A/N: I'm sorry! I unofficially updated every Monday evening (where I live), but I got out of that rhythm because I don't know. I didn't write anything new in the past weeks, this chapter was still in the folder waiting for the final correction |D So I have to get back to this.
I also lost a bit of my nerves because of my studying and realizing once again that exams are (too) soon |DD And I got new equipment for recording music and had to try that x3 And I cheated on you. Yeah, right, I found a new pairing in the meantime that I'm recently hyping about! You know how it is... You need something new once in a while. Haha, okay, the hell am I saying? xD Well, I wrote something for that pairing and suddenly have so many ideas for them, too. (It's Alice and the White Queen from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" by the way... x3) Too many ideas, and. . . I guess you know :/
But yeah, here's this for now :) And maybe a tiny bit late, but I still wish you a Happy New Year!
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Most often, the queen didn't need to be awoken by one of the maids in the morning – usually Gerda was the one to do this job for both the queen and princess – but the next morning, Elsa only started up upon a series of knocks on her door, accompanied by a firm yet calm voice calling her, "Queen Elsa!"
She sat up with a groan. Obviously, she had needed this night's sleep to catch up after the last one. She felt a lot better and immediately thought of Anna's massage work. She should let her be awoken, too, otherwise she might be disappointed or sad again, and she didn't want that to happen. The princess had had enough of those moments in the past. Even if it was meant for everyone's best. The blonde sighed and rose completely, saying in a louder voice toward the door, "Wake Anna, too, please."
"Now, Your Majesty?"
"Yes."
"As You say." And the woman left.
It was eight in the morning. Hopefully the redhead wouldn't be too tired.
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Elsa got herself ready for the day. At least the part of getting dressed was easy and quickly done, since she had a dress created of her ice in less than a minute. Only her hair and make-up took a bit of time.
But it wasn't as much time as Anna needed, as she noticed when she came into the dining room and her sister was nowhere to be seen. And when she already took her seat, she still had to wait for half an hour, during which the servants asked her again and again if she wanted to get her breakfast, what she politely declined. They were obviously confused, even when she told them with the smallest smile that she wouldn't want any breakfast served until her sister would be there, too.
Why did they only now try to eat their breakfasts together?, the maids wondered. They were back in each other's life – really back in each other's life – since two and a half months. But of course they didn't mention anything aloud.
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When the princess came running into the room, a bit out of breath, she instantly looked for Elsa. As she saw her sitting there, her heart made a leap for joy and she couldn't help the huge grin coming onto her face.
Then she noticed that there were no foods and no drinks on the table yet, and she didn't know how to class that. So she slowly stepped toward her sister, starting with a worried, "I'm sorry, you know, my hair always takes so long in the morning and-"
"It's all right, Anna, I don't mind it. What I would mind though is if you're not going to sit down now", the older woman said with a playful smirk and watched how the addressed hurried over to the chair next to her, mumbling, "All right, all right."
Just as the redhead sat down and turned her head to her sister, she realized something that she had forgotten to say, "Oh, um, good morning..."
Elsa chuckled lightly and answered, "Good morning to you, too. I hope this isn't too early for you."
"No! No. It's totally fine. And Elsa?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you", Anna said with an affectionate expression, meaning both the waking and the waiting, and maybe even more.
The queen only smiled while watching her lovingly in the eyes.
Then she ordered for their breakfast to be served, which they enjoyed together for...the first time in forever.
.
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During the following days, they continued to start their days together by getting up at around the same time to eat breakfast together. This little change already made both of them feel so much more content that they wondered why they hadn't done this any earlier.
Well, for Anna it was still some kind of struggle, it wasn't her natural wake-up time, but she really wanted to do this. Not only for the reason of playing a good suitor, but it really felt nice to have someone around during breakfast, to talk to, to have the first laugh of the day with, to simply have real company – not like the servants standing in the background and waiting for her orders. Especially if that someone was Elsa.
Plus, if she was there, the older woman was the one making the orders. It was always nice to see that, since the blonde never made them sound like a command and still got the message across. Albeit the princess herself was too stubborn to listen to them, as it had been shown when she had tried to get Elsa back down from her ice palace.
And it looked more natural, the way she was doing it, not as put-on as when Anna was trying to use authority. It always made her shiver subconsciously when she witnessed her older sister use it.
Yet she could still be so light-hearted – this one took some time actually – and kind of childish around the redhead. The latter loved both of those sides.
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On the third day after their first joined breakfast, Elsa was once again sitting in her study. Most of the piles were gone, all of the important things being answered by now.
Her gaze went to the invitations once more, causing a sigh.
Both women had been acting rather usual around each other during the past days, although it held some awkwardness at the moment. This uneasy situation originated from both of them being still torn between a good sisterly relationship and behaving like being in a courtship. Both had been alone with their respective thoughts and didn't let anything on, really.
