Resignation

If someone were to ask Anna if she was happy, she would've smiled and answered in a heartbeat: yes; she was happy. She had clothes on her back, shelter, and food on the table for most nights. So yes; she was happy.

But no one had lingered long enough to see the smile falter, fading with each passing second with the steadiness of a worn clock ticking against the infallible passing of time. No one had cared enough to stay, and Anna was fine with that. Whatever discontentment she had felt when she saw young women of her age walking hand in hand with their beloved, whatever jealousy that struck her when noble ladies passed by in their gilded carriages and pretty dresses and easy lives had dissipated as easily as the weariness in her grew.

She had stopped wishing and simply resigned. Suitors and dresses that cost a village was never in her ten year plan, or even life plan, really. And she was fine with that.

Her hands movement momentarily lulled and not a second later a voice boomed behind her. "No one told you to stop, wench! Stop scrubbing again and I'll throw your sorry hide back onto the gutter!"

Swallowing a scowl and a litany of curses involving farm animals down, she forced a grin and merely turned to wave at the source of the voice, knowing full well how it irked her boss when she showed no reaction to his words.

"Will do, boss!" She yelled good naturedly, resuming her motion of wiping the wooden tabletop, inwardly dreading the fall of night. Night meant lewd men, wandering hands, terrible singing and smashed glassware. A fine life might be too much to ask for, but surely she could at least hope for a better job, could she?

Hands running on muscle memory, her mind wandered off to the thought of the Earl Marshal in the king's household. An assuming, albeit authoritative man, she had watched him often enough from the windows of the tavern. He'd stop by every week like clockwork at the blacksmith across the street to purchase supplies for the fleet of horses under his care. Or if it was a particularly good day, even catch him lead a group of young knights out to a practice jaunt somewhere outside the town perimeter.

Though unlike her fellow tavern girls who were entirely too prone to flights of fantasies involving the men underneath the shiny armours, Anna only cared about the majestic steeds on which they rode on. In her opinion horses were far more gorgeous and less disappointing than men, whose vices she knew more than well enough after those years working as an underpaid, underappreciated tavern girl whose calling card seemed to consist of 'hey you! Yeah you! The red head!' followed by a rapid snap of the fingers on a good day, or a pinch on the backside and a wolf whistle on a bad one.

She liked horses. Not enough to name each breed by sight of course – she simply weren't privy to any knowledge of the sort – but enough to know the differences between destrier, palfrey, and so on. And that ponies were a different breed of horses entirely, not just baby horses. It was amazing how many people actually didn't know that.

Oh well. No use thinking about it now. Even a lowly stable hand was above her station. The rainy season was coming, her roof was leaking and she desperately needed to not be thrown out into the gutter.

Her pathetic excuse of a job was the only thing separating her from hunger and having the rain pelt her head indoors.

She let out a long sigh. Resignation was fast becoming her last name.

Which was exactly why she had scarcely paid attention when the bell rang, a tell-tale sign of someone having entered the tavern.

"Sorry," she said, not bothering to look up from her scrubbing. Tables don't clean themselves, after all. And she had a leaking roof to think of. "We're still closed. If you'd come back in a few hours…"

A blur of black entered her peripheral vision.

"Lady Anna?"

Her head snapped up at the mention of her name. Even more alarmingly, having 'lady' appended before said name. What greeted her was one of those knights in shining armour, helmet cradled in the crook of his arm, cape ruffling slightly from his minute movements.

Anna blinked.

Silence stretched.

And stretched.

And broke.

The knight shifted awkwardly. "Pardon me, miss. I am looking… for… Lady… Anna. Do you… know… where… she might… be?" The first three words began normally enough, but his inflection started to stilt after, a way of speech usually reserved for babies and people who were thought as not quite there in the head.

Anna blinked harder.

"No? I mean, um," Anna began, "my name is Anna but I'm not a lady, so you might have found the wrong Anna." She casted a glance around the shabby interior – its proprietor missing from sight, probably off to woo another poor maiden - wondering how in god's name had this shoddy excuse of an establishment been thought of as anything that would remotely host a lady. "I don't think there's any lady of any name here, but if you'd go to Lion's Mane three blocks east I'm sure you'll find this lady of yours. Maybe. If you're lost I can show you the way?"

Anna had fully expected him to turn and trounce over to their more reputable counterpart, but to her confusion he had simply ran his fingers over his hair and exhaled in what seemed to be abject relief.

"Thank you, but that isn't needed. You have been summoned to the royal palace and I'm tasked to escort you there. If it would please you, we shall depart immediately. The carriage is waiting."

Carriage? Anna looked at the window. Oh. A carriage. A gilded carriage. A carriage with wheels that probably cost more than her entire year's wage.

