Finally back with an update. Sorry for the delay, been busy here with the fact I've just gotten myself a new car and work has been quite busy of late. Other than that, I did managed to get this chapter out. Because of how busy I've been, I'm not quite sure if the quality is a good as the rest, so I apologise if this chapter isn't that good. Anyway, let's get on with the tale of when Aiden meets Elsa...!

Chapter 4

Summer Time With the Queen

It wouldn't be until two days after I first met Kristoff that I'd finally have the chance to meet with the Snow Queen herself, Elsa, though it perhaps couldn't come at a worse time. While the summer was now coming to an end that day in late August, it just so happened that it was the hottest day of the year, almost if this was like a grand finale for this year's summer, and by God was it really an uncomfortable day.

Even though it was late afternoon at that time of the day with the sun starting to set, Arendelle was still stiflingly hot. It had been one of those days when the shirt sticks to your back, even if all you are doing was sitting in a shady street-side café sipping a cool beer. The surrounding fjord had captured the day's heat like a cauldron and as I stepped out onto the battlements to get some fresh air (alas to no avail), I could see that there was hardly a soul out in the city as many had probably wisely wanted to stay indoors while those brave enough had gone to far as to have a swim in the harbour, even with ships trying to dock for heaven's sake! Some people would do anything to keep cool and with this weather, how could I blame them?

I did wonder just what Dad and Olga were up to in this moment, hopefully Dad had something planned for them to get through this wretched heat. The last thing any of us Royal Staff members wanted was to work in all of this and I didn't stay out for long as I ran back inside to find a shaded section in the castle, but I had a funny feeling that I would be needed for something. How right I'd be.

It just so happened as I walked past the great hall and tried wiping off some of the sweat on my forehead and thick brown hair, I heard my name being called out and looking behind me, there I could see the castle overseer, Kai, with a thick stack of documents in his hands. I hurried over to him and greeted him. "How do sir, how's you been?"

"Just about coping," Kai grinned sheepishly. I could see that like me he had been sweating and could even sense that the hot weather was getting to him too.

"You and me both, sir," I sighed and then looked down at my untidy appearance. The green blazer jacket that you would be familiar for what us servants wear I had refused to wear that day to try and keep me cool, thus I was only wearing the olive green long sleeved shirt, in which I had unbuttoned the top few in order to let some air down, along with the brown waistcoat, black trousers and shoes. If you were to see me up close you would've seen the shirt, I was wearing nearly all soaked from my sweat which didn't do any good to keep me comfortable.

To say I was an untidy looking mess would be an understatement, though I could see that Kai had also ditched the green blazer too as it looked like we were all doing whatever we could to keep cool.

"Um…sorry sir about my appearance," I apologised. "I honestly didn't mean to sweat like a bloody pig."

"No need to be," Kai assured me. "Think everyone else in the castle is trying all they can to get through the day…hopefully it'll be better for tomorrow."

I nodded and pulled my collar out a bit to ease some comfort for myself. "Hopefully. But…yeah, you asked for me?"

"Well of course," Kai replied and glanced down at the pile of documents in his hands. "I'm needed to help with one of the guys downstairs, appears one of the servants has passed out from the heat."

I winced upon hearing this. "Damn, sorry to hear that."

"But for you," Kai added, "if you could deliver these documents to Queen Elsa for me then that would be a good help for me as I can help with whoever it is that is needing help. The Queen is currently in her study just to let you know."

I glanced at him and the documents before responding. "Uh, sure, aye will do…" Then it dawned on me who I was to see. "Hang on, I've to see the Queen?"

"Well of course," Kai replied as if it was the most normal thing. "Is…something wrong, Aiden?"

"No, no nothin' at all," I stuttered as Kai placed the heavy documents in my hands. "It's just that, well, I haven't met the Queen personally myself and…"

"Don't know what to expect?" Kai asked with a reassuring smile. I nodded awkwardly, though Kai chuckled. "Don't worry boy, she's very friendly and if you just act the way you are normally, I'm sure she'll like you."

