Chapter 2: Another Day in Paradise… or IS it?
Anna groaned and deposited her quill back into the inkwell to massage her aching right hand. No matter how many documents she signed, the pile on her desk never seemed to grow any smaller. It was barely past lunchtime and already, she could think of nothing else but crawling into bed next to her husband. Six months now she had sat on the throne as ruler of Arendelle. Six months since the wretched time in the forest. Had she known then what she knew now, she would've dragged Elsa home by the ear and talked some sense into her! It had seemed so easy at first, but with winter ending and the sea ice breaking up, the work just kept piling up. Trade negotiations, contracts, land deals, deeds, writs, taxation forms; they just never stopped coming. From the second she was forcibly awakened at the crack of dawn until she was finally ALLOWED to return to her chambers, often far past sundown when most of the citizens had long since retired to home and hearth, there was always something to sign, someone to meet with, some plan that needed the stamp of the royal seal. "How did Elsa DO all this," she would ask herself. The answer was easy. Elsa was a workaholic. She THRIVED under this pressure. Anna, however, knew she was NOT. Each night, she went to bed with a splitting headache and woke up several times during the night, haunted by one nightmare or another, before being rushed to wakefulness the next morning. She had not slept properly in weeks, and it was beginning to show. She was increasingly pale, and the dark circles under her eyes were becoming more and more obvious. Worst of all, it was affecting her personality. She was becoming grumpy, snapping at the palace servants for even the least perceived slight, and last night, she had actually KICKED at Olaf to chase him off when he had barged in on her and Kristoff when they'd had a spare moment for each other for the first time in almost two months. Letting out a yawn that any of her childhood etiquette teachers would have scolded her for, Anna sat back in her chair. Even the upholstery on this high-backed chair felt so good on her aching back. Visibly, she relaxed and her eyes began to close. If she could just get a few hours… of uninterrupted…
The door to the study creaked open, jolting Anna awake. She prepared to whirl around and throw one of the heavy books of laws at whoever had forced her out of the closest thing to sleep she'd known in close to a week when she saw it was only the familiar form of Kai, the castle steward, whom she had known since she was a little girl. Shaking her head, Anna slumped in her chair and let the book drop to the floor. "Hello, Kai," she managed to let out, though she was certain she sounded less than enthused.
"Good afternoon, your majesty," Kai greeted with his usual amount of professional courtesy as he wheeled in a tea service. "I took the liberty of bringing in a pot of tea and some of your favorite biscuits. I hope that's alright."
Anna shook her head and tried to focus. "Wha… tea? Oh… thank you, Kai." Managing to rouse herself to wakefulness, Anna took the china cup in her hands and raised it to her lips, carefully blowing over the deep red liquid before taking a sip. "Orange pekoe?"
"With hibiscus notes, steeped six and a half minutes and sweetened with rock sugar, just as you like it, my queen." Kai smiled and allowed himself a small bow.
"Alright, Kai. Be straight with me. What do they want?"
"Uh… want, your majesty? I don't think I know what you mean."
"Kai, I've known you since I was in diapers. I KNOW when you're trying to butter me up. You've brought me the one kind of tea I can actually stomach, and I'm guessing the biscuits under that cover are ginger snaps, which are my favorite. What do those big-wigs on the council want from me this time?"
Kai took the handkerchief from his jacket pocket and began to wipe his face with it. "Well, you see, Anna, I know this isn't my place, but… they approached me and asked if you had perhaps reconsidered the idea of…"
"No," Anna declared, standing bolt upright. "I will not have a coronation ceremony! That would be like giving up on her!"
"Your majesty, I love Elsa, too, but… it appears she is truly gone now. She was barely there at your wedding and has not responded to any of your missives for three months now. Perhaps it is time we admit that she…"
"I said NO! Elsa will not abandon us forever! She would NEVER willingly isolate herself again! You will see! She'll get tired of living out in the middle of nowhere and come back home, and when she does, the throne will be waiting for her and we will put this entire mess behind us! You can tell those stuff-shirts that, as the only remaining member of the royal family, I will hold the throne as I see fit to do so! Now, get out of my chambers and don't come back unless I summon you!"
