Finally the night before the wedding arrived. The menfolk ( Eugene ) decided that it was their responsibility to take Kristoff for one last night out on the town as a single man. That left the ladies of the castle an evening alone together to enjoy talking of all sorts of feminine subjects without having to hold anything back in mixed company.
They had a small dinner in the lifting dining room, then retired to Anna's chambers. Elsa and Rapunzel planned to spend the night with her, having the slumber party they never got to have as children. Granny and Aunt Lillian stayed, wishing to spend one night in the girls' company before Kristoff whisked Anna off to the mountains for a short honeymoon, then everyone sailed to continue and conclude the family reunion in Corona.
Anna, always the procrastinator, was trying to pack a trunk for her honeymoon. However she wasn't sure what to pack. After all, what would she need to wear? Would she need much clothing at all? It's not as if she had ever been newly married before. So she just stood in front of the trunk, staring at it's emptiness.
Elsa walked behind her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You don't know what to pack, do you?"
"Sure I do!" Anna lied. "I'm just trying to decide how to maximize the space."
Rapunzel stepped over, glancing down into the trunk. "You're haven't a clue."
"Not a one," Anna reluctantly admitted.
"Well, then I suppose that it's a good thing we came bearing gifts," her aunt said, setting several bundles on Anna's bed.
As Anna opened silky, translucent nighty after another, Elsa watched her with a loving eye. Somehow her baby sister had grown up and was to be married. She closed her eyes and heard little Anna saying, "The sky's awake, so I'm awake!" It seemed incredible to her that the tiny girl she had been was now this woman and would soon be someone's wife.
"A mark for your thoughts?" Rapunzel asked her.
Elsa stretched out, her arms, which were wrapped around her knees. "I was just thinking how amazing it is that my baby sister is getting married in the morning!"
"Baby sister, yes," Granny huffed. "In my day, the younger sister didn't marry until after the elder."
Elsa laughed and quoted her favorite book once more. "I think it would be very hard upon younger sisters, that they should not have their share of society and amusement because the elder may not have the means or inclination to marry early. - The last born has as good a right to the pleasures of youth, as the first. And to be kept back on such a motive! - I think it would not be very likely to promote sisterly affection or delicacy of mind.''
Granny chuckled,"Don't you go quoting Austen to me, Elsa! I am not some feeble-minded monarch, looking to be a matchmaker in my dotage!"
"I thought it was fitting for the moment," Elsa shrugged. "I see James told you about King Leopold?"
"Yes, yes. I believe he was quite impressed by your handling of the doddering old fool. I must say that I was as well when he told me the tale. However, I doubt it causes the same affect in me as it did him. I am merely proud you belong to me."
"So, you and James?" Rapunzel asked. "I knew it! When did it happen?"
Elsa felt the heat on her cheeks as a blush burned them. "So Anna, do you like your gifts?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Y-yes, I do," She answered, holding up a negligee. "Thank you, everyone. Elsa, how did you know what to buy?" she gave her sister a scrutinizing glare.
Elsa squelched her face. "Oh don't look at me like that, Anna. I asked Madame Barreau for something appropriate."
"Oh, well I think she would know," Anna laughed, twirling the negligee on her arm.
Rapunzel took it from Anna's hand and looked it over, "It's not as if you'll be wearing any of these for very long."
"Rapunzel!" her mother scolded and directed her eyes toward Granny.
Rapunzel rolled her eyes and laughed. Even after five years, it was actually wonderful to have a mother who cared what she did and said, but still cared more about her. "Oh Mama, we're all women who have been married, or soon will be. The men are out doing whatever it is men do the night before a wedding."
"In some circles, you wouldn't want to know," her grandmother interrupted.
"Actually…" Elsa rose a hand, trying to interject.
"Ok, except for Elsa here, but we all know that it's only a matter of time." Rapunzel relented. "Besides, I know that she has the gist of things, because we had 'the talk' with Anna together last time Eugene and I were in Arendelle."
Aunt Lillian breathed a sigh of relief and asked Anna. "Oh good, so you know what to expect on your wedding night?"
Anna held up another article of clothing. "Yeah, I think I do. I mean, Elsa's textbook description of 'marital congress' sounded like some method of torture and very clinical, but Rapunzel gave some more intimate details and made it sound far more enjoyable."
Aunt Lillian looked to Rapunzel, who was paying close attention to the negligee in her hand, folding it over and over. "That is… good to know."
"Cristo is a very large man," Granny suddenly observed.
"Yes…" Anna agreed.
"Anna dear, you are a very slight girl. Why I've seen him wrap his hands around your waist to where his hands touched. I hope that moose of a man doesn't break you."
