Chapter 20

Sarah was whistling a triumphant tune as she opened the cottage door with the groceries for dinner. The whistle died on her lips as she heard sobs coming from Ruth's room.

Sarah moved toward Ruth's bedroom. "Ruth? Are you all right?"

"No! My hands are burned, Princess Anna thinks I'm some sort of.. of.. magical assassin, I can't understand the stupid Arendelle accent, and I don't know what's happened to Fred!"

Sarah rushed into the room to see Ruth curled up on the bed, her hands bandaged. "Your hands are burned? How badly?"

"This cottage is tiny, there's nothing to do, I'm always cold, I hate Arendelle, and I wanna go home!"

Sarah got Ruth up on the edge of the bed, sat down next to her and gathered her into her arms. Ruth sobbed into her shoulder until she started hiccoughing.

As the hiccoughs subsided Sarah asked, "May I look at your hands?"

Ruth nodded into her shoulder then sat up. Sarah unwrapped the bandages and inspected Ruth's hands.

"Ooh, that must have hurt. Were there any blisters?"

"No."

"You used the salve?"

"Yes."

"Is it helping?"

"Lots."

Sarah rewrapped the bandages. "How did it happen? You're usually so careful."

"I was careful. I was making practice tubes, and I was wearing goggles and had the ice water set up and everything."

"So what happened?"

Ruth took a deep breath and exhaled. "I was moving a tube to the cooling rack when Anna burst in. I clutched the tube and burned my hands. A..and when I asked her why, she said she'd thought I was an assassin with fire magic! How could she think I'm a.. a killer!"

Sarah opened her arms again and held Ruth. They sat together for a few moments, then Sarah said, "Prince Hans."

"What?" Ruth sat up. "Mom, I'm nothing like Prince Hans."

"I know dear. But Prince Hans left deep scars. Princess Anna fell in love with him and trusted him completely. Then he betrayed her. Horribly. Is it any wonder she finds it hard to truly trust? She saw what she thought was magic that had been kept secret, and leapt to the wrong conclusion. Come to think of it, the idea of magic being kept secret from her must have been an uncomfortable parallel to her ignorance of Queen Elsa's powers."

"Oh. I.. I guess that makes sense. But it still hurts."

"I know, I know." They sat companionably together for a while, then Sarah asked, "Are you feeling a little better?"

Ruth nodded.

Sarah asked, "Ready to give Princess Anna and Arendelle another chance?"

Ruth hesitated, then shook her head.

Ruth was sulking in her bedroom and Sarah was preparing dinner when there was a knock at the front door.

Sarah wiped her hands on her apron and shouted, "Come on in, it's unlocked." She was surprised to see the door from the entry hall open and Queen Elsa enter, followed by Princess Anna. Sarah quickly glanced around the room, mortified by the clutter of potted plants, stacks of open books, papers, and bits and pieces of Alex's experimental equipment scattered everywhere. Her embarrassment was only intensified by the elegance of Elsa's ice regalia, which she was still wearing, having presided over court that afternoon. Anna was looking around the cramped room curiously.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness.. um.. please excuse the mess." Sarah bustled over to the dining table and swept several shorted Leyden jars off the table into her apron. She disappeared into her bedroom, dumped them onto the bed and returned, closing the door behind her. "Please, be seated. May I offer you something to drink? Coffee? Tea?"

Anna and Elsa sat at the small dining table. Anna asked, "Do you have any cocoa?" Elsa gave her a scolding look.

"Um.. no, Your Highness. I'm sorry." Sarah sat down at the table. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Anna and I have come to apologize to your family, and especially to Ruth."

"It sounds like this is about more than just burned hands."

"It is. Anna and I realize that you and Alex have invested an enormous amount of trust in me."

"An entire world's worth, Your Majesty."

