4.
Anna glared at the box of chocolates like it had personally broken into her house, stole her last loaf of bread and then forced her to watch as it kicked her neighbour's puppy in front of her. If glares could kill, that box would be more than eight feet underground by now, probably receiving a solemn eulogy about its pitifully short life or something.
"Miss?"
The shop keeper was starting to look concerned, so she forced herself back into good cheer and pointed at the other box, plain and brown and utterly ordinary, not at all lavish and ornately decorated like the one she had just mentally murdered. Just like herself, really.
"Sorry. I'll take that one. That's the cheapest you have right?"
"Yes but- surely you'd prefer something else? A lady like you—"
"Can't afford anything else, sorry," she said, giving him her best 'yeah I know right?' smile, not blaming him the slightest for his blatant assumptions about her status, or lack thereof. "So if you don't mind, I'll those please."
It was quite baffling, how people had started to treat her differently since she'd arrived in Arendelle. No part of her changed, but these people had suddenly started treating her like, well, like she actually existed. It was disconcerting what a piece of expensive fabric can do. Disconcerting and somewhat sad. She'd always known that people could be shallow and petty, but witnessing it first hand just because of a dress felt like a slap on the face. But she supposed it was simply human nature, and she could hardly fault them for that. It wasn't as if she was any less petty or any less shallow than these people who decided to treat her like a proper human simply because she was clothed correctly.
She brushed the thought off and waited for him to regain himself.
Though still looking quite perplexed, he retained his politeness, picking the box Anna chose and setting it aside on an empty counter space. "Sure thing. That'll be four copper pieces, miss."
She found the denomination inside her coin purse and forked them over, nodding her thanks. He set about to wrap the box and Anna leaned back onto the wall, placing her satchel on a stool besides the counter. She watched the movement of his deft fingers as they coiled the knots of a pretty gold ribbon this way and that to form some intricate pattern.
She hoped he won't charge extra for the wrapping.
"A lot of firewood you have outside," she said by way of conversation, remembering the giant pile of logs stacked neatly in a shed besides his shop, "are we expecting a bad winter?"
He gave her a long, sideway glance, his fingers stopping their motion for a brief moment. "Our winters are always harsh. If I were you, miss, I'd go back to wherever you came from and avoid this cursed placed until it ends."
Cursed. That was an interesting choice of words.
Anna voiced the question, baiting. "Cursed? What do you mean?"
"By cursed I meant the Queen. Don't you know about her?"
By her he meant Elsa's powers. Of course Anna knew. She could hardly throw a cat without hitting someone who seemed all too happy to talk about that particular topic. Most of them opinion not particularly flattering.
"Yeah but it's hardly her fault, is it? She can control ice, sure, but it's not as if she could actually control winter. It's kinda out of the realm of a human, I think."
"I don't mean to offend, miss, but you're clearly new around here if you really believe that – something like that couldn't be called human. It's just not right. " Yeah. Anna decided she didn't like this man anymore, chocolate shop owner or not. "Here miss, it's done. Do you—"
Anna grabbed the now prettily wrapped box out of his hands and stormed in a huff – nearly running over another patron - leaving the stupid shop with its stupid owner behind. Extra charges for nice ribbons be damned.
How dare they. Talking about Elsa like that, like she was their servant instead of their Queen, demanding her to change the bloody weather out of all things. Just because she happened to control ice, she was suddenly the evil, tyrannical Ice Queen who caused only suffering in her endless reign. Anna hadn't seen anything indicating that case; no ice spikes skewering random people in the streets, no food shortage because Elsa decided to hoard all the gold to build a diamond encrusted palace or something. She just happened to be a little bit magical, but so what? It was like discriminating someone for being blonde, or being born with a birthmark on their face.
They were talking about Elsa like they'd known her personally. Well, not that Anna did, having only met her once before, and then having her leave without even answering why she'd summoned Anna all the way to Arendelle; a question that still remained unanswered even nearly a month later. But still. Still. Elsa was kind and just. Because surely no one that dazzlingly beautiful could be truly evil. It just didn't compute.
