Free will be a number of one-shot stories in different places of time but all sat between the end of Becoming Free and the Epilogue. I wanted to get some pre-children relationship stuff in somewhere.
Enjoy.
With Freya as her personal guard, Elsa could have her partner anywhere in the palace that she wanted. Just because she mostly wanted Freya in her bedroom was beside the point. If any of the staff or her family were to find her right now they would be scandalised. Though on second thoughts Kai and Gilda had probably seen it all before. Elsa was lying naked on her bed watching Freya dress; they had had an enjoyable night and now it was morning and time to be presentable.
"You should dress too." Freya said from her spot in front of the bed, pulling her trous up and fastening the belt. She had already bathed and was mostly dressed while Elsa had lazed on the bed.
"I was enjoying the view." Elsa said, biting her lip and waving a leg in the air.
"We're sailing in the afternoon Elsa." Freya pulled a blouse on but began to struggle with the right arm. Elsa was behind her and pulling it into place in moments. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Elsa didn't bother with the washroom and simply frosted and thawed herself quickly, it was an efficient way to clean up. She dressed from the clothes she had set out the night before and took one last look at their packed cases. " I need to finalise some paperwork before we go and I'd better spend some time with Anna."
"Yeah, she is nervous about us taking this trip; I already had to promise her about a dozen times that we will be coming back." Freya held open the door for Elsa to exit and the pair began the mental process of masking their more obvious relationship tells. It was fortunate both were disciplined or some of the less understanding staff would have discovered much more about their closeness than either woman wanted to be known.
The princess wasn't at breakfast, she hadn't gone out with the Ice Harvesters and her husband, she wasn't in the gallery. Elsa was beginning to worry when an aide arrived. "Your Highness, Princess Anna is at the ship." He was out of breath from running up from the harbour. "She has been a little out of sorts, if I may speak freely."
"Thank you, I'll speak with her there." Elsa hurried from the palace and grabbed Freya as she passed the woman in the hall.
"What's going on?" Freya kept pace easily.
"Anna is possibly causing chaos on the ship?" Elsa said as they approached the harbour and the vessel being loaded for their trip.
"No, I do not think it is safe enough!" A strident voice, Anna's voice, carried from the ship. Elsa and Freya exchanged a look of worry.
"Anna?" Elsa called her sister as she boarded. A coppery head appeared from a cabin door.
"Elsa. You can't sail, not today. The ship isn't right." Anna stamped over, hand on hips.
The Queen looked over at the captain and harbour master and both men shrugged. "Anna." Elsa placed a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "We're away for a week. We'll be fine and back before you know it. It's not even storm season."
"That's what they said." Anna replied morosely, clinging to the hand. "Do you have to go?"
"It is a little important Anna. We need to open trade routes further afield and with Corona as a partner we can make real progress. We'll get enough clout to keep anyone criticising us for limiting our business with Weselton." Elsa pulled Anna into a hug.
"Are you sure there won't be any storms?"
"If there are I'll just do the magic." Elsa smiled and set a little flurry snowing on them. "All those books that chased you away with sums and diagrams? Maths, Physics, Engineering... I know plenty enough to keep a boat upright in a storm and the power to back it up." She gave Anna a squeeze.
"You could do that." Anna conceded. "You'll only be gone a week?"
"Only a week."
"And I'll be there to keep her safe." Freya chipped in and was pulled into the embrace.
"Okay, you can go." Anna was a little teary eyed but smiling. "And I want presents."
That set all three of them laughing and Elsa led everyone off the ship for a light lunch before leaving.
Anna waved them off with Kai, Gerda and all the people with spare time who were bustling about the town. It always amazed Elsa just how valued she was by Arendelle. "Only a week." She repeated to herself. A day and a night sailing each way, no time at all really. No time sudden squalls surely.
Thunder boomed and the maelstrom hurled the ship about, wind fought for dominance.
Waves hove the boat to and fro as the vicious sky dropped rain like missiles upon the boat. In the stateroom Elsa shook with fear and the effort it took to keep her ice in, despite Freya being entirely wrapped around her. "Its fine Elsa, we'll be fine." Freya whispered smoothing the platinum hair against her cheek, her hand occupied with holding Elsa close.
"We need to be on deck." Elsa said, her first words since the storm hit.
"It will be too busy up there love, the sailors need the space to work." Freya pulled Elsa tighter.
