Two weeks passed since Anastasia had made it to Livadia Palace.

Andrei finally returned to Ekaterinburg as the sun's golden rays left the sky.

"Andrei!" Dasia leaped out of her bedroom when hearing him return to her house. "Andrei! Oh my, Andrei!"

"What's happened to your face?" she exclaimed as she hugged him. Andrei had a red cut traveling down his face from his forehead to the middle of his cheek.

"I am alright, Auntie," he mumbled as he unlaced his boots. "Only ran into a bit of trouble on my way."

Dasia ran to her bedroom and returned with a aid kit. She bandaged his face, sat him down by the fire, and gave him soup to eat.

"Did Anastasia make it home?" Dasia asked, pulling up a seat next to him.

"I'm sure she has."

"Whatever do you mean?"

Andrei told her Anastasia had to go on without him. "I...love her. I just couldn't let her go..."

"Does she love you back?"

"No. We are just friends to her."

Dasia comforted him as she laid Andrei's head on her shoulder. He knew he was too old to be babied yet he let her as he felt safe and comforted when with her.

"I have something for you." Dasia handed her nephew an unopened letter. She hoped it would make him feel better. "From Anastasia."

Andrei ripped the envelope open. A smile appeared on his face as his eyes followed each sentence.

"What does it say?" Dasia asked.

"She has made it to the palace safely. Maria Romanov has also survived. Both girls are safe."

"Thank god." Dasia crossed herself.

lAnastasia thanks you again for letting her stay and wrote that Natayla's necklace is still around her neck."

Dasia let a smile sweep across her face but then quickly let it fade. Oh, Natayla. Oh, sweet sweet Natayla.

"I am going to bed now." Andrei handed Dasia his empty bowl and kissed her cheek.

"Sleep well."

All that Dasia heard in return was Andrei's bedroom door slam shut.

All was well at Livadia Palace.

The two Romanov sisters were finally together. The cold October days slowly went on, some with the press crowded outside the palace gates several times, hoping to catch a view of the ex-grand duchesses. News of their survival had broke out and was confirmed to true. On one occasion, the sisters watched the men from a window in front of a tree in their father's study.

"Mashka!" Anastasia watched her sister bat her eyes at one of the press members.

She knew what her sister was doing. Maria had always been the flirt of the family. She had always claimed as a child and still now that she would marry a Russian soldier and have twenty children.

"You can't even flirt in a time like this! The men can't even see you!" Anastasia giggled. "Should we go out so we can give the press what they've been waiting for?"

"Nastasia! Are you crazy!? Get away from there." Maria scoffed, leaving the window. That was the end of that question.

"Don't be so bossy, Mashka." Anastasia griped.

November passed with some of the best news Maria and Anastasia had heard in their entire lives. It was announced when the girls went outside to meet Sister Sonya for their daily food. As they waited, they both heard screaming and yelling coming from the town.

"What do you think is going on?" Maria asked her sister. Anastasia, who was anxious to see what was going on, started to climb the gates. At the top, she saw the people of the town celebrating in the streets. As she watched, she saw Sister Sonya rushing up the hill, basket in hand, as usual. Anastasia climbed down just in time to greet her.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, concerned.

"The war has ended! The fighting has stopped!" Sonya squealed. Maria and Anastasia erupted with cries of joy in a matter of seconds. It was true. The headline wrote it all. Four years of fighting. Four years of bloodshed. Four years of war, over at last.

All day you could hear the sound of crowds cheering and cannons being fired. All of Russia celebrated that day.

As night fell, the celebrations still carried on. The Yalta harbor was filled with boats lit up in lights. The air was warm while scented with sea salt. The sky was filled with pink, gold, and red as the sun descended behind the mountains.

At Livadia Palace, the family of three ate their dinner on the terrace as they watched the lit-up boats travel the water. There was even dancing for Anastasia had found her old gramophone in her father's study. As the music played, the sisters waltzed carelessly up and down the terrace, bumping into deck chairs as they spun, which made Grandmama laugh.

As it grew later into the night and celebrations from the town didn't seem to die down, Maria and Anastasia even had a few sips of wine from an old bottle that was found in the palace's cellar from years past.

It was early in the morning when all returned to their rooms.

"Oh, this is just simply wonderful! The war is finally over!" Maria collapsed onto her bed.

"Are you drunk, Mashka?" Anastasia snickered.

"Shvbys, no. I am happy. Things are finally returning to normal."

After saying that, Maria's smile disappeared. Both girls knew things were never going to be normal.

Their family was gone. Forever.

As Anastasia tried to sleep, she could still hear the sound of the celebration from town. She tossed and turned, pulling her pillow over her head to try to muffle the noise. That certainly didn't help. She wondered what life would have been like if her family was still alive now that the war was over.

They indeed would be freed from house arrest. Of course, they weren't royalty anymore but surely they'd be allowed to live at one of their royal residences? Would they live back at their beloved Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, or would they all live here in Crimea? The family had called it their paradise. It was merely as Olga once said:

"In St. Petersburg, we work, but at Livadia, we live."