Frozen with Eternal Bravery

Chapter 1: Family Matters

10 Years Ago...

A dim sun slowly sets in the sky to the west, peaking just over the hills on the horizon. A thick layer of mist is slowly spreading over the lush green land of DunBroch. Stillness still covers the land, and everything seems to still be asleep from the deepness of night, as it slowly consumes the landscape, as far as the eye can see. All settles into a quiet slumber as the fog thickens to a layer so thick engulfed the chasmic landscape of DunBroch. The fog reached so high, that the lone isle that the castle stood on, was engulfed with the fog, giving the illusion that the stone structure was floating on top of it.

That is except, for the inhabitants of the royal castle.

Queen Elinor was struggling with her red headed daughter, Merida, to try to get her into her bed. It was proving to be quite a difficult task, considering that she was pursuing her daughter up and down the castle halls to catch her.

"Merida, please! It's time for bed!" the exasperated queen gasped as she stopped momentarily to catch her breath.

"Uh uh! Gotta catch me first!" the red headed 8 year old cheered as she sped down the corridor to the throne room.

As she entered, she stopped for a second to enjoy the fact she was up as late as she was, but those thoughts were cut short by the sound of her mother's footsteps racing down the hall.

Looking for a place to hide, she looked around the room for a possible hiding place.

Suddenly, she looked at her father's throne and smiled. She dashed towards the throne and she ducked behind it, as her mother's footsteps were getting closer and closer.

The queen hurried down the hall to the throne room to pursue her hyper daughter. Once she arrived in there, she looked through the room to find her daughter, but found she was nowhere to be seen.

"Please Merida, it's time for bed!" she called into the throne room.

Merida slightly giggled, seeing the fact that her mother couldn't find her.

The queen was about to leave when King Fergus entered the room. She was about to say something to him when he put his index finger to his lips, with a grin on his face. The queen gave him a confused look, then the king pointed to his throne and pointed out a few locks of red hair swaying out from behind it. The queen smiled, and slowly left the room as the king snuck up to the other side of the queen's throne

Hearing her mother's footsteps leave the room, she giggled to contentment that her mother couldn't find her.

Unknowingly to Merida, her father was in the throne room as well, and was quietly sneaking up on her to pick her up.

Merida was peering out from behind the king's throne again, and a moving shadow caught the attention of her eye. She tried to dart out of the room, but it was too late.

The king had picked her up swiftly with a grin," Gottcha! You little rascal!" he exclaimed in a playful manner. She tried to squirm out of his arms, but to no avail.

"Hey, no fair!" she exclaimed," best two out of three."

"Not tonight," he smiled, as he threw her over her shoulder," you need to get to bed"

"But daddy," she started to complain.

"If you want to continue to be as good at everything else, you need to start getting some more sleep" he continued," what all did you do today?" he asked warmly, as he started to climb a spiraling staircase to one of the castle towers.

"Well, I get to see some of the castle archers practice today!" she exclaimed happily.

"Did you now?" he asked "Sounds like you had a good time."

"Yes I did," she said happily," she continued to smile," I really want a bow and some arrows, do you think I could have some for my birthday?" he asked, beaming.

"Why I don't see why not," he said laughing," I'll see what I can do for you," he said, reaching Merida's room, and started opening the door.

As he opened the door to her daughter's room, the queen was sitting in a chair inside, waiting for them to come in.

"Hi dear," he said to the queen smiling," look who I have here,"

The queen smiled back. "Now where in DunBroch did you find her?" Merida smiled.

"On the run," the king replied jokingly as he took Merida over to her bed.

"I almost got away, but he was just too fast for me," Merida said playfully.

"Ok Merida, that's enough for today" the king said, putting her daughter in her bed.

"Aww," Merida whined as she fell on her back and folded her arms as her mother tucked her in," I'm not even tired, why do I have to go to bed?"

"Because dear," the tired queen replied," We all are going on a trip tomorrow," she said with a faint smile.

A vacation?!" she replied, almost jumping out of her bed sheets with excitement.

"Yes Merida," the king smiled warmly," a vacation to a far away land called Arendelle, where you'll get to see some new friends, and have lots of fun with them."

"Yay!" she exclaimed, almost jumping out of her sheets again. "Sounds like tons of fun!"

"It will be Merida," the queen smiled," but only if you get some sleep"

"Oh, ok," she smiled back, snuggling her head into her pillow," goodnight momma, and goodnight papa." She said as she twisted and turned her head in her sea of red hair.

"Goodnight sweetie," the king said as he was closing the door to her room," have a good night's sleep"

Merida's eyelids finished closing as the door was shut by the king, and was well asleep within the next 5 minutes, dreaming of a wonderful vacation in a paradise filled with lots of people.

However, the conversation that was taking place outside Merida's door was not nearly as pleasant as her dreams.

