"Elsa, my lady, you need to get up." Alanna, a brunette beauty of a girl and her lady's maid, whispered, shaking Elsa's arm gently. Elsa slipped out of bed completely exhausted. She'd been up later last night then she'd intended. She simply hadn't been able to stop thinking about Gwaine and his boyish smile. In fact, even now, she was having a hard time thinking about anything else. She asked Alanna to fetch her light green long-sleeved dress and her only robe which was an opaque white made entirely of silk. Alanna did as she asked and helped her into the garments as Elsa asked, "What time is it?"

"They're leaving in two hours," Alanna replied, answering the real question. Elsa nodded as she shrugged the robe into a more comfortable position on her shoulders and exited her room to break her fast with Anna and probably Kristoff. After breakfast, her only duties were to mentally prepare herself for the good byes. She'd never been particularly good at them and Arthur and Gwaine had become friends. Elsa was positive that Anna must have made friends too. Maybe she should invite over other kingdoms more often, but Elsa had a sense that not every kingdom was going to have a king like Arthur or a manservant like his or knights like his. Camelot didn't realize how lucky it was.

Elsa walked into the less formal dining room where she would often sit with Kristoff when they were discussing queenly duties. Anna and Kristoff were both already there and Anna grinned excitedly when she saw her sister.

"Elsa!" she exclaimed. "I missed you yesterday. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Elsa smiled.

"We're having an awfully late breakfast," Anna observed. "Up late last night?"

"Anna," Kristoff warned, pulling her down back into the chair next to him and shaking his head gently.

"What?" she murmured, "It's my sister. Sure, she's not exactly the sharing type but that doesn't mean I can't ask."

Elsa was flicking her eyes between the two of them, confused what they were arguing about. She didn't see what was wrong with wanting to know Elsa's sleeping patterns as long as they didn't know what she had been doing. Camelot was heading home and there was no way Gwaine and her would ever explore whatever had happened last night and Elsa didn't want Anna to freak out about it or expect something from it. "What's wrong?" she said.

"Anna just thought she saw you outside late last night with someone. Don't feel like you have to say anything," Kristoff answered and Elsa smiled graciously at him as Anna glared. "But I want to know," she whined.

"You should've started without me," Elsa said, finally sitting down at the table and lifting the intricately welded lids to reveal the food underneath. She sorted through everything and decided on a couple different kinds of cheeses and some bread for breakfast. Anna took almost all the fruit that was there and Kristoff took everything that was leftover. He wasn't very picky with food. Anna and Kristoff kept exchanging glances like they were having a private conversation while they were eating. Elsa was find being silent but she was curious what the problem was.

"Care to include me?" Elsa wasn't usually that aggressive, she was the queen of passive aggressive fighting not just Arendelle, but she found that it was the only way she could get anywhere with Anna. Anna was incredibly adept at distracting herself.

"We've wanted to tell you for a while," Anna began slowly, "Kristoff was busy trying to make it easier for you but I'm kind of tired of waiting." Kristoff laid a hand on Anna's arm but didn't bother trying to stop her this time, "We'd like to get married, Elsa. And we'd like your blessing." Last time Anna had said those words there was no question when Elsa shot her down. Elsa could tell by the way Anna contracted in the space around her that she was terrified what the answer was going to be. All Elsa desired was Anna's happiness especially after the years and years spent disappointing her, but she'd felt that Hans was not going to make her happy. Obviously, there was the bit where they'd just met but she'd gotten strange vibes from how comfortable he'd already been too. There had been no doubt in her mind that the answer was no but this time was different. She'd spent time with Kristoff. It had only been a month since they'd met but that was better than one night and there were no strange vibes from him. He was a kind soul and he deeply cared about Anna, that much Elsa could tell.

"You have my blessing," Elsa said and everybody at the table broke into huge smiles and ecstatic laughs. "You two didn't need to be worried. I trust you both." Anna stood and ran over to Elsa, throwing her arms around her neck. It wasn't expected but Elsa accepted it happily, glad for human contact that she was actually comfortable with. Anna was the only person she knew for sure she wouldn't turn to ice. For everyone else there was always a question in her mind.