She turned her attention back to the waiting knight.

"Is this about the apple I stole?"

"Pardon?"

"It was an accident! But I totally paid him back the next day when I realised I'd taken in in my bag and forgot to pay. I swear! I'm not a thief. I mean, sometimes I get desperate for food, but that hasn't happened lately and no matter how hungry I am I'd never, ever, ever steal. Mama taught me that stealing is bad and I'd…"

The knight's ever polite smile wavered along with Anna's ramble.

"Oh. This isn't about the apple, is it?"

"No."

She started thinking as far back as she could, trying to find any wrong she had committed to warrant a royal summons. Found none. Having a leaky roof was hardly a crime, was it? "Okay. If you're sure you haven't found the wrong person, do you know the reason behind this?" She asked, gesturing towards the carriage. She really hoped leaky roofs wasn't a crime. But then again, it wasn't as if she could read a law book to ascertain her suspicion.

"I apologise – I wasn't told the reason as to why," he said, this time with the wary tone of someone who didn't know if he was dealing with a slow person or a deranged one, "but it's imperative that we leave in all haste, my lady. By your leave?"

Well then. A royal summons was a royal summons. It simply wouldn't do to have her head on the block by ignoring anything involving the royalty, leaky roof or not. She simply hoped her boss wouldn't be too angry with her absence as to follow his threat and throw her into the gutter for the absence.

With an air of resignation, she acquiesced and hoped that it would be brief, whatever this was.

Her approval secured, the visibly relieved knight led – no, herded her towards the carriage and very politely nearly shut the door on her face. Moments later the entire thing lurched forward into motion and she had to suppress a squeal bordering on delight and horror. Horror because she had never been inside a moving thing before; delight because she had never been inside a moving thing before.

The carriage jostled, and Anna nearly clocked the ceiling with her head. Delight, she decided. She was definitely feeling delightful. Settling back into the plush seat, she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the feeling of being in motion.

Despite the beautiful weather, the curtains remained closed.

For something that sounded so urgent, her arrangement definitely lacked any sense of urgency.

She stared at the clock. Half past seven. The first few customers should be trickling into the tavern by now; her slave driver of a boss would no doubt be livid from her absence. She would definitely be thrown into a gutter tonight, she decided. She had half a mind to open the door and flag a passing servant to ask very, very politely to be allowed back to real life and maybe come back here another day. But she didn't. There was very little doubt that any royal arrangement would be so flexible as to accommodate a simple tavern girl's needs, even if leaky roofs and going hungry from unemployment were at stake.

The world was never that nice.

She resigned herself into waiting, resuming her pacing. The carpet must be worn thin by now. Carpets were simply not meant to be threaded upon over and over again by a nervous peasant girl hell bent on passing the time by burning as many calories as possible.

Anna sighed as she paced, counting her steps in her head like a mantra. 1201, 1202, 1203… oops, almost tripped there. 1204… 1205…

A knock interrupted her count.

She stared at the door like a girl caught stealing from the till. She managed a weak squeal after several hammering heartbeats, "y—yes?" And then added as an afterthought: "I'm uh, I'm here!"

"May I come in?" Came the muffled voice from the other side of the door. Though judging by the size, it was more of a gate than anything else.

"Y—yes? Please?"

The door opened to reveal a short haired brunette balancing an awkwardly large tray.

Anna choked.

"Hi there," Princess Rapunzel said, smiling. "It's almost dinner time and I just realised you might be hungry, so I brought… eep!"

Whatever she wanted to say next was interrupted as Anna tried to do a bow and a curtsey at the same time and only managed a terrific stumble onto the carpet. Anna's vision saw a rich shade of burgundy. She could've sworn she heard the walls cringe in embarrassment.

Before she could do anything however, slender arms had hoisted her up and she found herself face to face with the princess, green eyes narrowed in what seemed to be concern. Her vision registered the tray set unceremoniously on the floor.

For the second time in the span of seconds, Anna found herself choking again.

"PRINCESS! I'm sorry—I didn't, I, uh…" Somewhat desperate, Anna tried to do a bow/curtsey again, only to be stopped by the princess who still had her arms around Anna's waist.

"Maybe… maybe you shouldn't do that again," Rapunzel suggested kindly, pity stirring for this obviously uncomfortable girl. She wondered what her parents were thinking, what Elsa was thinking. Or if they thought at all, really.

Satisfied that the squirming girl was decently upright and stable, she gave Anna another smile she could only hope was reassuring enough and went to pick the tray.

"No, I should—" Anna started. Rapunzel merely shook her head and motioned towards the couches facing each other with a small table between them.