Anna stopped in her tracks.
Huh. Maybe she was shallow and petty. Surely she didn't believe that Elsa was good just because she was pretty? That was an odd reasoning, because the prettiest girls had always been the cruelest to her. Not that all pretty girls were petty; Princess Rapunzel showed only kindness to her. And not that those girls could actually hold a candle against Elsa's beauty, because Elsa would totally crush all of them with their beauty, like a rampaging bull or some sort. Not that Elsa was anything like a rampaging bull, of course…
God; now her mind had spiraled into weird tangents. She wasn't even sure what she was supposed to think about.
Luckily, a shout from behind her saved her mind from further convoluted imageries linking raging bulls and Queens. "Hey! Wait! The lady in green!"
Well; she was wearing green. So she spun around, squinted against the sun and spotted a man jogging towards her with her satchel swaying wildly from his clutch. Oh.
A few short moments later the man skidded into a halt in front of her and bent down, hands on his knees as he huffed and puffed from the exertion. Anna watched mutely as he regained his composure, not sure if she should snatch her satchel back or pat his shoulder awkwardly. Both didn't seem like a very good alternative, so instead she set the box down onto the ground and unhooked the waterskin from her belt (because dying from dehydration was never in her long-term plan), popped the cap out and offered it tentatively to the man. "Take this. This should, ah, help."
He somehow managed a word of thanks between gasping for air, and she watched his adam's apple bob up and down in fascination as he threw his head back and gulped down the content inside her waterskin.
Finally done, he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of the hand still holding the waterskin and handed it back to her. "Thanks; that really helped. Though it seems like I've emptied it. Sorry about that."
He flashed her an apologetic, abashed smile, his auburn hair flashing in the sun and Anna nearly gasped. Dear lord; he was so dreamy.
"No it's all right. I mean, I can always fill it back up later. It's just water," Anna said. She took the waterskin, making sure to not accidentally touch his hand, and clasped it back to its place. "And you did bring my satchel back for me. So I'm the one who should thank you, really."
She had no idea where the sudden shyness came from, but she made sure to never stare directly into his eyes. Doing that wouldn't really help matters much.
"In that case, you're more than welcome."
His smile widened into a grin showing pearly white teeth, and Anna suddenly felt that not only his eyes, but his entire face was dangerous to look at. And also his broad shoulders. And his toned arms. And well, anything about him, really. Resisting the urge to fan herself, she took the second item he handed her in the span of a few minutes and slung it through her shoulder. Never having interacted with anything of the male specimen who looked like he had just stepped out of a fairy tale involving damsels in distress and princes on white horses (minus the white horse and presumably white princely garb), she was at a loss on how to proceed.
"Well uh, once again thanks for this, um, Mister…"
"Mister? Boy that makes me feel old," he said. "Definitely not mister. Just call me Hans please. And you are?"
"A—Anna," she sputtered. "Nice to meet you, Hans."
"Nice to meet you too, Anna." He took her hand and shook it. It was a firm, friendly handshake. "And it was no problem at all. A satchel for a pretty lady, eh?"
It was the second time in her life someone had called her nice looking (because those drunken lechers who thought it was the magic word to unlock her skirt didn't count), and funnily enough, both came from people who by all means outshone her in that department. She knew Elsa and Hans were just being nice, but still, it sent flutters in her stomach. Especially because the compliment was immediately followed by a pinch to her buttocks. Not that Elsa would – that was blasphemous. Also kinda weird because they were both women. She wondered why she'd started thinking about Elsa, when Hans was standing in front of her.
"So uh, I appreciate the help, Hans, but I need to go back now… got some. Stuff. To do."
Hans's good cheer didn't seem the least bit abated. "Then like the gentleman that I am, I'll offer to walk you home. It's not safe for a lady to walk home in broad daylight on this very safe street with lots of witnesses around."
