Chapter Ten

The council hadn't been able to gather everyone together until nightfall. Most of the council had been tending to the people of Arendelle, trying to ease their worry about the dragon in the courtyard and the stranger in the dungeon. It occurred to Elsa that she should be trying to ease their worry, too. The meeting had just started, and excitement bubbled in Elsa's stomach at the news she could share. The council would be so proud of her, getting a new trading partner. With a dragon village no less!

Councilman Itemas shifted in his seat. "How did the interrogation proceed?"

Elsa nodded to him, acknowledging his question. Her reply came out in a rush, Anna-style. "The interrogation went very well. I was able to obtain more information about their village, Berk. We spoke of how they came about riding dragons. They used to be a warring village that hunted the dragons. One of their own discovered that they could ride the dragons and that led them to where they are today, a dragon village. They live peacefully with the creatures, helping each other. The dragons are… pets, kind of. Similar to the way we treat horses. There are hundreds of other dragon types, not just like one in the courtyard. The people of Berk are willing to teach us how to ride the beasts, if we would like to learn, and they are willing to trade."

Elsa took a breath, intending on continuing, but considered better of it when she noticed her council's reactions.

Councilwoman Mira's mouth hung open. Councilwoman Verire had narrowed her eyes. Even Councilman Itemas, the one who always took an even-keel on things, had balled his hands into fists.

Elsa felt a stab of annoyance. Of course, it was too much to put on them in such a short timeframe, they would dissect every word before continuing on.

"Did you… did you ask this the barbarian why she attacked Arendelle?" Councilwoman Mira asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"Well, I…" Elsa faltered. On the second blasted question, she faltered. Had she asked that question? They had talked about Berk the entire time. She had been so fascinated with the village filled with dragons… had the subject of Arendelle even come up?

Elsa's hand flew to her lips. No. No, it hadn't.

She had been so curious about Berk that the attack had slipped her mind. For heavens sake, she had left Astrid's cell so sure they could be trading partners! Her cheeks started to feel hot.

She had been so fascinated with the dragons that they hadn't even talked about Astrid herself. Only that she was a part of her village. Elsa had just wanted to keep talking to her and, she was embarrassed to admit it even to herself, continue being close to her. So close their knees touched. Astrid had seemed so willing to talk about the dragons that the subject seemed the only way to accomplish both things.

Heavens, Elsa had left the cell thinking that Astrid wasn't dangerous… but perhaps even that had been too rushed.

How could she have left out something so important as Arendelle and the attack? How could she forget her people?

The council stared at her. Councilwomans Mira and Verire both frowned, as if they knew Elsa had faltered. Councilman Itemas merely titled his head, waiting to hear her answer.

"I…" Elsa started, her throat tightened. What could she say? How in heavens name would she fix such an obvious oversight? An idea occurred to her and, before she could think it through, it spilled from her lips. "I had hoped talking about her village would make her more comfortable… that it would make her more open to talking about why she attacked Arendelle in the first place. I intend on talking to her once this meeting is over and sorting that out."

Councilwoman Verire frown deepened, and Mira leaned back in her chair. Surely they knew Elsa had messed up? A bead of sweat traveled down Elsa's check, she wiped it away with the back of her hand. Or, even worse, would they accuse her directly of forgetting her people? Surely that was the worst a Queen could do.

Councilman Itemas wiped his forehead, a gray hair stuck to his skin. "This is the same barbarian that broke out of our prison and into your bedroom last night?"

Elsa's stomach clenched. So they knew about that, too. "Yes."

The questions ceased. Silence hung over them like a tapestry, blocking out all light of conversation.

Finally, Councilwoman Verire spoke, "Then you had better figure out why the barbarian attacked Arendelle in the first place. Before we move into any sort of trade agreement, we have to be sure they won't attack again. We have to be sure we trust these people."

"Of course. I'll speak to her right away." Elsa nodded, then rose from her chair and left the room. Her cheeks burned, the feeling traveling down her neck and searing the skin there, too. How could she be so stupid?

A hand touched her shoulder and she turned. Councilman Itemas stood there, a frown lingering on his face.

Elsa cleared her throat. "Councilman, I assure you, I will get the information necessary to proceed."

"Are you…." Councilman Itemas's eyes shifted downward. "Are you sure you should be the one to speak to this woman?"

Elsa stepped back. "Of course I'm sure. Why would you ask such a question?"

His grip tightened, but not to the point of pain, more like he was trying to tell her something by grasp alone. "Well, considering she found you in your bedchambers last night…"

"She wanted to talk. She didn't harm me."

