One early, beautiful morning in May, the three-and-a-half-year-old Prince Joseff of Arendelle woke up once he felt the rays of sunlight shine from his window and on to him in his bed. Once he awoke, Joseff jumped out of his bed and ran to the window to look outside. Giggling excitedly, he then ran out of his room and down the hall to Elsa's room.
Joseff was excited because today was a special day for him and his Aunt Elsa. Not only were they going to spend the day together, but Elsa was going to take Joseff throughout Arendelle to give him a tour of their kingdom. Elsa had thought that since Joseff could possibly be the next ruler of Arendelle one day, she needed to start teaching him about the importance of ruling a kingdom. Although he was much too young for certain lessons, she thought showing Joseff around Arendelle was a good thing to do for right now.
Joseff quietly snuck into Elsa's room, where he saw her in a peaceful sleeping form. He climbed up onto her bed and sat on her back. "Auntie Elsa? Auntie Elsa!" When she did not respond, he began pushing on her back. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"
That finally did the trick. Elsa groaned sleepily, but managed to say, "Joseff, honey, what are doing up this early?"
"Today's the day we go out, wemember?" When Elsa didn't say anything else right away, Joseff continued, "You didn't forget, did you? You pwomised."
Elsa sighed tiredly. Then she opened her eyes and smiled. "No, I didn't forget, my little prince. I know I promised, and it's important to keep promises. So we will still go out today."
"Yay!" Joseff cried, raising his hands in the air.
Elsa chuckled. "But it's still early, and we have all day. So why don't we go back to sleep for a little while…and you can sleep with me." She lifted part of her blanket up, and that cued Joseff to get into the bed. Once he was under the blanket, he snuggled into Elsa's chest and she held him close to her. In a few minutes, the queen and her little nephew were fast asleep.
Three hours later, Elsa felt all rested up when she awoke for the second time. She smiled when she saw Joseff sleeping like a baby next to her.
"Joseff, sweetie?" she said, as she gently shook him. "It's time to get up and eat breakfast. And then we can start our tour together."
Once he heard those last few words, Joseff opened his eyes and quickly sat up. "Yay!" he cried before Elsa shushed him.
"Shhh! Quiet down, honey. We don't want to wake up your sister."
"Oh, sowwy, Auntie Elsa."
"It's all right, honey. But look, let's eat breakfast and then get dressed, okay?"
"What about Mommy and Daddy?"
"I told them it was just going to be you and me for breakfast. But they did promise to be awake so you can see them before we go out. All right?"
"Okay."
After the queen and prince finished their breakfast together, they headed back to their rooms to get dressed. Since it was May and growing warmer, Elsa decided to wear the short-sleeved, pink flower-decorated, green dress and cape she wore for Anna's nineteenth birthday almost six years ago. She helped Joseff dress into his clothes, which consisted of an olive green short-sleeved shirt, a dull blue vest with gold lining, dark brown pants, and toddler-sized Sami boots.
"Don't you look handsome, my little snowflake," Elsa said once Joseff was all dressed.
"You look bootyful, too, Auntie Elsa," Joseff said, having made his best attempt to say "beautiful."
"Thanl you, sweetie," Elsa said, then she grabbed Joseff and blew onto his cheek, which made him giggle.
Just then, Kristoff and Anna, who were still in their nightclothes, walked into the room, catching Joseff's attention. "Hi, Mommy and Daddy."
"Good morning, Kristoff. Good morning, Anna," Elsa said.
"Good morning, Elsa and Joseff," the couple said at almost the same time.
"Well, how's our little man doing this morning?" Kristoff asked as he kneeled down to Joseff's level.
Anna followed suit. "Are you excited to be with Auntie Elsa today, honey?" she asked as she gently tickled him.
Joseff giggled. "Totally escited!" he exclaimed.
"Well, then, I think it's time we got started on our tour. The first thing I want to show you is here in the castle. I want to take you outside to one of the balconies."
