(A/N): Coming back at you with another chapter of "Intricacy". Enjoy at your own risk!
Chapter 2: A Letter a Day Keeps the Brother at Bay
It was after dusk, yet numerous stars illuminated the night sky. There was a slight breeze rustling the trees. Everyone on the prairie was about to turn in to bed when Caleb arrived. Some waves were exchanged, but everyone continued on their way to their homes. When the boy arrived at Bulda's cave, Kristoff immediately greeted him. It started off with smiles, but then it morphed into anger.
"Why are you home so late?" Kristoff interrogated.
Caleb put his hands up in defense, "I was eating dinner with the royal family."
The blonde boy glared intensely, "What's wrong with having dinner with your actual family?"
"Nothing! They offered me a meal and that's what held me up," the brunette boy retorted. "Oh and if you care, I got a position in the royal guard. Guess it's a good thing I'm leaving."
At this point, Kristoff dropped his angry demeanor and sadness flashed before him.
"You're really going?"
Caleb sighed, "It doesn't seem that I have much of a choice. Being a guard for Arendelle means that I have to maintain my post in Arendelle. Besides, I also got invited to a party at the castle. I was planning on staying the night over there rather than coming home."
Kristoff released an exasperated breath, "Wow… so this is really happening."
The brown haired boy squeezed his brother's shoulder, "I promise I'll write often."
The blonde boy pointed a stern finger, "You better."
The boys embraced each other, saying their goodbyes and then headed to bed.
—
Caleb woke up before everyone in the prairie, yet it was too early to leave for Arendelle. Seeing as there was nothing else to do, the boy found some parchment to write his first letter on.
Dear Kristoff and Sven,
Today marks the first day we are apart from each other and it's all my doing, but choosing this path made sense to me. Like I said last night, I will write to you when I get a chance to (hopefully everyday). By the way, you are always welcomed to Arendelle when you feel like coming over, just come straight to the castle. On that same note, I will try and visit you and our family, which might not happen often. I wrote this letter as you slept and I decided to head out to Arendelle a bit early. So… this is goodbye. Make sure you tell Sven hi for me once in a while. I will miss all of you.
Your brother always,
Caleb
P.S: Tell Grand Pabbie that he was right all along...
Once the boy finished the letter, he folded it and left it near the sleeping boy's bedside. Taking one last look at the prairie, Caleb waved goodbye and headed toward Arendelle.
—
The streets of the kingdom were practically bare; however, the barracks made up for it as every soldier was awake and training. Caleb grabbed his sword and placed himself in front of a dummy. Visualizing it as a person, the soldier recruit began slashing the wooden dummy, occasionally parrying its "attacks". Soon enough, General Tyler came over to oversee his young soldier.
"Ah, good initiative, recruit. In case you didn't know, today is a free training day and then tomorrow, all soldiers have the day off due to the soirée, except if you are needed."
The young boy nodded, "Yes sir."
As soon as the general was dismissed, Caleb went back to his dummy and sliced it more. After a few minutes, the young boy got tired of beating up the wood and opted to go condition himself by running around the castle. On his first lap, the soldier took in the beautiful scenery that surrounded the palace. The recruit was coming upon the garden, where he noticed Elsa reading. The princess looked up for a moment and gave the boy a wave. Staying in stride, Caleb also waved back and continued his lap. As his lap was about to conclude, the young recruit noticed that more soldiers were heading out for a run.
"One more lap can't hurt," the boy said to himself.
The young soldier maintained his slow and steady pace to finish out strong. Upon passing the garden again, Elsa was still reading, but this time Anna was with her. Both girls saw their friend and while one waved, the other decided to join the soldier. Caleb was surprised at this sudden change, but he rolled along with it. He waved goodbye to the ice princess and muttered a quick 'hey' to Anna. It seemed as though that the usually energetic princess was out of breath trying to keep up with the soldier, so much that she couldn't speak another word. When they were about to finish up their lap, King Agnarr was outside the castle walls, seemingly waiting for the two of them. The running pair both stopped in front of the monarch and he smiled at the two.
"Wash up, both of you. Lunch is about to be served."