"Thank you, Elsa," Kristoff murmured from across the table and just from his eyes she could tell how much this mattered to him. She gave him single nod over Anna's shoulder. Once Anna pulled away, with tears in her eyes, Elsa reached up, wiped away tears from Anna's cheeks and then held her face in her hands.

"When would you like to have your wedding?"

"I don't know..." Anna trailed off.

"Yes you do."

"Summer," Anna said automatically.

"Okay. Isn't it already summer?"

Anna nodded.

"Hmm," Elsa laughed, "Next month it is then. I'll leave the planning to you. You can have anything you want, don't worry about money. We have plenty. In the meantime, shall we go say good bye to our guests?"

"When do they leave?" Anna asked. Elsa loved that she didn't know mostly because it reassured her that her sister was the exact same person she'd been her entire life. She always loved when Anna's childhood personality shown through because it meant that she hadn't missed as much as she thought.

"An hour from now. I expect they're already packing up their ship for the voyage. Arthur doesn't like being away from Camelot too long."

Anna strung her arm through Elsa's as guards opened up the doors for them and they went out into the square. It was bustling as usual and the knights of Camelot were milling about peering into shops and chatting with her people. The sun was shining and the red cloaks of the knights contrasted strongly against the light grays, browns, and pastel colors. Elsa found Gwaine almost immediately but didn't go to him instead wishing to find Arthur and thank him and wish him well before she no longer had the opportunity. Anna disengaged herself from Elsa and tugged Kristoff over to a large wood building that still managed to pull of a cottage sort of feel to show him all the reasons why she wanted it to be the location for her bakery.

She finally found Arthur, his blonde hair blowing gently away from his rather large forehead (it was probably good he had bangs) and reflecting rays of the sun. He was busy teasing and punching Merlin who was surprisingly not being ordered around. Elsa approached them, gave a small curtsy, which Merlin returned with an over zealous bow, and said, "Did I just see you two bonding?"

Arthur shook his head innocently, "No. Course not. Why would I ever want to bond with my servant?"

Merlin was reluctantly smiling despite the unkindness of the words. "He loves me. He's just being a prat."

"Well you're a bumbling idiot who can't properly do laundry." Arthur turned to Elsa wishing more than anything to include her in the conversation so she would laugh at Merlin with him. "He came back up with my clothes today that I'd given him more than a day before and half of them hadn't been put in any sort of water at all."

"I thought I'd already done that half. And you only knew because you smell so terrible. I wasn't willing to sniff them to check."

Elsa raised her eyebrows and Arthur who sighed and dramatically shook his head in defeat. "You win this one, idiot."

"And?"

"Ugh...yes you saw us bonding," Arthur admitted. "He's a good friend."

Merlin smiled triumphantly and Elsa laughed at both of them. As she was doing so she realized she'd laughed more these last couple of days then she had in her entire life. She wasn't ready to let these people go. On the bright side, sort of, she'd had practice being left alone so she knew she could live through it.

"I just came over to say thank you for coming all this way and that your company as well as your knights, and you too Merlin, of course, has been incredible. I've made friends and you are always welcome to visit Arendelle whenever you should feel the urge. And don't ever be afraid to ask for anything." Elsa stuck out her hand when she finished and Arthur grasped her forearm and shook.

"You should come to Camelot sometime. You're always welcome too," Arthur suggested.

"Maybe," Elsa said mysteriously. She smirked as well to hide the fact that she never intended on visiting Camelot. It wasn't because she didn't want to, she did, but because her parents had died on the ocean. As far as Elsa was concerned, she was never stepping foot on a single ship, but Arthur didn't need to know that.

"Well, I'm getting married in a couple of months time to Guinevere and you're invited. I'll send a letter with the details when I get back to Camelot."

"Thank you. Guinevere? What kingdom is she from?"

"Camelot," Merlin grinned mischievously. "Arthur went and fell in love with a servant. My best friend actually. Clearly he has a type."

"Thank you, Merlin. Very helpful."

Elsa giggled and reached out very slowly to lay her fingers oh so gently, as if she was trying to touch smoke without disturbing it, on their shoulders. "I'll leave you two to it. I'm sure she will be a wonderful Queen, Arthur."

