Elsa woke up from a nightmare. She opened her eyes, heart pounding and sweating. Since young Elsa had been plagued by such dreams, born out of the fear she had of her powers. So often did they occur that sometimes she had trouble differentiating reality and the dream world; to her it felt all the same. She tried to refute any suspicion her mind had that these dreams were trying to tell her something. Not one of the best ways to start a day.
Elsa found her whole body covered underneath her blanket, a blanket she had ever since she could remember. She lifts up her blanket and was met with a glaring light from the sun.
Forgot to draw the curtains again…
As Elsa got up, her head began to throb, with one hand touching her head she forced herself off the bed. The room felt warmer than usual. With eyes winced, Elsa slipped on her night slippers and began to walk towards the window. A cool breeze relieved her pale skin from the heat, before she felt the warmth of the sun again. With one thought, ice began forming on her hands as she tried to cool herself down. Wondering why was it so warm, Elsa suddenly remembered that it was now during the midst of summer. She never really enjoyed summer, due to the long days, short nights and the heat and because everything seemed to look red. Elsa thought of altering the state of the weather, but having caused a terrible winter storm only a few days back, she decides otherwise. Besides it would be selfish of her.
Staring out of her window she found herself looking upon a familiar sight, in the distance tall mountains covered with vegetation towered over a glassy lake with the sun's glittery reflection over the water, over the horizon she could see ships of all size floating above it. Below the water she saw countless dark red rooftops with white smoke rising from the chimneys, children playing in the open courtyards, in the streets rich merchants and humble traders competing to sell their goods. The view seemed so surreal to her, as though she was looking at a painting. But a pity not many would be able to appreciate such a scenic view of the Arendelle, to have such a commanding view of the town and beyond, unless you lived in the palace. She inhales deeply and cleared her mind of any thoughts; she could smell the sea and hear the seagulls calling, something which she had grown accustomed to.
As she stood there, Elsa had a flashback of the past, it was not long ago when she would stand here uttering the same old hymn, "Conceal, don't feel, don't them know". Elsa had always wondered what it was like beyond the walls of the palace. As she was never allowed to venture out; all that she knew of the world were from the books she had. This inculcated in her an inclination towards reading as she wanted to know all there was of the world. But nothing compared to actually being out there; experiencing all that the world had to offer, the difference being now she was free and unafraid to do so. That she has her sister to thank for. Elsa looked down at her once gloved hands and smiled, she had not fully mastered her powers, but at least she knew how to subdue them. She had grown so much since then, she felt free.
But just as Elsa was beginning savour the moment, a knock on the door broke her line of thought.
"Your majesty are you awake?" Elsa recognised that voice, it was Gerda.
"Yes, I guess." Elsa replied, walking away from the window, but no intentions in opening her door.
"What is it?"
"Your majesty just a gentle reminder that the royal court convenes in a quarter-hour." Gerda spoke respectfully.
Elsa raised her eyebrows, puzzled.
A royal court? Why wasn't I told anything?
Looking over her dressing table, Elsa saw a small parchment of paper indicating about a meeting with the royal court. She noticed the handwriting, full cursive but neat, it was hers. Elsa tried recalling when she wrote that, probably before coronation day she thought, else she would have remembered. Elsa was not one to forget so easily, but due to all that's happened recently she forgave herself.
"I'll be there soon, thank you!" Elsa shouted, as she dashed towards her cupboard to choose a dress. She could not decide what to wear as she had no clue to how a court was conducted. As her hand swept each dress aside, Elsa blamed herself for destroying her coronation dress, it was one of her favourite.
"Can I also add that there's a foreign ship docked at the port requesting an audience with you?"
Elsa looked up and frowned, the day had barely begun and there was already so much to do. What could a foreign ship possibly want to speak to her for, everything that concerned ships and their crew's welfare was already taken care of by the harbour master, even complains. Perhaps trade? But trade deals were brokered between ambassadors not by single lone ships. She felt stressed and tiny ice fragments started to grow from her feet, she was in no position now to go and play the welcoming party, not with a full court session with all her advisors for the first time. She did not want to make a bad first impression.
Anna. Anna could do it.
"Gerda, could you ask Anna to do it? I don't think now's the best time for such…"
"She's already there your majesty."
Elsa realising that she had held her breath, breathed out relieved.
Thank goodness for Anna.
The room all at once felt cold and turning round Elsa found her whole room except the ceiling covered in ice.
This happens when you don't control your emotions.
But Elsa was no stranger to having her whole room transformed into an ice sanctuary. Then a thought hit her that it would be easier living in a palace made of ice instead, least she would not have to worry about the cleaning up part. Finally she decided on a blue coloured dress with a butterfly bodice and started changing.