The kids nodded, which dismissed the king. Anna and Caleb headed into the citadel to prepare themselves for their meal. The redhead was still catching her breath.
"How do you do it?"
The soldier shrugged his shoulders, "Save your energy till the end of your lap."
"That does not make any sense," the young princess replied.
They shared a chuckle and parted ways to clean up.
—
Nothing much was said during lunch. It seems as though no one had any news to share. Once everyone was almost done with their food, Caleb thought it was best to talk about something.
"I have something to share with all of you," the boy announced.
Everyone looked up, waiting for the soldier to share.
"I technically moved away from my family and… I was thinking of moving here to Arendelle," the recruit informed slowly, trying to gauge the others' reactions.
It was quiet for a long minute until Anna yelled out in glee.
"Are you really moving? Oh maybe you can move here in the castle! We are going to have so much fun and we will spend so much time—
"Anna…" the king interrupted softly. "Caleb, if you are actually moving into Arendelle, I can offer you a room in the castle since you are a guardsman. That is if you don't have anywhere else to go."
The boy nodded with affirmation, "I would be very grateful, your majesty."
"So it's settled," King Agnarr confirmed.
Several smiles were splayed throughout the table as well as a couple cheers from Anna. It made Caleb feel like he truly belonged here.
—
Although the young boy wanted to continue training, Anna dismissed him from it for the day, so she can give her new housemate a tour of the castle. So far, the soldier has seen the garden, dining room, and the kitchen.
"This is ballroom, where the party is going to be tomorrow," Anna explained, gesturing across the room.
Caleb was in awe of the size of the room. In about twenty four hours, this room is going to be filled with guests. The boy's admiration of the room got cut short when the young monarch took his hand and led them both upstairs.
Anna talked while gesturing to each room, "Here are the servant quarters, dad's study, my parent's room, gallery room, fireplace room, more rooms here…"
Then the princess emphasized her hand gestures on this particular room, "Here is my room! And Elsa's too."
Caleb was invited in and the bedroom was more than enough space for two girls, but given their prestige, one could understand.
"Your room is amazing," the soldier admired wholesomely.
"Thanks!" the princess replied.
Then the girl started grabbing blankets and other sheets, placing them methodically into a mini house.
"Since you're living here now, it would be best if you had a fort in our bedroom," Anna explained.
The recruit shrugged his shoulders, "Well, why not?"
He proceeded to help the redhead construct the fort. For a brief moment, they both took a step back to look at their work.
"It's small, but it's good enough for me," the brunette boy pointed out.
Anna shook her head and stuck her head outside the bedroom door.
"Gerda, could we have more blankets please?"
Not a moment too soon, the children had more sheets to expand the fort with. Gerda was also generous enough to give them some pillows for the interior. After a few revisions to fallen blankets, the fortification was complete with space for a maximum of four people and a comfortable atmosphere. The "ceilings" were high and the "walls" were somewhat small, which meant that this fort was not going to fall.
"There's something missing," Caleb contemplated.
Anna joined in the pondering and it seemed like their thoughts had been answered when Elsa came into the room. Of course, the first thing the ice princess noticed was their fort.
"Wow, did you both just finish that?" She asked.
The soldier hummed thoughtfully, then answered, "Not quite. It needs a bit of something."
Without any further explanation, Elsa grabbed some fairy lights from the closet and hung them over the roof. Then, she manifested a mini snowball in her hands and released it toward the fort. Once the snowball made it over, it dissolved into tiny ice crystals, making it appear to snow inside the fort.
Caleb looked over at the ice princess proudly, "That's exactly what it was missing."
Now that the fortification was truly complete, the children went inside to unwind. Only a few minutes had passed until their first visitor came and of course it was none other than King Agnarr.
"Ah, there you kids are. Done with the castle tour already?"
The trio nodded and the king laughed, "Did you even show Caleb his room?"
Not even getting up, Anna sighed, then motioned toward the fort, "This is his room."
Another chuckle was elicited from the head monarch, "Okay. Well, as a secondary room, your quarters are down this hall, next door to the girls' room. Your guard uniform is already in the closet. You can wear it tomorrow for the soirée… and for the tour of Arendelle in the morning." King Agnarr looked at his daughters, "Anna, Elsa. Could you please give Caleb a tour of the kingdom tomorrow?"