Anna's eyes grew larger than they ever had before. Rapunzel put an arm around Anna. "Granny, don't scare her! There's nothing to be afraid of. It will all hurt a lot less if you're involved and do more than just lie back and think of Arendelle!" she glared at Granny.
"Rapunzel, I gave you the same advice my grandmother gave me on my wedding day. Considering your grandfather and I were strangers, it was very sound advice. I was just imparting the wisdom that had been imparted to me. Anna, when you have a bit of experience, you can tell him what you like. I personally liked to give your grandfather the orders in the bedroom. He rather enjoyed it too!"
"I did not need to know that," Anna said flatly.
Her aunt walked behind her, making a face, "None of us did."
"What?" Granny asked. "I was just trying out this new openness that has taken over our family. Is it not for me?"
"NO!" everyone shouted at once.
"Well, thank goodness!" She then leaned toward Anna, "Do be glad that the days of having witnesses to the royal consummation are long over."
"Eew! I am," Anna whispered.
"So am I," Elsa added, knowing that as Queen she would have been required to be one of the witnesses, and she certainly didn't want witnesses on her wedding night. The thought of having to perform in front of people, privacy curtain in place or not, was just horrifying.
"So Elsa, you never said anything about James." Rapunzel needled her. "I like to think that I helped get you two together, what with his coming to Arendelle to escort us home and all when you met."
Knowing that everyone in the room was already aware of their relationship, she finally admitted, "I love him. I love him so much that it actually hurts at times. He is by far, the best man I have known, and he makes me want to be a better person. He challenges me and respects me and drives me insane," she laughed. "He has become the air that I breathe and the very beat of my heart."
Aunt Lillian started to cry. Rapunzel jumped up to comfort her mother. "Mama, what's wrong?"
Lillian took Rapunzel's hand and laughed through her tears, 'Nothing is wrong, dearest. I'm just so happy. Our family has dealt with its share of trials and sadness." She caressed Rapunzel's face in the same loving way she had since the day Rapunzel and Eugene showed up at the castle - the way that showed Rapunzel that her mother loved her and not her hair. "You are here with us. You and your husband have blessed us with little Elsa to dote on and spoil. Elsa and Anna have opened the gates of Arendelle, and have reconnected with each other as well as all of us. Now my Jamie, my nephew who is more a son to me has managed to find happiness with our dear Elsa. If you had asked me six years ago if things would ever look so bright, I couldn't have said they would."
Granny shifted her rather misty eyes, muttering something about, "The Westbrookes were always an overly sentimental lot." Elsa heard and quietly patted her hands.
"Anna," Elsa spoke up. "I have a gift for you. I know that you would traditionally receive such a gift from our Father, but since… and I am now the head of our family in Arendelle I thought… well I believe every bride deserves pearls." She handed Anna a box which Anna quickly opened, revealing the most exquisite triple strand of pearls they had ever seen.
Anna jumped into Anna's arms, "Thank you! They're gorgeous!"
"Thank James as well. When I mentioned what I wanted to do, he suggested that I contact our friends in Saxondelle. It seems having an allegedly former mermaid as queen is good for the pearl industry. They are your 'something new."
Rapunzel then handed Anna another box. "I have your 'something old.' It's also your 'something borrowed," because it is part of the Crown Jewels of Corona." Anna opened the box to find a beautiful, diamond encrusted tiara.
"This is the crown that was given to you when you were born?" Anna asked.
Rapunzel nodded. "I wore it on my wedding day with my veil. I thought it would look nice on you as well." Granny then gently took the tiara from Anna.
Granny tenderly held the tiara in her hands, gingerly running her fingers along it as if it were a memory. "It was your mother's tiara before it was given to Rapunzel. It is always given to the eldest Princess of Corona. She wore it when she married your father also."
Anna's face dropped in astonishment as she realized the importance of that tiara to everyone in the family. "Thank … you," she was desperately trying to quell the tears that were fighting their way to the surface. The result was an oddly quiet Anna.
Trying to lighten the suddenly heavy mood, Aunt Lillian handed Anna a larger box. "These are your 'something blue." Anna opened the box to find a pair of blue, sparkly slippers, causing Anna to laugh.
Aunt Lillian told her, "You will be standing a long time tomorrow. I know you will be tempted to wear extremely high heels to compensate for Kristoff's height, but your feet and legs will thank me. Your dress is long enough that no one will have any idea."
"You could just go barefoot. I did." Rapunzel suggested, garnering horrified looks from the entire room. "Hey, I went eighteen years without shoes on my feet! I wanted to be comfortable on my wedding day!"
"Of course. Who would have thought that a barefoot bride would be odd when a horse and lizard were your attendants?" Granny huffed.
Rapunzel was always willing to stick up for her old friend who recently passed away. "Pascal was a chameleon, and he was the only friend I had for most of my life, Granny. There's not a day I don't miss him."