Just be yourself…how original.

We didn't say anything for a moment until Kai cleared his throat. "Anyway, better let you on your way, know the way to her study?"

"Aye," I uttered. "Up near the bedroom corridor?"

"Good stuff," Kai replied. "Must be off to help with whoever's in trouble. Take care, Aiden." With that said, he headed off down the corridor and left me with a large stack of papers which I could only assume were for Elsa to look over and sign.

I didn't know how long I stood there for, but the thought of meeting the Snow Queen herself face to face filled with a great deal of apprehension with the mindset of what great power she was capable off. "You'll be fine," I thought to myself. "Just hand these documents in and that's that…nothing else."

With a shaky drawn in breath, I started making my way up through the many corridors to find the study. On the way there, the many windows in the castle were all open to try and help keep the temperature down, but they were having little success and there was nothing we could do to help.

It is at this point you might be asking yourself that with all this heat and humidity, why wasn't Elsa using her powers to help us battle the horrendous temperature? Truth be told is that today had been one that Elsa found herself bogged down in a large amount of treaties, papers and God knows what else she needed to sign due to finding herself behind on, now she was hoping to get as much of them done as possible.

And as you can see, that meant no help from the Snow Queen to help us out, hardlines I guess though ask of us and we'd wouldn't mind having another eternal winter if it meant seeing the back of this boiling hot day.

The only funny thing I could take from this was the irony of my first meeting of Queen Elsa as for a woman who was famous for causing an eternal winter across Arendelle, I just so happened to be meeting her for the first time on the hottest day of the year. You couldn't make up some of these things, then again, that's just another day in Arendelle I guess.

It was after about five minutes of wrong turns and second guessing that I found the corridor in which Elsa's study was located. As I walked into the corridor, I stopped and found myself feeling rather edgy about seeing the famous Snow Queen. The thought that down this corridor was not only a real Queen I was meeting face to face, but the woman who also had not long ago placed a kingdom under a winter spell was quite a daunting thought the more I thought about it.

Granted I had been told by those who had seen her that she was a fair, wise and caring ruler who would do anything for her kingdom and people, but that didn't help me think what if I was about to do something wrong. If only Anna was here to support and tell me that everything would be ok, but today of all days she was out with Kristoff on a date up the mountains in which he had been planning on giving her following his trip from his ice harvesting work.

No support from anyone, I had to go it alone and hope for the best. But as I was making the final walk towards the door of the study, I heard a merry tune being sung by someone and turning around, there was our resident living snowman, Olaf. He was happily waddling along the corridor humming his little tune and didn't seem to notice me at first until he made an odd glance up in my direction.

"Hi Aiden!" He greeted happily as soon as he saw me and quickly hurried over.

"Afternoon, bud," I replied with a nod. "Seem pretty happy today, aren't you?"

The little snowman giggled. "It's summer of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you know," I muttered quietly. "Just some of us are feelin' a wee bit…stifled."

"You mean you're feeling hot?"

I didn't say anything and merely rolled my eyes at hearing this rather foolish statement. "That would be an understatement," I thought darkly. However, I spoke again shortly then. "Yes, Olaf. You'd be right there. Then again, I wouldn't mind havin' one o' those cloud things floatin' over my head like what you have, you're actually lucky to be feelin' fine, lad."

Olaf smiled and glanced up at his magic cloud flurry that was the one thing that was keeping him alive. It did then make me feel sad at the cruel irony for a snowman who loved summer had no idea that if it weren't for that little cloud over him, he'd melt, especially in this horrendous heat.

Poor little bastard; I didn't have the guts to tell of the doomed fate that might befall him and even if I had told him he'd probably wouldn't believe me. Guess the only thing I could do was keep quiet and say nothing.

He didn't seem to notice the look of concern on me and remembered something. "Hey Aiden, did you here about Anna and Kristoff?"

"Aye," I replied, "off on a date up the mountains, do you know where?"