"Yes father," they both replied.
With that, the king left and the kids stayed in the fort enjoying each other's company.
Anna sighed happily, "We are going to have so much fun tomorrow."
—
The morning rays shown through the windows of the castle, which woke the young soldier. He'd almost forgotten that he slept in the fort the night before while the girls slept in their beds. Both of the princesses were still sound asleep. So reluctantly, Caleb decided to get dressed into his guard uniform. He opened the closet and there were seven different sets. The boy randomly chose to put on the navy blue uniform and went back to the princesses' rooms, where they were still trying to get up.
"I'll give you both a minute," the recruit said, taking his position outside the room.
The shuffling of footsteps ensued as it was clear that both girls were rushing to be ready. Within a matter of minutes, they both were in casual dresses.
"You both look nice," Caleb complimented.
Both monarchs uttered 'thank yous' and the trio was about to walk until a servant made them stop in their tracks.
"Master Caleb, I believe you are forgetting this," the servant informed while handing the boy his sword.
The soldier took it gratefully, "Thank you, sir."
The man smiled, "Please call me Kai. And if you all would not mind, I will be accompanying you on the tour."
The children all extended their hand toward the exit giving Kai the go ahead. As the group stepped out of the castle walls, it was revealed that there were more people here in the kingdom than there was the first time Caleb came here. But the scenery never changed. The familiar smell of freshly baked bread filled the air and the boy's stomach began to growl.
Elsa giggled, "I think I know what our first stop is going to be."
The group stepped into the source of the smell, which was a bakery. There were plenty of pastries being showcased and they all looked equally good.
"You gotta try the blueberry muffin. It's my favorite," Anna recommended. "Oh, but you can't leave this place until you've tried their freshly baked banana bread."
"Or you can try their famous strudels," Elsa suggested.
Caleb shrugged his shoulders, "I'm gonna try all of them."
Once the transaction was done, each child got their respective pastry and began to walk on to the next landmark. Anna insisted that the soldier try the muffin first, so he did. The muffin was still warm and very fluffy. The boy nodded his head in satisfaction and he was handed the next pastry, the banana bread. Once again, it was fresh out of the oven warm and crumbly. Again, the boy was satisfied with the treat. The last baked good was the strudel, which came in a variety of flavors, so Caleb chose the chocolate one. Before taking a bite, the recruit split the strudel into three pieces and gave one to each of the princesses. At the same time, they all ingested their piece and they all enjoyed it.
"I think that one was my favorite one," Caleb announced.
"You definitely made a great choice in choosing the chocolate one," Elsa pointed out.
"Of course you would say that. Chocolate anything is your favorite," Anna retorted.
The older princess playfully rolled her eyes, "Anna, chocolate is your favorite treat too."
Kai made an abrupt stop and pointed out to the pier, where many ships were docking.
"This is the pier, Master Caleb. Trading usually happens here, but when we are having an influx of visitors, ships can be docked here."
The soldier listened intently and the servant continued, "Behind the ships is the fjord of course. On the other side lies only mountains, so not many troops are deployed to that area."
After a few minutes of enjoying the view, the group went onto the next stop, which was a tailor shop.
A look of confusion was expressed on the boy's face, "Why are we here?"
"His majesty requested that we get a suit for you for tonight's event," Kai explained.
An excited scream was elicited from Anna, "Oh, judging clothes is so fun!"
The other children gave the young princess a questionable look, but rolled with it.
Once inside, the tailor greeted them.
"Hello your majesties. What can I do for you?"
Kai presented the recruit, "Master Caleb needs a suit for tonight's festivities."
The tailor scanned the young boy and immediately went into his back room. A few short minutes later, he called out for the young boy to try on a suit. When the soldier came out to showcase the suit, he visibly cringed. It was a glittery purple suit with matching glittery pants. It was like the tailor went overboard with the glitter.
"I'm not too fond of this," Caleb admitted.
Anna hummed in thought, then shook her head, "Nope. Next one please!"
The tailor dragged the boy back into the back room to try on another suit. When the soldier came out, it was a better choice. It was the classic look of the black and white tux.