As Kai stumbled out of the door, Anna actually allowed herself a brief feeling of pride at her handling of the situation… until she realized what she had just done. She yelled at Kai! Good, honest, loving Kai, who had been like an unofficial uncle to her for as long as she could remember. Letting out a shaky breath, she sat back down and rested her head in her hands, allowing her tears to finally come. How had it all come to this? Not so long ago, they'd all been so happy, and now… now it was all going wrong!
Anna became aware of a familiar, musky odor and the sensation of a pair of large, calloused hands wrapping around her shoulders. Kristoff, her dear, wonderful husband, had made his way to the study with a stealth that belied his massive frame and joined her. These were the moments that lifted Anna's ever-sagging spirit, when her mountain man's mere presence could comfort her.
"It's ok, Anna," Kristoff soothed in a gentle voice, getting down on his knees to properly hold his wife and pressing his chin to her head in the way she liked. "Let the tears come if they must. I'm here." With a patience born of a life spent among trolls, to whom a short story could take hours to relate, Kristoff wrapped his strong arms around Anna's thin torso and held tightly as she turned in her chair and returned the embrace, sobbing openly as her tears caused her makeup to run down her cheeks.
"Kristoff, I've been an absolute IDIOT! I can't do this!"
"Yes, you can…"
"No, I CAN'T! I don't know what I'm doing half the time and the other half I'm just making up as I go! I'm not fit to be a queen! I'm just Elsa's spastic little sister and the entire kingdom KNOWS it! What's more... I don't want to be queen! It's boring and stressful and I'm not getting a wink of sleep and I'm shouting at everybody and…"
"Ok, ok," Kristoff soothed, slapping his hand over Anna's mouth. "I get the picture. If that's how you feel… can't you just abdicate? Elsa did."
"That's not how it works! If I were to abdicate, there'd be nobody to pass the throne to! I mean… I think papa has some distant cousins in Corona, but that's so far away! Arendelle would be without a leader, and soon the nobility would be fighting for control and we'd end up in a civil war!" Groaning in finality, Anna turned back to her desk, opening a drawer and rummaging around before drawing a handful of darts. Turning in her chair, she took careful aim at the royal portrait of her elder sister on the wall. "Elsa… you are so SELFISH!" She tossed the first dart, striking Elsa's portrait right on the nose. It was quickly joined by two more. "I can understand needing to discover this new SIDE to you, but it's not an excuse to abandon our home and dump all your responsibilities on your poor baby sister and her ice-harvester husband!"
"You're getting very good with those darts."
"Thank you, sweetie. Oh! Watch me get her smack in one of those 'come-hither' eyes of hers." Anna took careful aim and held her breath to steady her hand… only for the doors to fly open and a member of the palace guard to charge in, causing her to topple back into Kristoff's arms, her shot going wild and striking a portrait of her father between the eyes. "Ooh… sorry, papa."
"Your majesty! Your majesty," The guard panted, struggling to catch his breath. "News from the border guards! A strange, winged creature is approaching the city, baring two riders on its back… one of whom appears to be your sister."
Anna bolted to her feet. "What?! Uh… hurry! Roll out the carpet! Alert the staff! Make everything ready at once! Oh… of COURSE she shows up NOW, just when I'm a complete mess! This is so like her. Disappears for months and then just shows up like nothing happened! Hurry, Kristoff, help me find something suitable to wear. She can't see me like this!"