"No, no… I need to be out there, I can freeze any wave, make this ship as stable as an iceberg to stop it tipping. Something… We have to go home to Anna, I promised." Elsa's voice was shaky but he began to stand despite the rocking of the ship.
Freya sighed, it was a logical idea, Elsa's parents had perished when their ship had been submerged by a freak wave, just a little more balance would have kept it upright and if the wave had become an iceberg they wouldn't have even got washed by it. "Alright, but if the captain sends us back down I am taking you back here." Freya stood with Elsa still in her arms and together they made their way above deck.
It was near to chaos on the ship as sailors ran about, tied with lines to prevent the water pulling them in as they kept watch for hazards to navigate through or past. "Your Majesty?" The captain shouted from the besides the wheel as he helped the wheelman turn away from another swell.
"Captain. I thought my powers could be of use." Elsa kept her voice calm and strong to be heard over the raging sea, her mask settled back into place.
"As you wish." The man called back, gesturing to the ocean and ordering a sailor to keep watch with the queen. Freya helped Elsa to a point of safety and fetched lines for them both. She was securing Elsa when a shout sounded out.
"Heave aft! A wave is coming! All hands secure yourselves!"
Freya hurried the knot to keep a rope around Elsa and began to work on her own line when the wave hit. It was large but not big enough to tip the ship, though water hurled over the deck with a great force.
Untied, Freya held onto her line with all her might until a burning pain seized her shoulder, her weakened right. The spasm it caused made her let go of the rope and her left could not cling hard enough. The line escaped her grasp. She heard Elsa shriek, felt the boat rail impact on her back, the free air rushing by her and the embrace of the roiling waters.
"MAN OVERBOARD!" The sailor stood with Elsa yelled.
"FREYA!" Elsa screamed. Her panic was setting ice around her feet, freezing the wash on the deck.
"I can't see anything!" A man near the rail Freya had toppled over shouted.
"Captain?" Elsa looked to the man, begging for positive news, tears mingling with the seawater that soaked her through.
"We can't keep in this area." He said it gravely, knowing well the chances in such a rough sea, already the force of the waves had propelled them far from where the wash had taken Freya. "We must sail on to Corona and send out a search vessel from there." Elsa fell to her knees, scaring the sailors on deck as she sobbed.
There was a loud wooden thump sound as a guard cut the rope of a lifeboat from the windlass, it fell into the sea. "We do not leave anyone without hope." The guard shouted, the castle force considered Freya one of their own. Elsa looked on grateful but still fearful for her partner.
"Very well." The captain nodded. "Please return below deck your majesty." He turned to a sailor near him, "Get a light, keep a look where she fell until it is out of sight." The man saluted and took up a lamp and to his post.
A guard took Elsa back to her stateroom, she was limp with grief, unresisting to the guiding hand. Her tears were frozen, her dress was frozen. Moments after reaching her bed the room was frozen.
They would reach Corona in the morning.
Black water was all around her, the sea rolling her around in its grasp. Freya kept calm and pushed herself in the direction she hoped was up. She was a strong swimmer despite her damaged arm; the lake in her old life had provided a pastime and exercise. Breeching the surface of the sea she gasped in a breath and trod water, looking around at the waves, the empty waves. 'The ship's been moved' was her thought, an edge of panic setting in.
A rope touched her hand, Freya looked to it and grabbed instinctively. It had something on the end of it from the weight when she tugged. Half swimming, half pulling herself Freya found the lifeboat and pulled herself on board. Already the sea was calming as the storm passed. "Oh gods, Elsa…" Freya felt tears prickle at her eyes and she lay back in the boat, ignoring the discomfort from the hard wood.
After composing herself Freya checked the boat and hauled the rope aboard. There were two oars strapped inside and a small cubby with a two day ration of water and food. A waxy packet of fat matches and three flares were tucked deep inside and a compass was hooked in the cubby door. "I'm stocked up anyway." Freya said to herself. She checked her clothes next. Still clad in the waistcoat and blouse, trous and boots though everything was wet. Her belt still had a knife on it and her seal. That would be useful, the leather and metal tab with her arms and the arms of Arendelle upon would get her free passage at least.
With the sea returning back to normal she sat back into the boat to wait for sunrise and a chance to get her bearings.