Anna hummed in thought again, "It's better, but it needs more pizazz."
The tailor smiled, "I know just the suit."
Once more the pair went back and got the "perfect suit". When going out front and showing the others, Caleb was proud to be wearing the suit. It entailed a white dress shirt with a Arendellian green sash. The suit jacket was also Arendellian green that had a space for the boy to don the Arendelle crest.
"We will take it!" Anna exclaimed.
The suit was packed away and it seemed as though that the tour was over as Kai was leading the children back to the castle.
The redheaded princess groaned, "The tour is over already?"
The servant chuckled lightly, "You must rest before the celebration tonight."
"Yeah I guess you're right," Anna relented.
As soon as the children arrived back at the castle, back to their blanket fort they went.
"You know. Every great fort needs a name," Caleb pointed out.
"Rainbow Fort!" Anna exclaimed.
"Or perhaps a pun like Fort Blanketdale," Elsa suggested.
The soldier pondered for a bit and snapped his fingers as soon as an idea came up.
"I was thinking of Fortress of ACE. For Anna, Caleb, and Elsa."
The girls nodded their heads in agreement and they all proceeded to take a rest in their fort. The redheaded monarch yawned, which caused the others to do the same. Soon thereafter, the girls began to drift off to sleep. Kai was right, they all needed rest before the soirée, so Caleb also decided to get some needed rest.
—
The young soldier was awoken by footsteps approaching the fortress and it belonged to the queen.
"Oh, I was just about to wake you all. It's time to get dressed for the celebration," the monarch explained.
The boy nodded groggily and proceeded to wake up his companions. Once they were up, everyone went their separate ways to change into their attire. Then the trio met up at the stairs, ready to make their grand entrance into the ballroom. Caleb offered an arm to both princesses, which they both accepted and continued their way down. As the group came down, guests began to trickle in. Playing as the friendly hosts, the children were greeting their guests. Once the reigning monarchs came into the ballroom, they were relieved of that duty to their consolation. The first stop was the snack bar, in which of course they all took pieces of chocolate. Suddenly, Anna ran toward the center of the room, meeting up with a friend.
"Where did she go?" Caleb asked, confused.
"To meet a friend from one of the neighboring kingdoms," Elsa responded. "She's the guest of honor's daughter."
The soldier proceeded to ask, "Do you have anyone you visit at these parties?"
The ice princess shook her head lightly, "I usually keep to myself at events like these."
The young boy felt bad, but he shook the negative thoughts away. He looked at the platinum blonde and declared, "I can be your escort for the night."
"No. I'm okay, really," the princess began to protest.
Nevertheless, the recruit was not gonna take no for an answer. He extended a hand toward the young monarch, "We can start off with a dance."
"Caleb…"
"If you're really not having fun by the end of this song, then we'll stop. I promise."
Whether it was the soldier's honest nature or his convincing green eyes, Elsa finally gave in and the both went on the "dance floor". The orchestra was currently playing an upbeat folk song and while the soldier was dancing along, the princess was awkwardly standing there. However, seeing her friend having so much fun just dancing made the monarch dance along with him. Seeing Elsa finally let herself loose made Caleb proud of her. Out of the whole room, they were the ones that were having the most fun. But to them, it was just the two of them, enjoying each other's company. The upbeat musical number soon transitioned into a slow ballad. Taking the new change in stride, Caleb offered his hand to the princess.
"May I have this dance, your majesty?" the soldier playfully mocked, acting like a pretentious nobleman.
Playing along, Elsa took the boy's hand and they carried on to slow dance to the ballad.
"Are you having fun?" the recruit asked, checking in.
The platinum blonde expressed a genuine smile, "Yes. Thanks to you."
The brunette boy matched her smile and they continued to dance in silence. The crowd faded away and they only saw each other. They rhythmically swayed along to the melody of the ballad. They could have fun like this forever. Somehow this song felt shorter than the previous number as the orchestra was beginning to transition into another energetic tune, which brought the children back to reality. Slightly winded from all the dancing, the children went to grab a drink. With their drinks in hand, the royal duo went into a secluded corner to talk amongst themselves.