"Okay, Auntie Elsa!"
As the family walked out of the room together, Joseff ran between Kristoff and Anna's legs, and Anna playfully tried to grab his behind. Then Elsa motioned for Joseff to come with her, so he took her hand and they walked away together, while Kristoff and Anna stayed behind and watched with smiling faces.
A few minutes later, Elsa and Joseff came to their first stop. Elsa opened the doors and the two stepped out on to the balcony. Joseff was so small that they he couldn't see what Elsa could see, so she lifted him up into her arms so he could get a good view of front what laid in front of them.
Still holding him, Elsa pointed towards the view. "Look, Joseff. Everything you see below and in front of you is our kingdom of Arendelle."
"Wow!"
Elsa continued, "Within kingdoms, a king or queen's time as ruler rises and falls just like the sun." She paused and looked Joseff right in the eye as she finished, "One day, Joseff, the sun will set on my time here as queen, and will rise with you as the new king."
"And all of what see before us will be mine?"
"Everything."
"Everything here that is Arendelle." Joseff looked at Arendelle again, then turned back to Elsa. "Is it twue that as king or queen, you get to do anything you want, Auntie Elsa?"
Elsa smiled. "Well, as queen, I do hold power over Arendelle and no one is above me in ranks. So for the most part, yes, Joseff, I can do whatever I want."
"So that means when I'm king, I'll get to do anything I want any time?"
Elsa knew Joseff was going to ask these kinds of questions. "Hold on, sweetie." She gently put him on the ground, then kneeled to meet his eye level. "One thing you need to know about being a ruler, including in being a future one, is that it isn't all about doing anything you want and going wherever you want. It's not all fun and games. You must learn to not think solely of yourself or abuse the power and authority you have. Being a king or queen is a great responsibility because you are in charge of the kingdom as well as the people who live there. To be a good ruler to your people, you must not be bossy and cruel. If you want the people to love you, you must be fair, honest, and kind."
"Is that why the people love you, Auntie Elsa? Because you are so kind and fair to them?"
"That's right, Joseff. And you would surely want the people to love you, too, right?"
"I think so."
Elsa smiled again. "Well, I don't expect you to be just like me in terms of being a ruler. But for now, and even when you grow older, I do hope that you will take my advice about what it takes to be a good, responsible ruler."
"I don't understand, Auntie Elsa."
Elsa gently kissed Joseff's forehead. "That's okay, honey. I don't expect you to understand everything I tell you now, since you are so young. But when you are older, you will have more education and knowledge. So you'll understand all of this one day. And for now, try not to worry. It may be a very long time before you finally become the new king of Arendelle, anyway. Even though you are a prince and will need to be educated on how to be a ruler, I also just want you to enjoy your childhood. And when Heidi gets bigger, try to enjoy life with her, too. All right?"
"All wight, Auntie Elsa," Joseff said, then he threw his arms around Elsa's neck. "I love you."
Elsa wrapped her arms around Joseff and returned his hug. "I love you, too, sweetie." When Joseff stopped hugging her and returned to standing in front of her, she said, "So how about we continue with our tour in the rest of Arendelle now?"
"Yeah!" Joseff cried. He jumped and held his arms up as he did, which signaled Elsa to pick him up. Then she stood up from her spot and continued to carry him as they left the balcony, then the entire palace to go past the gates and into the village within Arendelle.
Once again, I am so, so sorry for the late update! But things haven't really improved at home too much and I'm still facing computer problems. At the moment, I don't know how many more chapters this series will have, but for now, I will still attempt to update once a month if I can't do it much sooner after submitting a new chapter. I don't have much inspiration for any new Frozen series, and even if I did, I'd rather finish this than start something new. We'll just have to wait and see.
And in case you wondered, yes, I paid tribute to Frozen Fever with the dress that Elsa wears, as well as The Lion King with some of the dialogue between Joseff and Elsa. ;)