"Forgive me your majesty, if I had known it was you, I wouldn't have asked to be paid."
"Oh its okay, no worries." Anna looked up and gave a warm smile.
"Bless you my lady."
The aroma of butter was overwhelming and irresistible at the same time, which garnered a large crowd to migrate to the baker. Squeezing her way through the crowd, Anna caught eye of Kristoff's distinctive blonde hair and made her way towards him. Her slender and small figure allowed her to bypass the crowd with relative ease as she protected the two freshly baked buns in her hands. As Anna approached Kristoff a few of the townsfolk who were more aware of their surroundings politely greeted the young princess and Anna would respond back generously.
The market square was noisy and crowded as usual. Along the cobbled streets lined up neatly in front of houses, vendors have set up their shops, each shouting a lower bargain than their neighbour. As Arendelle was the centre of trade in the region, there was no wonder that there were those selling local commodities and those who offered exotic foreign goods. There were people talking in a vast variety of languages too, from French to German. Amongst the sea of heads, horse carriages could be seen slowly making their way through the crowd. Above the hustle and bustle on the second floor of the shop houses, people were busy hanging their day's laundry.
"Here you go. It's good." Anna spoke, trying to speak over the noise as she hands Kristoff one of the sweet-smelling buns.
"Do you even know what this is?" Kristoff glanced at Anna and raised his eyebrows sardonically.
"No, it's my first time trying this!" Anna said excitedly, examining the golden coloured bread in her hands, like a child seeing something for the first time.
"Then how do you know it's good?"
"It smells good. I follow my nose." Anna said, pointing to her nose.
"Uh-huh…" Kristoff grinned, leaning slightly towards Anna.
"It looks good and I like its shape, it looks different compared to the others."
"Just because something smells good, looks good and is in a shape of crescent moon does not mean it has to be good."
Anna looked at Kristoff with a hint of annoyance.
"Relax, I'm joking." Kristoff teased and took a bite at the bright coloured bread. "It's called a croissant and yes it does taste awesome. It was brought here from mainland Europe by French traders a long time ago, something long that sorts. But the question is how come you've never tasted this before?"
"I've never been out in the streets before. Well I mean not in this part of town." Anna swallowed.
"Wait what? How is that even possible, this is your kingdom and you don't even know the streets?" Kristoff said looking astonished.
"Were you living under a rock or something?"
"It wasn't my fault." Anna grumbled to herself.
"What?"
"Long story, but I'm trying my best to get to know the town better alright?" Anna retorted as she finished her croissant.
"Oh sure. Anyway what was it you wanted to show me?" Kristoff asked.
Anna suddenly remembered the reason for her being in town the first place.
"The ship!" Anna exclaimed and started running. Grabbing Kristoff by his hands, who nearly tripped.
"Hey! Watch it!" Kristoff yelled, trying to save his croissant from falling as they both headed to the harbour.
The harbour was situated in a fjord which boasted a large number of ships, each sailing their own country's flag proudly. The air smelled fresher here and it was windier compared to other parts of the town. Apart from the royal palace, Arendelle's port seemed the next best well maintained, obviously due to their high port status. As the pair approached the harbour, they could see Kai talking to a much smaller man compared to him. The man wore an ambassador's uniform, donned a beard and greyish hair was in a state of disarray, roaring at the top of his lungs, his hand gestures an indication of his mental state.
"What's going on here?" Anna bumped in.
"Your majesty." Kai complimented and bowed slightly.
"So you are the queen?" The man asked impatiently with eyebrows raised, his fingers pointing at her in a crude manner. Kristoff readied his stance in case anything the man tried anything funny.
"No, but I'm…"
"Then there is nothing more I should say to you." The man snapped.
"But I can help, the queen sent me here."
"Is that so? Well then look at what your queen did! She has caused this plague upon us!" The man stuffed a scroll into Anna's hands.
Anna unrolled the scroll at once and read its contents. As she read, her mouth dropped. She couldn't believe what she had just read.
"What is it?" Kristoff spoke, peering over Anna's shoulders to read the contents too.
Anna looking up with horror in her eyes answered, "They want my sister dead."
Sorry for the late update, I have been busy with work recently and I also did not want to post something out of impulse. Let me know how do you find the story so far, if its moving too slow or too fast, or areas which are lacking... I do apologise for these upfront, I'm still relatively new to writhing a fan fiction and I am open to your feedbacks, even criticisms! I do hope you enjoyed the story so far and I will try my best to finish the next chapter as soon as I can. Thank you!