There was the lightest tap on the stateroom door. Elsa stirred and rubbed sleep and frost from her face, she looked a mess she knew but it was hard to care. "Queen Elsa, we will be docking in Corona soon." The storm had delayed them; it was late in the day that they should have arrived in for the morning.
"Thank you." Her voice was hoarse but she ignored it and set about changing out of the stiff salty dress. Her gorge rose when she saw Freya's change of clothes in the small chest, set out before, when the awful events had not come to pass. She changed quickly and shut the lid. "Freya is strong, Freya will be fine." Elsa tried to reassure herself, stepping from the cabin to a waiting guard. A guard who was not Freya, who should not have been escorting her, a guard who should have been in the impressive column behind her as she alighted from the boat.
A fanfare sounded to greet the foreign Queen to Corona, it is her first official visit. The King and Queen met her with a greeting Elsa returned with false lightness. Concern flutters though her Aunt's face and the Princess beside them actually turns her smile to a look of worry. "Well met Queen Elsa." The King says.
"Well met King Alfred, Queen Eloise, Princess Rapunzel." With the formal greeting over she is escorted to a carriage that takes them to the castle. The silence is dreadful but Elsa knows she has to keep it together. Her cousin keeps shooting questioning looks her way and Elsa cannot bear to muster even a smile to disperse her concern.
In the castle servants move the luggage and Elsa holds herself regally and detached even as Freya's luggage is taken aside to quiet whispers and careful looks. A hand landed on her shoulder and gave Elsa a start, "What is going on?" Rapunzel asked, "Where is your guard and why is everyone so quiet?"
"We can talk in my room." Elsa replied carefully, keeping the catch from her voice. The servants left and Elsa entered her room, Rapunzel followed and closed the door.
It is a well-appointed room, certainly fit for a visiting Queen. Her eyes stray to her luggage and for a moment her mind trails to the similar pile that should be in the room next to hers. "So, what is going on?" Her cousin said, sat on the bed waving her bare feet back and forth. Elsa joined her and suddenly everything spilled out.
"Oh no!" Rapunzel jumps up, "I'll order a search party…"
"The Captain sorted that." Elsa's voice cracks and she knows she is crying again, in the safety of her room. Even if her cousin is unaware of the precise nature of her relationship with Freya.
"Hey, hey… Cheer up." The princess knows better than to say 'she's just a guard' she would never treat people like that. It is odd though, the pure emotion Elsa is pouring out over the woman. "You are really torn up over this aren't you?"
Elsa can't hold it in any longer. "Imagine if it was Eugene…" Admittance is liberating and Rapunzel goes through a number of expressions as she figures out the import of the words.
"Oh…" She thinks a little further, "Oh!" Her tone turned quizzical "You… With a woman? You can do that?" It isn't a judging tone, just the endless curiosity the sheltered princess has for the world.
Elsa nodded in reply and felt a blush despite her low mood and churning worry. "I love her, she loves me."
"Oh Elsa!" The hug is like one of Anna's, full of fierce feeling and force and support. "They'll find her. I am sure of it." They sit together on the bed for hours, talking and then at beside each other supper. In the evening Rapunzel demands a sleepover so Elsa isn't spending the night alone.
Dawn broke. 'They should be arriving at Corona soon.' Freya thought, sipping a small amount of water and nibbling some hardtack. Unaware of the delays the storm caused. The sunlight revealed the horizons to the woman cast adrift. In the far distance she can see mountains to one side and ocean everywhere else. "Looks like I'll be rowing that way." She spoke cheerfully and lifted an oar, her weak shoulder means she cannot row correctly, instead she has to use one and paddle. It makes for slow progress.
Freya stopped for a rest after a while and took another look around. It is near evening and her progress had been limited, the mountains were not closer. However, the sight that greeted her is fantastic. A boat sailing not far from her, swift work gets a flare lit and her waving moves the smoke and light to attract their attention.
In a matter of minutes the boat is close and Freya can't believe her luck, she laughed aloud, it is The Sea Otter, the boat she took passage to Arendelle on. "Ahoy there!" She shouted, cheerfully, "I've had a little difficulty and wondered if I may have a ride to port?"
"Of course!" The captain shouted down. "Some of the boys will haul you up." Freya smiled again; it is still the Captain from her last trip. Ropes dropped into the dingy and she secured them for the lift.
"Thank you captain." Freya bowed a little.
