Anna lounged around on the sofa in the cabin she shared with Kristoff and her daughter, who was currently laying quietly in her crib, hugging a small toy wolf to her chest that Elsa had commissioned for her. The Queen had claimed that the toy had been a parting gift for her niece, but it was obvious that she simply wanted an excuse to give the young little Princess a gift.
Anna smiled at her daughter, and she picked up a book from the little table next to her, relaxing as she read, but she soon got bored of it. She had been at a loss for what to take with her for the journey, and foolishly enough, she had decided to ask the royal advisor what he would recommend; this resulted in her being forced to take one of the most tedious books ever written along with her, and being Anna, she hadn't thought to actually see what it was about before she left.
She'd definitely learnt her lesson about asking the royal advisor for help now. She suspected he had only been trying to help her, but the book on royal duties really was too much for her, even if she was about to go and rule over the kingdom.
The door creaked open, and Kristoff came in with Seier, for they had been playing outside on the deck. The man had been trying to teach the wolf to play fetch, but when Anna raised her eyebrows at him, asking 'how did it go?', he shook his head, and it was clear that he hadn't done very well. Seier bounced over to the Princess, and she gently patted him, before reaching out her hand for the ball.
Kristoff quickly threw it to her, and she caught it, standing up, and the pup bounded off of the sofa, barking in a wolfish way, his cries deeper than that of a normal dog. Anna gently rolled the ball to her husband, and the creature scampered after it clumsily, tripping over his little paws excitedly, picking up the ball and returning it to her a few seconds later. She then threw it back to Kristoff, and he caught it, having to stretch her arm a little to stop the bad throw from bouncing off of the walls. He clucked his tongue, and called Seier's name, although the wolf was already sat at his feet, wagging his tail excitedly.
Kristoff bent down, and rolled the ball a little distance, but the wolf pup just sat there, his tongue lolling out, panting and wagging his tail happily. He stared blankly at the mountain Prince, and the said man looked at Anna, exasperated. She just giggled, before standing up and running over to him, pulling him into a large hug, picking Seier up in one hand and holding Mia in the other.
"Come on," She said, "Let's go outside. I'm bored in here, and that book Anders told me to read is literally impossible to get into. I bet it's a great book for... well, someone like Elsa, who actually understands all the rules, and everything else, for being Queen, but for someone like me... Well, it's rubbish."
"I'll give it to Sven," Kristoff said, "He can throw it over board for us."
Anna giggled. "I'll bear that in mind." She replied, smiling happily, and they walked outside, placing Mia in her little baby-stroller that Elsa had made her, and resting it against the side of the cabin wall, tying it there to stop it from rolling away, and she rested a pillow behind Mia, to sit her upright so that she could see what was going on. Though the little child couldn't hold her head up on her own, she could see the sea easily, and the baby seemed to enjoy the gentle rolling of the waves, and the sounds they made as they crashed against the boat. She watched the seagulls flying over her head happily, and she let out a little whimper of sadness when they flew off.
Anna sat down on the edge of the boat, her legs dangling off of the side, and if there hadn't been a deck below that stretched out further than the one above, Kristoff would have had a heart attack. As it was, he simply joined her, and little Seier curled up on her other side.
"It's beautiful, isn't it, Kris?" The Princess commented, scanning the view. There was no land to be seen anywhere, and after three days at sea, she hoped that soon they would be reaching Corona. The weather had been on their side, luckily - it had been windy, just enough to keep them moving at a decent speed, but not too much so that the ship sunk, and thus, according to the captain, they were ahead of schedule.
"It is nice, isn't it?" Kristoff said, smiling, and the pair laughed as a slightly larger wave hit the boat, making them both topple off of the edge. Anna, who had spent her whole child-hood doing stunts in the castle halls, flipping over chairs and sliding down the banisters, managed to grab a hold of the edge of the deck, and she hung there, before impossibly flipping herself back onto the side. Kristoff, however, wasn't such an acrobat - he fell to the deck below and landed on his feet, strangely lightly for a man of his size, but none the less, Anna winced at the thud. Standing up, he hopped on his feet, and the Princess, taking a glance at her daughter to check she was okay, flipped down and helped him back up the stairs.