"I know, and I'm sure, if the time did come, you could take care of yourself, Your Highness," he replied quickly. Too quickly. Elsa's chest tightened now, remembering the intense blizzard she had buried her kingdom in. Yes, she certainly could take care of herself. Then, finally, he lifted his gaze. "But even those actions betray how she seems to have taken a particular interest in you and perhaps a deadly one. And I fear if you continue to speak to her, she might have more opportunity to hurt you."

Elsa's eyes widened. Would Astrid even hurt her? Her first instinct was no, never, not in a hundred years, but then doubt sifted through her like sands through an hourglass. Everyone seemed so worried. And, if Astrid were to hurt her, surely she would've done it already, in her bedroom, or in the cell. They had spoken for hours already today and nothing even remotely dangerous had happened. Then Elsa remembered that brief stint of contact.

Well, perhaps something dangerous was on the horizon. But not in the way the council thought. Still, Elsa bowed her head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Councilman Itemas, I assure you, if I am in danger I will leave. At once. The guards will be right outside the door."

Councilman Itemas nodded and let her go. "As you wish, Your Highness."

Then Elsa turned and made her way straight to Astrid's cell. After that brief encounter with her council, she, too, wanted to know why Astrid had attacked in the first place. She reached the cell, waved aside the guards, and went inside.

The darkness seemed to swallow her at first. But, slowly, the moonlight ebbed in and allowed her to see. Shadows and shapes at first, then gradually the rest of the cell came into focus.

Astrid was sprawled out in her bed, covers tangled by the edge of the bed. One hand resting on her forehead, and the other tucked in between her legs. Her pants had been shoved down past her hips and her skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. Something else shimmered there, too, between her legs, and it took Elsa far too long to figure out just what that might be.

She turned her back on Astrid's sleeping form.

Barbarian!

She couldn't help it. The word darted through her mind the moment she saw the wetness there. The slight heat from before rose to her cheeks once more and burned her skin. She put both hands on her fiery cheeks. What should she do now? Surely she couldn't go back outside, the guards would wonder. The guards might even look in to see what was wrong, why the interrogation had only lasted a minute.

Elsa glanced back at Astrid, keeping her gaze focused on the woman's face, even though she wanted to look somewhere else entirely. How could she wake Astrid up and let her cover herself up without causing embarrassment? On both sides?

Elsa was torn between covering the woman up herself and making a raucous by the window when the door opened with a loud squeak. One of the guards shoved an unlit lantern inside, along with some matches. "Sorry, Your Highness, I figured you might need this since it got so dark in there."

Elsa heard rustling behind her. She took the items from the guard and spoke in a voice louder than necessary, "Thank you. It was too dark to see anything in here and I was just about to ask you for a light."

The guard nodded and shut the door. Elsa struck a match on the cell wall. She did it a bit too forcefully, though not on purpose, and the match snapped in half. She tried a second one and it flared to life, so she used it light the lantern, then blew the match out. She held the lantern close for a moment as it casted a warm glow about the place and chased the darkness away. Then, after taking a breath, she turned around.

Astrid sat in her bed, eyes wide in the light of the lantern. Her pants had been secured about her waist once more and the covers, once tangled by the edge of her bed, were draped around her shoulders. Though she did still look disheveled, she smiled. "Elsa. It's good to see you again."

Elsa smiled in return. Her embarrassment ebbed for a moment until she remembered why she came in the first place. To ask about Arendelle. She hoped Astrid would have a good reason for attacking. Her smile faltered. She sat on the opposite edge of the bed as Astrid, not wanting to be too close to this woman who seemed to have so much power over her.

"Astrid…" Elsa began.

"Yes, Elsa?"

Elsa shivered. Even her name sounded better when Astrid said it. She put a hand on her forehead and sighed. This woman had too much power over her and they had only known each other for a few days.

"Why did…" Elsa made the unfortunate mistake of looking up at Astrid as she started her question. The bright hazel eyes staring back at her made her lose her voice. She glanced quickly away and started again. "Why did you attack Arendelle on my sister's birthday?"

Astrid shifted on the bed. "Because I thought you had attacked the miniature ice dragon."

The answer was so jarring it made Elsa look up. "Icicle? Why would you even consider such a thing?"

"Icicle? Is that its name? Cute." Astrid smiled softly and Elsa felt her stomach flip. "Well, you see, the ice dragon… Icicle… visited my village the night before. It was such an interesting dragon, something I'd never seen before, and when it left, I followed. I had to know what kind of dragon it was… I wanted to make first contact with it and offer it a home in Berk. When it got to Arendelle it dove straight to you and then it looked like you attacked it. One minute it had a tail, the next minute you throw the creature to the ground and break its wing. I didn't want anything else bad to happen to the dragon so I attacked. Well, the more truthful answer is Stormfly attacked. She saw how the little dragon was being treated and dove at you."

Elsa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had attacked Icicle? Well, perhaps from the outside it may have looked like that... "I did accidentally break Icicle's wing, but I fixed it a moment later. There was no need to attack us."