Lieutenant Mattias of the royal guard had been certain after surviving thirty years in an enchanted forest that nothing could surprise him anymore. He had actually been considering taking up the council's offer of collecting his decades of back-pay and disappearing into retirement, as most of his men had. He would be kidding himself if he denied that he was no longer the young man considered dead by friends and family for three decades. To be pushing sixty and still on active duty would be considered crazy, but there was a quiet calmness to life in the capital again. It was interesting to go along his old patrol route each day, seeing what had changed and what was the same. He had been stepping out of his favorite tavern, thank goodness it was still there, when his personal belief was proven wrong.
It wasn't that he had never seen a griffin before, no. He had seen several during the long years trapped in the Enchanted Forest, flying over the canopy of ancient trees as they followed the migrating herds across the tundra beyond. The surprise came in the fact he had seen this particular griffin before. It made a frequent criss-cross over the forest and had once landed to drink from the reservoir behind king Runeard's dam. Seeing the magnificent creature had worn a saddle and bridle, Mattias had made an attempt to get on its back, hoping it might be able to carry him past the barrier to find help. He hadn't gotten two steps toward it before it roared at him and took off.
Arriving at the royal plaza, Mattias saw the griffin standing in the center of a circle of his fellow guardsmen, great wings flared out in a display to keep them back. It was just as magnificent to behold as he remembered from five years ago; twice the size of a great warhorse, its body covered in stormy gray and snow white fur and feathers, the grouping over its forelegs and shoulders much thicker than the rest, like a lion's mane. The griffin snarled and circled slowly, keeping its large yellow eyes on the guards, preventing them from getting too close.
"Whoa, there, Windfang. No need to get disgruntled," came a voice. As the griffin seemed to calm itself and furl its wings, Mattias and his comrades saw the figure seated in the saddle. He was tall, powerfully built and dressed in a full suit of black plate armor, edged with silver. Draped over his shoulders was a cape seemingly forged from golden feathers. The strange knight pulled with all his strength on the great chains that acted as reins for his mount. "I come in peace on urgent business! Stay your weapons and allow us to dismount!"
The captain of the guard stepped forward, raising his hand in a silent signal to his men to lower their rifles and halberds. "What business do you have here, stranger?"
"MY business, captain Horace," came a feminine voice from the figure sliding herself down from the griffin's saddle. All present gasped at the sight of the pale, platinum haired maiden many had thought gone forever. "No matter what changes have occurred here in my absence, as a member of the royal family, I COMMAND you and the guard to stand down and allow my escort to dismount and enter the palace."
Horace stumbled for words in his amazement. "Quee-...princess-...uh… your grace." Quickly, the contingent of guards fell into a kneeling position, forming an aisle to allow Elsa and her strange new companion to walk to the palace stairs. It seemed no sooner that they were halfway up than a figure emerged from the shadow of the doorway and confronted them; a tall young woman in a formal green and black gown with a glittering silver tiara on her head, her ginger red hair done up in a courtly bun and her emerald green eyes staring down at them.
"Hello, Elsa," Anna said flatly. "Welcome home. Or, maybe I should just say welcome back, seeing as you clearly don't recognize our family's kingdom as your home any-OOF!" Anna's tirade was cut off as Elsa RACED up the last few stares and enveloped her in a tight hug.
"Anna," Elsa cried, the tears flowing freely from her eyes as she hugged her little sister tightly. "Anna, I am so happy to see you! When I heard what had happened, I was so worried about you, but here you are and you look so wonderful and… and… I think… I think… I'm gonna faint." The entire courtyard gasped collectively at the sight of the former queen swooning and falling backwards, only to be caught by the strange foreign knight who had accompanied her.
"Elsa! What happened? Is she alright!?"
Magnus paused to examine Elsa's face. "She's fine, just exhausted. Too much activity too soon, I guess. What she needs is a good, long rest and a decent meal to regain her strength. Your highness, please help me see to her and I promise I'll explain everything to you and the rest of your family."
Anna nodded and turned to rush into the castle, hiking up her skirts as she ran. "Have Elsa's chambers made ready at once! Alert the kitchen staff! My sister is home and needs our help!"