There was a faint glow of twilight on the horizon. The baby was turning rather roughly, and Anna wished she had eaten a lighter dinner the night before. She grabbed for a small mint in the jar she was keeping at her bedside now. Kristoff was snoring. She knew she wouldn't be sleeping, but tried closing her eyes again.
"Why won't you touch me?" she asked him again.
"I… am touching you… what do you mean?"
"We're not in public. We're alone, and married, and it's been more than two years… the doctor even said it would be perfectly fine now. At least, that's what I thought he meant… he wasn't exactly being clear when he spoke to me… if I was jumping to conclusions and he told you something else…"
"No… that's what he told me, too. You didn't misunderstand that…" he said, turning around to sit on the edge of the bed.
"So… I'm… Am I just not really attractive any more?"
He turned around quickly at the suggestion.
"No. No, you are, very… very… You're beautiful. Still. And it's torture not to…"
"If you don't want more children, at least just say so… We have four, that can be enough."
"No, I mean… I would love more, but… it's not about that, really…" he said, turning back away.
"Then what?"
"I don't want to lose you."
"We're all going to die sometime," she said with a nervous laugh.
"In the future…" he said, turning around to look at her, "and don't joke about it, please, you almost did..."
"But I didn't."
"I don't want them to grow up without their mother."
Anna stared out the window at the horizon, the blue glow slowly changing to purple and pink. The white nights were hard enough to sleep through when she could sleep, but it had been difficult lately.
"I'm not blaming you," she said with her hand on her belly, "but you're welcome to come out at any time."
She was amazed that Kristoff was sleeping through all her tossing and turning and getting up out of bed in the middle of the night. She had pretty much settled on just sitting up in bed to sleep with pillows stacked around her for the last few weeks. She felt like the only one who wasn't worried at these times. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and she knew why they were worried about her. But she wasn't afraid for herself.
Her memories of the twins being born were vague and scattered. It was a month before anything should have been happening, and then she remembered the two of them looking at the baby and commenting that he had her hair. Then there were increasingly dream-like memories of people rushing about her. She remembered sitting up to see Kristoff asleep in a chair that had been pushed next to the bed, but then feeling suddenly ill and blacking out, she didn't know for how long. Elsa was there the next time she woke up, and she realized she didn't hear a baby, and at this point wasn't even sure she had really remembered holding it.
"The baby! What happened to the baby?"
"They're fine, both of them."
"Wait… both?"
Anna got up and walked to the bathroom. She turned on the light and looked at herself. In the gaslight, at least, she hadn't really changed. Outside, the sun was up. What day was it? Last night, Kai had told her that nearly the entire council had arrived, certainly enough for a quorum. She had agreed to go ahead and have the meeting first thing in the morning on Monday. It was Monday, that was all she had thought about. She wished she had told him to wait until the next day, at least. Twenty-one years now. She could try not to think about it.
She started to doubt whether it would be a good idea to try to spring any changes on the council when they were still expecting at least another few weeks to themselves. A few of them had been around before her father was even born. And now she was thinking about what day it was.
She decided to ring the bell for breakfast, since Kristoff would need to wake up at some point. She ran her fingers through his hair.
"Honey, they're probably going to have that meeting this morning. You should get up. I've already had breakfast sent up for us."
"If you expect me to get up," he said, pulling her back down on the bed, "you're doing a bad job of it."
"The meeting will be early, though," she said, gently pulling his hand away and sitting up, "There was no way around it."
Kristoff reluctantly got up. Breakfast was set out when he was cleaned up and dressed, and Anna had already started her toast. They both focused on eating. When they had finished, they made their way to the library, where the council was already waiting.
Anna sat down, and introduced the proposed change. It was obvious that several of them really had been given the line about changing the regency clause, and they were looking disgruntled already. She had really meant it as a joke, and regretted saying it out loud. The proposed change seemed simple enough, though, and most of the council members were quietly nodding in agreement. She asked if anyone had questions before she left to let them discuss the matter amongst themselves.
"Yes," one of the oldest members spoke up, "does this mean you intend to take out the legitimacy requirement?"
Anna looked at Kristoff, who had been sitting quietly across the table, and he met her gaze with a mix of panic and anger.
"Excuse me, Your Grace," Anna said, "I don't think I understand. Why would we intend to do any such thing?"
"It didn't seem worth mentioning before, especially as the princess has so many brothers, but there was some… talk… about the timing of her birth."
"That is quite some talk to be bringing up now, but I don't see what the problem is. We were married in November, and I remember that you were there, and she was born in August, that seems simple enough."
"Ah… Yes, that was a… charming little thing… However, I seem to recall that the bishop did not perform the ceremony until some time later, and then perhaps there was some… urgency."
Anna breathed slowly to try to control the flush she could feel in her cheeks. She looked over at Kristoff, and could tell that he was subtly fidgeting and clenching his jaw to avoid saying anything regrettable.
