Elsa walked down the grand staircase with regal poise. Internally she was very nervous, but she smiled gently down to Prince Bedra waiting by the large front doors.
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Prince Bedra said with a polite bow.
"Good afternoon, Prince Bedra," she answered. "Please, just call me Elsa in this setting."
She was expecting him to tell her to drop his title as well, but he just answered, "Sure, Elsa."
He held the door for her as they stepped out into the sunlight. Although the air was crisp and cool, the sun shone over the kingdom. It was a beautiful day. Elsa almost commented on it when she thought to herself, Come on, Elsa... the weather? You can do better than that.
"So, Prince Bedra," she purposely used his title to give him a chance to tell her to drop it, but he didn't seem to notice. She continued, "What do you do for fun in your kingdom?"
"Oh, you know," he sidestepped. "Ride horses, attend meetings, go hunting..." he trailed off. "How did you acquire your powers?" he asked suddenly.
"Oh, um..." she was shocked at his questioning, but she supposed that it would come up eventually, so why not now? "I was born with them. No one knows why or how. My parents were searching for answers, but they never found them."
"Interesting. And no one else in your family has powers?"
"No." Elsa was hoping to change the subject. She didn't want to stay too focused on her powers. "It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
"It is. If I asked, could you make it snow right here? Right now?"
"Are you asking?" Elsa questioned.
"Yes," Prince Bedra answered excitedly. "I love the snow, and I'd love to see more of what you can do!"
Elsa smiled. She was glad that he was so comfortable with the idea of her powers, but she had hoped to get to know him more before diving into this topic of conversation.
"Alright," she answered. With a wave of her arm she conjured up a giant snow mound. With it, she created an ice toboggan. "Are you ready?" She asked him, taking his hand and leading him to the sled.
"We're going to ride that?" He asked, surprised at the Snow Queen's childishness. Elsa knew that it was a bit much for a first meeting, but something about her magic and him being so comfortable with it brought out a playful side in her.
He looked worried. She abruptly became self-conscious and worried that she had done too much. "We don't have to... if you don't want to... I thought you meant that you liked to play in the snow, but I guess you never said that..." She talked faster and faster trying to cover up her actions. "I mean, I also like to just look at it. It's pretty, and..." She stopped when he took her by the hand and continued to the sled. She smiled and let him lead her. They slid down the large hill and laughed all the way down. It was a fast descent. The ice toboggan had very little friction against the snow.
When they reached the bottom, they tumbled out of the sled, and Bedra helped her up.
"Wow..." he gasped. "That was... fast." He looked pretty disheveled.
"Did you have fun?" Elsa asked as she fixed her dress.
He paused and looked at the sled. "Yes... It's just..."
"What?" Elsa was still smiling happily.
He paused and then said very seriously, "It's amazing that such powers can create a fun game just as easily as they can throw the world out of balance."
Elsa immediately stopped smiling and looked at him incredulously. "Yeah..." She didn't deny what he said because it was true, but she normally tried not to think of those things. As long as she focused on love, it didn't matter.
"Don't get me wrong," he added quickly. "I love your powers. It's just... I can see why some people might misunderstand."
She furrowed her brow and turned away from him. He smiled to himself.
"Don't worry, though," he said as he put an arm around her. "I know you're in total control of your powers."
"Yeah, total control," she said shakily.
"I would never allow people to think you're a monster."
At the word 'monster,' Elsa had a flash back to her coronation:
"Monster! She's a monster!" yelled the Duke of Weselton. "No!" Elsa tried to hold it all back. "Conceal, don't feel, conceal, don't feel," she whispered, but it was too late. The world knew, and her fear took control.
"Elsa?" Bedra pulled her out of her thoughts with a light stroke of her white hair.
"Hm?" she asked.
"Are you alright?" He took her hand and smiled at its cold touch.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Bedra."
"Please, call me Prince Bedra. I'm rather fond of my title. My family worked hard to earn it."
"Of course..." she still was unable to completely rid her mind of her old fears.
"This was a lovely afternoon," he said cheerfully, drastically changing the subject. "Would you allow me to meet you again?"
"Yes, of course," she answered politely.
They walked to the palace with little more than light small talk. When they reached the front door, Anna was exiting at the same time.
"Princess Anna!" Prince Bedra said happily. "It is so wonderful to see you. You're looking lovelier than ever."
Kristoff joined them, and he reached out a hand to introduce himself to Elsa's date. "Kristoff..." he said plainly as he took the prince's hand in his.
"Prince Bedra. Pleased to meet you. I heard all about you last night from your lovely girlfriend."
"Oh?" Kristoff asked, giving Anna a look to say Why didn't you tell me?
"Yes, it's so interesting that Arendelle has such loose laws about who royalty can date. That would never occur in the Eastern Isles."
"Well, we're just lucky I guess!" Anna said cheerfully, pulling Kristoff in for a side-hug. Kristoff looked at the prince warily. He wasn't sure why, but something about him seemed off.
"Elsa?" Anna asked.
"Hm?" Elsa answered absentmindedly.
"Are you going to invite Prince Bedra into the castle?"
"Oh, I... um..." Elsa struggled to pull herself out of her daze.
"I was just leaving to head into town," Bedra saved her. "I'd like to visit as much of Arendelle as I can while I'm here. I'd love to get to know the place where I will... I mean, may one day live."
"Thank you for the wonderful afternoon, Prince Bedra" Elsa said politely.
"Always a pleasure, Elsa." Bedra kissed her hand, bowed to Anna, and left to walk around town.
Elsa went up to her room and shut the door behind her without a word to Anna.