"So what would you be doing right now if I wasn't here with you?" The guard asked with curiosity.
The princess pondered for a moment, "I would honestly be in my room or just anywhere away from here."
Taking her words into consideration, Caleb was about to suggest an idea.
"Well if you want, we can-
"Where is that man going?" Elsa inquired, cutting off her friend.
Following the princess's gaze, the soldier saw the suspicious man sneak into another room.
"Aren't guests supposed to stay in the ballroom?" The recruit questioned to make sure.
The young monarch nodded and with his orders, the brunette soldier began to follow after the suspect.
The platinum blonde briefly stop the boy, "I'm coming with you."
"Elsa, I really don't-
"Caleb, I'm coming along," she interrupted sternly.
The recruit nodded reluctantly, "Yes ma'am."
Without raising any attention to the other patrons, the investigative pair went after the suspicious stranger. There weren't many soldiers patrolling the halls and the lighting of the chandeliers gave an eerie vibe of the mission at hand.
"Promise that you are not gonna leave my side," Elsa quivered.
Caleb took a couple steps closer to the princess, "I'm never leaving, promise."
The other guards in the hall acknowledged their fellow comrade's presence, making the young recruit feel uneasy as they are acting like they did not see anything suspicious. Having some courage, the recruit began to enter the rooms, hoping to run into the stranger. The first couple of the rooms were small storage rooms, which were no place for an enemy to hide.
"Where is this guy?" The soldier muttered.
Another door was opened and yet again, nothing was out of place. The sleuths were about to give up until they saw a dark figure heading toward another section of the castle, being chased by two other guards. Knowing that figure was the culprit, the children ran in that direction. In a matter of seconds, the duo was able to catch up with the other soldiers. To the pair's dismay, the guards were out of breath and inevitably lost the criminal. All they could muster was a general direction of where the figure went. Although it was poor information, Caleb and Elsa continued to run after the stranger.
"I just hope he hasn't done anything too heinous," the princess trembled with worry.
"Not on my watch," the recruit objected, not giving up.
The suspicious man finally entered a room and the children were not too far behind. When they entered, they found themselves inside a clock tower. Because it was so dimly lit, both kids were not able to see the man. Caleb drew his sword to protect the princess as well as himself. It was too quiet for the boy's liking and as the minutes went on, the more apprehensive he felt. A loud thud was heard toward the bottom of the tower, which caused the soldier to slightly look down. Then suddenly, the man appeared with his own weapon and lunged at the children. Instinctively, Caleb put his sword up to block the incoming attack. With his remaining strength, the recruit pushed off the older man.
"Are you okay?" Elsa asked, terribly worried about her friend's sake.
Focusing intensely on the enemy as well as the princess's safety, he responded hastily, "I'm fine. Are you good?"
"Yes," the girl softly whispered.
After a few minutes of staying idle, the criminal charged at the inexperienced soldier with a barrage of attacks. Caleb was able to defend against every jab, except for the last, which was barely deflected by his blade. Because of his momentum, the perpetrator unleashed another round of attacks, which disarmed the young boy of his sword. Unfortunately for the children, the weapon landed behind the enemy, leaving no room for the boy to attain it. Although the brunette soldier knew that he lost, he still stood bravely in front of Elsa, ready to take the fatal blow. The man was about to slash his weapon upon the boy until he, too, was disarmed by the timely ice blast released by the platinum blonde. Soon enough, a pair of soldiers came upon the scene. They proceeded to cuff up the weaponless criminal and take him away. As the soldiers left, General Tyler came into the tower and approached the children.
"Are you both okay?" He asked with concern.
The pair silently nodded, the adrenaline slowly washing away. The general picked up the fallen sword and gave it back to his young recruit.
"Come along now. The king and queen have already been informed of this. They would like to see both of you," the older soldier disclosed.
—
Elsa and Caleb met up with the monarchs in the throne room, which probably meant that the celebration was over. Both sovereigns were visibly relieved when they saw the children and immediately greeted them with a hug.
"Thank goodness you both are okay," King Agnarr uttered, releasing his pent up tension.
The ice princess pulled away from the hug and cleared her eyes
"What happened exactly?" Queen Iduna questioned, wiping away her tears.
