer slowly, and
sat on a plush chair, retracing through her memories. The only time she had visited this room was a week ago, when she had held a ball. Frowning, Ekaterina forced herself to think harder. Was there anybody who avoided her eye? Anybody who entered the room after her? Her eyes opened wide. Yes, there was someone - a servant girl, who had bumped into her. Her eyes became as wide as those huge dinner plates for roast turkey, and she was so terrified, that she just stood trembling for a second with the expression of a slapped fish, before she bolted. Ekaterina had been so amused that she didn't even notice that the girl had ran into the Amber Room. But there's no way that that girl could have...?Either way, someone knew about her hiding place now, and her writings were no longer safe. Her plans after her reign were in danger. She opened the drawer and looked at the pile of paper. Her lips pursed in determination. The Amber Room then watched in horrified fascination, as the Empress of Russia proceeded to fit folded sheets of paper under her heavy folds of her dress.
~*~
"Ah, may I be so bold to inquire if the Empress is busy?"
Imbecile! Ekaterina smiled pleasantly, not forgetting the rustling paper underneath the brocade dress. "Is there a problem?"
The ambassador returned the smile, his collar high and his bow so low it mocked her. "Indeed, madam. It seems that there is an issue of embezzlement. Lady Mashka accuses Duke Derevenko of this crime. This will endanger Russia's relationship with-"
"Monsieur, I advise you not to take one step outside for the rest of your life, or the birds will dive for that peabrain of yours. Otherwise, you may find the desire to read the Nakaz, if in ever you would like breathe spring air again."
With a turn of her head, she strode past him. Not a few steps past him, a stray note crumpled and rolled along the floor, a few feet away from both of them. They dived.
Their hands clenched at both ends of the wrinkled paper and Ekaterina's eyes narrowed at Monsieur du Baroe's gleeful snicker. "Angering the Empress is not something that will impress anyone, Monsieur. Indeed the only person impressed will be God, but that will not save you from a slow painful death. You don't happen to have a shvibzik servant girl, do you?"
The ambassador frowned, trying to decipher why having a shvibzik servant suddenly became so outrageous. So he doesn't know. Ekaterina ground her heel into the man's toes and ripped the note from his fingers. Hands to her mouth, "Oh my! Are you alright, Monsieur?" The ambassador grunted, his hands clutching his foot.
"Oh dear. You sound like you need some help. The doctor's office is in the east wing, just the opposite direction, I'm afraid. If you take the long route around instead of the courtyard, I'm sure you'll be safe from the birds though."
~*~
Alecksia was special, and she knew it. All the people she knew hated her for it, all except for her uncle. He wasn't really her uncle, but he told her to call him that. He was the one who taught her her power, in the first place. He always reminded her that the power was rare and valuable, something that once learnt will never be forgotten.
She never really had to opportunity to use it, because she normally worked in the kitchen and helped the older servants with cleaning. But sometimes, when she was feeling daring, she would take a peek at the books and papers on some Count's desk and exercise her power. Her power was rather insignificant, but it was there. When she looked at the inked script, she could make out this shape and another shape. Once, after months of peeking at that Count's papers, she got caught by Mashka, the woman who looked after all the servants in the cleaning headquarters. Alecksia had gotten an awful beating for that. After that, she was more discreet, but didn't try to try to look at people's writings as often as before.
There was one exception. On the day that she had bumped into the Empress - oh goodness, Mashka would have killed her - she had run into the Amber Room, a place where people claimed was the Empress' domain. If you went in there, you had the Empress' wrath to face. Alecksia didn't even notice until after five minutes of frantically praying that she would be spared. It was beautiful. The walls were an amber spider’s web, with
golden dew drops along the delicate lines. She traced the lines with her fingers, loving the smooth feel. She was three-quarters down the right wall, when she stepped on a few sheets of paper. She picked it up, and found, to her delight, that there was writing on it. Furthermore, the characters were rivers flowing ink in graceful in curves. Just looking at it made her wonder how elegant this person would be in real life. Alecksia could make out a lot of the words now, and this writing was very intelligent. It then dawned on Alecksia that it was this was the writing of the Empress, who had just left the room. She couldn’t let anyone find her here, reading the Empress’s
writing! Racing to her room, she couldn’t tell whether if the ball in her stomach was dread or excitement.
~*~
Phew. She finally made it. Avoiding people was harder than Ekaterina had thought. She had taken a whole half hour to just to walk from one end of a corridor to another, interrupted every two minutes to address some problem or another - someone even asked her to find Count Festuzhav's hunting hat. How ridiculous can they get? To ask the Empress herself! The ladies and men of the court were becoming cretins faster than she thought.
Having locked the door to her chambers, Ekaterina carefully collected the sheets of paper from her dress. She took a square box, designed with dull orange and gold patterns painted unto the wood. Ekaterina placed the papers into box and locked it with a key disguised as a hair brooch, a wedding gift from her late mother. It was almost ironic how her mother helped her daughter keep her secrets, but never her own.
