Hans stood on the bow of his small sailboat and looked over the city with a glassy stare as he glided into the dock. He saw how beautiful it was, and he knew he had chosen well. This was it. His new home. He saw himself on the balcony of the palace, walking across the main street, and going out on the fjord with the queen of Arendelle. It just felt right. And so he tied off his ship with a sense of purpose and took his gondola to the exact spot where he would ask the queen for a romantic ride on the lake, after which he would propose. The genius of his plan made him shiver with anticipation.
Being the youngest of a family his size wasn't easy. His parents, the king and queen were old, and they left their throne to a dozen heirs before Hans. But it wasn't just that. The Southern Isles was a large enough nation that he surely would have had power over an island or two once he came of age. But even if that happened, he would never feel like he belonged. It wasn't his place. Maybe Arendelle was.
His musings were interrupted as he was letting loose his horse, Sitron, and he heard a shriek behind him. There was a girl in his gondola, falling down into the water.
He quickly bade Sitron to hold the boat down and save the girl from a wet landing.
"I- I'm so sorry- Are you okay?" Hans said frantically. The girl sat up a bit and Hans looked closely at her for the first time. She looked stunning. Hans's heartbeat calmed down after looking at her. He jumped off his steed and went to her.
"Hey, I-" the girl said, then paused as she looked into Hans's eyes. She stuttered out, "I- Yes, yes I- I'm-" She cleared her throat. "I'm fine."
"Oh, good."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just- Well, I wasn't looking- I was going- but yeah, I'm fine. I'm great, actually," she said nervously.
"Oh, thank goodness." Hans offered his hand to her. She took it, but faltered as she got up and the boat tipped again. Sitron stopped it short, but Hans fell nearly fully on the girl, trying to salvage it as catching her.
She started to say, "Oh, well that's-" but then Sitron pushed the boat down the rest of the way, and they both fell down, the girl face-first into Hans's chest.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Hans tried to stutter out again, but he wasn't completely sorry that that happened. Hans saw that the girl may have enjoyed it a little bit too by the look on her face. They both got up and dusted themselves off.
The girl said, "I'm sorry, that's awkward, I mean I'm awkward- You, you're gorgeous. Wait, what?"
Hans offered a hand to her, and they stepped off the boat. "Let's try the introductions over, shall we?" Hans said with a smile. The girl giggled.
"I'm Anna. And what about you?"
"I'm Hans, of the Southern Isles."
"Well, it's good to meet you, Hans." A bell rang in the distance. The girl, Anna, looked back at it and gasped. "I'm sorry, but I should be going."
"Oh. Well, it was good to see you."
"Yeah, you too!" Anna said as she half-ran back into the city.
Hans stepped back to the boat and stared into the city once again, this time looking for a different type of beauty. Sitron neighed and got Hans's attention. The horse seemed to raise his eyebrows as would one man to another when he could tell the other was interested in a girl.
"Oh come on, Sitron. Making her fall directly on top of me was a little unnecessary, don't you think?" Sitron whinnied. "Well, you know, they say there's nothing more attractive than a woman who's into you. Can't blame me," he said, emphasizing the word "me." "Still, I guess I can't let her get in the way of my plan. It's a shame." He made a mischievous face at Sitron. "Do you think the princess is that pretty?" he asked jokingly. Sitron made a face at Hans and then dropped the boat into the water.
From now on, I'll be posting chapters three or four at a time. I just wanted to go ahead and get the first one out there. Please review, and follow if you're interested to see how this story turns out! As always- BV.