"You look familiar." The man looked her up and down; Freya knows she is unusual for a woman in both attire and bearing.
"Lady Freya of Arendelle. Captain Nils." She flipped the seal tab from her belt.
"A Lady eh? You've moved up in the world Miss Hanson." The man whistled at the impressive metal decoration, the purple and green field with a gold crocus and anvil crossed with a hammer matched on the other side with the royal crest. "Personal guard to the Queen. I saved her life a few times." Freya winked and followed the captain to the wheelhouse. "As you can see we got separated. I need to get to Corona."
"We're putting in one port over." The captain tapped a map. "We'll reach them in the morning. You can easily get a boat from there, maybe even one of their official ferries."
"Wonderful, though I am probably in for a telling off when I get there." He gestured for her to take a seat and listened to her story, she shared rations for a more interesting meal and had a turn at the wheel. Eventually, as dawn broke around them the lookout called out for land.
On the deck of the dock Freya thanked Captain Nils, "No problem, mariner's code demands it."
"I can take the dingy onwards with me if it is in the way." Freya pointed to the Arendelle marked boat hanging from the Sea Otter.
"Ah, I can take 'er home. We'll be on the return leg this evening and I know the harbour master well enough." The man waved her off. "Siegfried over there will be able to tell you who is going to Corona next. Good sailing Freya."
"Calm seas Captain Nils." Freya finished. The town they had put in at was called Sol and looked to Corona for protection; the harbour master explained that a ferry would be leaving mid-afternoon to arrive at the citadel by sunset. With time to kill Freya swapped tall tales for a meal at the tavern and tried to keep her mind off just how distraught Elsa would be, she was moving as quickly as possible to be with her again.
No sign had been found of Freya or the boat. Elsa had visions of her being claimed by the sea and flash froze the floor. It took a great deal of effort by Rapunzel to calm her down enough to thaw. The King postponed the official banquet with an excuse that the visiting Queen had developed an inner ear complaint on the journey and had taken ill but was being treated and recovering. Though neither Elsa nor Rapunzel had revealed the true relationship with Freya the Queen had to upset her so much.
Elsa spent a long time just looking at the silver ring on her finger, smoothing it and holding it. The only tangible link to Freya she had left.
They spent the long day in the library pouring over maps of the coast and the ocean, trying to figure where Freya would have gone. Not once admitting there was a high chance she had joined the past rulers of Arendelle.
The ferry was called Paper Lantern, they had a special significance in Corona, Freya had learned. It was a regular passenger service around the coast between the city and the town. It was steam powered and fascinating to the former smith and for the first hour of the journey she used her societal position to have a good look around. "I'll have to pass this all along to Queen Elsa." She said to the captain after her exhaustive tour. "A steam-ship or two for Arendelle would help immensely with trade and travel."
"Indeed my lady, this journey would take most of the day if we relied on winds and currents." Freya thanked the man for his time and returned to the passenger deck to take a seat.
"Freya?" An incredulous voice spoke out, her blood ran cold and her mind raced to plan an escape. "Freya? That is you!" The voice came nearer and a hand caught her shoulder to turn her around. Her right shoulder, still sore from the tossing ocean and effort to swim and climb into the dingy. Freya hissed in pain and the hand drew back. Despite herself Freya felt guilty.
"Greta." She said it evenly despite an undertone of pain and turned. Greta looked mostly like Freya remembered, her hair was still in a snail-like bundle on her head, gleaming gold. Her eyes were still sea-blue but slightly marred by sadness at the moment. The surprise was her increased girth at her middle. Greta was clearly with child. The woman sat beside Freya, not close.
"I thought they killed you." The sad burr in her voice was earnest enough.
"I was lucky." Freya replied, keeping the bitter edge from her voice, Greta had not wronged her intentionally and it had set her on a path to a deep and abiding love. "I escaped. I moved to Arendelle."
"I see. I am sorry though, for what my family did." Greta was quiet, she sounded unsure but Freya figured it was because a woman she thought dead had turned up on a boat miles from home years later. "I'm sorry I ran. I was a rotten friend."
Freya turned to face her. "I took a risk Greta. I reaped the reward for that… I should have been more careful." The eyes fixed on hers and she felt herself being hugged.
"A man was asking about you, a while after… after I thought you had died. I told him off, a right talking too. But I told his wife more than I should have. Again, I am sorry." Greta drew her hug away but Freya dropped a sisterly arm about her, Anna had trained her unintentionally on how to treat a woman one did not have romantic intentions towards.
