Baba looked with approval at Angelique. The young lady was quite beautiful, and would be bound to turn many heads tonight. Baba had already hatched her plan for the young lady, and she was perfectly certain everything would turn out just fine...<br/><br/>...if only Alexei would remember he was going to be a married man and keep his paws off this girl. She's had to watch very carefully.<br/><br/>But her plan was for Angelique to make a good impression on the court society, and then she would get Alexei, or perhaps the Czarina, to arrange a suitable marriage for the girl. Perhaps a nice lieutenant under Alexei's command. Yes, that would be perfect.<br/><br/>"Come," she said to Angelique in Russian, repeating the word she had used earlier, trying to start teaching the girl a few words to help her get by.<br/><br/>"Dinner," she added in French, then repeated the word in Russian, then repeated the whole sequence again. Seeing comprehension in the girl's eyes, she led her through the labyrinthine palace to the banquet hall, pointing out various words: Door, window, man, woman.<br/><br/>Baba brought her into the banquet hall where Nikolai and Dr. Yelkin had ended up again and were talking.<br/><br/>"Nikolai!" she barked. "Angelique is here. Doesn't she look good? I think she is just lovely. So pretty. She needs to make sure she gets a seat at your table. I'm leaving her in your charge so I can go back to the kitchens and make sure the rest of the cooks don't boil the soup and burn the pastries. Honestly, I am just one, weak old woman, and I have to do everything myself. Nincompoops all of them! Now, you make sure she also gets good helpings of everything, and introduce her to lots of nice people, especially lots of nice young men. I'd like to see her happily settled down with a nice young man. Someone with a nice bit of fortune and a lovely dacha out in the country where she can raise nice fat babies. Also, keep teaching her a few words of Russian. I've already started. Why you didn't think to start when you met her is beyond me. In any case, I'm leaving her with you, and if I see she doesn't have a good time tonight, you won't be seeing any of my borscht for a good long while. I'm trusting you, Nikolai!"<br/><br/>Baba gave Angelique's cheek a reassuring pinch, and she turned and bustled away, leaving a haggard Nikolai in her wake.<br/><br/>Luckily, Dr. Yelkin stepped up to the situation.<br/><br/>"You look absolutely lovely, tonight, Miss DeWarrenne," he said. "Allow me to bring you around to some of the important people here tonight and introduce you. I'm sure they will be instrumental in supporting your desire to remain here in Russia rather than return to your father, though, however, the final decision rests with Lord Romanov."