"Oh well", the queen mumbled and searched with her hand for the letter from Lunarez, already knowing what the envelope looked like by now. When she found it, she looked dolefully at the grey paper with the dark blue wax stamp that showed a crescent moon.
Her heartbeat quickened a tad as she took the letter out of it, unfolding it to read it again for the third time – the first one had been when she had received it, and the second one the morning after Anna had asked her to visit.
The pointed words in blue ink read the following:
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To the kingdom of Arendelle, Her Majesty Queen Elsa of Arendelle
The kingdom of Lunarez will be celebrating the rise of a red moon – the Blood Moon - during the night of the 26th of October to the 27th of October. The Blood Moon is a rare form of the Full Moon and can only be witnessed once in a few years.
Since this is a special occasion for our kingdom, wearing the sign of the moon, I, King Fernando of Lunarez, would like to honour this great event with a grand ball. You and Princess Anna of Arendelle are herewith invited to attend it, with any company that You wish for.
It would be a pleasure to call You my guests in my castle, You are welcome to stay for some days.
Yours sincerely,
King Fernando of Lunarez
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26th of October... The ball would be in three weeks' time. Lunarez had great astronomers due to their interest in the moon and the stars as well, and they could calculate such an event precisely these days already.
Elsa felt a small tug at the pit of her stomach, thinking about the time. Three weeks could be so little, as she had experienced already since the happenings after her coronation. But three weeks could also be very long on the other hand... She honestly didn't know which one was better in this situation, or which one she preferred. She just couldn't make up her mind.
Why did it have to be so twisted? Her sister, her own sister of all people.
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She wasn't averse to women. Quite the contrary. Except for her father and Kai, there had always been women, and they had been kind to her. The maids who had had any contact with her felt sorry for how she had to live and had shown understanding, even if there had also been a bit of fear. They had always tried their best to cheer the girl up, to keep her going. And here she was.
Men hadn't made such a good impression on her, with her father telling her nothing but to conceal her feelings, even if it was part of being a royal later anyway. And especially with the Duke of Weselton and his men, and Prince Hans, who all wanted to kill her. She shuddered.
If that was what princes were like, she would prefer not to be in any closer embroilment with them. Even if she knew that she was supposed to need one.
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While Anna had a completely different opinion of males. Not only had she craved to be with one all the time apparently, but during her later childhood and early teen years – as the redhead had told her herself – had she sneaked about with the young stable boy for example who was around her age, probably only a year or so older. They had been fooling around together during some of her riding lessons, explaining why the princess was both not the best at riding while liking physical exertion in the not-so lady-like way.
So she had had positive experiences with men, well, except for Hans obviously. But that hadn't stopped her from starting to engage with Kristoff afterwards, so it hadn't affected her too much, seemingly.
Why did she suddenly turn to women then?
Elsa's heart fluttered a bit. Why did she turn to her in particular?
.
It would be a lie to say that the queen didn't like getting Anna's attention and even more of her time now. It was probably selfish, especially because she had ignored all this clinging attention for so, so many years, and some part of her felt bad for that.
It was a wonder that the younger one was still so willing with her. And had even decided to make her the object of her courting at that.
Which sounded just so weird. A woman courting a woman...
The blonde sighed. She should finally get over this point at least... She was in this already, and it wouldn't help anything if she went in circles with this basic point.
.
If she was against the idea so much, she should cancel it this very second actually.
But as her earlier thoughts had exposed, she liked their kindness, and her sister was so caring to her and always touched her the gentlest that she could muster, how could she not feel a certain liking from the beginning on in this case?
Right, if that was how things were, then why shouldn't she just give in to this chance, this possibility, and simply see what she could get out of it? And more than that, what she could give her beloved sister back, to help making up for her long lasting ignorance. She was kind of free to do that however she liked now, in this constellation.
It might also have its advantages, being able to do something without thinking how it might appear...
The queen winced at the thought, with it being so unlike the way of thinking she was taught. At the same time, a gasp for air escaped her, and she put a hand on her mouth while biting her lower lip.
It was probably a twisted way to look at it, but would this strange courtship give her some kind of freedom – what she had always wished for – even when she had to hide it from other people...?
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She exhaled loudly while closing her eyes for a short moment and swallowed.
When she opened them, she was reaching for a piece of paper and her quill.
Without giving it another thought, she started writing her answering lines:
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To the kingdom of Lunarez, His Majesty King Fernando of Lunarez
I, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and my sister, Princess Anna of Arendelle, would very much like to attend the ball You were speaking of together.
On a side note, I only wanted to mention that there is no necessity to prepare two different rooms for us, we can very well share one together.
Yours sincerely,
Queen Elsa of Arendelle
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A/N: I'm pretty sure I totally failed at those "letters"... xD |D
Anyway, here's finally something more specific about the ball. I actually had the idea with the Blood Moon for a party as a basic point even before I heard that last year in September we would REALLY be having one :D So I felt obliged to watch it. It wasn't that cool, but psht.