"At least you had a chameleon and not just a long succession of closed doors that led you to talk to paintings," Anna said in a quieter tone than usual. Elsa stopped talking with Aunt Lillian and stared at her sister, a hurt expression covering her face. She thought, she hoped they were past the hurts of their younger years. Of course she knew it was foolish to think that some of them wouldn't surface again occasionally. "Anna," she called in a cracked voice barely above a whisper.
Anna looked up, seeing the pained expression on her sister's face. She wiped a tear from her face. 'I know. I know, Elsa. I'm sorry I brought it up. It's just that I know this sounds crazy, but I am so happy and so sad at the same time right now, and I find myself going back there."
Rapunzel placed a hand on Anna, "Why are you sad?"
Then, the well of Anna's emotions burst. "I miss my Mama and Papa! I want them here with me tomorrow!"
Granny seated herself next to Anna. "Shh, shh my dear. It's perfectly fine to be a little sad even when we're extremely happy, because we miss loved ones we've lost. I feel the same."
"I'm not some horrible person?" Anna asked.
"If you are, then I think we all are," Elsa told her. "Do smile though, or your face will be all red and puffy tomorrow though!" she finished with a sly smirk and a wink.
Her words did the trick, and Anna was quickly back to herself - at least in appearances. Aunt Lillian and Granny soon bade them goodnight, leaving only Elsa, Anna, and Rapunzel together.
"So what are you supposed to do at a slumber party?" Rapunzel innocently asked.
Elsa and Anna shared a puzzled look. They hadn't the foggiest idea. Then Anna said something odd for her. "Actually guys, I'm really tired, and I kind of have a big day tomorrow. Maybe we should get ready for bed and sleep?"
Rapunzel laugehd, "Thank goodness! Elsa will be awake soon enough, and I have to have all the sleep I can get to keep up with her!"
They looked to Elsa, and she laughed as well. "Oh I have nothing against sleep. Wait. Do either you of hear that?" She motioned toward Anna's balcony.
Rapunzel cocked her head, "What is that?"
Anna listened and laughed. "The last time I heard something like that was when Prince Edgar was attempting to serenade Elsa! No! They're not going to serenade us!" All three ran to the balcony to find Kristoff with his lute, leaning heavily on Sven. Eugene was leaning against a tree with an evil smirk on his face. James was standing next to Kristoff, and it looked like he was trying to make sure the ice harvester remained upright.
"Ahem." Kristoff cleared his throat and started again to sing, "Anna smells better than reindeer…"
"They are drunk!" Elsa exclaimed, half angry and half amused.
"What?" Anna cried out, "Kristoff can't be drunk! He hardly even drinks ale! He has to stand up in the chapel tomorrow and pledge his love and fidelity to me tomorrow, not praying into some wash basin!"
Rapunzel noticed a few lamps being lit in windows from other parts of the castle"They are going to wake the entire castle!"
Elsa shook her head. "I guess we should go quiet them." She started to walk toward the door, but Anna stopped her.
"Elsa, I can't go."
"Why not?"
Anna pointed to the clock. "It's past midnight. Kristoff can't see me before the wedding!"
Elsa sighed. She was fairly certain that if Kristoff saw Anna before the wedding it wouldn't matter at all, but she wasn't going to argue superstition with her sister on her wedding day. "Fine. Rapunzel and I will take care of this." She hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Try to get some sleep."
As they walked down the hallway, Rapunzel whispered to Elsa, "I'm going to kill Eugene! This has his name written all over it!"
"I'm not going to disagree with that," Elsa said through gritted teeth.
"I'm just wondering how he managed to get James to let him do it, and where's my father?"
"I don't know."
When they reached the young men, Rapunzel walked straight over to Eugene and grabbed his ear, "Eugene Fitzherbert, what do you think you're doing?"
Wincing in pain he answered, "Well, until you decided to attempt ripping off my ear, I was just standing here."
She let go of us his ear, letting him stand. "You're not drunk?"
He rubbed his ear. "No! I had one drink of gin. Kristoff two, since he's the groom. That is all. How was I supposed to know that the giant mountain man can't hold his liquor?"
Elsa walked over to Kristoff, who was still waxing poetic on his lute about Anna and reindeer. "Kristoff." Nothing. "Kristoff!" Still nothing. Finally she created a pile of snow and dumped it on his head. "KRISTOFF!"
He shook the snow off and grinned at Elsa, "Oh, hey there Elsa. How're you doing?" His words slurred when he spoke.
Elsa placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I was about to go to sleep when I heard a drunken mountain man outside, singing loudly about my sister."
"Did you like my song? Did Anna like my song?" he asked like a puppy wanting a pat on the head.