Taking a deep breath, Caleb was the one to speak.
"We were investigating the suspicious man as he went to a restricted area of the castle. We chased him to the clock towers and that's when he and I fought. Although I swore to protect her, I never intended to put Elsa in danger." Briefly looking at the ice princess, the soldier added, "I will take full responsibility for this event."
"No. It wasn't all his fault. I was the one who saw the stranger first. And I wanted us to look into it," the platinum blonde protested to her parents.
"It's okay. No one in this room is getting punished. What matters is that you two are safe," the king assured.
"I'm sorry that you two had to experience that. It must have been traumatizing," the queen added, sniffling in between words.
"Caleb did a great job of fending him off. He's a really great soldier," Elsa praised.
The brunette boy got flustered by the compliment, "Um, thank you. I would've been a goner if you didn't blast his weapon out of his hand."
The duo took a moment to smile at one another, knowing how much they helped the other, which made the reigning monarchs smile as well.
"Since that's all, you both are dismissed. Please go to bed at a reasonable hour," King Agnarr requested.
Taking their leave, the children headed upstairs. Not ready to go to bed yet, Caleb stopped abruptly causing the princess to be confused.
"The night is still young. Want to go somewhere?" the soldier asked.
"Sure. Lead the way."
There was a ladder that led up to the castle roof and that's where the pair went. Carefully they both sat on the shingles underneath the star studded sky.
"I was about to suggest here as our hideout spot from the party before we got caught up with the stranger," the recruit revealed.
Elsa grinned slightly, "It's beautiful out here."
"It sure is," the boy responded while going on to lay his back on the roof. Now that he had a better view of the sky, the solder pointed at a specific cluster.
"That looks like Orion's belt."
Elsa looked at her friend with surprise, "You know constellations?"
Caleb sat up and shook his head, "Only Orion's belt."
The young girl smiled, "I appreciate your honesty."
"I'm assuming you know some?" the soldier asked, feeling somewhat embarrassed of his lack of knowledge.
Elsa lied down and pointed at a star formation, "That is the Pegasus constellation, one of my favorites."
The boy squinted, then he lied down, genuinely trying to see the shape, "How do you know?"
"A pegasus is a winged horse. Usually found in Greek mythology." Elsa explained. Then, the princess took the recruit's hand and drew out the constellation, "The square is the pegasus's body. Those stray stars are the legs and the last line is its head."
Caleb hummed in amusement, "Oh, I can see it now." He pointed at a constellation toward their left, "What about that one?"
"That is Ursa Major, meaning great bear. Seven of these stars also form the Big Dipper, a commonly known constellation."
The recruit pointed at another one, "And this one?"
"That's Aquila. I believe it means the eagle."
"I think that one is my favorite," the boy commented.
Elsa looked at Caleb with amusement, "Really?"
The brunette recruit grinned wide, almost playfully, "No. They are all my favorites."
The princess contendly rolled her eyes and they both shared a laugh.
"As much as I love teaching you about different constellations, I believe it's time for us to head to bed," the young monarch informed dejectedly.
The young soldier nodded, "Okay. I just gotta do something before turning in."
When Elsa was just about to head down, she stopped, "Thank you, Caleb."
The boy expressed a confused look, "For what?"
"Just everything."
With that comment, the young princess left the boy smiling as she went to her room. After a couple more minutes under the night sky, Caleb decided to head back into the castle to pen a letter to his far away brother.
Dear Kristoff,
It's me again and hope all is well over there on the prairie. I would like to say that it was a good thing that you didn't show up at the party tonight as something terrible happened at the castle. I'm all right or else I wouldn't be writing this letter to you. In short, a suspicious man entered a forbidden area of the castle and one of the princesses and I had to stop him. Hopefully you aren't getting into too much trouble without me. Anyways, I have yet another early day ahead of me tomorrow, so I gotta cut this letter short. Say hi to everyone for me. Stay safe and love you always.
Your brother again,
Caleb
P.S. You should really learn about constellations.
(A/N): After writing this chapter, I learned a thing or two about constellations. Anyways have a great day or night, depending on when you are reading this and stay tuned!