Anna chuckled at the image of someone kidnapping her in those exact circumstances. Handsome and funny. Pity she couldn't take his offer – and not that she would, even back in Corona. Having a man whom you've just met walk you home was just inviting disaster. There was enough horror stories floating around, and she'd witnessed enough during her stint under her old slavedriver that she knew better.
"I'm sorry, Hans. I'd love to take your offer, but I can't let you do that; letting a stranger walk me home isn't a good idea—"
"Even a stranger as handsome and gentlemanly as me?"
It elicited another laugh from Anna. There was nothing conceited about his words, just pure self-deprecating humour. She liked it. "Even a stranger as handsome and gentlemanly as you. Besides, the place where I stay isn't exactly something you can just walk into. Not without being tackled by a guard and sent into the gallows."
"Oh? I can't imagine a place like that. Do you live inside a dungeon or something?"
"Not really. There's a dungeon I'm sure, but I kinda… live above it?"
Hans cocked and eyebrow. "So… the guardpost?"
"More like the castle?"
Hans's eyes narrowed and something passed by them, like a fleeting thought, or like sudden realisation. Anna simply attributed it to surprise at her uncommon living arrangements and didn't think any more of it.
"That's quite unfortunate – it does complicate things, does it?"
"Yes it does," said Anna softly. A lot of things.
She was free to roam the castle and town as she pleased, but she was under no illusion about the invisible boundaries she couldn't see but definitely could feel. There was almost always a guard assigned to follow her whenever she took a step outside the castle gates. Like the maids, her personal detail kept rotating, and she'd never once had the same person following her more than twice in a row. Walk a bit too close to the town gate and her detail would unfailingly suggest that maybe she was tired, maybe she needed to go back to the castle and rest, yes?
So she'd taken a habit of sneaking out through one of the servant's entrance located near one of the abandoned wings found during one of her explorations done from a lack of things to do. She'd wondered why no one was ever there to guard it, but it was kinda understandable. She had to squeeze herself between thick brambles and then climb a few giant boulders once she's outside, but she wasn't one to complain. It offered her a bit of freedom, and she was grateful for its existence, even so far as to nickname it Joan, kinda like her personal guardian angel.
Her life had a very, very short leash indeed. The life of a bird trapped inside a golden cage. Sometimes she'd stay awake at night, looking at the stars and the moon and wondering if mama was free and happy in her new life. She'd wonder if maybe her mother had actually moved to Arendelle, and maybe they'd bump into each other in the streets one day – mama's face would light up in recognition and Anna—
Anna would then crawl back into her bed and will herself to stop fantasising and go to sleep.
She shook the thoughts away. It wouldn't do to go back to that place, not when the sky is clear and there was a box of chocolates waiting for her to attack.
"So if you don't mind, I think I'll be going back now…"
"Wait," Hans said hastily. "If I can't walk you back, then at least allow me to buy you lunch? It's just such a beautiful day, I'd hate for you to spend it inside those stuffy castle walls. What about, say, a picnic on the pier to look at boats passing by because I'm boring and unoriginal and can't think of anything else?"
Anna's eyes widened. Did he just? "Like, a, a date?"
It was Hans's turn to stare at her with saucer-sized eyes. "N—no! Not that I don't want to of course, to have a date with you I mean, but I think it's too fast for that. I guess I just want to know you better." He shrugged, still looking quite embarrassed. "You just seemed like a very interesting person, so if you don't mind, maybe we can be friends?"
Not knowing she'd withheld her breath, Anna sighed in relief. Friends. Ever since Kristoff had dropped her off and disappeared to do his Field Marshally duties, she'd been one short of a friend. Out of one. She missed Kristoff, missed their lessons and his repertoire of verbal jabs.
So yes; she would definitely like another friend.
"That would be… I think that would be nice. I'm up for it if you are."
He clapped his hands together. "Awesome! How does sandwich by the sea sound?"
"I love sandwiches!"
"Sandwiches it is then …wait."
"Huh?"
"You forgot your chocolate."
