Next chapter folks. Thank you for reading this story. I hope you've enjoyed it so far.
Elsa stared at the young man leaving the boat. He was quite different from all the others. Unlike them, he was not wearing an outfit that suggested a lifetime on the sea.
He was wearing what appeared to be black leather armor. His left hand was covered in a gauntlet, while his right hand was wearing a fingerless black glove. On his right forearm was a sleeve carrying a small dagger, while he had a sword strapped to his back. Elsa noticed that the sword leaned towards his left shoulder and ended at his right hip. Like herself this man must be left handed.
As for the man himself Elsa was quite surprised by his face. his hair was short and brown. his skin was tan; not so much to notice a large difference, but compared to herself and most of the other inhabitants of Arendelle, he was quite different. His eyes were green, and they were focused, like a wary hunter taking care of his surroundings. His body was well defined, despite the smaller frame he had compared to the sailors
Elsa was not one to judge someone by their physical appearance, but as far was men went he was quite handsome. As he descended from the ship, Elsa felt herself unable to speak. It was rather odd for her, usually she was ready with any sort of response, being the queen she was. She needed to know when to speak. But as the young man approached, her voice was lost.
The young man walked toward her, subtly glancing at her. His eyes appeared to be peering into her very soul. As he neared her, Elsa finally found her voice.
"wel-Welcome to Arendelle" she managed to say. The young man turned to look at her. His eyes lit up and he gave her a smirk. "thanks princess. You wouldn't happen to know were the nearest forge is would you?"
Elsa was irked by the princess comment. He said it so smugly, Elsa was not sure if he was being serious; the king and queen were long since dead. The news of their deaths could not have gone unnoticed. If he was, then why? Surely he must know that she was the queen.
However, she found herself unable to answer his question. As embarrassing as it was, she did not know where the nearest forge was in town. Thankfully, Elsa did not have to answer, for the next moment, Anna said "Its by the town center, you cant miss it."
The young man gave Anna a smile, before saying "Thanks your majesties." He then turned and walked away.
Elsa watched him leave surprised at how much he bothered her. The 'princess' comment, while not exactly rude, was rather inaccurate. Clearly he was not from Arendelle.
Elsa then turned to Anna "shall we go eat, then." Anna was grinning "surrrrreeee." She said with a hint of laughter in her voice, drawing out the word. Elsa frowned. What was Anna playing at? "Anna" she said carefully "what is it?"
Anna giggled "oh nothing, its just that you seemed so…. Lost in thought, staring at that guy."
Elsa glanced at her sister, "what?" she asked surprised
"you had such a dreamy look on your face. it was priceless" Anna said
Elsa gaped at her sister, her eyes going wide "I-I did not!" She retorted. Had she really looked 'Dreamy' as Anna put it? It would have been the first time anyone had ever referred to her as such.
Anna laughed, bending over as her stomach racked with laughter. "you're defending yourself! You think he's kind of cute right?"
Elsa glared at Anna "can we please just get to lunch" gossiping about guys was not on Elsa's to do list today she just wanted to explore the town with Anna and that was it.
Anna grinned. She was not about to let this opportunity go to waste. "ok!" she agreed she was going to get hungry soon anyway, might as well go eat before getting back to teasing Elsa about the new arrival.
Together the two walked back to the main street where the restaurant was waiting for them.
However Elsa found herself glancing towards the town center, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stranger that had arrived in Arendelle. Just who was he? A smile worked its way onto her face. perhaps she did had a dreamy face, but for once, Elsa didn't care. The young man, she wanted to see him again. If he was going to stay a while, perhaps she should find him and get to know him.
Meanwhile, back at the center of the town the young man who Elsa and Anna had met was now circling the town center. According to the redhead with the platinum blond haired woman, there should have been a forge around here. It was what he needed right now, because as a blacksmith, he needed a place to work in order to get some money.
It seemed a lifetime ago that he had even become a blacksmith. It was odd to say the least. His skills had definitely improved though. When he had first started, he could barely make the smallest of items, let alone get them right. These days he was able to make all sorts of items, from armor to weapons.
However as he circled the center, he noticed that Arendelle was by far one of the most pleasant places he had ever come across. It would be difficult to make weapons, because everyone was about as peaceful as they could get. However, perhaps he could repair any sort of broken items instead. While not as fun exactly, it was profitable.
