When Vera heard about the tragic news of the deaths of Elena and Nikolai, she was deeply distraught. She sat on her cot and wept for both. They were like a beautiful candle of hope against all the ugliness war had brought with it. Villagers found Elena"s body and had her brought to the airfield. Elena was buried next to Nikolai in the forest where they first told each other of their love.
* * *
A couple of weeks later, after a long night of bombings, Vera climbed out of her shot up plane. Larissa and Rimma shook their heads at the bullet ridden condition of her plane.
“This is some welcome back, Comrade Ksenia,” Rimma shook her head. “I think this is a record for holes in your plane.”
“We will be up all-night making repairs on this,” Larissa said. “But you two will not be flying again