"Oh. Right."
"One… two… three!"
An arm outstretched, Hans threw the pebble into the sea, and they both watched as it soared into the air, then dipped down in an arc and disappeared beneath the waves. Not even close to the buoy.
Hans let out a groan of frustration, hands on his hips. "Damn it! It was so close too!"
"If by close you mean like a few boats away, then yeah. Very close," Anna said dryly.
He shot her a glare. "Then let's see you try it, miss laugh-at-people's-misfortune."
Laughing at his hurt pride, Anna took the last of the sandwiches and bit a large chunk out of it. "No thanks," she said after swallowing, "I won this bet fair and square and no amount of cajoling would risk me giving up on this sandwich. None."
"Pfft. At least leave a little bit for me."
"Hell no!"
"Cheapskate."
"And proud of it."
"Fine. Enjoy your blood sandwich," Hans huffed, taking a seat beside her, his legs dangling off the pier just as hers was.
Despite the grumbling, she knew it was all just an act. They'd only known each other for a few short hours, but it felt like they were friends forever. He knew exactly what jokes made her laugh, what to say in every situation, even what her favourite sandwich filling is. All in all, he was almost too good to be real.
But Hans was good, and he was definitely real, lounging besides her with his hair ruffling from the easy ocean breeze. It was a perfect day. It would be nice to sit like this with Hans forever.
She decided to give him the rest of her sandwich out of pity. "Here," she said, thrusting the sandwich in front of his nose, "I'd feel bad if you got mad and started spreading rumours about me stealing sandwiches from the needy or something."
Hans looked at her in mock surprise as he took her peace offering. "Why thank you, Your Highness; your act of mercy astounds me. From now on—" then, to Anna's horror, he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth "— I wiwf offesh ish ofsh— hgh." Apparently trying to speak with his mouth full had proved to be quite difficulty, so he paused until the sandwich was inside his belly before speaking again. "Oh bloody hell that was harder than I thought. Well, I would continue the joke of offering each one of my unborn children to you and naming them after sandwich fillings, but it seemed like I've just effectively killed it."
The accent of his voice changed as he adopted a snobby, haughty tone commonly associated with nobility. "Then, my lady, shall we talk about the weather perchance? It is quite dreary, but I do find this a good day to pursue my equestrian hobbies. Would you perhaps care to join me? We can have tasteless tea and engage in a conversation about the colour of one's lapel afterwards if it pleases you."
The accent was spot on, almost authentic. Even though Elsa didn't sound anything like that, with her gentle, nearly inflectionless voice, she'd definitely heard some of the more pompous castle people speak like that. Mimicry must be one of Hans's talents.
"Let's not," Anna said, giggling. "I've had enough talks about weathers lately. So much that I think I simply need to bump against someone to have a detailed description of the weather instead of just, y'know, looking outside of the window."
"Can't say I know that feeling, but fair enough. What should we talk about next, then?"
"What indeed…" They'd talked about everything under the sun, ranging from the nobility's insistence of wearing frilly long sleeved dresses to puppy noses to various kinds of bread… but nothing about themselves, she realised. "What about you, Hans? Let's talk about you."
"Me? That might be a step back from the weather, but sure. What do you wanna know?" he asked, seemingly surprised but not unpleased.
"About why you're here, for starters. You said you were new to town, but you didn't exactly say why. So what's up?"
Running his hand through his bearded jaw, he contemplated the question before answering. "That's a good question as any, I guess. Did I tell you I travel a lot?"
"You just did."
He chuckled. "Yeah, so when I heard about the ascension Arendelle's new Queen and her powers – back then I was still a wee boy, mind - I promised myself that I had to travel here and see it for myself. Took me bloody five years because there was just too many places to see and do – I mean, have you seen the grand Autumn festival in Dunbroch? Beautiful – but I'm getting sidetracked here. Anyway, I'm finally here and I'm planning to see everything Arendelle has to offer before leaving. Pity the Queen is nowhere in sight though, I really wanted to see her in action."
