He had known her since she was born. He had been there from the beginning. He had been there through joyous moments, and moments of absolute heartbreak. And he had been there when even her own parents could not be there anymore.
Kai had held the position of head butler in Arendelle's royal castle for twenty years. He had been promoted when he was still fairly young after showing incredible skill at his job as a valet. He was smart, resourceful, insightful and, most importantly, incredibly loyal. It did help, of course, that he had an "in" with one of the royals: two-year-old Princess Elsa.
Elsa was...and interesting child. Never in a million years did the servant expect to see, let alone know, a real-life sorceress. And the first time he encountered one, she was a small child with a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh. In that moment he first met her, all of the myths and stories he had heard about witches and spell-casters were promptly thrown out the window, because there was absolutely no way this child was like them at all.
And perhaps it was magic, or perhaps not, but from day one Elsa had managed to wrap him around her little finger.
Her parents, being the King and Queen, often found themselves busy. Unlike most royals, they sought to have an active involvement in their child's life, but sometimes they simply could not avoid the meetings and appearances their titles demanded. Which meant that little Elsa was often left alone with her nanny, Gerda. And, fortunately for Kai, Gerda was an old friend of his, meaning that he could easily sneak into the playroom and join them.
"Uncle Kai" quickly became his nickname, only shared between the two of them. He read to her, drew with her, even had tea parties. He was there to comfort her if she scraped her knee, and there to chase away the monsters under her bed. He knew when it was best to let her parents deal with things, but whenever they could not, he was there. He always was.
Time passed, and soon there was a second child to call him "Uncle Kai". Elsa had very quickly taken her younger sister under her wing, and was quick to introduce Anna to the butler. Anna and Kai got along just fine, but as was always the case with younger siblings, the small princess tended to draw much of her parents' attention toward her, leaving Elsa to her own devices. Once more, Kai was there for her even when her parents were busy.
Then came the day it all changed. It was a day that started out as any other: Kai woke up with the sun and prepared the day's activities for the other staff, only to stumble upon a distraught royal family returning to the castle from the stables. That was the day the King pulled him aside and asked him to go over the castle staff - to reduce it down to only the bare minimum of people. That was the day the curtains were drawn, the doors locked, and the main gates closed. It was the day that the entire castle, including the people inside, changed forever.
The worst one, by far, was Elsa. He could tell, before the King informed him of what had happened, that something was horribly wrong. Elsa, poor, little, eight-year-old Elsa, had a similar look to her as someone who had gone to war and returned home with stories one would not even wish to imagine. She shivered as if she were freezing out in the harsh winter air, but Kai knew she was not affected by the cold. She stared blankly off into space as if she was watching something terrible happen over and over again. She flinched away whenever someone touched her. She kept both of her hands pressed tightly to her chest, one clamped over the other to keep them contained in one spot. And, worst of all, she never said a word, or even made a sound, and she was not smiling. And it did not look like she would for a while.
As the days passed, Kai began to witness the true effects of that awful day. Elsa withdrew from her family more and more each day. She was too quiet, too careful, and too sad for Kai to bear it. She never smiled or laughed. She had lost the skip in her step. And whenever she did speak, her voice had lost all its life.
It was about a month after than infamous day that Kai realized the horrible truth: Elsa's childhood had ended that day. Instead of running about happily with her sister, playing and enjoying her young, carefree life, she had resigned herself to solemnly working on her studies and training to follow her father's footsteps.
Kai, like the remaining staff, was forced to sit back and watch this painful transformation happen, unable to do or say anything to stop it. No longer could he play with her like he used to. He could not even see her like he used to - she had become so fearful over the past few months that she refused to let anyone near her. She was no longer a child, but the Crown Princess, meaning he had to address her as such. And he never again was called "Uncle Kai".
The months turned into years, and not once did things get better. If anything, it got worse. He had to watch a young girl who did not possess a mean bone in her body shut out her own sister. He often times had to drag said sister away from the snowflake-patterned door. Every time he did, he made sure to retreat back to the door. Often he would hear muffled sobs coming from the other side, and it was all he could do to keep himself from unlocking the door with his master key and going in to comfort her.
Elsa developed a crippling fear of people, not because she was afraid of them, but she was afraid of herself for them. Even when people did not fear her, she provided more than enough of it for them. As a result, she gained habits and schedules that were obscure for a princess. She would get up incredibly early, often to quickly go to the library or study to gather supplies for the day before anyone else was up to catch her in the halls. She then would stay in her room for the day, studying whatever book she could get her hands on. Then she would stay up until the earliest hours of the morning, where she would utilize the quiet and the loneliness of the castle at night to wander the halls she never allowed herself to see in the daylight.
Kai would often cross paths with her in the morning. She never seemed to be sleepy, though he knew she only ever received a few hours of sleep each night. At first, she used to freeze once he spotted her like a deer in the forest. But she slowly grew accustomed to seeing him, and eventually she gained a habit of uttering a soft "Good morning, Kai" each time they crossed paths. He considered it a bitter-sweet victory: it was nothing like the excited, run-up-to-hug greetings she used to give him, but it was also far better than fear-filled eyes and actions that reminded him more of a cornered animal than a human being.
And then came the second worse day Kai had ever known: the day he heard word that the King and Queen were dead. He was the first person in the castle to find out from the sailor of another ship that had happened across the wreckage. That meant that it was his job to deliver the news to the highest-ranking person: Crown Princess Elsa.