"It's okay," she said. "If you would kindly take a seat there…"

Though looking mighty conflicted, Anna obeyed and took her place on one of the couches, back ramrod straight and fists clenched on her lap.

Boy, this really isn't going so well, is it? Rapunzel mentally sighed, following Anna's footsteps. She set the tray on the table and seated herself primly on the free couch, noting how Anna's eyes had bulged at the sight of all the food on the tray.

She wished Eugene was here instead of wherever he was. His easy jokes and natural charm would far more suitable in this situation than Rapunzel's stilted presence. Still, he was somewhere and she was here, watching the red head's nervous fidgeting, looking at anywhere but Rapunzel. A few years ago it would be her sitting on the other side of the table, probably looking even more lost than Anna and probably a lot closer to a nervous breakdown. Eighteen years of imprisonment did wonders to her lack of social skills just as easily as how a few years of being royalty had negated the damage done. She hoped Anna would have her good fortunes. Elsa will treat her right. She will. Because if not Rapunzel would personally march all the way to Arendelle and introduce the Queen's head to her personal frying pan. International incidents be damned.

"Anna?"

"Yes, Your Highness?"

Rapunzel didn't voice her preference of being addressed by name only. Anna was skittish at it is – calling a princess without needless prefixes would surely send her over the edge. So she took the teapot instead and asked: "How would you prefer your tea?"

The question must have caught Anna off-guard, because she stared at her like Rapunzel had said 'how would you like your castle?'. Thankfully it didn't take long before Anna held out five fingers. "With milk please. And five sugars."

Rapunzel's eyebrows disappeared into her hair, teapot hovering mid-air. "Five… sugars?"

"I have a pretty bad case of sweet tooth," Anna admittedly bashfully, earning a laugh from Rapunzel.

"Five it is then," she said, relieved that the tension in the air had abated a bit. Taking one of the cups, she poured the tea in, leaving ample space for milk and the obscene amount of sugars. After the milk and the last of the sugar cubes was safely inside without a risk of overflowing, she took a spoon and stirred it before sliding it towards Anna.

She watched as Anna took a tentative sip, then sighed with satisfaction. "This is gooood," Anna said, seemingly having forgotten to be nervous at the bliss of five sugars inside her tea.

"Can you even taste the tea? Doesn't it just taste like sugar by now?"

"It does, but I like it this way. Personally I'd go with six, but people tend to stare so I try to tone it down." Anna shrugged, then she grinned and Rapunzel's breath hitched. "You should try it sometimes."

"I… thanks, but I think I'm good. I… um, prefer it black, anyway."

Oh dear. She hoped Anna didn't notice the brief pause. Those eyes. Those eyes with that specific shade of blue, the way Anna twirled her thumbs together as she fidgeted, the life threatening penchant for all things sweet. The resemblance was undeniable. She hadn't seen Elsa smile out of anything but politeness – much less grin – but somehow she knew Elsa's grin would surely match Anna's.

She wondered if Elsa would be happy at this revelation. She would be terrified, the small voice inside her head said. Rapunzel ignored it. Her focus was the red head in front of her, not at what Elsa might or might not do. That was for later; she still had her frying pan, after all, and Elsa still had her head.

Most of the time.

"So," she started.

"So," echoed Anna.

Rapunzel gestured at the bread. She needed to buy time. To collect her thoughts. "Rye or wheat?" It took Anna a while to answer, mulling in silence as her brows furrowed in all adorableness. Swallowing back a laugh, Rapunzel picked up a slice of rye bread and slathered it in butter, piling slices of ham sky high and squashing it down with another slice of bread. "Ooor you could have both. I mean, we have enough meat on this platter to feed an army—" And Rapunzel had made sure of that, stressing 'poor girl' and 'starving' more than enough times to the maid, "—so you can eat five sandwiches if you want. Just like your sugar cubes." She made a deliberate cringe, causing Anna to chortle into her sandwich.

And just like that, the tension completely melted. Rapunzel felt her shoulder sag in relief. She was glad she stuck to her decision of not inviting Anna for dinner in the grand dining hall. That could turn out quite badly indeed. She preferred an intimate setting like this herself, anyway.

Noticing that Anna's cup had already been emptied, she gestured to the pot. "Another cup, Anna?"

"Yesh phleashe," said Anna mid-chew, not even bothering to cover her mouth. "Fyaiveh—"

"Sugars," Rapunzel continued, already stirring it the last of the sugars. It was hard not to grow fond of Anna. She could only hope Elsa would feel the same. "I suppose I could warn you of early death, but I doubt you'd listen. Here."