"If I remember, Kristoff is taking Anna to a lake which only he knows where to get to," Olaf recalled then sighed happily at the thought of the happy couple.

"Is that where they're going?" I asked as I thought it through. "Must say that's not a bad idea with this weather an' all. Nothing with a wrong wi' a swim in summer in my opinion."

The little snowman then rubbed his head and had an inquisitive look on his face. "But there is one thing I couldn't understand from them."

"What's that laddie?"

"Why'd they leave their swimming gear behind? Did they forget it?"

"Maybe couldn't wait? Maybe they…" Then I paused as a sudden thought washed over me. Just earlier that day prior before they left, Anna did mention something between her and Kristoff during an intimate moment for them to have a bit of fun out there…

Off to a lake, with no swimming gear in tow and the way they were acting close before they left meant one thing and I think you can put two and two together and figure out what they were planning on doing up there.

Oh, that crazy princess.

The thought of them skinny dipping someone up in the mountain made me shudder yet grin at their boldness. I could only hope Elsa didn't hear about what was going on with their date and I could picture the scene of the Queen of Arendelle hearing about her baby sister running around stark naked with her boyfriend on some lakeshore somewhere up in the mountains with no care in the world.

Fair to say how Elsa might react to hearing this was probably a case of less said the better…

I didn't realise how long I had been standing there thinking about this when Olaf spoke up which snapped me out of my thoughts. "Aiden? Aiden are you ok?"

"Huh? W-Wha-? Oh, aye I'm fine," I answered.

"Why'd they forget their gear?" Olaf repeated his question from earlier.

I bit my bottom lip and looked at him with an anxious look. With him being so innocent, how was I supposed to tell him what was going on with Anna and Kristoff's date without scaring him for life? "Um…I wouldn't worry. I'm sure they would've found some trading post and got gear there…yeah."

Wasn't sure if my lie would work, but thankfully Olaf seem to buy. "Ok then, nothing—hey, I didn't notice that pile of papers your holding."

Even though they weighed a fair bit, the funny thing was that in the time I had to have a conversation with Olaf is that I had forgotten they were even there, and my eyes widened in realisation at this. "Oh! Err, aye, t-these are for El—I mean Queen Elsa to sign."

"What are they for?" Olaf asked.

I simply shrugged my shoulders. "No clue, pal. It's not my business to…oh, Christ."

"What's wrong?"

I had glanced down at the documents briefly and I had noticed one or two wet blob marks on the top paper, and it became clear very quickly that the wet marks were in fact sweat that had dripped off my forehead. I felt my stomach turn to ice in that moment and any heat I felt had been drained out in that moment. "Christ almighty! I've really cocked up now!"

I knelt beside Olaf to show him what I had accidently done, but he didn't seem too bothered by this and grinned. "Come on, Aiden. She won't mind that."

"Unless the person she will send that treaty off to does," I thought fretfully. For all I knew, that document could've been the treaty for world peace and that now I'd ruined it for sweating like there was no tomorrow. This was not going to end well and for all I knew, this might've been my last conversation as a free man…with a bloody snowman for God's sake.

"Look, Olaf," I sighed sadly. "I best be off. Can't keep her waiting and…never mind."

The little snowman, clearly oblivious to the turmoil inside of me happily nodded and prepared to leave in the opposite direction. "Ok then. Good luck, Aiden!"

Good luck, how fitting those words are for a time like this.

I watched Olaf for a moment as he happily hummed his tune as he waddled down the corridor and leaving me alone with my thoughts. I stared over the door to the study and glanced back at the documents while trying drawing in a deep sigh, no turning back now.

With that, I headed over towards the door and after some difficulty trying to balance the thick papers onto one arm, I knocked on the door with my free hand. "Q-Queen Elsa," I greeted with a stutter.

"What is it?" I heard her call from the study.

I gulped before responding. "I…I have the documents for you to sign, your highness."

"Please come in," Elsa replied. Ok, time to face the music.