"And we haven't reciprocated. We're sorry for not trusting you, and sorrier that it led to Ruth's injury. Can you forgive us?"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I understand how.. nuanced trust has to be for royalty. I can forgive you for your lack of trust. And although I'm angry about it, forgiveness for Princess Anna's hasty actions and her burns are Ruth's to give. Ruth and I have talked, and if Your Highness were to offer an apology now, Ruth might be receptive."

Anna nodded, stood up, walked over to Ruth's bedroom door and knocked gently: knock-knock-knockknock-knock. "Ruth? May I come in?" There was a pause. "Please?" Another pause, and then Anna entered Ruth's room.

Sarah asked Elsa, "Was there anything else, Your Majesty?"

"Well first, if Alex isn't around and we're not in public can we dispense with the titles and honorifics? Please, call me Elsa."

Sarah smiled, bowed her head and said, "It would be my honor and pleasure, Elsa. And second?"

"I can't figure out why Corona actually sent you." Elsa waved a hand. "Yes, yes, there are the obvious reasons, studying my powers and smoothing over the trade agreements, but it surely cost quite a bit to send you all to Arendelle, and I don't know what Corona thinks it's getting that's worth it."

Sarah laughed. "Is that all? As a researcher at the Royal Academy, whether in Corona or Arendelle, Alex's salary would have been paid either way. The rest of the costs of our year here were a punishment for the director of the Academy for publishing Alex's paper and interfering with trade negotiations, and weren't that large anyway. You wouldn't believe the accommodations we had on the ship coming here. And how much arguing Alex had to do to justify every piece of equipment. If there's any hidden agenda, it's that we get to know you, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, the Royal Family of Arendelle. Get to know you both personally, and by the way you rule."

"Why would that be important? Oh. Magic."

"No, Your Majesty. Incredibly powerful magic. At this point no-one knows what you'd do in case of instability or invasion of the neighboring kingdoms. The uncertainty has actually kept the local political scene fairly stable for the past year. But this grace period will eventually come to a close. Getting to know the Arendelle Royal Family, even at a remove, means King Philip can better anticipate events if the political situation becomes unsettled."

"And if I object to being a piece on King Philip's chess board?"

"Why should you? He's one on yours. It just adds another layer of 'I know that you know', and by now I know you well enough to know that you can handle it. Especially since you're reading our mail and you actually do know what he knows."

"While I appreciate your confidence in my political abilities, when you return to Corona I won't know what you've told him," said Elsa.

"I guess you'll have to get to know us well enough that it won't be a surprise," said Sarah with a smile. "After all, it's not as if you'll keep us as prisoners. And, eventful as it's been so far, we're not likely to forget this year."

"No, of course not," said Elsa, while she did her best not to think about trolls.

Knock-knock-knockknock-knock. "Ruth? May I come in?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Oh, all right. Come in."

Anna opened the door and stepped into Ruth's tiny bedroom, which had just enough space for a bed, a dresser, and a chest of drawers. Ruth was sitting at the head of her bed, feet in slippers, knees up, hugging a large green plush chameleon. On the wall opposite the window and next to the mirror above the dresser was a charcoal portrait of a good looking boy, presumably Fred. On a knick-knack shelf above the chest of drawers were several books, a glass ship, glass unicorns, glass snowmen, and a glass chameleon riding on the head of a glass horse.

"Are your hands feeling better?"

"A little, but it takes time for burns to heal."

"How about your feelings?"

"Those still hurt a lot."

Anna had thought about her apology on the way over, so it came out without any of the awkwardness she usually exhibited in times of stress and uncertainty. "I'm sorry Ruth. I'm sorry for your hands, and I'm sorry for your hurt feelings. You've never given me any reason not to trust you and I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions instead of asking you what you were doing. Can you forgive me?

Ruth thought about the question long and hard. She had considered Anna a friend, and it had hurt to find out that Anna didn't trust her. But she also thought about what her Mom had said. And about how Anna had forgiven her for the 'picture with the reindeer' incident. All the while, the silence stretched uncomfortably.

Ruth finally nodded her head and said, "Yes."

Anna exhaled in relief and sat down on the foot of the bed.