"I think I should be thanking you then. The information was rather helpful." She smiled to Greta, "I've been happier in Arendelle than I ever thought I could be." Her wink caught Greta off guard and her mouth formed an "oh" as the woman realised the meaning. She blushed. "So, how has life treated you?" Freya gestured to the obvious pregnancy and the ring decorated hand.
"I married a man from Corona." Greta smiled, happiness finally reaching her eyes. "He is an artist, I met him at the lake when I was, well, laying flowers to remember you by." She sniffed a little. "We courted a while and when he was ready to return home I went with him. I had to leave my family… Knowing what they had done, what I thought they had done."
"I'm glad for you." Freya sincerely was, the last little heartbreak was healing.
"And I am glad for you." Great jostled her like they had as children and Freya squeezed her in a hug.
"Who is this?" A male voice said and a rather handsome man sat on an opposite seat. He had black hair trimmed to his shoulders and brown eyes in an earnest face; he was tall and dressed in a smarter suit than the average man.
"Adrian, this is Freya." Great said warmly. "Freya, this is Adrian, my husband." His look of shock told Freya that he must have heard the story; she extended a hand to shake and was impressed with his grip.
"Good to meet you, it is heartening to know that Greta found her love and her escape."
"It is more wonderful than you could imagine learning you are safe and well Miss Freya." Adrian replied. "Greta has been inconsolable regarding your fate but I must admit we would not have met if not for you."
"So I heard, I landed on my feet too." Freya shrugged off the attention.
"However we are now presented with a problem." Adrian said ruefully. "A daughter would have been named Freya you see. Do you share the superstition?"
"Of naming after the living? It is held in Arendelle but I do not mind." Freya grinned at her friend. "You could always change the spelling." Greta grabbed her hand.
"Good." She placed Freya's hand on the bump, "This is my best friend Freya, little one. If you're a girl you'll share a name because I love you both so much." A tear dripped from her eye and Adrian was quick to hold his wife close.
The rest of the journey was passed in friendly conversation. Freya learning all about her friend's new life and she shared her recent past to shock and amazement over her escapades. She kept the subject of her partner and their identity low, they were left with the impression that it was a staff member of the palace and Greta could at least see that Freya was very happy. At the dock they parted ways; Freya had taken a note of their address and promised to write and even make some portrait commissions because her friend was a great art lover. She thought it better not to mention that the friend was Princess Anna.
The Arendelle ship was in the harbour, a short way from the ferry dock, but it was empty of crew. Freya asked directions to the castle, though she could see it at the top of the mountain there was more than one winding street leading up. She was also aware of how much a state she had to look, with salt encrusted clothes and hair, smuts of grease and soot on her skin from the engine room of the boat. Freya didn't care, she had to get to Elsa now a simple road separated them, her seal would shut any objections.
With the directions memorised, she ran up the hill.
Elsa was going to supper when a commotion in the castle courtyard distracted Rapunzel and Eugene who were escorting her. She followed them, still not used to the layout of the palace having spent most of the past two days in her room. The sound of a door opening and more shouts from the soldiers set her guard up.
It needn't have.
A voice so achingly familiar she nearly cried out with joy, spoke aloud in easy tones.
"Guys, really. I should be here. Are there any of the Arendelle soldiers about?"
Elsa ran. She ran like no one was watching, in a more undignified flap than Anna had ever managed. There were stairs down to the entrance way but to take them properly would be slow, an ice ramp fixed that problem and helped Elsa gain momentum that had her past the Corona soldiers and landing in Freya's arms. "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive." It was all she could say, sobbing and breathing in harshly. The familiar arms wrapped over her.
"I made it. Sorry it took a few days." Freya's voice was intense with emotion too, but she couldn't indulge her feelings in full view of the local soldiers.
Elsa held tight to the shirt, the salty slightly whiffy shirt, and looked up at emerald eyes. Freya looked tired, there was a shadow around her eyes even as they sparked and shone. There were smuts of grease and soot on her and salt crystals flattened her curls.
She looked beautiful.
Elsa wanted to kiss her until they were both breathless and panting, to press every inch of herself against Freya and hold tight. To never ever let go and lose her again. She kept her tears in through monumental effort.