Anna beamed at her and took the proffered cup, washing the last of her sandwich away with the liquid sugar (because Rapunzel absolutely rejected the idea that that thing was still considered tea at this point). "Of course I wouldn't. You know me well, Your Highness."

And how true that is, Rapunzel thought, remembering the stack of parchments on her desk. Somewhere outside a bell chimed eight times. Eight o'clock. She couldn't stall any longer.

"Anna? Do you know why you were brought here?"

"Uh…" Like a child caught red handed in a cookie jar, Anna immediately retracted the hand that was hovering above a slice of ham and folded it back onto her lap, thumbs twirling against each other. She offered a nervous smile, showing teeth. "No? I ah—hoped you might enlighten me about that matter. Your Highness."

"I can't."

"Excuse me?"

"I can't," said Rapunzel again. "It's not… it's not something that's up to me to divulge."

The princess looked uncomfortable enough, offering Anna a wary smile like some sort of truce. Anna wasn't quite sure why; it's not as if she could wrangle anything out of a royalty without a guillotine meeting her neck immediately after. She started to have a feeling that she was lured here just to be fed nice sandwiches and expensive teas in expensive cups. Not that she would've normally minded, but it did cost her a job, kind of. A job and many, many days without a meal. Logic dictated that she should be angry; or at least somewhat depressed. But really, she couldn't even muster any of those emotions.

She could only listen as the princess continued, "I can't tell you why, that's true. But I can tell you what will happen after this. Are you all right with that?"

"It's not as if I have a choice, your highness," Anna said, any hint of bitterness devoid in her inflection. She wasn't even nervous anymore. Just… resigned, really.

Rapunzel, too, seemed to share the same feeling of being resigned. She heard the princess let out a soft sigh.

"You're right, Anna. If it were up to me, you would have a choice in this, I guarantee it. I'll tell you everything you need to know and give you ample time to make a decision. Sadly, it's out of my hands. The orders came from… well, from someone who outranks me, I suppose."

"Someone who outranks the princess?" Anna couldn't imagine it.

"Like the King and Queen, for example-"

Oh. That makes sense.

"—but it's not my parents."

Oh. Now it doesn't.

"Not all kingdoms are created equal, Anna," Rapunzel said, as if reading her thoughts. "But let us not go into that. The person who summoned you is a Queen, but not my Queen…"

"So a Queen of a kingdom that's more powerful than even Corona?" She might just be a simple tavern girl, but Anna liked to think of herself quite astute in her observations. Being surrounded by the lowliest of lowly human beings made that a skill she had acquired out of necessity. It was coercion, pure and simple. Somewhere a powerful Queen from a powerful kingdom had required Anna's presence for one reason or another and subjected the royalty of Corona to kidnap a poor peasant from her job and secure her in a room big enough to host half of the town and feed her expensive cuts of meat.

Huh.

Maybe she was as daft as everyone thought she was, because that didn't make the slightest sense. Unless they were trying to fatten her up and use her as a human sacrifice. She hoped no volcanoes were feeling particularly active one of these days.

Her eyes nearly went cross-eyed from confusion. She could try to get a name, at least. "So um… are you allowed to at least tell me which Queen this is?"

"That much I can tell you. You're bound to meet her soon enough, anyway. It's… Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Have you heard of her?"

"Not really, no," admitted Anna sheepishly. Geography or royal gossip wasn't really her strong suit. Her world consisted of tavern, of her home and nothing else. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if there were any active volcanoes surrounding this Arendelle place. "So… Queen Elsa right?" Rapunzel nodded. "She wants to meet me? I mean, I know you can tell me why, but you can tell me when, right? Or where? Like, maybe tonight—"

Her barrage of questions ceased when she saw the look on Rapunzel's face: a look of such pity that Anna's blood would immediately boil if not for the equally powerful shadow of concern flitting alongside the pity. Pity, she could easily drown with indignant anger. But pity and concern? They weren't right together. Were never right together.

It clicked.

"She wants me to go there," Anna said, her fists white from their grip on her dress, "to Arendelle."

"Yes."

"Will I be able to come back here again?"

"Not for a while." Implication: or ever.

Her fists uncurled and she watched impassively as the blood rushed back under her skin. Resignation.

"When will I leave?"

"Tomorrow; at the crack of dawn. If you have any personal belongings or friends to say farewell to, we can arrange as escort to take you out after—"

"No, it's all right, Your Highness" Anna interrupted. "I don't have any."

And Rapunzel smiled so sadly Anna thought it would break her heart.

Continued

A/N: Any constructive criticisms and reviews much appreciated! Morale boost and all.

I originally wanted Elsa to appear in this chapter, but then it dragged on and on and I got quite sad Elsa appeared in name only. I mean, I wrote this. But still. It's Elsa.