"Thank you for reminding us, Your Grace. It is true, we weren't able to schedule a ceremony with the bishop until April, but I still don't see how that's relevant to the topic at hand."
"Your Majesty, if I may be blunt, allowing the princess to inherit would open the door to… many other claimants. Your grandfather, and certain of his ancestors, were not exactly known for… I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but I think you understand me?"
"I understand perfectly, and you don't need to worry about offending me on the topic of my grandfather. However, as you clearly have never read the laws closely, I will remind you that laws on legitimacy have no say about length of gestation, and whichever wedding you choose to accept, there is nothing to question…" she took a deep breath and shut her eyes.
"Your Majesty…"
"If that is the only question Your Grace has on the matter, I believe I have answered it completely. There is no question of legitimacy here, and comparing that to… whatever my grandfather did outside of marriage… please, let's leave it at that."
She looked over at Kristoff. He looked like he might explode any minute.
"I need some rest," she said, "I expect the council can come to a decision."
Kristoff took the opportunity to walk over and help her out of her seat.
They walked out of the room with his arm around her shoulder. As soon as the footman had closed the door behind them, he picked her up and carried her back to their room.
He freed one hand to open the bedroom door, and it slammed behind them.
"Is everything… are you...?" Kristoff tried to ask.
"Frustrated, that's all," Anna interrupted, "They've had seventeen years to bring that up."
"I'm sorry I suggested it at all."
"No, it let me see what that man really thinks. I never felt quite right about him, and now I know for sure."
She adjusted herself on the bed, breathing and closing her eyes to calm herself as Kristoff helped her get her shoes and stockings off. He unlaced her gown and slipped that off.
"Could you hang it up over there? The maids always tell me what a pain that one is to clean and press, and it will be the only really formal one that fits me for a few months… thank you."
After hanging up her dress, he came back over and sat down, letting her lay her head in his lap.
Anna sighed, "I suppose I was a little too impatient about getting married right away."
"There were two of us. I could have told you to wait."
"Could you have? Once I suggested it?"
"Probably not," he admitted, "and I wouldn't change anything… not about that, I mean."
She smiled up at him and closed her eyes again, working on collecting herself a bit more and calming down.
"And I'm glad you kept me from saying anything in there," Kristoff admitted, "I don't think I could have said anything useful."
"I read through the law books in the library when I got tired of novels… it's been helpful."
"Do you think they'll make a decision today?"
"Maybe? It's hard to say. Everyone else was nodding… I mean, of course, a lot of them nod in agreement just because they don't feel like arguing, so that doesn't mean much. But that man didn't exactly have the others jumping in agreement with him, and I don't think it was out of politeness."
"You kind of had me worried," Kristoff said, "and I think some of the others really thought you'd have the baby right there…"
"That's probably why the doctor wants me to avoid official duties right now," she laughed nervously, then looked up. "Hey… why haven't you changed out of your suit? I feel really underdressed now."
"I didn't notice… or, well, maybe I did, but I really was worried about you. Would you feel better if I changed?"
"Yes, please…"
There was a knock at the door.
"Just a minute!" Kristoff shouted as he kicked his suit to the corner of the room, grabbed his casual clothes and went into the bathroom.
"It's just me!" Frederick shouted through the closed door.
"Go ahead and come in!" Anna said, hoping she didn't need to shout. Her throat felt dry from her talking during the meeting.
"Mother?" Frederick asked hesitantly, "Is there something going on? Yesterday I saw one of the council members riding in, and this morning it looked like there was a meeting going on…"
"Oh…" Anna hesitated, "it's probably going to be nothing. What have you heard?"
"Nothing, really, just that they were called in."
"Can we hold off discussing this for a little while? Like I said, it's probably going to be nothing, and your father and I aren't… in the best of moods."
"Um, ok… is it something I did? I didn't mean to leave a tab at the tavern. I promise I'll start bringing money with me."
"Oh. No, no, that's not it, not at all. Well, I mean, I don't want you eating all their food and not paying… That is a good idea to bring some money with you. Please do that."
"Aren't your tutors looking for you?" Kristoff asked as he came out of the bathroom.
"Not yet. It's early, if you haven't noticed."
"Oh, right."
"Inga was going to the library to study, and heard the council in there arguing, and she told me, and that's why I came to ask about that…"
"Oh," said Anna, "I'm surprised Kai didn't think to check with anyone about that."
"Huh, no, the tutors only come there when they can't find Inga."
"Um, well, why don't you go get ready, then…" Kristoff said.
Frederick frowned but quietly left.
"So…" Anna began.
"What did you tell him?"
"I said that it's probably going to be nothing."
"You don't know that."
"Inga was worried about him, and he seemed worried. I don't want to worry him more than necessary unless we need to."
"What did she say?"
"Nothing in particular… It was about that event in Corona… she was saying she'd prefer to have him along if she goes. Maybe he would enjoy a trip."
"I guess he's not that young, either."
