There was a knock at the door. "Yes?" Anna asked groggily. She had fallen asleep after lunch, and the sun coming in told her it was late afternoon.
"Can I come in?" Elsa asked, opening the door a little.
"Elsa! I was starting to wonder!" Anna exclaimed as Elsa opened the door the rest of the way.
Elsa left the door open, and quickly made her way to the edge of her sister's bed and sat down.
"When did you get here?" Anna asked.
"About an hour ago. How are you doing?" Elsa asked, putting her hand on Anna's.
"I'm ready to get back to normal. Or, well, close enough to normal. I'm not sleeping as it is, so that won't make a difference," Anna laughed.
Her sister frowned a little. "Really?"
"I'm fine," Anna sighed. "Now, can we talk about something else?"
Elsa looked at her sternly for a moment, then softened. "Fred has grown again, hasn't he?"
"I think they're all going to end up taller than me," Anna smirked. "Though I feel bad for Inga, she keeps worrying that she's still growing, but I'm pretty sure she's barely grown at all since last year."
"I had always heard the nobles describing height as a good feature in a wife," Elsa teased.
"I don't remember hearing that," Anna glared at her. "Anyway, don't go teasing Inga about it. She's gotten it into her head that she's destined to be married off, and then that idiot ambassador from Corona makes the invitation to their coronation sound like it's for matchmaking…"
"What? That's absurd."
Anna shifted herself over to sit next to her sister. "The young man, whatever his name is, the kids will tell you, he seemed to think the ambassador wildly misrepresented the whole thing."
"That's good," Elsa mumbled, stopping to think. "I believe I met him right after I got here this afternoon, the private secretary? I take it you haven't met him, then?"
"No, but everyone else has. It almost feels like I know him already, from all their talk. Even Kristoff took an immediate liking to him," she smiled.
Elsa returned the smile, then looked at the clock. "Do you have any plans for dinner?"
Anna laughed. "Nothing official, you know that, but I think we can get a family dinner together in an hour. Nanny should be getting dinner to the little ones right now, but I'll find out where the others are. Does that sound good?"
"Always," Elsa smiled.
Anna rang for Gerda, who arrived a moment later. "Your Majesty?" Gerda announced as she approached the open door.
"Gerda, could you see that the small dining room is prepared for dinner? I believe that Nanny is already preparing dinner for the younger children, but could you find everyone else and let them know we'll have dinner soon?"
"Certainly," Gerda replied, "will there be anything else?"
Anna thought for a moment, glancing at her sister.
"Oh, I'm fine," Elsa assured them.
"Very well, then," Gerda responded as she left the room.
"Oh! I heard you got here today!" Kristoff nearly shouted as he came into the room, narrowly missing Gerda on her way out. He gave Elsa a hug, then went around and sat on the other side of the bed to take off his boots.
"We're going to have dinner soon, in the small dining room," Anna told him. "Gerda just went off to find the older children."
"She's in luck," he laughed. "I just left them in the courtyard, so she might actually find them all. Their friend just had to leave because he'll be having some kind of dinner with the ambassadors and a few other colleagues."
"I suppose I'll meet him at some point," Anna smirked. "Even Elsa has met him by now, though Olaf told me he only spoke to him once and the poor man hasn't gotten over the scare."
Elsa smiled. "Anna, are you going to change for dinner? Would you like me to get anything for you?"
"The dress over there," Anna requested, as her sister walked across the room, "No, the one to the left. Thank you!" Elsa laid the dress carefully on the bed. Kristoff was already helping Anna untie some laces on the gown she already had on.
"I think I'll go find Kai," Elsa told them. "I was thinking of something I wanted to ask him."
"See you at dinner," Anna waved cheerfully as Elsa left the room.
Elsa gently closed the door behind her and walked down the hall, briskly but calmly.
"Kai, there you are!" Elsa proclaimed happily as he was emerging from the room where the visiting dignitaries and their staff were having dinner.
"Ah, Elsa," he smiled.
"How are those dignitaries doing in there on their own?" Elsa asked with a smirk, glancing at the door he had just closed behind him.
"There are discussions, but nothing of particular interest," Kai replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I assume you're familiar by now with the new ambassador from Corona?"
"Ah," Kai chuckled lightly, "the one who believes he was slighted at a party when he was stationed here ten years ago. Yes, I'm familiar with him."
"I… I hadn't heard about that."
"Your sister was not in attendance," he replied dryly.
"Hm," Elsa nodded, "If she wasn't there, she had a good reason, I'm sure."
Kai nodded in agreement.
Elsa took a slow breath. "So, I actually wanted to ask you about the young man, the ambassador's secretary?"
"Mr. Nilsen?" Kai asked vaguely, "I've spoken with him a few times. Was there anything in particular?"