Sitting down on the deck, only leaning against the side this time, Kristoff thanked Anna.
"That was quite a fall," She said, giggling, and the Mountain Man nodded.
"I think I landed quite hard on my feet." He replied.
Anna giggled, kissing him on the cheek. "You think?"
He laughed, and rose onto his feet, for the pain had gone by now, thankfully. Staring out across the ocean, he frowned.
"You know," He said, as he helped his wife stand up, offering her his hand to help her to her feet. "I never did understand how they can find out if a ship sinks."
Anna looked out sadly, remembering Rapunzel and Eugene, and she desperately hoped that they were okay. Returning her gaze to Kristoff, she replied, "You see those birds down there?" She pointed to a few large cages, in which four large birds were sat, looking extremely bored. "They are... uh..." Anna paused, not sure what they were called, before she remembered suddenly. "Oh, yes! They're wandering Albatrosses. They're the biggest birds alive in the world, and when a ship sinks, they get released, I think. Then, someone else will see them, and then a letter can be sent to the ship's kingdom about what happened. They sometimes use this code thing, too..."
Anna paused, frowning, wondering what it was called, and Kristoff offered, "Morse code?" Anna nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, that. Either way, when a kingdom sees the birds they can tell the other kingdoms that the ship has sunk."
Kristoff nodded, understanding, then he frowned and shook his head.
"Wait, wait, wait." He said, "How are you supposed to know if it isn't just, well, a normal bird?"
Anna thought for a minute, then she smiled. "Oh, oh, oh!" She cried out, and called down to the people below to let the birds go for a flight. She hated cooping anything up, after all of her years alone in the castle. The workers agreed, and opened the birds' cages, tying a long rope around their neck to stop them from flying too far away. Anna wished they could just fly free, but it wasn't possible.
The albatrosses soared happily in the wind, and sunlight glinted off the underside of their wings.
"There you go," Anna said, pointing to the birds, "They have a little bit of silver painted on the bottom of their wings, so that you can see them in the sky."
Kristoff didn't look that happy.
"Isn't that a bit cruel?" He asked, watching the birds as if in a trance, the animals making the prettiest patterns in the sky.
Anna thought for a minute, then shook her head. "I don't think so, She said, watching the birds also. "It's not much silver, really, so it shouldn't hinder them any. Right?"
Kristoff shrugged. "I hope not," He said, and then Mia began to whimper. The pair looked at her, and Anna shook her head.
"She dropped Wolf." Anna explained, and Kristoff frowned.
"But Seier's sat right there," He said, pointing to the little pup next to Anna, and she giggled.
"Oh, no," She replied, laughing, and walked over to Mia happily. Picking up the little toy wolf, she handed it back to her daughter, and she looked to Kristoff. "Her toy wolf." She explained, and the Prince laughed. He ran over to her, and picked his wife up, making her laugh as he spun around with her in his arms, happily.
"Merry christmas, Sweetie," Anna said, wrapping her arms around Kristoff's neck and kissing him on the lips, passionately. She only wished Elsa was here with them too. Putting her down, he pulled her into a large hug.
"Merry christmas to you, too, Feisty Pants." He replied, tickling her and causing the Princess to squirm and giggle happily.
"Merry christmas, Anna," Elsa said, sadly, looking at a portrait of her sister, and she smiled at herself. She really was spending too much time with the Princess - she was beginning to rub off on her. She couldn't imagine what Anna would have been like when they were younger, and she was constantly alone.
A knock came at the door, and Elsa stood up quickly, smoothing out her dress.
"Who is it?" She asked, and Kai's voice came in through the door. "Come in." She called out, and the man entered quickly, a letter in his hands. Instantly, Elsa's heart began to beat faster, and her breathing got quicker, feeling like her whole world had been turned upside down. With a shaking hand, she accepted the letter, and Kai looked at her sadly, understanding that she was petrified about the safety of her sister.
Sitting down, Elsa slowly opened the letter, her hands shaking with fear, and she took a deep breath in. Pulling the letter out of the envelope, she slowly opened it and felt like she was going to be sick. Steeling herself, she read the first few words, and was so relieved that it seemed to have nothing to do with Anna.