"Yeah… I guess she's not the type of royalty that craves publicity. I don't think I've ever heard of her attending any public event."
Hans hummed. "A pity indeed… wait." As if struck by an epiphany, he turned towards her, eyes flashing with curiosity. "But you live in the castle, so surely you see her around a lot, right?"
And Anna found her smile faltering. "Yeah… not really, no. I've talked to her once when I came here, but nothing after that. I've passed her a few times in the hallways and all, but she always seemed like she was in a rush, probably doing some Queenly stuff or another. Even if she wasn't, it's not like she'll go out of her way just to talk to someone like me. So… yeah."
It was true. Elsa had always been courteous in their brief encounters, always smiling politely whenever she saw Anna, but they had been wordless exchanges. Elsa had better things to do than waste her time on her. It would be nice if she did, though. Talk to Anna. But well, wishful thinking and all.
"Someone like you?"
Huh. It seemed like that hadn't passed through Hans. "Oh, I mean I'm just a common peasant who used to work in a seedy tavern. Nothing special at all."
"Bullshit," he said. Anna found his crassness refreshing. Very different than the air of suffocating politeness inside the castle. He stared straight at her, and she no longer had to avert her eyes. They were too comfortable with each other by then. "You're saying that you're just an ordinary girl who just happened to live in the castle? What are you, a maid or something?"
Waving her hand, she dismissed that question. "Nah. Current employment status: unemployed. Really Hans, I'm nothing special."
"So why are you there, then?"
"I don't know either," Anna said with nonchalance. Kinda past the whole being embarrassed about her seedy circumstances. "One minute I was just wiping tables in Corona, and the next I was shoved into a carriage and boated here. I was never told why."
And trying to ferret information out of unsuspecting maids had fast become old.
A cloud passed overhead, and the words died between them.
After a few moments Hans stretched his arms up and rotated his shoulders. "Okay then. Your circumstances are… interesting, but I won't pry further. It was nice though, the way you stuck up for her."
"Huh?"
"Y'know, the shop owner. He wasn't very respectful of her, was he."
Not a question. "Yeah, he wasn't. It seems like everyone has something to say about Elsa, and most of them not very… nice. I wonder why."
Hans had made himself comfortable by lying down with his arms serving as buffer between his head and the wooden plans, and Anna longed to dip her feet in the ocean and feel the cold on her skin.
"Fear, I reckon," Hans said to the sky. "I mean, the stories about her decimating an entire fleet with a single swoop of her hand? Might be an exaggeration, but…"
"But didn't she do it to protect her people?"
"Doesn't stop them from feeling fear. She's unknown to them, and people are afraid of the unknown. Even if…" And his voice dipped so low Anna almost couldn't hear: "Even if she's the only one standing between Arendelle and the might of an invading army."
Anna hummed. It was getting too dark, too soon.
"Say Hans?"
"Yeah?"
"Wanna take a walk on the beach?"
It was already half past nine when she'd reached the outskirts of the castle. She'd somehow managed to spend the entire day with Hans, mostly doing nothing and talking about everything. Parting ways with him was hard, but at least he'd promised to meet her tomorrow again. That was what friendships were made from, and she was happy she could count Hans as her second friend ever.
But as nice as cheering as that thought was, now she needed to go back the only routine she hadn't missed since she came here: reading. No Hans was going to stop her from getting her daily dose of being attacked by words.
Like clockwork, she slipped through Joan and marched straight to the main wing – thankful that the duty of guarding her didn't extend inside the castle walls. The guards seemed as prone as ignoring her inside and they were in shadowing her outside. Passing through two guards with their half-hearted salute, she beelined straight towards the library, stopping twice to apologise to a boy she'd almost knocked over and then again to a decorative armour she'd de capitated in her rush.
Thankfully nothing else lost any body parts, and she made it safely into the library, slipping through the huge double doors before closing it softly behind her. No one was ever in the library at this time of the day that she'd known of, but she squinted in the darkness and took a look around just to make sure. She was the only living, breathing thing there.