Ruth asked, "So, how do we keep this from ever happening again?"

"We should probably spend some time together and really get to know each other. Are you going to the Harvest Festival with anybody special?"

"No, I've got a boyfriend back in Corona. But aren't you going with Mr. Bjorgman?"

Anna grinned, "Yep, but Kristoff doesn't enjoy the dancing and he hates the crowds, so he'll probably find some excuse to leave after about an hour. We could spend some time together after that."

As Anna and Elsa were leaving the Morris residence, Anna asked, "Hey Elsa, have you ever considered licensing plush Olaf or Sven dolls? We could donate the royalties to the orphanage."

"Well, reindeer dolls are common enough that we wouldn't be able to claim them as ours. Olaf on the other hand, we can claim is original to us. I'll consider it."

"What did you talk about with Sarah?

"We talked about why her family is really here. It turns out that in a way they are spies."

"Oh no!" said Anna, alarmed. "I apologized for nothing! What are we going to do with them? Deport 'em? Throw 'em in the dungeon?"

Elsa laughed. "No, no, relax. They're spies in the nicest way possible. They're here to get to know us. Find out what we're like."

"Ooh," said Anna shamefacedly. "I can't have made a very good impression today."

"I'm sure apologizing helped," said Elsa. "And we've got most of a year to improve their opinion." Elsa thought, "And if it all goes horribly awry, there will always be the terrible temptation to introduce the Morris family to the trolls. And if I give in, I truly will be a monster."

Sarah was putting the final touches on dinner and glanced out the kitchen window to see Alex briskly walking toward home. Mrs. Johannesson, a neighbor, stopped him to ask a question. He spoke with her briefly then turned and slowly finished coming up the walk, deep in thought.

Dinner that evening was subdued and awkward. Ruth was wearing gloves. Conversation, usually lively around the dinner table, quickly petered out and died. Eventually, mercifully, the meal came to an end.

"Ruth, why don't you take it easy this evening and let Mom and me deal with the cleanup," said Alex. "Since your hands are cold, why not sit by the stove and read?"

"Thanks Dad," said Ruth, and she got up and went to sit by the stove.

Alex and Sarah cleared the table and started work on cleaning up from dinner. He washed, she dried.

As Alex was washing one of the pots he whispered to Sarah, "So, what set Princess Anna off?"

Sarah whispered back, "She saw Ruth handling a practice tube and thought she had fire magic and we were here to assassinate Queen Elsa." Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at Alex. "Mrs. Johannesson asked you about the Royal Visit, didn't she?"

"Yes, and Ruth is wearing her 'hide the burns from Dad' gloves. But she's experienced and usually careful enough, so whatever caused the burns must have been a surprise. And I can't imagine Queen Elsa being impulsive enough to interrupt someone when they're working with hot materials. Will Ruth's hands be all right?"

"Yes, there weren't any blisters and she's using the burn salve I made."

Alex sighed, "Well, that's a relief. So, do we abandon the sabbatical and head back to Corona?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I'd rather not, but If Princess Anna's judgement is so flawed as to consider Ruth a threat, we might not be safe here."

"I don't think Princess Anna will be so eager to jump to conclusions in the future. At least with regard to us. I think we'll be safe from the royal family."

"Ok then, we stay. How is Ruth otherwise? Are her feelings still hurt?"

Ruth answered from directly behind them, whispering "Yes, they are. But they're getting better too." Alex and Sarah turned to look at her and she rolled her eyes. She spoke with her normal voice, "Come on you guys, this cottage is so small it's impossible to be quiet enough to keep a secret."

A/N - I think of the phrase 'introduce him to the trolls' in the above context in much the same way I think of the phrase 'make him an offer he can't refuse'. In both cases things are going to be dreadfully different afterwards.

Once again, I thank those who are willing to write reviews for my story: Morgaine2005, PascalDragon, and ptahaegyptus2. Your reviews always give me lots to think about, and I appreciate them.