Chapter 21: Mending the Bridge
Several days later, Elsa was studying various maps and going over correspondence when Kai announced a visitor. "Kristoff Bjorgman, Official Ice Master and Deliverer of Arendelle to see you, Your Majesty."
Her head jerked up to stare at Kai and dropped her pen. "What is he doing here?"
Kai gave her a bewildered look and gestured to the door. "Oh fine, let him in here, Kai. Maybe he just wants to discuss ice. I hope he just wants to discuss ice." she muttered to herself. She then stood up and walked over to a bookshelf, wishing to meet the mountain man as close to eye to eye as possible.
Kai showed him in to her Elsa's study. "Your Majesty, thank you for meeting with me."
She wasn't entirely in the mood for pleasantries, and from what she knew of Kristoff she wasn't sure he would even miss them. So, she got right to the point of his visit. "What can I do for you, Mr. Bjorgman?
"You can call me, Kristoff, Your Majesty. You once did." He was nervous and kept shifting from one foot to another.
Elsa drew her hands together and walked a few steps closer to him. Her spine was ramrod straight, and she was every bit the queen just then, not Elsa. "No. I think we will refrain from such familiarities, seeing as though you no longer have a personal relationship with my sister. Again, what can I do for you?"
"Listen I know that Anna…"
She interrupted him, "Princess Anna to you, Mr. Bjorgman."
He stopped fidgeting. This was apparently going to be an uphill battle. "I know that Princess Anna spends this day each week at the orphanage, so I thought that I would come while she's not here to ask you… How is she? Is she all right? She, well she seemed very angry and upset last week when she dumped my drink on me at the tavern."
"Of course she was upset," Elsa was trying desperately not to yell at the man. "She saw you with those two barmaids and you know her imagination! You're lucky all she did was throw ale in your face!"
Kristoff laughed and his face blushed a bit. "Yeah, that's Feisty Pants. Your Majesty, please let her know that I was just at the tavern for work. Those bar maids are the sisters of a fellow ice harvester. I was only telling them how their brother was, because he has been in the mountains for some time. There is no one else."
Elsa shook her head. "Please refrain from calling my sister 'Feisty Pants' without her permission, Mr. Bjorgman, and I have already suggested to her why you probably were at the tavern that night."
He bowed his head, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Elsa could see this man still cared for Anna. "You appear to care a great deal for my sister, Mr. Bjorgman. Might I ask why you broke things off with her? You may be seated, if you wish, Kristoff." She called him Kristoff again. She didn't hate him. If Queen Elsa didn't hate him, he had hope for Anna. So he sat and started talking.
"I don't know. I guess it all really started when you went to Corona. I was hoping we could spend some time alone before I had to leave for the ice harvest, but she just pushed me away. I just assumed she was busy with all the duties she had as regent. Then when you came back home, I hoped she would spend any time with me. Instead she spent all of her time talking with Minister Westbrooke. I guess I got jealous of all the attention she gave him. Then you all were talking about what is expected in potential mates for royals. I realized that I have nothing like that to offer Anna. Then there's the whole hot-cold thing with her. Sometimes she acts like she wants a relationship, and then others she doesn't. I'm okay being a loner if she doesn't want anything more. I never meant to lose her as a friend though."
Elsa couldn't help but like this giant, awkward mountain man. He didn't say it, but she was fairly certain that he was deeply in love with Anna. He was probably afraid of being hurt as well. It was obvious that he didn't really trust other people very much. "You know Kristoff, if you value her friendship then you should seek her out again. I know that she has believed that you wanted your space, or she would have probably approached you. She misses you."
Kristoff held his hands, "Oh no! I'm not gonna approach her the way things are now. She's likely to set me on fire or something. It's not like she hasn't almost done it in the past."
Elsa covered her mouth, trying not to laugh too hard at what he had said. "I'll have a talk with her tonight, let her know you wanted to come straighten things out. I'll make sure she's reasonable before you see her. I would hate for you to be singed."