Good. She let out a small sigh of relief. She really, really wanted to finish that story. Placing the box of untouched chocolates (as Hans didn't like chocolates, that heathen) on the table in front of her favourite settee by the huge window, she then went through the room and lit all the candles one by one. With that done, she stood in the middle of the room and took a stock on her handiwork. Good enough. It was quite warm so she didn't need the fireplace yet.
Off to work.
She went to the beginning of children's section and ran a finger across each spine as she moved right, reciting the alphabet haltingly in her head until she'd found the one. It took a while, because by section she meant several. Several huge shelves that spanned from ceiling to floor. And that didn't even include the books in other languages besides English. Sometimes she'd wondered if this library contained all the books in the world. That was certainly a grand thought, and somehow suited its owner, though Anna was under no impression that Elsa would spend any time at all struggling to read even the simplest of children's books. She seemed more like the thick, dusty tomes kind of person.
Aha. C.
D… E… G? No. F. G… H…
Gotcha, Anna thought victoriously, inwardly patting herself on the back. She hooked her index finger on the ridge on top of the book's spin and pulled it out, resting it on the crook of her arms as she made her way back to the settee.
Unwrapping the box of chocolates, she took a piece and popped it into her mouth, letting it melt on her tongue. Right. Time to hunker down and read. She opened the book right where she'd placed the bookmark from yesterday, tracing the words on the yellowed paper before finding her place back in the words.
She started reading aloud. "'Now it came to pass that the King… or—ordained?A. Fes…tival. That should last for three days…'"
And she continued like that, words halting, sometimes tumbling against each other. It was hard, but deeply satisfying. There was a sense of progression when she read; the illusion of having achieved something in the monotony of her life. Kristoff had taught her enough of the basics to spread her wings and soar, so to speak.
Well. Soar into the ground, more like it.
She squinted hard at the particular word, nose almost touching the page. "Dis…appear? No… that can't be right. Cried for disappearment? Diss… diss…"
"Disappointment, perhaps?" a soft voice suggested, startling her quite badly.
Badly enough that the book she was reading had flown into the air and hit an opposing shelf with a thud, a hair's width from hitting the intruder.
She stared up at Elsa, who stood so very still and so very composed even after nearly having her face rearranged by a thick, leather-bound book. Anna's mouth opened and closed like a dying goldfish, and the only thing she could manage was a tinny squeal akin to a suffocating chipmunk: "Elsaaaaaaaa?"
"I didn't know you hated me that much," Elsa said dryly.
"W—what? NO! I didn't do it on purpose you just startled me and I threw the book in reflex and ohmygod I'msosorryforthrowingthatatyou but I didn't mean it I swea—"
"Relax; it was just a joke, Anna."
Anna's word vomit from the very near heart attack stopped, and she saw that Elsa was smiling lightly. Heat bloomed on her cheeks, no doubt from embarrassment.
"Oh," she said. And Elsa even remembered her name. Wow. "Phew. I'm glad you didn't mean it seriously, because I don't hate you. Not at all. Just… really surprised to see you here. I thought no one used this place besides me. Which is kind of a silly thought, come to think of it. Because of course this is a library, so of course people use it. Ha ha. Ha."
Oh god; she was rambling again. She should stop that, seriously. Because who in hell rambles in front of a Queen? Her, that's who. Idiot.
Elsa looked unperturbed, though. As if she hadn't noticed Anna's stupid verbal diarrhoea.
"I come here every night to read," Elsa said. She'd already gone over and retrieved the book, giving it a few pats before placing it back onto the table. "Though I won't blame you if you do."
Anna blinked. "If I do?"
"Hate me."
What. Why would she hate her?
"What. Why would I hate you?"
"For holding you here without reason, perhaps?"
Oh. That. And, mind lapsing into non-sequitur again, Anna realised that she was sitting in a Queen's presence while the Queen herself remained standing. Standing.
