AN: Trying to avoid the My Immortal route of visibly losing my mind as the story progresses, but I can't really help it, this story truly is kinda driving me crazy the way no previous story I've written ever has, because never before have I written a story whose reception felt like absolute forced isolation.
Anyway, posted three chapters today. I'm sure no one will notice. But I think this is a good one. One I'm pretty proud of, it really started from nothing, but I developed it into some pretty nice moments, I think. A tender conversation I came up with when I was at work, I always get great ideas there when I'm just doing my daily tasks and there's nothing out there to distract me, and I was able to include a bit inspired by one of the reviews of the story, which I love doing but is a difficult prospect at the moment.
Day 23
Kai led two people down a hall to the throne room, a middle-aged blonde woman and balding man, both dressed in elaborate attire that was a low-budget attempt at high society.
"Queen Elsa will see you now," he told them, pushing open the large double doors.
Elsa sat on the throne, her head thrown backward in a slack-jawed, blissful expression as Merida knelt before her, head buried between Elsa's legs.
At the sound of the door opening, Elsa's eyes far too slowly turned downward to see the visitors, and it took her another second to jump in surprise and shriek, "OH MY GOSH!"
Merida hastily removed herself from inside of Elsa's dress and sat down in the little chair set beside the throne.
"Kai," Elsa said casually, leaning back and smoothing out her dress. "What, um, what news?"
"You might want to…" Merida muttered to her.
"Oh. Right." Elsa promptly crossed her legs. "So, what's… up?"
"The gentleman and lady from the orphanage are here for their appointment, your majesty," said Kai.
"Oh… gosh, I'm sorry, I thought they wouldn't be showing up until four o'clock."
"It is four o'clock, your majesty."
"Oh," Elsa said for the third time. "Really?" She turned to Merida, thrilled. "We've been here forty minutes? How the heck do you do that?"
"Lots of aerobic activity—massive lung capacity," Merida said modestly. "And of course there's no sense being good at it if you don't love what you do…"
Elsa chuckled. "Right. What were we—oh, yes, the orphanage… heads. Heads of the orphanage. Hi there. You know Princess Merida, right? Or know of her? My fr—sorry. My girlfriend. 'Lover', I guess, if you don't mind quibbling over… terminology. But like… lover in addition to girlfriend."
"We've been over this," said Merida.
"I know," Elsa said breezily, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "So, our actual conference… Yes. Uh, Mer, baby, could you…?"
"Right away."
Merida jumped off her chair, picked up Elsa's panties from the middle of the floor, and returned to her seat, stowing them somewhere within her dress.
"Anyway…" said Elsa. "Thank you, Kai, you may go."
He did, sweeping out of the room in what seemed to be quite the hurry.
"So… yeah," said Elsa. "My sister and I have taken an interest in getting more involved with Arendelle's orphanages, both in funding and direct involvement."
"Well, the children already love you, your majesty," the woman said promptly.
"Heh… I can never hear that enough times," Elsa said wryly.
"Have you ever thought of adoption yourself, majesty?" the man asked.
"What?" said Elsa, recoiling.
"Well, I only thought, I assume you won't be having any children of your own, if you and Princess Merida are planning…"
Merida reached out with one leg and wrapped it around Elsa's.
"I… we haven't discussed it," said Elsa, starting to sweat.
"What a thought, to be adopted by a queen," said Merida, winking at her.
"I don't think we're quite there yet," said Elsa, quavering. "But I do have every desire to make life as wonderful as possible for… well, all the orphans. You know, just…" She briefly lost her train of thought as Merida continued to paw at her feet. "Er, the whole household experience. A lot can be said for good food and warm beds, and that's absolutely the first thing we'll cover. But then we'll… uh, what do you call it… what was I talking about? I'm distracted. Babe, enough with the footsie, please…"
Merida withdrew, giggling, and Elsa blew her a kiss.
"You know, Queen Elsa, I daresay the children will be as fond of your girlfriend as they are you and your sister," the woman offered.
"Yeah?" Merida said eagerly. "Want me to go down there, hang out?"
"Yes, that was it," Elsa said suddenly. "As much… feeling of family as the children can possibly get. Anna and I wanted to… and of course Merida too, and Rapunzel while she's here, we'll… we'll all…" She blushed. "We have a busy schedule. I have so much to do, it's been an extremely stressful process trying to find the time for important… things. I have a lot of things to cram into very little time. I mean, just for example, you just walked in on me having sex in the throne room at four in the afternoon."
Elsa covered her face and pulled her feet up onto the throne.
"Babe, you're…" Merida warned.
"Goddamn it." Elsa lowered her legs back onto the floor, smoothed out her dress while seething a bit about how short it was, and crossed her legs again. "I'm appropriate for children, I swear to God."
"We know, Princess."
"I'm the queen, miss."
"Sorry, your majesty."
Elsa turned to Merida. "Why do people keep forgetting that I'm the queen, not a princess?"
"You're young and hot," Merida said simply.
"Young and hot, right," said Elsa. "But I'm safe for kids."
