Author's Note: Here it is! Tales of Family and Friends! As I said in my last story, I am trying a new writing technique. I will be treating each chapter like a one-shot and I will try to go in chronological order, but the characters' pasts and powers will be explored in greater depth. I hope.
Also, updates will not be anywhere near as frequent as they were in You're Not The Only One. In that one, I was able to complete a fair first draft of all the chapters before I posted chapter 6, with only relatively minor editing later on.
So, without further ado, enjoy.
We can rebuild together. Alexa, Hannah, Elsa, and Anna.
The morning after the celebration, Elsa woke to find a note on her nightstand.
It read,
'Elsa,
I know last night was hard for you, letting go like that in front of me. But I want you to know that I'm here for you whenever you need me. Anna is your anchor though, just as Hannah is mine. But still, we can rebuild our broken families together. You're not the only one, you're not in this alone.
Breakfast is whenever you're ready. Ivy has the kitchen staff ready 24/7, so feel free to come and go as you like.
Your friend and ally,
Alexa.'
Elsa teared up at the words of the note. It had been hard for her to let her emotions go in front of Alexa, but even she still needed time to heal. Alexa's words were encouraging and reminded Elsa yet again that she was not alone, no matter how much she might feel like it at times. She folded the note and set it on her nightstand, then got dressed. Once she was suitably attired in a simple deep ocean-blue gown and shoes, with her hair in its standard French braid over her left shoulder, she tucked the note in her pocket and left for breakfast.
Then she realized, "I don't know where anything is!"
Just then a servant popped up beside her. Elsa screamed and reflexively threw some ice on the ground near the man's feet, startled by the sudden appearance. The man jumped back, away from the ice, but otherwise looked as though nothing strange had happened. Once Elsa recovered from the shock, she realized what she had done and began to apologize profusely.
"I'm so sorry! It's just you startled me and, well… My powers tend to react out of instinct." she said.
The man held up his hand and said, "That's perfectly alright, Your Majesty. It was my fault entirely. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson after startling Queen Alexa. She froze my pants!" he chuckled, obviously thinking the whole thing rather funny.
"Oh. Remind never to startle her then." said Elsa.
"Anyway, my name is John and I'll be your guide through the castle." said John with a bow.
"Ok, John. Can you take me to the dining hall?" asked Elsa, for she felt that she definitely wanted breakfast.
John smiled and said, "Right this way, Your Majesty."
Elsa was alone in the large room. She wondered where everyone was, but just then Anna came bursting into the room.
"Hi, sis! Just you and me! The past few days have been like some sort of unofficial holiday, so Alexa's out flying and Hannah's practicing her piano. Who practices piano at ten in the morning?" she said, dropping into a seat across from Elsa.
Elsa blinked in surprise. "It's ten in the morning?" she asked, not sure she heard Anna right.
"Yeah. That was some party last night! I was totally exhausted. You must have been pretty tired too. You have been working a bit too much again lately. Like, ever since Alexa came back to Darrowdale." said Anna, helping herself to the fresh sticky buns that the servant had just left.
Elsa sighed. It was true, she did tend to over-work herself and often forgot to eat and sleep, trying to get impossible amounts of paper work done. She put a couple of sticky buns on her plate and took a bite of one. They were delicious! Warm and soft and gooey with honey and cinnamon, they were the perfect sticky buns! She hummed in pleasure, licking her lips and taking another bite.
Anna however, smacked her lips as she finished her sixth bun. Then the servant brought out two covered silver serving trays. Setting one before each of the royal guests, he removed the lids to reveal a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon. For Elsa, there was also tea and toast and for Anna a large glass of fresh milk.
Both enjoyed their breakfast very much and left the hall arm in arm, just idly wandering around. John had offered to give them a guided tour, but they insisted that they just wanted to explore the castle themselves. John shrugged and went to perform whatever other duties he might have.
Elsa and Anna looked around, going from room to room. Darrowdale Castle was laid out differently from Castle Arendelle, which made it an adventure! They found Darrowdale Castle was more of a fortress than Castle Arendelle, with battlements and guard towers. It was also three stories tall, not counting the flat stone roof and the towers, plus the dungeons and catacombs. They explored the entire castle, from the highest tower to the lowest dungeon. Fortunately, all the cells were empty and many were being modified so that the prisoners would be tolerably comfortable, but not too comfortable. Elsa made a mental note of this and decided to ask Alexa about it.
Anyway, they moved on upstairs again and came to a door they could not open. Elsa was content to move on, but Anna was bursting with curiosity. She had to know what was on the other side of the door.
"Anna, come away. It's not polite to pry." said Elsa, tugging her sister's arm to no avail.
