White Wolf Read-Along: Chapter Six

Sasha was nineteen, and foolish enough to think his life would always be his.

In 1942, after the Battle of Moscow, Soviet leadership began conscripting young men and women from Siberia to refill the decimated ranks of the Red Army. The sad truth is, even if Nik and co. hadn't ventured to retrieve Sasha, he would have wound up a soldier regardless. 

It's hard to imagine, even as someone living in the United States, the incredible vastness of Siberia. It's true that they did, and do, think of themselves as "free," compared to their fellow Russians. The tsars largely left them to their own devices, and even the Bolsheviks failed to bring them under the boot heel the way they did with western Russia and the steppe lands. The weather's brutal, summers and winters severe in extremes, with short-lived springs and falls. But they were far removed from the revolutionary politics of Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Stalingrad (now Volgograd), and Sasha's attitude reflects this. He's not known the starvation and subjugation of urban Russians, and that furthers his already-natural sunny disposition. 

In this chapter, Sasha "meets," or is accosted by, rather, Nikita's strike team of Chekists. He obviously has no fine feelings about Nikita, but he notices him.

A few years older than Sasha, dark-haired, snowflakes melting on his jacket, his eyes hard and blue-gray. His face was handsome, but cruel. Shut up like a summer dacha, revealing nothing.

I tend to be what George R.R. Martin calls a "gardener" when it comes to writing long-form book series. I let relationships develop organically, and this oftentimes leads me away from an initial idea, and toward a more natural romantic pairing. As a character grows, so too does my idea of what a happily ever after might look like for them. 

But in this case, I planned for Nik and Sasha to end up together from the very beginning. It was just a sloooooow burn. I wonder how many people suspected that's what I was doing, or if it came as a surprise as the series unfolded. 

Sasha also meets Philippe, and is rightly suspicious of him.

His smile made Sasha think of the hunt, the moment of stillness when the sights were leveled and the trigger finger was ready. The held breath before the shot.

The Chekists were in the business of searching homes, confiscating valuables and daily staples alike, and raping wives and daughters. There's no way Sasha can refuse to go along with them, and he and his parents both know this. So does Philippe, which is why he uses fear to manipulate them.

"I don't think I have to tell you that they are not gentle men."

It's a quick peek into Nik's POV, but we see his extreme guilt complex at work. At this point, he just wants out, no matter what shape that takes.

This line of work would get him killed one day.
And it would be a relief. 

I got such a kick out of writing this first meeting knowing where the characters would end up down the road. Knowing that things get better, and that they find a little slice of happiness amidst the crazy. Also knowing how abrupt, frightening, and seemingly careless this meeting is, and how important they'll be to one another later.