After some time, walking in the center, the young man found himself staring at a sign that read 'Smith shop. No finer blacksmith in town.' The young man scoffed. He may not exactly be the modest of people himself, but even he thought that was a little much. Arendelle was not a warzone. If anything the only people who even carried weapons were the arendellian guard. Even then, they did not do much because Arendelle was peaceful. It was highly unlikely that anyone came here for anything.
Still when you were traveling you take what you can get. The young man entered the shop. To his dismay, it was practically empty. The forge was intact thankfully, but it seemed as if this entire place was devoid of any sort of life. On the nearby desk, there was a sign that said 'closed'. What idiot would leave his shop unattended while keeping the door unlocked? Oh well it really couldn't be helped if that is what came down to it, then so be it. Since apparently, he couldn't get work at this exact moment, he would come back later in the day.
Perhaps he could use the time to explore Arendelle. He was going to stay a while so he might as well get used to the place. If anything, he would rather not get lost whenever he had to leave the shop.
The young man left the shop and walked into the street market. He was surprised by how happy everyone seemed to be. They were going about their day like nothing could ever bring them down.
It was quite the change from what he was used to. He hadn't exactly been around people in a while.
The children were playing, the adults were happily chatting away. As he walked he heard a couple of them talking.
"Did you hear? The queen and princess are by the docks." One of them told his companion. "it is quite strange." The woman agreed. "Usually she is far too busy in the castle to come in to town."
"Can't be helped though, can it. being the queen has got to be hard work. I can only imagine what Queen Elsa must do every day."
"yes, but she must be doing her best. Her and Princess Anna. Arendelle has not been so happy in a long time."
The man chuckled "yes… I can hardly remember such a time as it is." The couple then walked off.
The young man grinned. It seemed that people spoke highly of the Arendelle monarchs. It seemed that Elsa and Anna, whoever they were, had managed to bring nothing but peace to Arendelle. 'Perhaps I should find them.' He thought to himself. Getting to know them may be useful later on.
However his eyes clouded when he realized that even if he managed to get close to the Queen and Princess, it was far more than likely that they would turn him away. Not because they were rude, but he figured that other than some polite necessities, they would not have the time to chat with a commoner such as himself.
oh well. he still needed to explore more of the town. He had heard of Arendelle but now he needed to find out whether or not the stories of Arendelle were true.
The young man began walking ahead. he might as well get a good view of the city.
Back at the restaurant, Anna and Elsa had finally managed to sit to eat. The restaurant, being on a port was well known for its seafood, though it had a variety of other types of food it seemed. That was a plus.
Elsa sat looking at the menu. While she was not exactly a picky eater, she was not the biggest fan of any sort of sea creatures. So if she was going to eat something, it was very well not going to end up being fish.
Anna on the other hand, couldn't decide what to get. She just loved eating a lot of things. So deciding what to eat was going to be the most difficult thing to do right now.
Elsa eventually decided on getting some beef stew, While Anna went all out and ordered multiple orders of trout, sushi and even a whole baked chocolate cake( which was no doubt going to end up becoming the dessert for the both of them.)
The waiter was quite shocked, even if he didn't show it. but given the fact that the queen and princess were eating, he would no doubt have to be at his best, in order to ensure that these two had the best eating experience possible.
Anna didn't seem to notice the waiters discomfort, she just kept on ordering, at least until Elsa said "Anna I think we're done ok?" Anna finally stopped allowing the waiter to right down the orders. "we will have your meal out momentarily" he said.
After the waiter had left, Anna decided to shift the conversation back to the young sailor they had met earlier that day. Even though she knew that Elsa would probably deny anything at the moment, she could not help but just try and tease her about it.
Unlike Anna, Elsa was far more thoughtful about any sort of situation. That was obvious given the fact that she had denied her blessing of the marriage she wanted to have with Hans. so if Elsa did indeed like the young man , she would try to learn more about him before rushing into anything. The problem was the Elsa probably would not get close to him because the next time she was out in town would be anyone's guess
Basically, if the gut left before Elsa returned for another trip, then Anna would not be able to try and get her sister in a relationship. It wasn't any of her business anyway, but still, even Anna knew that Elsa had to be lonely, being in the castle all the time.
Unfortunately what Anna did not know was that Elsa was not into relationships right now. She was more focused on Arendelle at the moment. When she wanted to get married, she would definitely let her council know (unless they sprang the news on her instead).
"so" Anna said "still thinking about that guy?" Anna asked with a grin.
Elsa looked up, an un amused look on her face. she glowered at Anna for a moment before saying "Anna, when did my love life become so important to you? I have not done anything to your relationship with Kristoff since you brought him to the castle and I said I approved of your relationship." She moaned in annoyance.
