It is only now occurring to Elsa that it may not have been the brightest idea to offer a garden tour to a botanist. In fact, the very idea of leading said tour was been ill-conceived. They're ambling down a path lined with revebjelles and vivendels, the Queen in the lead, Anna trotting along beside her, but Prince Anton is doing most of the talking. It became clear after mere minutes that the only commentary Elsa was be able to provide was to occasionally point out a bush under which she'd hid from the nanny at the age of four or a tree from which she'd fallen at seven.
"I apologize for my abruptness, but I must dismiss myself to draft a letter to the King," Prince Ivar announces as they approach the castle.
"That's quite alright," Elsa replies with a wave of her hand. She's hardly disappointed. They've been in the gardens for nearly an hour-and-a-half, and she is beginning to feel her skin burn. She can count on one hand the number of times she's been out in the sun in the past thirteen years. Four of them have been in the past three weeks. "You're here to do business, after all."
"Thank you for understanding," he nods to her as he makes his way back to the castle.
"Your Majesty, I saw some Trifolium montanum over there that seem to be absolutely thriving. Do you mind…? I haven't had much luck with them, myself."
"Of course," Elsa replies, wondering what exactly that is and if it's something that's supposed to be growing in the garden, as Prince Anton hurries back down the path, nearly hitting a bench in the process. The Queen presses her lips together to prevent any laughter from escaping. She sees Anna bring a hand to her mouth to do the same. To her left, Rolf and Erlend are rolling their eyes.
"He does get worked up about plants," Rolf comments, his gaze following his retreating brother.
"I'll go make sure he doesn't hurt himself," Erlend mutters, more to Rolf than anyone, Elsa suspects. "Please excuse me, Your Majesty." He declines his head at Elsa and Anna in turn and marches down the path in sweeping steps that cover the same ground in twice the amount of time his younger brother had with his frantic jog. "Honestly," she hears him mutter in exasperation.
Rolf is smiling and shaking his head. "Well, thank you for the tour, Your Majesty. Your Highness," he looked between the sisters.
"It was my pleasure," Elsa replies. "I only apologize that I couldn't be more informative. My lack of wildlife knowledge, you see…"
"No need," Rolf holds up a hand. "I daresay my brother was informative enough on his own. If I'm being honest, your stories were a welcome interlude to his utterly fascinating lecture on the life cycles of every plant known to man."
Anna giggles, but the Queen merely nods. "That's good to hear."
"Princess Anna," he turns to the younger girl. "It was a pleasure being in your company."
"Oh… thank you," Anna replies, taken aback. "Umm, you too." Elsa suppresses another laugh. That's her sister, always so eloquent.
"Shall I look forward to your proposals later today?" Elsa asks as the group proceeded toward the castle.
"Yes, Ivar seems to think we'll have them ready by then," Rolf answers.
"Wonderful, I'm sure you're looking forward to getting back to the Southern Isles."
"I am," Rolf seems to be choosing his words carefully, and it makes Elsa uncomfortable that she is not sure why. "But being here, well, it's like a vacation. Not a vacation, because I'm working, obviously—I'm taking this very seriously, you know." His words seem to be escaping too quickly for him now. Elsa is stunned at how his tone of voice has changed now that they've gotten off the subject of business. It's not the deep, commanding voice she's grown accustomed to in the past day. It's more expressive, carrying emotion that she realizes would be unbecoming of a Prince. She wonders fleetingly if she too slips into a professional tone without realizing it. "But to be somewhere away from home," he's saying, still trying to cover the slip. "I haven't traveled much; that's the downside of having so many brothers; you have to take turns. Well, it's nice." He ends with a grimace that tells Elsa very plainly that his words did not come out the way he wanted them to. She chooses to ignore the stumble, for his sake.
"And what of your job? You're a… violinist?"
"That's right," Rolf answers. "The orchestra will be alright. They'll find a temporary replacement."
"You're not at all concerned?"
"Well, it's not like they can just fire me," he points out. "I don't think my father would hear of it." He shook his head.
"Lunch will be served shortly," Elsa states abruptly. His mention of the King has jarred her from the surprising ease of their brief conversation back into the mindset of a sovereign. "You and your brothers are welcome to join us in the dining room or you can take it in your chambers if you need to work."
"Thank you," Rolf replies, slipping back into his deep professional tone of voice once again. "I will consult with my brothers and send word of our plans with one of the stewards."
"Excellent," she nods her approval and continues into the castle, Anna still at her side.
She stops once they are safely in the entrance hall with the door latched behind them. "So?" she raises her eyebrows.
"They seem harmless enough," her sister admits. Elsa can tell by the way her eyebrows are drawn together that she is working something out in her head but decides to let it go. Who is she to demand to know what her sister is thinking, after all?
"So if they decide to come to lunch, you won't put up a fuss?"
