It was heart-wrenching. At least for Svetlana. She had missed this. She'd focused on her daughters in that time. Had dealt with her family. Dealt with the neighbors. Dealt with the questions and abuse. The blackmail and pain. She had lost this part of her. The part who could make teasing remarks via sarcastic quips. While their humor was different, it went well together. Just like they did. Like they always had. As Anatoly examined her hair, Svetlana merely quirked a brow and sipped her tea. She knew the look so she wasn't offended at all. Still, he was the one that started this with his gaze of stone comment. She just went with it.
"Perhaps you just imagined it. I am certain I didn't brush any snakes this morning."
While most might not understand how their humor went, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that it was seemingly a normal conversation, their tone light and conversational. True people would be more confused if they understood the words being spoken but still. That was part of the fun. Goodness knew they confused Mikhail enough. Erik would just roll his eyes and mutter before leaving the room and Dmitri would smirk.
Still, while heart wrenching that it had been five years since they'd had a conversation similar to this one, Svetlana was thankful that it was still possible. Just as it had been possible for them to read a chess board. Building blocks. Serious conversations had to take place, but if there was no basis for it, no ground work, it would do no good. They had to be comfortable around one another. Able to read one another, otherwise it would explode in their faces and everything they were working on would be ruined.