It was a cough from Eugene that parted them from the embrace, though Elsa took Freya's hand. Rapunzel had her hands to her mouth, turned into such a smile they could still see it beyond. Only one guard remained, the captain. He saluted. "My apologies Lady Freya, my men were not aware you were part of the group visiting and by your appearance they judged you a risk. He shot a look at Eugene who smirked.
"They're all a little over enthusiastic since I demonstrated the security issues." He lost the smirk when Rapunzel elbowed him.
"Queen Elsa was quite distraught at the loss of Lady Freya during the trip." Rapunzel said to the guard in a 'no questions' tone. "We are all exceedingly glad that she has managed to reach Corona, albeit a little delayed." Elsa mouthed a thank you to her cousin. "Thank you Captain, we can take it from here." The soldier returned to his position and Rapunzel led the reunited pair back to the guest floor. "I'll excuse you at supper. Mother and Father will understand and will be glad to hear you are safe." The shorter woman turned to Freya and grabbed her in a hug. "I'm glad you made it. Now, both of you go." She shooed them away. Elsa remembered how to get back to her room.
"I think I need…" Freya began, only to be cut off by a kiss and searching hands that had her knees quaking. Elsa's hands were all over her, her arms, her hair, her waist and searching into the fabric of her clothes to touch her skin. Her mouth was released for breathe and Freya saw tears snake down Elsa's face and her partner began to shake. "Hey, don't cry."
"I thought you were dead. I thought you were gone, that the sea had swallowed someone else I love." Elsa gasped out, pressing herself against Freya, nestling her head under the taller woman's chin and listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. Reassuring herself that Freya was not an apparition or a trick.
"I'm sorry Elsa, I really am. I got here as fast as I could." Freya gently wiped the tears and led Elsa to sit on the bed. She told her story from their separation to her arrival, skipping the part about Greta for later. "So I led them all a merry chase and was out of ideas when you arrived."
Elsa had finished crying with relief during the telling now she was just drinking in the sight of Freya sat next to her and, unfortunately, the smell. "You need a bath."
"I did try to say that but you decided your tongue had to be in my mouth." Freya laughed lightly and pinched Elsa teasingly. "I have got salt in places I have never ever wanted it. Which way to the tub?"
"I'll need to call someone to draw a bath; the castle is not as naturally gifted as ours." Elsa rose pulled a rope at the door. An aide appeared in moments.
"Your Highness?"
"Could Lady Freya's things be brought here and a bath be drawn?" Elsa requested. The strange look the man gave her rankled, "I am not planning on letting her out of my sight for at least the night. She is my personal guard and close friend, just returned having been presumed lost at sea." Elsa's tone became icy and the aide remembered his position in relation to the guest.
"Of course." The man bowed and hurried off. A steaming bath was ready in less than half an hour and they were left alone.
"Mmmm, that's the stuff." Freya groaned as her tired body settled into the hot water, she laid her head back and shut her eyes, unsurprised when Elsa joined her, lithe legs resting between hers. She opened her eyes when Elsa did not assume their regular position. Ice blue eyes gazed at her, slightly teary.
"I'm just so happy that you're safe and here." Elsa whispered, kissing Freya again on the lips, then her jaw and neck. A hand stopped her going further.
"I need to bathe first Els, I'm all crusty with salt and effort." Freya's voice was pitched close to desire despite her objections.
"I'll have to help then, so you're clean faster." Elsa moved to wash the black curls that were slowly parting in the water.
Bathing was quicker when it was undertaken by two. Drying was fast when your partner has command of ice; a quick freeze/thaw lifted the droplets on their skin.
They ran to the bed, Elsa froze the lock solid before pulling Freya on top of her and began kissing her fiercely. Hands swept everywhere, breaths hitched and moaned onto heated skin.
Late in the night they curled together under a sheet, melded together at every possible point, twined around each other listening to two heartbeats and mingled breath.
That they were in a wing away from everyone was quite useful to Freya and Elsa. They woke fully rested, still tangled up and in need of another bath. Freya pumped the tub full this time; she didn't want to be indiscreet. However, this time they decided to linger. "You know, on the boat from Sol…" Freya trailed off.
"What about the boat from Sol?" Elsa was sat opposite Freya so they could talk easily and not get too caught up and risk someone coming to look for them.
