The sun rose the next day on a perfect cloudless summer day in Arendelle. For Elsa, the night was uneventful as both Kari and Margit slept fairly well through it, though she found them once again in her bed with her.
Getting up early was normal for Elsa; after all, she was the Queen and had a lot of work to do each day, which she enjoyed immensely. Keeping Arendelle happy, safe and prosperous for all its' citizens meant everything to her, in a way; she was still demonstrating to her parents what a good girl she could be.
Of course Elsa had two other reasons to be awake early today as Leo was arriving for his permanent post in Arendelle, but of course, the other was the harder one of preparing the girls for their parents' funeral.
She was hoping that once Eirik's wife and children arrived, it might make it a little easier for them. She had arranged with Kai to have nice pretty outfits made up for the girls with the motifs of the Arendelle Crocus on them and two crocus flowers for the girls to place on their parents' coffin.
Elsa was also contemplating on how to tell Leo of what had happened and explain her intentions to adopt them. She didn't think Leo would mine, she appreciated that he admired her independence and her freedom. He even complimented her by saying she was the best monarch he had ever worked with, though he may have been a little biased on that point. But most importantly, he let her be Elsa, and seemed to love who she was, not because she was the Queen.
Always in the back of her mind was that little fear of does he love me for me, or for the throne. The drama with Hans from three years ago still haunted her. In a way she felt a little envious of her sister as Kristoff just loved Anna, not Princess Anna, he would have been just as happy being with her and sharing their lives in a small house in that same village Kari and Margit came from.
Quietly, Elsa slipped from the bed so as not to disturb the girls and made her way out to the hall where it didn't take her long to locate Kai:
"Good morning Kai," she said, "any word on Leo's ship?"
"Good morning Elsa, no not as yet, however, and before you ask, I have both Kari's and Margit's outfits ready, plus the flowers as you ordered. We should start receiving people from the village of Noosenval in about two hours, breakfast?"
"Yes, breakfast would be lovely, anything official for me to do?"
"Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow Elsa with of course the one exception. Officially receiving Leonardo Donatello as the official ambassador to Arendelle from Forino."
"I think I can manage that,' smiled Elsa.
"Oh, one more thing, the adoption process can begin tomorrow, you will need to see Jonas Klempfoth head of the Arendelle Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages."
"Okay, I look forward to that."
"Be careful Elsa, he's a crusty old man, a stickler for protocol and rules, if it is acceptable, I will accompany you there to make sure things go as smoothly as possible."
"Thank you Kai, I would be happy for you to accompany me, I better go wake the girls."
Elsa returned to her room, the girls were still asleep on her bed; she leant over and gently shook them.
"Kari, Margit, time to wake up," she said softly.
Slowly their eyes opened with Margit in a soft voice saying "Mommy?" but then realised it was Elsa. There was a look of sadness on her face, but she didn't cry.
"It's today isn't it?" asked Kari softly, "the funeral."
"Yes," replied Elsa, "it is I know it will be hard, but I'm here, I won't leave you."
Kari hugged Elsa, and Margit copied, but Elsa knew this was the calm, today was going to be a long day and a very emotional day, she was determined that the girls would not be alone for it, she knew too well the pain of losing your parents, even at their young ages.
"What's funeral?" asked Margit.
"It's where we say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy," replied Kari to her sister bluntly.
"Why are we sayin' goodbye?"
"Cause there dead." Came the even more blunt response from Kari.
"Kari!" said Elsa a little surprised.
"Well it's true, it's true," responded Kari breaking into tears again, which in turned made Margit cry.
All Elsa could do is try and comfort them, Kari especially buried her head into her mid rift as she sobbed as she did have more awareness of what was happening than her younger sister.
After a few minutes, Kari was cried out again, turned to her little sister and hugged her.
"Margit, I love you, but Queen Elsa is going to be are Mommy now, aren't you Queen Elsa?"
Elsa wasn't quite expecting this, but smiled and said positively, "I am."
This seemed to lift the girls' spirits a little as they had grown fond of Elsa too and had warmed to the idea of living with her from now on.
"How does some breakfast sound now?"
"Okay" came the reply from the girls.
"Good, now I have a very important person arriving this morning, so I have to do some official Queen things, so do you mind staying with Princess Anna for a little bit this morning."
"I like Princess Anna," said Margit.
"So do I," responded Kari.
"That's good, come on then, I'm sure there's something yummy for breakfast." Said Elsa as she took both their hands and made their way to the dining room.