He honestly had no idea what would be better: telling her or not. Elsa deserved to know, and she would find out soon enough whether it was from him or not. But at the same time, she was already so fragile. Sometimes dealing with her felt like handling a glass vase that had been dropped several times already, and was one meeting with the floor away from shattering into a million pieces. He knew this would be the final drop.
He never felt more miserable in his entire life than when he told her. He would have felt better if he had kicked a whole litter of puppies. He saw, with his own eyes, the last, pathetic shred of hope and life that she had clung to for ten long years slip away from her as grief and misery consumed her completely. He watched a person he did not think could sink any further into depression be practically dragged into the dark, horrible abyss of sorrow. He watched her cracked, damaged heart shatter into pieces that could never be put completely back together.
And all he could remember was the time when the only thing she knew was happiness.
He stayed near the door the following night, and every night since until the funeral. She never asked him to, but he felt like he had to. It had nothing to do with his job, despite the fact that he had always been a loyal servant. No, this was because of something far greater than that. He had to be there for her. He made a silent promise that he would. And Uncle Kai never went back on his promises.
He became more involved in her life after that. Not only was he the head butler, but he had become an advisor to the King during the past through years after they had lost so many staff members. As a result, he was the greatest help for her when she was attempting to settle in as acting monarch. Even though she was not Queen yet, she was still expected to lead. And to the councilmen and other nobles, she proved herself to be more than capable.
But he knew better. And he was there at the end of a long meeting or a harsh one-on-one with a council member to offer her the moral support she desperately needed.
He helped her through every step of preparing for her coronation. He quizzed her on etiquette to help her study. He went over the guest list with her about a dozen times. He made sure everything was to the near-perfect level she wished for, and patiently made notes of things to fix whenever her nerves would get to her and she would change her mind about something. He would listen to her if she needed to vent to someone, although those times were very rare occurrences.
But most importantly, he was the calm, reassuring voice she needed to hear before everything on the day of the celebration. He was there to give her an encouraging smile before she made her first appearance on the balcony. He was there to give her a small pep-talk before she had to enter the chapel. He was there before he announced her and her sister at the ball to tell her just how proud he was of her.
He was not there when Anna pulled Elsa's glove off her hand. He did not see Elsa at all from that point onward until she returned to Arendelle, unconscious and in the hands of Prince Hans. And that had turned into a low point in his life for two reasons: the first being that the two guards from Weselton who had gone with Hans to find Elsa were spouting such awful nonsense about her attacking them that he lost control of his normally calm disposition for one moment to sock one of them right in the jaw. The second, unfortunately, came from realizing that the Duke and his men had convinced enough people to see Elsa as a monster, and that she needed to be locked up for when she awoke. To appease them, and get them to stop shouting such awful lies about her, her grudgingly led them down to the dungeons to where the worst secret of the current royal family lay: a cell made to hold an Ice Witch.
No one had ever wanted to use it, least of all Kai. But it had to be done to keep them from burning her at the stake. He made sure to bring a blanket for her, though, that he carefully draped over her thin frame before the guards commanded him to leave.
The next time he saw her, she almost lost her head. And then she almost lost her sister. His heart could not have broken more for her when, through the roaring silence that had overtaken the whole fjord after Anna froze, he heard Elsa's sorrowful, anguished sobs.
In that moment he grew angry. He was furious, because of all the people in the whole world, all of these awful, heart-wrenching things had to happen to her. Elsa, the girl who once had been so full of joy, love and laughter, had been broken, pieced haphazardly back together, then broken again, and again, and again. How could God possibly be so cruel to one person? How could any immortal force do something so horrid? How could anyone take a soul that had been so pure and full of love and do anything and everything to destroy it?
But then something happened to restore his faith. Anna came back to life. And once she did, so did Elsa.
Kai watched with immense pride - even more than when he saw the girl he used to play with become Queen - when the same, once terrified and broken woman used the immense love she always held in her heart to finally control the great gift she had been given. He watched with incredible joy to see her happy once again - to see her smiling, laughing, and playing like she used to. He watched a confident Queen show her people the side of her he had not seen in thirteen years. He watched, with tears in his eyes, as she received everything he had ever hoped and prayed for her to see.
After the festivities had died down, and everyone had gone to bed, Kai could finally retire for the night. But, as it would turn out, not everyone was asleep.
She was waiting for him outside his door. Anyone else would have questioned why the Queen herself was hanging around the servant's quarters, but he knew her. He had always known her.
Their eyes met for a moment before she quickly closed the gap between them and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back tightly, forgoing all formalities because the last time he had held her in his arms she was eight years old. He felt tears forming in his eyes again, and he was unsure if they were of sadness or joy.
"Kai, I...I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick and choked up.
"Whatever for, my dear?" he asked softly.
"All these years, I...I must have been so hard to deal with..." she said mournfully, "I'm sorry I put you through so much."
He pulled away so he could look her in the eyes. "Elsa, when I was hired, I swore that I would always be loyal to the royal family. That was an oath I will never break, nor will I ever want to," he told her, "I am your butler and servant, my dear, and I am perfectly happy to devote my loyalty to you."
She smiled a little, before stating, "You are so much more than a servant to me, Kai." She hugged him tightly once again, and whispered, "I love you so much... Uncle Kai."
"I love you too, my dear," he replied, tears threatening to spill over at any moment, "And remember: I will always be there for you."