"SIT!" she all but shouted. Elsa's jaw dropped, and Anna had the sudden urge to strangle herself and jump off the tallest tower she could find. Trying to find a way to somehow save the situation from her own stupidity, she quickly scooted over to the edge of the settee and mashed her body against the armrest. "I—I mean I'm sitting, and you standing, and you're the Queen so that's just impolite. I'm not—I'm not ordering you to sit, but I think you should sit because… stuff."
Though still somewhat slackjawed, Elsa quickly regained her composure. "No… it's all right. I've already interrupted you enough – I think it's better if I just take a book and read in my study."
"…oh. Okay then."
There was no good reason to it, but Anna just felt… well. Downtrodden. She bit her lower lip, preparing to say goodbye to Elsa when she felt the couch shift and sag. Turning, she saw Elsa.
"On a second thought, I prefer the atmosphere of the library to my study, so I think I'll stay, if you don't mind," said Elsa, body angled so that her knees were turned towards Anna.
Holy crap she said yes!
Suppressing a mental shout that sounded like a cross between 'wooohoo!' and 'holycrapIcan'tbelievethisishappening', Anna's hand darted to the box of chocolate, holding it in the empty space between her and Elsa. Despite successfully blocking any inappropriate victory cries from escaping her mouth, she couldn't stop herself from grinning.
"So uh, fancy some of the cheapest chocolates money could buy?"
Though knowing that logically she should be embarrassed for offering something as utterly plebeian to someone who could probably afford to sprinkle diamond dust on every one of her meals, Anna didn't feel anything remotely close to it. Somehow, she knew that Elsa wasn't someone who'd turn her nose up at something just because it wasn't the world's finest. Unlike the nobilities that Hans had so deftly mimicked.
She didn't know why she felt that way, but she knew it was true.
Her feelings were confirmed when Elsa had smiled at the sight of the box's contents, gingerly picking one up and taking a small bite out of it. "Thank you. I do love my chocolates; especially the ones with caramel nougat in the centre."
"Me too!" Whoa. Finally someone who shared her obsession with chocolates. She hoped Elsa wasn't just being polite, because once she started, she was definitely not going to shut up about chocolates. "In fact, I think we have some here…" Her fingers overed the box as she tried to single the caramel ones out of the others, "Aha. Here it is." She held it between her thumb and index and wiggled it tantalisingly, waiting for Elsa to take it.
"I'd love to, but I still have this one to eat," Elsa said, looking like she was conflicted about the choice. "Maybe I should finish this first?"
"Oh that's what you're worried about? No problem! Gimme that, I'll eat it."
Elsa stared blankly at her outstretched palm.
"But I've taken a bite out of it."
Her fingers wiggled. "So? We can't just throw it away, it'll be waste."
"Well… if you're fine with it."
Why was Elsa so reluctant? Did she not want to relinquish her chocolate? There were tons other in the box though, and Anna doubted very much they could finish it in one sitting, so definitely no scarcity there.
"I am."
With a sigh, Elsa finally, reluctantly placed the chocolate on her palm and took the other one. The chocolate was cold, no doubt kept from melting by Elsa's powers. How very convenient. She found herself wishing that she could do things with ice too, just for the sake of cooling down chocolates.
She tried to give Elsa a few moments to savour the chocolate, but unable to contain her excitement, she burst out, "do you like it? Is it good?"
That had earned her a little laugh from Elsa and Anna's world stopped. It was as if her senses had developed tunnel vision, and anything and everything was suddenly Elsa. The glow of Elsa's skin against the moonlight. The perfectly shaped cuticles on Elsa's perfect, slender fingers. The gentle slope of Elsa's shoulders. The sharp angles of Elsa's collarbones. The rosy tint of Elsa's lips.
Elsa.
Elsa.
"Anna?" Her mind snapped back to reality. Elsa was looking at her oddly. "I'm sorry, is there something on my face?"