Anna gasped at her sister, then slumped her shoulders. Elsa did have a point, but Anna was just concerned. But perhaps she should listen to her sister this time. If she was not ready to talk about it then she would just have to respect her elder sisters wishes this time around
Elsa looked down unhappy with her response to Anna. She knew that it wasn't the best thing to say, but was there any other way to move on from the subject.
With a sigh, Elsa turned her gazed toward the fjord, loosing herself in the view. She was indeed thinking about the young man. The problem was that she did not want that to be heard by anyone. If such rumors were known by her people it would probably discredit Elsa as a ruler.
Anna knew as well as Elsa did. Elsa had to eventually give Arendelle a king in order to produce an heir to the throne. However, Elsa was a little weary of anyone who came looking for her throne. By marrying Elsa, said person would control all of Arendelle as soon as the wedding was complete. If Elsa happened to not choose wisely, she would regret that. So for the time being she was content being the only ruling monarch.
The two simply sat in silence after that waiting for the food to arrive. Elsa did nothing to pick up the conversation, while Anna looked at the fjord as well. it truly was a beautiful sight.
A few minutes later the waiter arrived with the food, though he had to make multiple trips for Anna's orders.
It amused Elsa to see that the waiters had trouble with this, but it was worth seeing her sister happy. Even if it was just for the food.
Later after finishing their meal, the two monarchs returned to the city streets. It was relatively early in the afternoon, but the streets were as crowded as they ever were. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice the two monarchs as they made their way around.
Elsa was concerned with doing more work now. Sure she had a great time with Anna, but being queen meant having a lot of work to do and because she would no doubt have even ore work to do the next day, she decided she might as well catch up on her work while she had the time. That was good, considering that Anna would not doubt use the time she had in order to get ready for her upcoming date with Kristoff later that night.
Anna was going to have to go into complete overdrive. She wanted to make sure that she looked her best for Kristoff. Not that she never did as it was, but it was best to always look her best on date, even if she did tend to go overboard with it sometimes.
It was a wonder that Anna somehow never managed to be late to any of her dates with Kristoff. She hadn't gone out with him that much (in three months of dating they managed to only go out a few times because of Anna's duty as a princess and Kristoff's job as the Royal ice master and deliverer). That of course never stopped them from trying, it would just be very difficult later on because at winter he would no doubt depart for the mountains more often in order to stock up on ice before spring rolled in again.
Despite that it was a wonder why Elsa never helped him out. She could make ice all year round, were as during the warmer months, Kristoff was pretty much out of a job.
Oh well it could not be helped what so ever, so they would just have to make the best of it while they still could. It wasn't that difficult. During the summer months, Anna and Kristoff were able to spend a lot more time together because he wasn't gone as much.
Anna turned to Elsa "hey Elsa, do you think you can help me get ready for my date." She asked
Elsa smiled at her sister. Helping Anna was going to take a while, given that she would go through a large amount of dresses before finally settling on one to use, but that was dependent on what exactly Anna had planned to do with kristoff tonight (Elsa did not exactly asked because it wasn't any of her business).
So long as Anna didn't act to rashly Elsa was fine with not trying to intrude on her relationship with Kristoff. if only Anna was as polite with Elsa's own love life she would be happy.
"Of course I would love to help you Anna, just make sure you get everything you need read, then I will help you pick out what might be best ok?" She asked
Anna squealed clearly excited by the prospect of Elsa helping her out with her date tonight. Sure she needed to inform Elsa on what exactly she and Kristoff were going to be doing that night in order to get better help from Elsa, but that was not going to be hard.
The two monarchs made there way back to the castle. They needed to get back there quickly in order to get started as soon as possible. The sooner Anna was ready for her date, the sooner Elsa could get started with the documents she wanted to do.
The castle was already in sight. All they needed to do was cross the bridge and they would be home free.
Anna and Elsa glanced at each other, "race ya!" they both squealed before taking off. Elsa managed to get ahead. looking back at Anna she cred "see ya." Unfortunately, as she had looked back at Anna she did not see ahead of herself and she collided with something hard.
"oof" she huffed, as she tripped, falling backward. However before she could fall flat onto the ground, she felt arms circle her waist and pull her close. Elsa instinctively wrapped her arms around the person, hugging whoever it was tightly as she regained her sense of balance. Looking up she found herself staring into familiar dark green eyes.