Your Royal Highness, Queen Elsa I of Arendelle,
I am writing to inform you that I shall be visiting your kingdom on the 26th December, although I am not sure if this letter will reach you before my visit. I sincerely hope it does.
With the current situation, what with many members of the royal family going missing, it has been suggested to me that I ought to find a suitor and to continue the royal blood line. I understand that this is a very sudden request, but it is in my best interest to keep the safety of our kingdoms in check, and it is my main priority to care for the people of not only my Kingdom, but other Kingdoms also.
As mentioned before, I understand that this is a sudden request, but may I also mention that it is customary that the Queen must at least choose a suitor before her twenty-fifth birthday, even if she does not intend to marry him straight away, which is, if I am not mistaken, is in only a few months.
I seriously hope that you will consider my offer, if not for me, but for our Kingdoms. If you are unsure about whether to accept my offer, then I advise you to consult your royal advisor to help you make your decision.
Kind regards,
Prince Bjørn, of the Southern Isles
Elsa's breath caught in her throat. Unlike Anna's fake matrimony letter that she and Rapunzel had planned together, this was so much more serious and worrying. The Queen thought back to her dream three nights before, and she remembered the strange man's words.
"A foolish fool that is not yet foolish enough to be classified as a foolish and foolhardy fool cannot fool those who are more foolish and more foolhardy than their own foolish personage is; instead, those who are more foolish than that person will consider that person to be a foolish, foolhardy fool when it is in fact themselves who are more foolish."
Deep down, she couldn't help but think her dream had been a warning. She had dreamt about the baby dying, or at least it had looked that way, and then Heidi's daughter had been shot. She closed her eyes, sad about the baby's death, and she suddenly remembered, that in her dream, Anna's ship had sunk, and she was petrified it would come true. That being said, nothing had happened so far, or at least, there hadn't been any notice that there had been a problem, so hopefully that aspect of her dream was just false, or at least over-exaggerated. She hoped, rather than knew, it was true.
She thought back to the man's words again, and a thought passed through her mind. Don't make a foolish decision, she thought to herself, that must be what the man's words meant. She frowned, and put her head in her hands, groaning at the impossible decision.
Kai had gone, but there soon came another, quieter knock on the door. Elsa told the person to come in, and Odd entered, slowly. He looked at Elsa, and then saw the letter in her hands. His eyes widened, for he had come to the same conclusion the Queen had at first, and she saw his worried expression.
"It's not about Anna and Kristoff," She said quickly, smiling reassuringly, but her heart dropped and the smile was fake.
"Oh, okay." Odd said, walking over. "What is it?" He queried, interested.
Elsa panicked, and she quickly muttered, "Nothing, nothing..." Odd looked unconvinced, but he didn't press the matter any more.
"Well, okay then." He said, walking back to the door. "Gerda told me to come and find you - she said that dinner's ready."
Elsa nodded, and smiled as convincingly as she could at him. She was glad he was there for her at dinner - he was, technically, still a guest at the castle, even if he now worked a little in the stables too, so there was nothing against him joining her. "I'll be down in a minute." She told him, and began packing away her work, but the thought of Prince Bjørn's letter weighed heavily upon her mind. Odd left, and she pushed the paper to the back of her desk, sighing as she watched him leave sadly.
She didn't want him to leave her alone, and she really enjoyed his company. For a few moments, she stared at the doorway, then she sighed again, wishing that he hadn't gone anywhere. Standing up, she slowly made her way to the dining room.
She didn't even know this 'Prince Bjørn', and as she had told Anna three years before, you can't marry a man you just met. Then again, this wasn't for her, but for Arendelle.
She didn't want to marry him. She didn't even want to acknowledge his existence, but she couldn't help it. She knew that a year ago, she would have accepted the offer, for her Kingdom. Now, she wasn't so sure.
And she also knew that her change in mind was because of Odd. Because no matter how much she denied it, she knew her heart had begun to melt for him.
To marry Bjørn, or not; that was the question.
But which decision was the right one?
