Nika picks herself up. She’s not going to have a panic attack over a boy. Or at least, leaning against the well, she’s going to try.

“So you, you’re Mikhail?” She finally addresses the brother with a scarred face.

“Oh no no no, what has Joseph told you?” Realization lights in his eyes. He draws more water from the well and hands it to her.

“I am Mikhail Alexeieff, brother to Joseph Alexeieff.” He looks back at the burning house, and it seems to put him at a loss for words. She sips the water and takes slow breaths. Finally, they both gather themselves.

“There is someone you should meet, while I tell our story.” He offers a hand, but she stands on her own. Walking carefully around the flames, the apparent real Mikhail leads her in the opposite direction of his brother.

He apologizes as they squeeze into a small tent under the stars. Clearly made for one person, they have to sit side by side. Distracted by the awkwardness, Nika is completely surprised when something ticklish brushes against her hand.

She shrieks, pulling her arm away from a white mouse. The creature sits upright on its back legs, looking at her curiously.

“Nika, this is the girl that changed everything.” Mikhail reaches out a hand, and the mouse steps up daintily. Up close, she can see a gold ring on one of its front paws. So the girl isn’t dead after all, simply cursed another way. But- does Joseph know? Had the grief in his eyes just been another act? Hopefully, Mikhail’s story will give her some answers. But first, she want to know:

“What’s her name?” What is the name of the girl two brothers would fight over for a century?

“Ivanika.” He gives a soft, sad smile.

That does it, Nika changes her mind. She hates fairy tales.

The cursed mouse-girl turns toward Mikhail. With a tilt of her head, she seems to ask, “What is she doing here?”.

“This is the other Nika, the one with the wishes.” The boy explains. Great, this is going to get confusing fast. He turns toward her, speaking gravely. “Joseph was right. I am going to ask you for a wish. But first, I want you to know why.”

Almost one hundred years ago, two aristocratic boys fell in love with the same girl. Their parents had set sights on her dowry when they were toddlers, and insisted the three spend every possible moment together. They became a band of troublemakers, infuriating the groundskeepers with their trampling, terrorizing the cooks with their pilfering, and horrifying the guests with their roughhousing. It seemed nothing could separate them, until Mikhail came of age and was sent away for officer’s training. In the two years before it was Joseph’s turn, the younger brother became more and more convinced that the time he had alone with Nika made him the favorite brother. What he did not know, was that the girl continuously sent letters to Mikhail, and time apart had not changed her choice.

Before she could bring herself to tell him, he too was sent to the military. Focused on their training, competition over Nika was set aside for camaraderie. Mikhail continued to receive letters, while Joseph wrote and was given sparse replies. But the secret held, and trouble would not brew between them until 1917.

As young officers from a wealthy family, both brothers were kept away from the front lines in the Great War. They saw fighting from a distance, waiting nervously for the front to break and the enemy to charge. Joseph became impatient for battle, while Mikhail was glad it rarely came.

Then violence struck much closer to home. The February Revolution saw the overthrow of a dynasty that had stood for hundreds of years, and many of the aristocracy became nervous of their place in the Provisional government. The boys’ mother suddenly became intensely interested in reconnecting with her Austrian relatives, war or no war. And when that intensely unpopular war continued, unrest turned to action among the lower classes. With the attempted burning of their home, the Alexeieff family knew they were no longer welcome in Russia. Before taking refuge among Austrian nobility, Mikhail proposed to Ivanika. He promised to return once the country settled.

The younger brother was furious when he heard the news. He insisted on dueling for her hand, begged her to reconsider. Both parties refused. Heartbroken, he spoke not a word during his time in Austria, unless to argue at every small possibility that it was time to return.

“Soon, surely,” He persuaded his parents, “Everything will be as it was.”

October, 1917. Nothing would ever be as it once was. The monarchy was dead. All over Russia, city after city embraced a new ideology that promised change. Joseph could not wait any longer. He left without a word, but his brother knew to where: the White Army.

For months, Mikhail followed his parents’ wishes and waited for Nika’s family in Austria. News of more and more defeats reached him, until he too lost patience. He left for the Crimea, hoping to find his brother and betrothed alive.

Something had happened to Joseph, in the year of brutal battles. After finding the White Army camp, Mikhail heard tale after tale of his ruthless bravery. He also heard low curses for the deserter, who had left for Southern Europe with his love. In his searching, he tracked the pair to the Balkan mountains.

“I witnessed magic for the first time on those snowy heights.” As Mikhail says something interesting again, Nika snaps to attention. He had sounded a little too much like her history teacher, and with only a few hours sleep she had started to nod off.

“A red fox spoke to me, or it seemed to. With a tilt of its head, I knew exactly what it meant.” The same way he talked to the other Nika, who had fallen asleep curled in his coat pocket.

“It lead me to my brother, and I believe the fox led him to what I found as well.” For the first time, Nika sees him truly angry- caught up in the memory. A shift in his pocket distracts him as the mouse-girl walks onto his knee.

“Let me finish the story.” The words appear in Nika’s head as an obvious answer, even though the other Ivanika did nothing but look her way. Mikhail received the message as well, nodding his head.

“The fox did lead us to a hidden cave. Joseph had asked it for a way to win the war.” The mouse, with no human expressions, appears regretful. “It told us a riddle:

Take the sword,

To cut all in twain

While your heart blackens

Till nought remains

Take the ring

To open the mind,

Leave man’s troubles

Far behind

Take the box

Lock away time’s troubles

Be stopped at the gates

Watch all turn to rubble

A sword of power, a ring of wisdom, and a box of time. However, it was clear from the riddle that each had a price.

“I thought Joseph would take the sword first. But he gave me the ring. He insisted, had been insisting since he rescued my family, since he became a hero.” The other Nika looks away. “I was grateful, even just as a friend.”

Mikhail picks up where she left off. “I found him with the sword, and Nika gone. He was shouting for her, and looked like he had been burned. When I asked him what had happened, he told me to open the box.” He says the words with disgust for his brother’s betrayal. “We fought, and he ran off without explanation. Nika had to tell me, when I found her in the snow.” The mouse and the boy look at each other with such affection that Nika almost blushes herself. Love is strange, particularly when curses are involved.

“Will you help us?” The mouse-girl turns toward her. It’s been a long night, and Nika knows she would be more invested if she’d had some coffee. Even so, she knows what her well-rested answer will be.

“Yes. In the morning.” She watches tiredly as the two give each other small, hopeful smiles. Again, magic is weird, since mice can’t smile. As if anything from the last few days had made much sense. Too exhausted to be embarrassed, Nika lies down in the tiny tent. She’s asleep before Mikhail can give her a blanket.