I opened the door and there sitting at her desk, with yet another pile of, what I assumed, signed treaties to her left, was the famous Snow Queen herself, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Now at this point, any red-blooded man like myself would've immediately been smitten by her beauty and you didn't need to know why. With her slender and graceful figure, blonde hair styled in a nice braid look, crystal clear blue eyes, velvet like voice, that ice dress that hugged her curves nicely and those cool ice powers, it honestly wasn't hard for any young male to be infatuated by her.

Funnily enough though, that wasn't the first thing I thought when I saw her, two things came to mind.

One being that here was I standing in the vicinity with a real Queen, a ruler of a kingdom and for someone like me who hadn't met anyone famous until I started work here, that was really something to think about. The other thing on my mind was how I was supposed to tell her about the now ruined files on top here?

"Hello?" Elsa asked which awoke me from my thoughts.

"Um, aye, hello y-your highness," I stuttered and slowly walked over. "Err…here are the documents for you and…yeah."

I placed them down on her right side of the desk and stood there with no idea what to say, but I didn't need to start any conversation as Elsa started it as she eyed me curiously. "Wasn't Kai supposed to bring the papers here?"

I nodded in agreement, though I was still feeling edgy. "Aye that's right, b-but he has been called away for somethin' and he gave them to me to hand out f-for you." She then looked over at the papers I had dumped on her desk and it was there she noticed the few moist drops on the top document.

No way out, I had to come clean. "Um…about that, I'm so sorry about that y-your highness, that's…my sweat. I-I didn't notice it at first and, oh jeez feel like an utter baw—"

"It's fine," Elsa reassured me as she looked at the document closely. "It seems that we have a duplicate that was sent here by mistake, already have signed the original version earlier. In fact…" She then started looking threw about fifteen other papers and shook her head. "It appears there has been a mistake somewhere, some of these are just merely duplicates. You can take these with you and tell Kai about this."

"Duplicates?!" I spluttered, then I felt a wave of relief wash all over me. "Oh, thank God for that…!"

"Are you ok?" Elsa asked seeing as I looked like a man who had been giving a second chance of life.

"A-aye sure," I chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of my neck apprehensively. "But no worries, your highness. I'll take these down for—"

"Actually," Elsa suddenly interrupted which saw my moment of relief suddenly come crashing down. "You are one of the newer servants that have started working here, aren't you?"

I hadn't introduced myself to her, what a nutjob I am for not thinking that. "Yeah…your sister actually interviewed me to get a job here, though it was a rather strange interview if you ask me."

This made the Snow Queen giggle and she muttered something under her breath saying, 'Oh Anna' before she said anything to me. "What is your name?"

"Fergusson, Aiden Fergusson." I answered in which, not knowing royal protocols that well, gave a small bow. "Pleasure to meet you Queen Elsa."

"Pleasure is all mine too," Elsa smiled, then she wore a thoughtful expression as if something dawned on her. "Fergusson…you're that Scottish person Anna has been telling me about."

"Has she? What about?" I asked with raised eyebrow.

"She seems to think you're a hard worker, though she doesn't stop talking about your…incident on the ice that day, no disrespect."

"None taken," I sighed, guess it was only a matter of time before me and Dad's embarrassment skating mishap was going to creep up sooner or later.

Elsa then bit her bottom lip over something, almost if she was afraid to say it. "And another thing, I hope Kristoff didn't make you angry about his geography problem with Scotland being a place in England."

"Naw, it's alright," I smiled. "Suppose no one is ever perfect."

Throughout my time living in Arendelle, that had always been a problem most seemed to have with where Scotland was. I would get angry at first but as the years went on, I simply accepted that people possibly didn't know the world beyond the North sea and over the fjords around Arendelle, and if you are wondering, no I didn't beat up Kristoff for his mishap (I wouldn't have even dared being how strong and big he looked) and I instead calmly corrected him.

See, us Scots aren't all short tempered as you might think!

"Let me guess too," I added. "Did Anna tell you by chance?"