Astrid scooted closer to her, leaning forward and gesturing. "At the time, there was. A miniature ice dragon, one that I had never seen before and looks to be a baby dragon at that, appeared to be getting attacked by a woman in red and we had to help. We attacked, then when the ice dragon tried to escape and you broke it's tail clean off."

Elsa shifted forward as well. "I didn't want Icicle to get hurt by you and Stormfly. I thought you were attacking us and I had to protect my people."

"And then when you shot ice and snow at me from seemingly nowhere, I just wanted to protect the ice dragon, too. It was a baby after all, it couldn't protect itself." Astrid scooted closer.

Elsa cocked an eyebrow. "And when Stormfly shot those spikes at me and Icicle?"

"You had just sliced open my cheek with a snow shard. I wanted to repay the favor. What about when you crashed that huge wall of snow at me?"

"That was only because you shot a fireball at the doors. You were getting to close to Arendelle, to my people, to my sister." Elsa gestured widely this time, almost falling off the bed in the process.

Astrid caught her by the arm and steadied her. "And what about when you were rushing to grab Icicle from the protective spike cage I had Stormfly enclose it in? You nearly had me killed when you encased me in ice."

"The protective spike cage? I thought you were trying to keep it in one place so it would be easier to attack." Elsa was keenly aware of Astrid's hand still on her arm. The skin underneath tingled. She knew this might be dangerous territory, but she didn't move her arm away. Instead, she moved closer. "When you rushed out at me from behind Stormfly, I thought you just wanted to finish the job."

Astrid frowned and looked away. "You actually thought I would hurt Icicle?"

"Yes," Elsa replied. Astrid removed her hand, but Elsa reached out to grab it. Astrid's hand felt lovely in her own, the calluses on her palm rough against Elsa's fingers. What in heavens name was she doing? "But I... I didn't know you then. I understand now that you like dragons, you're friends with them. I understand you better now, too."

"Do you, really?" Astrid murmured. Her gaze lifted to meet Elsa's.

A spark seemed to charge through the empty space between them and suddenly Elsa wanted to close that emptiness.

Hans.

The name rose in her memory, one long forgotten since Anna had met Kristoff and saved Arendelle.

Hans.

Elsa had warned Anna of falling in love too fast, too quickly, and now she was in danger of doing the same thing. While she was sure Astrid didn't want to kill her or Anna, she couldn't trust her so easily either. She certainly couldn't fall for her so easily, either. She couldn't let herself.

"Yes," Elsa replied. But she let go of Astrid's hand.

The loss of Elsa's coolness instantly saddened Astrid. Why had she let go? Surely she felt the moment just a heartbeat before. Surely Elsa felt the same way as she did. Didn't she?

But Elsa had begun to stand.

Astrid stood, too. "Elsa, why—"

Elsa turned away. "I'm sorry. I must leave."

"Elsa, wait." Astrid gently put a hand on Elsa's shoulder and turned her around. "I—" Her throat tightened, she could speak her feelings. Not quite yet. Not so early. But she had to be sure. She had to know that Elsa felt the same way.

"I know," Elsa whispered.

"You… do?" Astrid replied. "Do… you?"

"I believe so," Elsa said.

Hope warmed Astrid. So she wasn't terribly off. Perhaps the Queen had feelings for her, too.

Then Elsa continued, "But I can't allow it. Not yet. We just met."

"I know." Astrid nodded. The hope dimmed a little, but not by much.

Elsa stared at her. "I need… we need to know more about each other before we… before anything can develop between us… before I can let it develop."

Astrid let her hand fall off Elsa's shoulder and down to her side. With the other, she took Elsa's hand and, in a burst of bravery she didn't know she had, she pressed her lips against the back of Elsa's hand. Even there, her skin was cold. Elsa gasped. Astrid only kissed her for a moment, a heartbeat, even less, before letting their hands drop.

She straightened and said in her most formal voice. "Then I'll do everything I can to help us learn more about each other."

Elsa nodded, but a smile pulled at her lips. "And I will do the same."

Then, after tucking hair back behind her ear, Elsa left and Astrid was alone in her cell once more.

SQ: TWO CHAPTERS in one week? Pretty spiffy, right! Don't get used to this format though, I just found some extra time this week to work on this project. Also, I'm realizing right now that this chapter was pretty Elsa-heavy, hopefully you didn't mind!

Thanks to those who commented on my previous chapter, and thanks to the favorites and followers thus far!

Now, my dear followers, I ask you one simple question: Who do you think will initiate the first (actual) kiss? I have a pretty solid idea of who it will be, I'm just curious if it's obvious in the writing. Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

(Note: I do hope to have a one-chapter-week format pretty soon, it's just hard some weeks to nail down the time to write.)