"Now, Raven, repeat after me. Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya!" Azazel said, pointing at the piece of paper he had before him.
Raven nodded. "Karinka-"
"No, ka-li-nka. L. Try again."
"Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya?" she said, hesitantly.
Azazel smiled. "Perfect. Now: V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya!"
Raven repeated it perfectly, confidence seeping into her voice. She glanced at Janos, who gave her a thumbs up.
"All right, do all of that again," Azazel said as he got her attention back to him.
"Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya!
V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka, moya!" The blue-skinned woman grinned at Azazel, eagerly waiting for his verdict.
Azazel grinned back. "That was beautiful, moya lyubou. That's repeated three more times, but let's move on to the next part. Pod sosnuyu, pod zelenoyu."
"Pod sosnuyu, pod zelenoyu," Raven repeated. She grabbed the lyric sheet away from Azazel and attempted the rest of the song. "Spat' polozhite vy menya, aaaay! Ay lyuli, lyuli, ay, lyuli, lyuli, spat' polozhite vy menya!" She looked up at her red-skinned boyfriend, who smiled and hugged her.
"That was perfect! I think that's it on Russian carols today, though. But I have one more thing. Ya lyublyu tebya."
Raven tilted her head. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
"That depends. What do you think it means?" Azazel asked, pulling back to look into her eyes.
The woman smiled, then leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "I think it means 'I love you'."
"Well-" Azazel gave her a quick kiss- "then you'd be right."