Kristoff smiled and started to get up. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Well, I guess I should be going. Ice doesn't deliver itself!"
Elsa walked him to the door. "Tell Sven hello for me. We've had an overabundance of carrots at the castle without him here to take care of them." she told him as she tripped over a bump in the carpeting.
Kristoff caught her in his arms just as a familiar redhead popped her head in the door. "Elsa, hey the kids are really hot and were wondering if you'd come cool them off with some snow!" She saw Elsa in Kristoff's arms, and a look of confusion washed over her face. "What's going on here? Elsa? Kristoff?"
"Anna!" Kristoff exclaimed upon seeing her, dropping Elsa to the floor with a resounding, "Ooomph!"
She fully stepped into the room to survey what was going on. "What's going on in here? Kristoff, what are you doing here, and why was my sister in your arms?"
Suddenly, Kristoff was worried they would experience a repeat of what had happened in the tavern. "It's not what it looks like!"
Anna stooped down to help Elsa off the floor. "Well, that much is obvious. Elsa's not dry-heaving in a corner."
"Wait, what?" Kristoff asked.
Anna waved him off. "It's just an inside-sister joke. Elsa, are you okay?"
In a very un-queenlike manner, Elsa rubbed her very sore backside. "Nothing's hurt but my pride. I think that I'm going to go outside the castle and visit with Sven for a bit." She limped out of her study to leave them alone.
"So," Anna said, messing with things on Elsa's desk in a manner that would probably irritate her orderly sister. "Are you going to tell me why you're here?"
Kristoff scratched his head. "I wanted to know if you were okay, and I wanted to let Elsa know so that she could tell you that nothing happened at the tavern. I was just there for work. The barmaids are the sisters of a fellow harvester."
Anna laughed. "Elsa pretty much already suggested something similar to that."
"Sven misses you!" Kristoff blurted out, unsure what else to say.
Anna glanced up at him. "Sven misses me?"
"Yeah," Kristoff told her, unable to look into her eyes, "I guess he got used to your company. It's so quiet now. He's missed your endless chatter."
"I don't chatter endlessly! Well," she told him, "I've missed Sven too. I actually have missed that smell even."
Kristoff chuckled. "It does grow on you. Anna, can we be friends again?"
Anna looked into his eyes. "You want to be friends again?" At least it was something, and that would give her the chance to figure things out herself.
'Yeah. I was wondering if maybe you and Elsa would like to go for a ride through the mountains some time next week? We could take a picnic lunch."
He was playing it very safe. "That sounds wonderful. Unfortunately we have guests arriving from Genovia on Monday next."
Kristoff frowned. "More guests? Are these suitors?"
"Wait, what? No!" Anna told him. "We're hosting Queen Celia and her younger sister, Princess Amelia for a while. I think Elsa has had enough suitors lately between well, it's been interesting around here."
"You could bring them!" Kristoff suggested, really wanting to spend time with Anna and even Elsa again.
Anna shook her head. "Queen Celia is very ill. Her uncle is acting as regent indefinitely, as Celia isn't going to recover. She has Consumption. We're to befriend Amelia and eventually provide support to her whenever she ascends the throne. I don't know what Celia will be up to doing, but if she's able I will suggest it to everyone."
Kristoff smiled. He hadn't smiled like that in weeks. It didn't matter if he could never be anything more than her friend, he needed Feisty Pants in his life. "Well, I guess I should get going. I have a wagon-full of ice to deliver."
"Okay," Anna told him. "Thank you for coming by and worrying about me."
"Anna, I'm glad we're friends again," he admitted. Then he kissed her cheek. Both wanted more, but neither was sure of the other or even themselves. He left Anna alone in Elsa's chamber, thinking things looked a little brighter than they had in a while.
Ok. So I managed to get one more out for the evening crowd. I didn't change this one much at all, but it's a fun chapter.