"I saw Greta on the boat. With her husband." Freya felt a chill in the water. "Whoa, calm down. We talked, caught up a little. She's very sorry about how things happened," Freya defended, "but I think I owe her for meeting you and our relationship so I forgave her."
"I suppose." Elsa admitted grudgingly.
"Oh, and if they have a little girl she's going to be called Freya." She grinned with silly pride.
"Cute. We'll have to visit here again." Elsa stood from the bath, "I'm glad you were able to get some closure."
"I'd rather not have worried you though." Freya jumped out and pulled the plug, they were cutting it fine for breakfast.
Freya wore her ceremonial outfit; Elsa looked every inch a Queen. After the alarm and sadness of the past two days was put behind them events went back on track for a rather routine visit. In the next few days.
There was a banquet, a dance and a tour of local business and the market. They took a trip to the gallery that Adrian ran, much to Greta's surprise. She had never expecting having a royal guest who was as friendly as the royal family of Corona. They purchased some paintings for Anna and left an open invitation for the couple to visit Arendelle. Greta held Freya back a moment as they left. She had noticed something during the visit, something thrilling indeed.
"The Queen? Goodness gracious Freya… You certainly do aim high!" The woman sounded pleased. Freya winked and pressed a finger to her lips and Greta mimed their secret signal of a promise. Freya left the gallery grinning like a loon that her friend still remembered something from years before and Greta finally began to forgive herself for the trouble she had caused her best friend.
"I can see why you liked her." Was Elsa's only comment; delivered in the prim, cool and slightly smug style of any partner who has met a former of their current and come out on top.
By the end of the trip they had calmed down about having to sail home. Elsa and Freya stood on deck, waving to the King, Queen, Princess and Prince Consort. Though they both avoided looking at the spot where a lifeboat should have been, it was asymmetrical on the deck now one had been freed.
Mercifully the journey home was uneventful. Anna met them at the dock in a tangle of hugs and kisses and little grateful sobs. "The lifeboat was brought back and I was so worried about you all!"
"Shh, Anna. It is ok, we're back." Elsa cradled her sister close and guided her back to the castle, acknowledging greetings given by the townspeople and staff. Freya directed the luggage to be returned and for extra care to be taken with their gifts for Anna.
In the study that the family had adopted as their room Freya and Elsa shared the story of their trip. Taking turns to tell events from their perspective, pausing to comfort each other or Anna. She sat in Kristoff's embrace, squeaking at the more worrying moments and giving her sister and Freya indignant looks. "You said there wouldn't be any storms."
"I couldn't stop that one." Elsa said carefully. "But we are home now."
"And we brought presents." Freya added.
Anna had loved the portraits bought. There was a study of a guard mounted on a rearing horse and one made of the day of the Princess' Return party. There was one other, but Elsa said it was for Freya and had shushed Anna. "I did like the presents."
"I also have invited the artist to visit if he wishes." Elsa said, "You can probably get him to paint whatever you want then."
"Oh, I have plenty of ideas." The look she gave Kristoff made the burly man blanche.
"No no, you are not getting me all dressed up for paintings." Kristoff shuffled back but Anna had gripped around him and simply moved with him.
"Darling husband, I think you'll find you will." Anna shifted in his lap and kissed his nose. He melted.
Elsa tugged Freya away as things heated up. Both hoped that they couple would leave the study before things got too steamy. In their room Elsa helped Freya change. "I got you something too." She whispered into an ear.
"What, is it you? I'd like that..." Freya said, trailing her fingers down the slim side pressing against her.
"Over here. I had it hung earlier." Elsa led her lover to a wall; a painting was there that had not been before. A familiar place depicted on the canvas.
"My lake..." Freya lifted a reverential hand but didn't dare to touch. It was a winter scene, the surface of the lake was iced over and snow adorned the trees. The view cut off before the site of her old home but it was a view Freya knew well and loved.
"Adrian had painted a lot of pictures at the lake." Elsa explained, "I asked for this one, it just made me think of you... I could picture you practicing skating on it every winter. Do you like it?"
"I love it." Freya grabbed Elsa into an embrace and a deep kiss. "Everything in my past is settled but I can still remember the good parts. That was one of them." She pulled them back to the bed. "I like this a good deal too."
Together the couple slept, free from risk and happy. Freya had settled the last hurting part of her past at last and now only their gleaming future lay ahead.
Wrote this in like a day. I had the idea and just had to put it to paper so to speak.