"Huh?" And she realised that she was still staring at Elsa's lips. What was wrong with her? But even knowing that something definitely wasn't right with her mind, it still took her several seconds to tear her gaze away and stare fixatedly at the nice grain of the table's wood instead.
What was wrong with her?
"So—sorry," she said at the table, "There's nothing anything on your face and I was totally not paying attention to your face too."
"…I see. But there is something on yours."
"Huh? Wha—"
Her sentence was cut short when she felt the pleasant tingle of fingers under her chin, softly moving it sideways and up, forcing her to stare at Elsa's face. Oh god those eyes. It was the same sort of blue as her own, but while on her it just looked ordinary, on Elsa it managed to just make her look… seductive. Maybe it was just her impossibly long eyelashes. Maybe Anna just had a thing for eyes. Maybe it was just how Elsa's simple murmur of "hold still" had immediately sent a jolt through her spine. Maybe it was just how the skin underneath Elsa's fingers had seemingly developed ultra-sensitivity, registering even the slightest shifts as earth shattering tremors.
Or maybe it was just chocolate rush. Yeah. Chocolate rush, she thought, clenching her legs tightly together. Her knee brushed against Elsa's and suddenly keeping her legs together seemed like the hardest thing to do in the world was to part them open and force Elsa's thigh against THINK OF PUPPIES, ANNA. THINK OF PUPPIES AND CHOCOLATES AND SANDWICHES AND ALL THE GOOD, NON-SEXUAL THINGS IN THE WORLD. And she did, closing her eyes tight, trying to think only about the cold nose of puppies and nothing more.
It worked for a bit and the throbbing lessened.
…until Elsa started to dab the corner of her lips with a handkerchief and Anna could only think about darting the tongue out and licking those fingers.
And thankfully before she could lose her mind and do exactly that, Elsa had withdrawn her touch and slid back into her place at the opposite of the settee, carefully folding the handkerchief back into a neat square.
Anna tried her best not to whimper, somehow wishing the handkerchief was her instead of the handkerchief.
"Maybe Kai was right."
"Uh?" Anna's mind was still recovering from having one too many screws forced loose from her brain.
"It's not a good idea being too close. I've messed up," Elsa continued quietly, fingers mindlessly tracing the edges of the now frozen handkerchief, "I should go now before it gets worse, but running off again would be unfair to you."
"Huh? I don't understand…" said Anna, who still wanted to be that handkerchief, frozen or not, as much as she wanted to know what the hell Elsa was talking about.
"Do you think a wound should be allowed to fester?"
Okay. Whatever Elsa was talking about, she had jumped from point A to point Z and Anna was totally, totally lost. "Uh… no? Why would you? It'll just get worse, won't it?"
"Amputation, then."
My god, that was morbid. How did they go from chocolates to amputation? But Anna was thankful too, because that word had managed to successfully kill any desire to become a handkerchief. "Maybe… it's better to avoid getting wounded at all in the first place? That way you don't have to chop anything off. I hope," she offered, still having no inkling what this was all about. Maybe Elsa was trying to learn how to do first aid. Who knows.
Whatever it was, it seemed to help, because Elsa had stopped fiddling with the frozen block of handkerchief. She set it onto the table and took the book, skimming through the pages until she'd landed on a page. "Cinderella, was it. Do you want me to read it to you? I have another copy around here somewhere so you can follow along. It would help your reading, I think."
All confusing thoughts about sexuality and chopping limbs off and whatever left Anna's thoughts as she replied with a resounding "yes!" and immediately set off to find that extra copy.
It was the best day ever. She got to meet a new friend and spend time with Elsa. Today was just so perfect; how could anything possibly go wrong?
Continued
A/N: So in this fic I've nicknamed a gate after Joan, wrote a few thousand words about sandwiches and another few thousand rambling about chocolates. Way too much Hans and way too much food, but 6.5k words. Thank god I cut last chapter short. I'm exhausted.
Thanks mucho for reviews and more are encouraged, mon cheries, even just to rave about chocolate. Which I don't like. Unless it's 98% dark.