Anna sighs loudly and, Elsa suspects, more for dramatic effect than anything. "No."
"Good," she replies. "That's all I ask."
As she turns up the stair toward her study, she hears Anna mutter something, but she decides to let that slide as well.
Lunch is usually a quiet affair in the castle. Elsa and Anna eat together, which Elsa enjoyed immensely at first. They reminisced about their childhoods in the days before the gates were closed, about sneaking out of bed to play and dirtying their dresses in the garden, but before long, they both ran out of stories. Lunch became a time of tension, the uneasy silence a stifling reminder of exactly how few experiences they shared. Elsa began to bring memos with her to the table in the hopes that appearing busy would resolve some of the awkwardness that had fallen over the meal, but the knowledge that they both see through that ploy mitigates any positive effect it might have had.
Today, the Queen leaves her work behind in her office. She can't bring it, with the knowledge that any of the Princes might show up. It would appear that she anticipated they would reject her invitation, that she lacked confidence. She can't risk it. Especially not with these particular Princes. Besides, she thinks, it's been over a week since she and Anna have even tried to make conversation over lunch. Maybe something's changed. Maybe if they give it one more try—
"Elsa." Anna is standing outside the dining room doors bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet. "They're in there."
"Ah," she nods, guilt gnawing away at the relief that is flood through her over not having to endure another silent meal. "I see."
"I didn't want to go in without you."
"Anna, you know you'll have to learn to entertain dignitaries on your own."
"Fine, I will. Just not these specific dignitaries."
Elsa sighs. "Fair enough."
"And I won't," Anna comments.
"Won't what?"
"I won't have to learn to entertain dignitaries on my own," the younger girl shrugs. "Because I'll never be the Queen."
Elsa could point out that the ability to socialize with foreign diplomats is a skill to be expected of any member of the royal family, whether directly in line for the throne or not, but as she's opening her mouth to do just that, the doors to the dining room are pushed open from the inside. She hears the familiar scraping of chairs as the Princes get to their feet.
"Thank you," she comments as she glides along the table, Anna at her side. "Please sit."
"Your Majesty, Prince Ivar asked us to give you his sincerest condolences," Prince Erlend says once she has taken her seat. "He wanted to join you for lunch, but there was too much work to be done. He offers his gratitude."
Elsa nods, picking up her knife and fork and evaluating her salmon. Fine, that's one less person to entertain, and maybe, with Ivar momentarily out of the picture, she'll be able to get a better handle on his brothers. She looks up when she hears Anna begin to speak. "Will your proposal be ready by this afternoon as planned?"
"Certainly, Your Highness," Erlend replies as the Queen stares at her in shock. "Will you be joining us for the negotiations?"
Anna glances at her sister before drawing her gaze back to the Prince. "Yes. Yes, I will."
Erlend nods once. It is a firm, decisive nod that suits his position. Elsa expects he picked it up from his father. "Right, as it seems you should be. Then, as always, Princess, we will look forward to your company."
Elsa looks at her sister imploringly, but her own question is answered with Anna's next one. "And, after we've reached an agreement, how long can we expect to enjoy your company?" Her voice is practically dripping in honey, but Elsa can hear the implication behind it, as can, she suspects, the Princes.
Erlend chuckles, looking between his brothers and then back to the Princess. "So eager to have us out of your hair already? We've only just arrived."
"There's no rush," Elsa reassures him, finding her sister's foot under the table and giving it a good firm jab with her own.
"For a journey the length of the Southern Isles to Arendelle, I believe a week is the customary length of stay," Anton informs his brother.
"That's right," Rolf replies, turning to face Erlend. "We can't leave too early. It would be perceived as rude." He lowers his voice. "People at home would talk more than they already do. If we arrived back so soon, it would appear we'd understayed our welcome, which would imply we had a reason to go."
"If we left as soon as we'd arrived, it would give even more cause to think…" Anton suddenly snaps his mouth shut, glancing sideways at Elsa. He attempts to shoot pointed looks at his brothers, but, Elsa notices, they are suddenly very intent on avoiding his eye. He made a mistake, she realized.
Anna notices as well. "To think what?" she asks sharply. Anton looks up at her in surprise. It seems to take him longer than any to realize his error, but Elsa can see his eyes widen, his mouth drop open in horror.
"It's nothing," he assures Anna once he regains his composure. "Domestic politics."
But Anna is having none of it. "To think what?" she repeats more loudly, as if he simply didn't hear her the first time.
"Really, it's nothing to be—"
"Then why did you look at the Queen?"
"They might think…" Anton begins, but then hesitates. He looks to his older brothers for guidance, but Erlend is taking extra care adjusting one of his cuffs, and Rolf is suddenly very interested in cutting his salmon into the smallest squares he can manage. "Well… excuse me, Your Majesty," he says, looking at Elsa and turning quite red, "but our people would take it as greater cause to think that you aren't," he pauses again, staring desperately at his plate, like if he studies it intently enough, he will disappear into it. Finally, he swallows and looks back up. "Aren't the proper Queen of Arendelle."