"Did you know that his mother is Margit Nilsen?"
"That…" Kai stuttered, and continued quietly, "that is something I was not aware of, but it… makes sense."
"Do you think-" Elsa paused as she saw a servant emerge from the dignitary's dining room. "Thank you, Kai," she announced in a slightly louder voice. "The family will be eating in the small dining room tonight. Good evening."
Kai bowed slightly as Elsa walked toward the dining room, and he turned his attention to the servant standing by the door.
Elsa continued on her way to the dining room. Inga was already there, sitting quietly staring out the window. She looked at Elsa as she walked in, and she seemed ready to ask a question when the twins ran in and argued loudly about who got to sit where. Frederick arrived more quietly than his brothers, but was still quite emphatic about being hungry, and wondering when Mother and Father would get there so they could go ahead and eat. He was certain he had been there a half hour by the time they arrived. Elsa glanced at the clock, and noticed that it had only been an extra five minutes, but kept silent.
Once dinner began, Elsa listened to competing stories from Anton and Peder over their latest antics and adventures. Inga answered her aunt's questions about her studies and what she had most recently been reading, as she didn't seem interested in talking about much else. Frederick did his best to prove to the adults that he had, in fact, done some studying this week. Sofia had seen Gerda walking down the hall looking for her older siblings, and the girl decided that she wanted to eat with them rather than be made to have the dinner Nanny was serving. She was welcomed to join in, even though she did her best to butt in to every conversation topic.
After dinner, there was some discussion of playing games in the library, but Anna was feeling tired, and so she wished everyone good night, and Kristoff went with her back to their room, planning to stop by the nursery to wish the youngest two a good night. Frederick insisted that the rest of them go to the library and play a game. Olaf was excited to play, and Elsa decided that she would come along, since they all wanted her to play, too.
After an hour, Sofia was starting to doze off, so Elsa excused herself and walked with her to the nursery. Nanny was watching the two little ones sleep as she sat reading next to a small lamp. Sofia protested a little at having to go to bed, but gave in fairly quickly. Elsa wished her a good night, and wished Nanny a good night as well.
Elsa walked toward the library, and heard the older children laughing at something Olaf was doing. She silently debated going in or not, and ultimately walked on, deciding that she should get to sleep on the early side, just in case. She found Gerda, and made sure that she would be alerted if anything changed. Gerda assured her that she would come get her right away if she heard anything from her sister, so Elsa went to her room and straight to bed.
When Elsa fell asleep that night, her dreams were scattered and felt anything but restful.
"Oh, thank goodness you arrived so quickly," Gerda gasped, rushing into the courtyard, "the doctor said the danger has passed, and the babies are with the wetnurse."
"Wetnurse? What wetnurse?"
"Anna is resting now, and I hope Kristoff is, too," Gerda told her as they rushed upstairs to the bedroom. The doctor was packing up his bag. Anna was on the bed, asleep and very pale. Kristoff had passed out in the chair next to the bed. Elsa made the mistake of asking the doctor what had happened, and got much more medical detail than she had wanted. She stayed after the doctor had left, fitfully alternating between sitting by the bed and walking around the room, trying to stay quiet. She thought she heard something outside the door, and opened it to find little Inga sitting there quietly. Kristoff was starting to wake up when she got back inside, so she ordered him to go out and see his daughter.
The other dreams weren't much better, but at least she could quickly separate them from reality when she woke up. Elsa got up a few times during the night to look out at the sky. It was starting to be truly dark again in the middle of the night. She reminded herself that she had arrived early this time, and that they were being careful this time, though she wondered. There was a lot to wonder about, but there was no point in thinking about too many of them at once. She went back to bed and tried to sleep some more.
She had no idea how long she'd been asleep when there was a knock at the door. She walked over and opened it. Gerda was standing there in her nightgown and robe, and calmly told her it was time. No one else in the castle was awake aside from them, and the doctor was on his way.
Anna was standing holding a bedpost with her back toward the door when Elsa came into the room. Kristoff was next to her, looking more groggy than anything.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," Elsa attempted to joke. Kristoff turned around and rolled his eyes at her.
"Oh! Good!" Anna exclaimed, breathing heavily, turning a little to see her. "I hope you don't mind that I had Gerda wake you up."
"No, no, that's fine," Elsa told her, coming to take her hand. "I had asked her to come get me."
The doctor arrived, and Anna sat back down on the bed. Elsa led Kristoff over to the window while the doctor performed his examination.
"How is she, Kristoff?" Elsa whispered. "Be honest."
"She's been fine. Believe me, I'd tell you if I didn't think so."
"Good," she sighed in relief. "I don't need to tell you…"
Kristoff nodded, glancing over to the bed. The doctor waved them over.
"I think it will be soon," he told them cheerfully.