"Who else?" Elsa chuckled and I rolled my eyes.

Not long after I told Kristoff the truth, we went off to find Anna and at first you might've thought the crown princess would've given her consort a right earful over his mistake, instead she found it to be one of the funniest things she'd heard in a while and thanks to her blabbering mouth, word got around the castle over this and many of my co-workers all seem to find the funny side in it while me and Kristoff didn't know who had it off worse. Me for being in the centre of attention or him for not hearing the end of it, either way I didn't want to talk about it.

"It's often a problem I've experience here," I shrugged. "Scotland isn't some place in England."

"Of course not," Elsa added. "Scotland is part of the United Kingdom which is also made up from the nations of England, Wales and Ireland. Plus, Scotland does have a Gaelic language too and various clans which I believe you clan, Fergusson, is one of them."

I stood there slacked jawed, never had I met a foreigner who seemed to know a whole lot about my native land and after all these years of correcting people, I was stunned into silence and didn't respond for a while until a big grin appeared on my face as well as a chuckle. "T…Thank you Queen Elsa! Where can I find more folk like you who know so much?!"

She giggled my reaction. "Well as a Queen, you have to know these facts about other countries."

"That's true, suppose Anna must know a bit about the world too?"

Then Elsa remembered something. "Speaking of which, you do know where Anna is on her date with Kristoff?"

At that point I tensed up, I was hoping this wouldn't come up. "Well, not really, somewhere up the mountains if I remember…Sorry, no idea where they've gone."

I didn't like to lie in front of the queen, treason I'd guess it would be, but thankfully she seemed to buy it. "No worries, Aiden. I know Kristoff will take care of her, as long they aren't trying to run around naked on some lakeshore then we're good."

Oh, heaven help us.

I rubbed the side of my head feeling nauseous at the truth. "Was nice knowing you, Kristoff," I thought sadly and tried to change the subject around when I saw the documents on the table, both me and Elsa having forgotten about them. "Um, your highness…don't want to sound rude or that but…what are all these documents for?"

The Snow Queen looked over the many files on the desk and pulled out one from the pile I had given her. "A lot really, since Arendelle has reopened to the rest of the world, we've had many requests opened up for new trading partners to help us modernise."

"Aye? Quite a lot for all of that."

"That's only just a fraction of it. The others here are of several kingdoms wishing to visit and of potential suitors for me to see…" She trailed off sadly as she clearly looked unhappy at the latter part. "Others are about the summer winter we had with many demanding that something like that happens again, I'm afraid to say it did cause problems with the wildlife and nature."

I remained quiet and started to feel sorry for her, she was only a year older than me yet she not only the responsibility of running a kingdom, but had to go through all these pointless and endless treaties to sign off and I honestly don't know anyone that age who could cope to do all that when for the last thirteen years she had lived her life behind a closed door. Just wasn't fair really.

"Your highness," I asked. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

She looked over at the duplicate papers and handed them over to. "Just as a mentioned before, hand these to Kai and that'll be that."

"As you wish your highness. Better let you get on with your work."

"Thank you, Aiden," Elsa replied as she began to read through one of the papers that I'd given her. "It was nice to meet you."

"You as well," I answered and with a respected bow of my head, I headed off carrying the smaller bundle of duplicate documents under my arm.

As I left the study, I felt strangely proud of myself. My first encounter with Queen Elsa had gone like a dream and I could see what everyone was saying of how she was a fair and just ruler of her kingdom and the fact she seemed to welcome me as a newcomer to the royal staff with open arms seemed to confirm just that.

Ok, I had lie to her about her sister's, ahem, misadventures on some lake but other that, I felt I and no reason to feel worried about working here. It was starting to feel like home…

There we are then. Before anyone asks anything, no this won't be a ElsaxOC story for once, this one is mostly about friendship, actually when you think about it, not many of this sort of type when you think about it. Hope you enjoyed that one if you did and the next chapter will be of visiting guests to Arendelle, which can only well as you can imagine. Hope to see you then, until next time!