She slipped away thinking all of a sudden there was an awful lot of weddings. A bunch of celebrations, small talk, and ridiculously happy people getting hopelessly drunk. Elsa couldn't help grimacing at the thought. She knew beyond a doubt that both ceremonies, Arthur's and Anna's, would be beautiful and thoughtful, but neither would be small or without some pomp and circumstance. Neither of those were particularly Elsa's thing and she was already anxious just thinking about it.

She felt warmth against her elbow, bleeding through her thin dress and swiveled, her nose almost brushing up against Gwaine's.

"Gwaine," she breathed, holding her hand against her chest, "You surprised me."

"Should I avoid touching you at all costs or something?"

Elsa didn't say anything in reply, opting instead to lower her head to stare at her feet, which weren't nearly as terrifying as Gwaine's eyes. She was very sure she couldn't look at them right now. The soil brown was the opposite of ice and had a way of disarming her which was far from a comfortable feeling. He released her elbow and whispered, "Okay, that's fine. I can stop. Probably good we didn't kiss last night, eh?"

Elsa laughed at that and sniveled gently to stop herself from crying. She gathered her courage and gazed into his eyes. "Thank you, Gwaine. For being you, for everything. You've been..." she trailed off, not sure she could continue without crying.

"Damn fantastic. I know."

"Stop making me laugh," Elsa said.

"I'd rather you kept laughing then start crying. I can tell you're about to and honestly that's the one thing I'm bad at. I have no idea how to handle crying."

"Me neither," Elsa sighed. "It's a terribly awkward reaction. Embarrassing too."

"I think Arthur does it all the time. How embarrassing can it be? I mean, obviously, with his and Merlin's bizarrely, borderline gay relationship, he isn't the paragon of manliness but he doesn't do all that bad."

"He cries?"

"All the time. He has dealt with a lot of betrayal though, so it's kind of understandable. I have a feeling that you have even more reason than he does, however."

"My life isn't all that bad," Elsa whispered. Gwaine and her were still standing a couple of inches apart and she had an intense desire to hug him. The problem had never been Elsa's want of affection and love, it was more that if she gave into it and became careless who knew what her powers would do. She'd only just taken off the gloves...contact was a huge step that she wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for so she said, "I'd hugging you and crying all over your shoulder in my head."

"Can't we make that a reality?"

"You want that to be real?"

"Definitely hugging, crying...if that could be avoided, wonderful, if not I won't complain."

Elsa hated saying no to him but she shook her head. "I can't," she whispered.

"Okay," Gwaine shrugged. He extended his hand to Elsa and she shook it. He brought it up to his lips once more, keeping his eyes fixed on her icy ones that reminded him of fire somehow, before returning her hand. "I'll be seeing you," he said.

"You can't know that."

"Yes I can. I can bet Arthur liked it here just as much as I did. It won't be hard convincing him to visit."

"But you could die or something awful like that."

"Uh...I could, I suppose. Good lord, do you think any happy thoughts in the span of a day?"

"Yes," she argued vehemently. "I just spend a lot of it worrying about everything too."

Elsa could hear noise behind them about preparing to set sail and knights should get on board so Arthur could make sure he had everyone. Gwaine grinned and kept on doing just that until Elsa reluctantly smiled back. She felt her face and stared at him quizzically. "Why am I smiling? Why does your smile make me smile?"

"It's infectious. Good bye, Your Highness."

"Elsa, please."

"Good bye, Elsa." She loved the sound of her own name rolling of his tongue. She'd never liked her name since it had always been used in ridicule but in that moment she loved her name more than any other word in her vocabulary. "I think I might actually miss you."

"Good bye, Gwaine. Safe sailing." He nodded, his long floppy hair that Elsa adored so much, bounced around as he did. Then his cape swished around his legs until all she saw was red. Pounding, electric red that gave her a massive headache. She felt anxiety creeping back in and she turned back towards the castle. Anna and Kristoff were down at the dock ready to wave good bye but all Elsa wanted was a nice bath, a nightgown, and bed. I'll be seeing you...I'll be seeing you...I'll be seeing you...married in a couple months time to Guinevere...I'll be seeing you. She would have to consider the offer.