Now, with the memoir drafts safe, Ekaterina needed to deal with that servant girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Side notes:
Shvibzik – imp
Nakaz – The Instruction of Catherine II
The afternoon was a good afternoon. She had found Potyomkin's letter from two months ago, when he wasn't sick and was telling her of his conquests and dreams for their empire. A headache throbbed warningly. I'm getting old, and I don't like it one bit. Ekaterina wished she could ride her horse like she used to and ride to where her beloved was. But that didn't matter right now.
As she briskly walked to the corner of the amber-laced room, her hawk-like paranoia forced her to make sure nobody was around before she opened the drawer. What is this? Her collection of memoirs, sketches and notes was in disarray."How...?!" She closed the drawer slowly, and
sat on a plush chair, retracing through her memories. The only time she had visited this room was a week ago, when she had held a ball. Frowning, Ekaterina forced herself to think harder. Was there anybody who avoided her eye? Anybody who entered the room after her? Her eyes opened wide. Yes, there was someone - a servant girl, who had bumped into her. Her eyes became as wide as those huge dinner plates for roast turkey, and she was so terrified, that she just stood trembling for a second with the expression of a slapped fish, before she bolted. Ekaterina had been so amused that she didn't even notice that the girl had ran into the Amber Room. But there's no way that that girl could have...?Either way, someone knew about her hiding place now, and her writings were no longer safe. Her plans after her reign were in danger. She opened the drawer and looked at the pile of paper. Her lips pursed in determination. The Amber Room then watched in horrified fascination, as the Empress of Russia proceeded to fit folded sheets of paper under her heavy folds of her dress.
~*~
"Ah, may I be so bold to inquire if the Empress is busy?"
Imbecile! Ekaterina smiled pleasantly, not forgetting the rustling paper underneath the brocade dress. "Is there a problem?"
The ambassador returned the smile, his collar high and his bow so low it mocked her. "Indeed, madam. It seems that there is an issue of embezzlement. Lady Mashka accuses Duke Derevenko of this crime. This will endanger Russia's relationship with-"
"Monsieur, I advise you not to take one step outside for the rest of your life, or the birds will dive for that peabrain of yours. Otherwise, you may find the desire to read the Nakaz, if in ever you would like breathe spring air again."
With a turn of her head, she strode past him. Not a few steps past him, a stray note crumpled and rolled along the floor, a few feet away from both of them. They dived.
Their hands clenched at both ends of the wrinkled paper and Ekaterina's eyes narrowed at Monsieur du Baroe's gleeful snicker. "Angering the Empress is not something that will impress anyone, Monsieur. Indeed the only person impressed will be God, but that will not save you from a slow painful death. You don't happen to have a shvibzik servant girl, do you?"
The ambassador frowned, trying to decipher why having a shvibzik servant suddenly became so outrageous. So he doesn't know. Ekaterina ground her heel into the man's toes and ripped the note from his fingers. Hands to her mouth, "Oh my! Are you alright, Monsieur?" The ambassador grunted, his hands clutching his foot.
"Oh dear. You sound like you need some help. The doctor's office is in the east wing, just the opposite direction, I'm afraid. If you take the long route around instead of the courtyard, I'm sure you'll be safe from the birds though."
~*~
Alecksia was special, and she knew it. All the people she knew hated her for it, all except for her uncle. He wasn't really her uncle, but he told her to call him that. He was the one who taught her her power, in the first place. He always reminded her that the power was rare and valuable, something that once learnt will never be forgotten.
She never really had to opportunity to use it, because she normally worked in the kitchen and helped the older servants with cleaning. But sometimes, when she was feeling daring, she would take a peek at the books and papers on some Count's desk and exercise her power. Her power was rather insignificant, but it was there. When she looked at the inked script, she could make out this shape and another shape. Once, after months of peeking at that Count's papers, she got caught by Mashka, the woman who looked after all the servants in the cleaning headquarters. Alecksia had gotten an awful beating for that. After that, she was more discreet, but didn't try to try to look at people's writings as often as before.
There was one exception. On the day that she had bumped into the Empress - oh goodness, Mashka would have killed her - she had run into the Amber Room, a place where people claimed was the Empress' domain. If you went in there, you had the Empress' wrath to face. Alecksia didn't even notice until after five minutes of frantically praying that she would be spared. It was beautiful. The walls were an amber spider’s web, with
golden dew drops along the delicate lines. She traced the lines with her fingers, loving the smooth feel. She was three-quarters down the right wall, when she stepped on a few sheets of paper. She picked it up, and found, to her delight, that there was writing on it. Furthermore, the characters were rivers flowing ink in graceful in curves. Just looking at it made her wonder how elegant this person would be in real life. Alecksia could make out a lot of the words now, and this writing was very intelligent. It then dawned on Alecksia that it was this was the writing of the Empress, who had just left the room. She couldn’t let anyone find her here, reading the Empress’s
writing! Racing to her room, she couldn’t tell whether if the ball in her stomach was dread or excitement.