"It was… nice, Kristoff. However, it's just a few hours before you're supposed to get married. So, I think you should go to the kitchen and drink some very black coffee."
"Aw, but I don't like coffee! It tastes like dirt!" he whined.
"I command you to go drink coffee, Kristoff!" she told him in her most queenish voice.
"Fine!" He started to skulk off toward the kitchen.
"You're going with him," Rapunzel told Eugene.
"What? I was hoping that maybe I could talk you into a little rendezvous. I'm feeling amorous on this night of love and romance."
Rapunzel shook her head. "No! I'm spending the night with my cousins as planned! Oh, and where's my father?"
"He left us early, because he was feeling romantic, despite our talk we had with Kristoff. He's probably ravishing your mother as we speak!"
Rapunzel and Elsa both yelled, "Eew!" at the same time. Then Rapunzel spoke up again, "Do I have to find my frying pan, Eugene!"
Eugene held up a hand. "Okay Blondie. You don't have to threaten me with cookware. I will do my best to sober up the mountain man." He started to follow Kristoff, who had actually walked into a wall. "Come on, big guy. Let's go this way!"
Kristoff leaned heavily on Eugene. "I love you, Eugene."
"Right back at ya, big guy!"
Elsa noticed that James had been mysteriously quiet, as did Rapunzel. Rapunzel stepped up and whispered, "I think I'll go tell Anna that Kristoff is being taken care of."
Elsa sauntered next to James. "You're strangely quiet, Mr. Westbrooke."
He seemed to have difficulty getting words out of his mouth. "I… I tend to grow quiet when I've had a drink."
"You do?" she asked, taking Sven by the reigns, leading him to the stables.
James grabbed the opposite side of Sven's reigns and walked with her. "I do. Alcohol makes me think things."
A mischievous grin spread across Elsa's face as she glanced sideways at her. "Like what sort of things?" she asked as she locked Sven in his stall for the night.
His ruddy hair fell over his eyes, causing him to appear in a much less polished state than was his norm. He looked almost rugged, with stubble gracing his normally smooth face, and the lamplight of the stables casting shadows on him, giving him an almost sinister look.
His voice was husky as he told her, "I have not had so much to drink that my tongue is loose enough for me to reveal such thoughts."
Goosebumps appeared on Elsa's skin as he spoke. Her heart faltered, and she felt a little uneasy on her feet. "Now I'm even more curious." She pulled him by his hands out of the stables, back into the night. The moon shone in her hair, making it glisten like the new fallen snow. She lowered her head, making her eyes and lips give the appearance of slightly pouting.
He tried to resist her charms, but the alcohol had actually washed away many of his inhibitions. "I couldn't tell you how I spent the evening dwelling on the feel of your cool, porcelain skin against my hands, your perfect lips meeting mine, the way your gorgeous hair frames your flawless face, or the way your eyes are with me even in my dreams."
"You couldn't tell me that?" she asked, suddenly feeling very warm.
He slowly pushed her back against a tree, his whiskers brushing against her cheek. "I couldn't tell you how I long to do this," he deftly pulled her hair from its loose braid causing it to fall down her shoulders to her waist, "and this," placing his hands on her forehead, he ran his fingers the length of her hair, sending shivers down her spine, before kissing her in a more passionate way than she had ever been before kissed. His hands roamed her dress, driving her to madness. The more he did to her, the more she wanted, pressing herself against him. Then he stopped, backed away, and told her,"I couldn't tell you those things or do those things to you, because they are so inappropriate until… Well, they're inappropriate. That's what alcohol can do to me. I think I'm going to lie down and get some sleep. Goodnight, Your Elsa-sty."
Then he left her, still pressed against the tree, breathless. She waited until she could catch her breath, then returned to the castle as well. Roaming through the hallways, she ran into Rapunzel.
Her cousin looked her over and asked, "What happened to you? You look like well.. Perhaps I shouldn't have left you alone with James?"
Elsa turned to her, looking absolutely frustrated. "Or I'm guessing things didn't go quite too far. You would look more well, pleased if they had."
Elsa's scrutinized her cousin and noticed that she appeared disheveled herself, and she looked a little too happy, even for Rapunzel. "I thought you were going to Anna?" she asked.
Like a deer eyeing the arrow aimed for it, Rapunzel sheepishly told Elsa, "Well, I wanted to go check on Kristoff before reporting to Anna. He was passed out in the kitchen. Eugene and I managed to drag him to a sofa in the drawing room. Then well…"
Elsa laughed. Being married seemed to have several perks. "Your dress is on backwards, Rapunzel."
Rapunzel, felt her dress. "Oh, Oops!"
When they returned to Anna's chambers they found a very awake bride-to-be. "Hey, do you guys wanna build a snowman?"
"Absolutely!" Elsa answered.