"What you do in the safety of your castle is your own business," the man assured her. "We trust you'll be child-friendly when you visit the orphanage."
"And I can bring my girlfriend?" Elsa said cautiously.
"I don't see why not."
Elsa turned to Merida, grinning in astonishment.
"Reception's going great," said Merida, leaning forward to tickle Elsa.
Elsa giggled and took a deep breath, turning back to the visitors. "So, okay, my priority right now… is to schedule as much orphanage time as possible, months in advance, maybe years, to… make sure the children don't miss us among… everything else we've got to do."
"I think that's a wonderful idea, your majesty," the woman said tenderly. "We'll… get the calendar."
~0~0~0~
"Well, that went well," said Merida, as the two of them swept back into Elsa's bedroom.
"I don't wanna talk about it, just… strip," said Elsa, wiping sweat off her face with a handkerchief and slamming the door noisily. "My God, that was stressful. I mean, it was wonderful, but… so stressful. And I don't want to see a stitch of clothing until I've had a good night's sleep." With a violent, sawing gesture, her dress magically split in two, leaving her naked.
Merida laughed. "You're so fab. Hang on, I've gotta do it the hard way…" She set to unlacing her dress little by little.
Elsa gently waved one hand, and a gust of icy wind knocked Merida off her feet, flinging her onto the bed, flat on her back. Another gust lifted Elsa into the air, where she gently landed atop Merida.
"My Merida," Elsa cooed, kissing her passionately.
Merida reached up to place her hands on Elsa's back, and Elsa could feel them quivering.
"Merida, you're shaking," Elsa said softly. "You're still nervous about this?"
"So are you," Merida said defensively.
"Well, yeah," said Elsa, her lips trembling, "but I'm still new to this. You've been with dozens of girls."
"Yes," Merida whispered, "but no one as amazing as you."
"Oh, that is such a cheesy come-on…"
"I'm not being cheesy, Elsa. I mean it."
Elsa thought of that as she loomed over Merida, scrutinizing her face. "…You want me to help you out of that dress?"
"While I keep talking? Sure."
Elsa backed away so Merida could sit up, and immediately set to unlacing Merida's dress.
"Sure," Merida went on, "have I slept with every female in Castle DunBroch between the ages of thirteen and nineteen? Probably. Am I proud of that? Yeah, absolutely. But here's the thing, see: when you put together the entire population of any given place, do you know what your odds are of finding anyone as beautiful as you, Elsa? Or as kind as you, as intelligent as you? Slim to none. There aren't a lot of people like you. As you may have noticed being queen and all, when you're in the position we're in where you have to listen to absolutely everyone, you find most people are jerks and idiots. You have uncommon gifts, quite apart from the snowy stuff, and you are… an uncommon gift to the world."
Elsa gently ran a finger down Merida's now-exposed sternum and abdomen. "Oh, come on, now, Merida. I like to think everyone is beautiful and special in their own way."
"And you are, at that," said Merida. "But you're also beautiful and special in the regular way. You know that, don't you? I'm thinkin' you should own it. What I'm saying is… what intimidates me now that never did before is that, well… see, here's the thing: objectively, I'm probably the most attractive woman in DunBroch."
"I don't doubt that," said Elsa. "You're stunning. Don't you remember what I said when we first met?"
"I do," said Merida. "And I thank you, and as I said, I own it. I'm beautiful and I know it. And I like to think I'm a fairly decent person on the inside as well. You know, passable. But when I stand next to you, in comparison? I'm nothing."
"Mer…"
"That's why you still make my hands tremble, my darling," said Merida, cupping Elsa's face. "Because I've never even imagined anyone like you, much less had an experience with her."
Elsa smiled. "I still think you're a silver-tongued charlatan who just wants to butter me up, but you know what, I'll take it, because it's worth it, and I like it. Whether we're just hanging out or kissing, whether you're talking about the future you want with me or making my body erupt with pleasure, it's all… so good."
"Oh, lass…"
Merida slipped out of her dress and leaned back again. Elsa pulled the dress the rest of the way off, and loomed over Merida once again.
"Hey, babe," said Merida.
"Hi," Elsa whispered, as they simply stared at each other, grinning.
"You know who else is uncommonly beautiful?" Merida said conversationally. "Your freakin' relatives. My life has become a total babe-a-thon. They just don't make 'em like that in DunBroch."
"Anna and Rapunzel are really pretty."
"Alas, I can look but I can't touch. Much. Not that that's a problem. You're twice as beautiful as either one of them, my love… you're a goddess."
Elsa blushed. Before she could respond, Merida sat up suddenly.
"Say, what if you actually are a goddess?" she said eagerly. "I mean, if your powers are as limitless as they seem…"
"I am not a goddess!" Elsa said frantically. "I'm a sorceress. Big difference. Huge."
"Ach, who's to say that the gods weren't just really powerful and good-looking sorcerers? That's what the Marvel books say."
"It's… not for me. I can't make that claim."
~0~0~0~
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AN: Okay, I'll be back next week, with just one chapter. From there, any further updating will be… conditional.