"What do you mean, not the proper Queen of Arendelle?!"
"Anna, it's alright," Elsa reaches across the table toward her sister, but she's already on her feet.
"My sister didn't mean to cause an eternal winter. She didn't mean to shoot ice at the Duke of Weselton. Why don't you try having ice powers for a while and see how you handle it?"
"Anna," Elsa's voice is desperate, pleading her sister to stop, to just sit back down and eat her salmon, but Anna ignores her. Anna is too worked up to notice the table top frosting over or the shards of ice shooting up around the Queen's chair.
"My sister has worked tirelessly since she returned home to right her mistakes. She is the best queen Arendelle's ever had, and no ice powers can change that."
"Forgive my brother, Your Highness," Erlend is speaking now, exuding calm in a way Elsa has been working toward for years. "But Her Majesty's ice powers are not to what he was referring." If he hoped that knowledge would calm the Princess down, he was sorely wrong.
"What then?" Anna voice is as icy as the wood of Elsa's chair.
"No," Elsa says firmly, holding up a hand. She too stands. "I think it's time for us to excuse ourselves." She glances over at her sister before continuing. "Please, by all means, finish your meals." With that, she turns and heads for the door, praying that Anna is following her.
"What could you have possibly been thinking!"
"I was protecting you!"
"I don't need you to protect me!"
"You mean like I don't need you to protect me?"
Elsa isn't even completely certain they are out of earshot of the dining room when the yelling begins. Anna is likely to know, but Elsa is in no mood to ask her sister's opinion on anything at the moment.
"Anna, how could you just… how could you just…"
"Stand up for you?" Anna asks. "I don't know, maybe because you won't, and maybe because I'm your sister. And—and somebody had to."
"Well, it wasn't necessary," Elsa replies. "I didn't need standing up for."
"You could have fooled me," the younger girl says. "Elsa, you're the Queen. This entire kingdom is yours, and you can have them thrown out of it whenever you want. You don't have to try to suck up to them. They should be sucking up to you."
"Anna, no one is sucking up to anyone. We're being civil. We're being civil so we can do business. So our kingdoms can have a relationship in the future."
"If being civil means letting them walk all over you."
"I may not be good at making public appearances," Elsa's voice becomes dangerously soft, but the intensity with which she is speaking compelled the Princess to listen. "And I may not always get the stewards' names right on the first try, and I may not have any idea how to talk to my sister, but if there's one thing I am very good at, it's doing business. I have been preparing for it for a long time." Elsa takes a step back and forces herself to breathe in an out. "If you ever accuse me of losing control over what's going on in this castle again, I better be locked in a cell." She brings her forefingers to her temples. "I was doing just fine until you had your outburst."
"He said you weren't the right person to be Queen," Anna voice is much softer now. The anger is gone.
"He said their people thought I wasn't the right person to be Queen," Elsa explains. "There's a difference. Prince Anton expressed no personal stance on the matter." The one intelligent decision he made in that conversation. "And I can't imagine that's an unpopular opinion right now, anyway, and we should expect it to come up again with other nations. I can't say I'd fault them for it, anyway."
"See, that's what I mean," Anna exclaims. "That's why you didn't fight back. Because you agreed with them."
"I didn't fight back because no one was fighting in the first place," the older girl replies. "And what I think doesn't matter, as long as I look and sound confident."
"It matters to me."
"This is hardly the time for that conversation," Elsa shakes her head. "This is not about me. It's about you learning how to control yourself. I know you thought what you were doing was right, but you have to learn the difference between a tactless but overall factual comment and an insult. This was definitely the former. Okay?"
Anna hesitates for a moment, but slowly she nods. "But I'm not apologizing."
"I'll do it for you."
"Fine."
"And, Anna, I think, given the circumstances, it would be best if you didn't join us in negotiations this afternoon."
"So it'll just be you against them?"
Elsa shakes her head. "It's not us versus them, Anna. We're working together. And I'll be fine." Like I always am.
A/N: So I'm a little worried about the characterization of that fight at the end, because we never really saw either sister angry in the movie, but I thought Anna seemed like someone who would get really worked up, whereas Elsa would get a handle on herself a lot more quickly.
I already had the next chapter written, so it will be up in the next few days-I like to stay a chapter ahead, so I'd like to get five written first-but there's a pretty big scene in four, so hopefully you guys will stick around, because I think it will be a good one.
Anyway, I only got a couple reviews last chapter, and I know more of you than that read it. If you have a minute, please do drop a review. They mean the world to me. Thank you for those of you who did take the time. I appreciate you.