~*~
Phew. She finally made it. Avoiding people was harder than Ekaterina had thought. She had taken a whole half hour to just to walk from one end of a corridor to another, interrupted every two minutes to address some problem or another - someone even asked her to find Count Festuzhav's hunting hat. How ridiculous can they get? To ask the Empress herself! The ladies and men of the court were becoming cretins faster than she thought.
Having locked the door to her chambers, Ekaterina carefully collected the sheets of paper from her dress. She took a square box, designed with dull orange and gold patterns painted unto the wood. Ekaterina placed the papers into box and locked it with a key disguised as a hair brooch, a wedding gift from her late mother. It was almost ironic how her mother helped her daughter keep her secrets, but never her own.
Now, with the memoir drafts safe, Ekaterina needed to deal with that servant girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Side notes:
Shvibzik – imp
Nakaz – The Instruction of Catherine II
Summary/Explanation
This story is a small excerpt of a short story. Basically, in the short story, Alecksia will learn about Ekaterina’s true character, from her raw memoirs and meeting Ekaterina herself. After Ekaterina dies a while after hearing about Potemkin’s death, Alecksia becomes the ‘custodian’ of the knowledge of Ekaterina’s true self which she could not show to anyone else but Alecksia and Potemkin, due to her status as Empress. These
events are not shown in this excerpt. This short story relates to my question of 'What is Catherine the Great’s true character, and how is she portrayed in her memoirs?’ because it reveals my perception of Catherine’s true character and how she is portrayed in her raw memoirs (from Alecksia’s point of view). In this presentation, I show Catherine’s other ‘faces’ that she has in court, to her people, to her rivals, and to the people close to her – in this case, Alecksia and Potemkin (who is only shown in the short story through letters).
In this short story, I show Catherine as a witty and clever woman, who took advantage of her perceptiveness to manipulate others for her desires. She has many desires such as instigating reforms and introducing Enlightenment, and particularly, in this short story, her desire to have a positive legacy for her people. This desire to have a positive legacy is later shown in the short story, when Catherine chooses to show Alecksia her true self, without the embellishment of a ‘reflective and heroic’ personality displayed in the published version of Catherine’s memoirs. She wants Alecksia to tell the people she knows of how much Catherine wanted to help the Russian people – but was unable to do so because ‘working on human skin is much more difficult than on paper’ (paraphrased quote from Catherine). Alecksia then becomes the form of the ‘raw memoirs’, only oral. In this way, I answered the question of “How is Catherine shown in her memoirs, and to whom is the
memoirs meant for?” The published memoirs were intended to ensure that there was a positive perspective of Catherine and her contributions to the Russian empire. They were intended for educated scholars, because after her death, they would be the people analyzing whether she was a good Empress. Thus, in order to demonstrate to her people that she was a good Empress, Catherine wants to show her true character to a person, where they can decide and realize that all she has done was for the people’s best interests.
I also answered the question of “How authentic is Catherine portrayed in her memoirs?”; where I believe that Catherine is not as authentic as she is in her writing. I want the reader to believe that Catherine was indeed a person with noble values, but not a superficial person. Thus through Alecksia’s perspective, I manipulate the reader to see Catherine’s positive personality traits and her ambition for the greater good of her people.
events are not shown in this excerpt. This short story relates to my question of 'What is Catherine the Great’s true character, and how is she portrayed in her memoirs?’ because it reveals my perception of Catherine’s true character and how she is portrayed in her raw memoirs (from Alecksia’s point of view). In this presentation, I show Catherine’s other ‘faces’ that she has in court, to her people, to her rivals, and to the people close to her – in this case, Alecksia and Potemkin (who is only shown in the short story through letters).
In this short story, I show Catherine as a witty and clever woman, who took advantage of her perceptiveness to manipulate others for her desires. She has many desires such as instigating reforms and introducing Enlightenment, and particularly, in this short story, her desire to have a positive legacy for her people. This desire to have a positive legacy is later shown in the short story, when Catherine chooses to show Alecksia her true self, without the embellishment of a ‘reflective and heroic’ personality displayed in the published version of Catherine’s memoirs. She wants Alecksia to tell the people she knows of how much Catherine wanted to help the Russian people – but was unable to do so because ‘working on human skin is much more difficult than on paper’ (paraphrased quote from Catherine). Alecksia then becomes the form of the ‘raw memoirs’, only oral. In this way, I answered the question of “How is Catherine shown in her memoirs, and to whom is the
memoirs meant for?” The published memoirs were intended to ensure that there was a positive perspective of Catherine and her contributions to the Russian empire. They were intended for educated scholars, because after her death, they would be the people analyzing whether she was a good Empress. Thus, in order to demonstrate to her people that she was a good Empress, Catherine wants to show her true character to a person, where they can decide and realize that all she has done was for the people’s best interests.
I also answered the question of “How authentic is Catherine portrayed in her memoirs?”; where I believe that Catherine is not as authentic as she is in her writing. I want the reader to believe that Catherine was indeed a person with noble values, but not a superficial person. Thus through Alecksia’s perspective, I manipulate the reader to see Catherine’s positive personality traits and her ambition for the greater good of her people.