Stars and Moonflowers in Our Garden(Rusame)

Chapter Nine: A Note and Lessons

Russia was woken up, not by his dad, not on his own, but by the cawing of a crow. The crow was saying something, and he wasn't awake enough to understand what it was saying yet. He yawned quietly. 

"I'm up, I'm up" he said, rubbing his face. 

"Papa! Papa! Wake up Papa!" The crow cawed. 

"I'm up, I'm up Samuel." He said, still flustered by the bird calling him 'Papa'. 

"Dad said bring thing to you. So I bring now" the crow cawed, flying over to him. 

Samuel dropped a paper that was rolled up and tied with a purple ribbon. 

Russia smiled a bit and picked up the note, gently removing the ribbon. He then started to read the note. 

Hey Russia! 
Sorry about yesterday, I would've liked to spend more time with you yesterday. But, my help was needed! 
Just know, my invitation still stands, should you want to just want to show up in my office again.
The magical incident was not fun to deal with, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. The person responsible for it is lucky my friend, Japan, got to them before I did. 
But anyway, I just wanted to make sure you know I'm okay. I don't want you to worry about the fallout of the magical incident, as everything is fine. 
Talk to you later! 

-America 

Russia smiled a bit at that and put the note on his bedside table. He pet Samuel gently and got up, stretching a bit. 

"Tell America I said thank you for worrying about me." Russia said to the crow with a smile. "And that I'm taking him up on that offer on my next free day." 

Samuel tipped his head and cawed. 

"Will tell Dad Papa says thank you. Will tell Dad Papa visits again soon." the crow cawed before flying away. 

"Call me Russia-" He called after the crow. 

"Papa is Papa." The crow cawed back, sounding quieter by the moment. 

He knew that, for now, convincing the crow to call him his name was a futile effort. That didn't mean that he wouldn't still try to convince the crow to call him Russia. 

He sat at the desk and started writing. He was happy he knew America as himself and now Nyx. He hoped that asking how America thought of him wasn't too far. He didn't want to reveal who he was yet, he hoped that poking around like this wouldn't affect America's thoughts of him. 

He had a couple guesses on what America was based on the little information he had. So he decided to write them, it couldn't hurt. Maybe he was right about one of them! He decided he'd save his guesses for the end of his letter. 

He actually managed to finish the letter before his dad came in to make sure he was up. Once the ink was dry, he carefully folded it up and put it in an envelope. He happily wrote "From Nyx, to Aku" on the back of the envelope. 

Russia left the letter on his desk as he went to get a proper outfit. He dug through his clothes and pulled out a blue and white sweater, a pair of shorts. He got dressed, then decided to put his hair up then put in his ushanka. 

Then he walked back to his desk, grabbing the envelope and moving it into his pocket. He hummed and cleaned up the workspace before he left his room. When he was leaving, he ran into his dad. 

"Uhm... Доброе утро папа" He said quietly, not sure how he'd explain getting up this early. 
(*Good morning dad) 

Luckily for him, his father didn't ask about it and just shrugged. He just headed down to the dining area, ready to have breakfast with the rest of his siblings. 

He was the second one there, which was surprising. It immediately got less surprising when he saw that he'd been writing for about an hour, and that it was now 7:54. 

Breakfast was quiet as it usually was, most of his siblings were still waking up. 

After that, he made his way to his first task of the day, a language class. It was long, and a bit boring to him. 

He found himself hoping that his teacher might move on from English soon, he wanted to learn whatever language America had spoken before. He was curious, and wanted to understand what he said the next time he spoke in it. He found his mind wandering about it, but tried to reign it in so he could focus on the class. 

Thankfully, he was able to reign the thoughts in before his teacher noticed him having trouble focusing. He refocused and read what was on the board, jotting it down quickly. 

The class seemed to bore on forever, but eventually ended. He knew it was only an hour and a half, but it felt like an eternity. 

After that, he had about thirty minutes where he could do what he wanted. Then he had something else to do. 

He decided to head outside, making his way to the Chamomile flowers that were under his window. Once there, he happily took a seat next to them, and took the envelope from his pocket and checked the flowers before he carefully slipped it under them. He then relaxed, leaning against the castle wall. The smell of Chamomile was relaxing, and made him feel light and happy. 

As he relaxed, he felt himself smiling, his thoughts had drifted to America and how he was. He found himself feeling curious about what America was doing right now. He knew he wasn't in his office, so what was he doing? He let his mind wander for the rest of his break. Once it was over, he found himself pouting a little as he got up and walked off to his next class. It was a dance class, where he was learning how to lead. He was also picking up the footing for someone not leading. It wasn't something he was supposed to be consciously picking up, but he was anyway. As he did, he found himself wondering about who might dance with him eventually.