"Why didn't you tell her the true purpose of us going to Arendelle?" the queen scolded," this is for business, not for recreational means."

"I know," the king replied," but tell me, when you were a girl her age, wouldn't you rather be told that you're going on a fun trip, rather than a dull, boring, business negotiation for trading?"

"Yes, but if we keep treating her like this for much longer, her behavior will not be ladylike enough to even be considered close to be a princess of DunBroch," she said with distaste.

"Can we not discuss this now? I have enough to worry about the possible loss of one of our kingdom's biggest trading partners, let alone this," the king sorely said.

"Fine," she said, looking away," but don't say I didn't warn you for how your daughter will behave irregularly." She headed for her room.

The king sighed," will she ever stop about going on about that?"

Arendelle: A few weeks later…

"Elsa, Elsa! Come on Elsa, wake up!" a cheery, young red headed girl chimed, pushing a lump under a pile of blankets on a bed. "Come on, wake up! Father said he had some very important news for us!"

The pile of blankets tossed and turned, until they were finally thrown off of the side of the bed, falling onto the floor, and a groggy figure rolled onto her side.

She was 8 year old Elsa, a blond haired, young girl, slightly older then her younger, red headed sister, Anna, who was still trying to get her out of bed.

"Elsa please!" she said, in a playfully nagging tone," You know that father doesn't like it when we sleep in this late." She hit her sister playfully across her face with one of her purple, silky pillows.

Elsa just tossed and turned again, faintly smiling," 5 more minutes," she mumbled under her breath.

Anna stopped for a minute to figure out how she could get her sister out of bed. She suddenly looked at the curtains covering the huge glass windows on the side of the room, and smiled.

Elsa just had snuggled back into her blanket, when a huge volume of light burst into the room, forcing her eyes open to slowly see he vision slowly unblur to see her sister staring her down in her face.

"Morning sleepyhead," Anna said in Elsa's face.

Elsa, just smiled and replied," Good morning to you too. How'd you sleep last night?" she asked as she sat up in her bed to stretch as she yawned.

"I couldn't sleep at all last night," she replied happily," I was too excited for today!"

"Really now?" Elsa asked, slightly confused," what's so special about today?"

"Don't you remember? We're having visitors today!" she exclaimed gleefully," That's why dad wants to talk to us."

Suddenly, Elsa remembers what was happening today. They were getting visitors from another kingdom, called DunBroch, or something like that, and rumor had it that the king and queen had a daughter about her age, with red hair. She had been wanting to meet her for awhile because she hasn't had much of a chance to meet people, let alone talk to them aside from her sister.

"

"Bet I can get downstairs faster than you!" Elsa shouted, running for the door.

"Nah ah!" Anna shouted, dashing after her, through the glimmering light that engulfed the room.

As Anna turned the corner into the long hallway across the upper floor of the castle, Elsa was about halfway down the hall to the center room of the castle," Too late Anna!" Elsa teased as she continued sprinting down the corridor.

"It's not over yet!" Anna yelled back, with her legs working as fast as possible as she was slowly catching up to her sister

As Elsa came into the main room, she started to run down the main stair from the second floor. Anna then bolted into the room, seeing that her sister was about one fourth of the way down the stairs, she bolted for the handrail of the staircase, and she hopped up on it and started to slide her way down it.

Elsa had a thrilled look on her face as she was rushing down the stairs as fast as she could, finally glad that she might be able to finally to beat her sister in the morning, because she was always sleeping in.

"Wheee!" Anna's voice rang out right behind Elsa, catching her off guard, and looked dumbfounded when her sister passed her up on the handrail right next to her and hit the bottom of the steps with Anna just beating Elsa.

"Ha! Still beat you," Anna cheered as she picked herself off the floor from her rough landing off of the railing.

Elsa smiled and replied," No fair you cheater! I almost won!" she playfully shouted as she ran after Anna.

Elsa had just tackled Anna when the huge door that led into the room had opened, with two figures standing in the doorway and started walking towards them, catching both of their attentions.

"Now now girls," one figure replied, which was their father, the king," Settle down, we need you on your best behavior for today.

Yes," the other figure replied, which was their mother, the queen," We are expecting visitors from a far away land, called DunBroch to discuss business, so please do not disturb me, your mother, or any of the guests"

"Is it true that their daughter is coming with them?" Anna asked with excitement.

"Why yes of course," the king replied," She is coming as well and you shall be able to play with her, and have a wonderful time together"

"Children, please get ready for the day," the queen said, taking them back to their rooms," we are expecting them within the next few hours, so please make yourselves look presentable."

"Fine," Anna moaned as she went back into her room. Elsa smiled at her sister's reaction because she knew she was joking. Elsa walked into her own room to get changed for the guests of DunBroch.

"I can't wait to meet them," She said smiling," I can't wait to show their daughter my powers," she said, creating a snowball in her hand," Anna, I, and her will have so much fun!"