"Don't you want to know what's in there?" asked Anna, fiddling with the door handle.
"If Alexa wanted us to know what was in there, she wouldn't have locked the door. Come, you'll only get into trouble." said Elsa, pulling harder on Anna's arm.
Anna refused to budge. "You can leave if you want to, but I am staying right here 'til I find out what's in that room." she said.
Elsa knew it was pointless to try and argue, so she sighed an exasperated sigh and made an ice key to fit the lock. She knew this was wrong, but Anna wouldn't budge until she saw whatever was behind this door. When they opened the door they gasped at what they saw!
Pictures! Hundreds of pictures, many at varying stages of skill level, but all done by the same artist. There were landscapes, portraits, various scenes, and some more… abstract works. Elsa and Anna entered the room and looked around at the many paintings, sketches, and drawings. Every type of medium was used, from water colors, to oil pastels, and from charcoal, to pencil.
As they looked, a pattern emerged. Each picture told a story and each story was but one piece of a much larger narrative. Some of the pictures were bright and happy, but most were dark and gloomy, and some were loud and angry. It was as though the artist had bared their very soul and captured each moment and emotion on the paper or canvass. As they moved from picture to picture, they noticed one that seemed to be the centerpiece. It was an oil painting of a raging ocean tossed by multiple storms. The clouds were dark, almost black, the lightning was white-blue, the waves were a mixture of blues and greens and were tossing about in a painful manner. The storms swirled and hurled debris everywhere, but in the midst of these raging, swirling storms was a spot of calm in the center of the picture. In this spot was a golden white cross with benign golden light shining from it. It was the latest painting and looked like it had only been completed a few hours ago, for the paint was still a bit wet.
"What are you doing in here?" asked a voice from behind them.
Elsa and Anna spun around to see Alexa standing in the doorway! Her voice had been soft, but hurt. Her eyes were the same. She wasn't angry, just, hurt, like they had invaded her sanctuary. Elsa and Anna hung their heads in shame. They knew they shouldn't have come into this room without permission and they waited for Alexa to speak, scold, yell, something, but she just stood there looking at the pictures in the room.
Finally Alexa moved. She slowly walked around the room, looking at each picture and seeming to read it. Her eyes had a far away look to them, like they were seeing into the past. Some pictures brought a soft smile to her face, others brought a sad expression. Still others evoked a hurt look and some an unreadable expression. Then she came to the last painting. The picture in the center of the room. She used her fire magic to finish drying the paint and gently ran her fingertips down the side of the canvass.
"Symphony of Storms." she said, speaking long at last.
"What?" Elsa and Anna asked softly.
"That's what this painting is called. It symbolizes my life now. I still have many storms of hurt, worry, fear, and even anger raging inside me, but at the center of it all is Him. The One who gave His life that we might live. Christ, the Lord." said Alexa, her expression one of calm submission and peace.
"It's beautiful." said Elsa.
Alexa shrugged. "I'm not that good. Ever since I was five, art has been a vent for me, a way to express what was in my heart when words failed me. I never really intended that anyone should see these except Hannah, but since you two have…"
"We're sorry, Alexa. We shouldn't have invaded your privacy." said Elsa.
"Yeah. Sorry." Anna added.
"No. You shouldn't have." said Alexa. Her back was to them so they couldn't see her expression, but her voice was cold.
Elsa and Anna were a bit frightened by that voice. But then Alexa turned around and they saw she was… Smiling? Elsa and Anna were very confused, but Alexa walked over to them and hugged them both.
"But, that doesn't mean I can't forgive you. I know you were just curious, but still, it will take some time to earn back my full trust. I love you guys like family and family forgives. Now that my secret is out, shall we take a tour of the past?" said Alexa, her voice and manner warm again.
"I don't think that will be necessary. Again, sorry Alexa, we didn't mean to hurt you." said Elsa turning to go.
"I hope you're not going back to Arendelle already." said Alexa.
"I think we should." said Elsa, feeling awful for having invaded Alexa's privacy the way she and Anna had.
Alexa shook her head and said, "Perish the thought! I didn't invite you two to spend a week only to have you leave the next day! This little… incident is nothing. Actually, I'm kinda glad you saw all this. It makes it easier to put all these on display, like Hannah wanted. She seems to think they'll help people understand a bit more of what I went though."
Elsa and Anna were speechless! Alexa had been considering displaying these for all to see?!
"Well, all's well that ends well." said Anna once she could speak again.
Alexa chuckled. "Yes. You're right. Come. Let us leave the past in the past and just enjoy the present." she said leading the way out, but leaving the door unlocked.