"Do you mind if I come in, ma'am?"
There was a brief silence before Kristoff heard a reply from the warden.
"Come on in."
There was a droop in Elsa's voice. She sounded drained, tired, weary. This was not how Kristoff was accustomed to hearing his boss talk to him (her voice was normally so sturdy), but over the last few weeks, that had gradually changed. At least when she was speaking directly to him.
He entered cautiously, debating if he should even ask Elsa about the rumor he had overheard in the mess hall. But the sight of Elsa almost answered his question for him. She was wearing the nightgown he had observed on her bed the previous afternoon, and seeing her in it made him feel slightly uncomfortable, as it was pretty easy to see that the warden of Frozen Heart was not wearing a bra. Her exhausted eyes gave the impression of death, and even from where he was standing, he could tell from a smell all-too-familiar to him where he worked that Elsa had not brushed her teeth last night.
"So what I've heard is true, isn't it, ma'am?"
Elsa rubbed her brow, almost digging into it with her finger nails as she did so. She picked up a small plastic water bottle from the floor with no cap on it and took a sip from it before she spoke.
"You know how I feel about the 'ma'am' thing when we're alone, Kristoff." Her vocal cords seemed to be straining to sound collected. "Now what are the girls in my little prison saying about me this time?"
From her mannerisms, anyone else would've suspected that Elsa was coming down with a terrible flu. But Kristoff suspected that wasn't the case here.
"I was within listening distance of your sister this morning." As was usually the case when having a conversation with Elsa, Kristoff made an effort to choose his words with fastidious care. "And I heard her tell Rapunzel that she saw you last night. Now, under any other circumstance, I would've believed she was dreaming, but then I heard her mention your nightgown."
Elsa's chair gave a slight squeak as she bent over to return her water bottle (still without a lid) to its original location. Kristoff prayed that there weren't any other bottles in her office that she was currently using as a toilet.
"Yes. I went over there last night. Was there any harm in that?" As was usually the case when having a conversation with him, Elsa seemed to make an effort to choose her words with fastidious care.
"What if someone had seen you?" Kristoff asked, worried he sounded a little more harsh than he had meant to. "Don't you think that the whole 'secret of your sister' could've been blown then?"
"It was three in the morning, Kristoff. I've been warden around here long enough to know when my girls sleep."
"And you've also been warden here long enough to know that many of your girls experience sleepless nights here."
"Well, they aren't the only ones..."
Kristoff stroked the hair on chin clumsily. He didn't want to get Elsa upset with this little dialogue between them, especially since she was already worn down.
"As instructed, I just let Anna into the yard." Switching the subject seemed like the most logical idea at the moment. "Also as instructed, I had Merida let out of solitary. If I may, ma'am, I think it would've been wise to have them let into the yard during separate shifts."
Elsa continued to dig into her brow.
"I got a call this morning. Lord Fergus is making one of his 'surprise inspections' next week. He'll talk to his brat, as always, and she'll do her usual 'Oh, this place is horrible, and the warden is an evil bitch' routine. But then he'll ask her about Anna. He'll want confirmation I haven't been giving her any...benefits around here for any reason. And quit with the 'ma'am' already."
She retrieved her water bottle and downed the rest of it. Her unkempt hair flapped around as she did so.
"Look, Kristoff, I've got guards with shotguns out there. I doubt even Merida will do anything too stupid with that kind of fire power watching her. She'll probably intimidate Anna a little like she does with the other women and that will be that. She won't have any desire to go back to the hole after only being out of there for a few hours."
"At this point, I almost think she likes being sent there," Kristoff responded. "It does give her a...reputation among the prisoners. Some of them might even fear her more than they fear you."
"Maybe that's because I never loaded my mother's chest with a dozen or so arrows," said Elsa, stretching her arms out. "But I suppose it might be time for the mother hen to give her chicks a little visit."
She got up and removed her nightgown, revealing to Kristoff that she had slept the previous night without any panties on. Even though where he worked meant that he saw no shortage of breasts, bottoms and vaginas, it was still surreal for him to see the private parts of his boss. It was even more bizarre that Elsa seemed so casual about it.
"Ma'am...er...Elsa, do you really think today's a good day for you to go out there? I mean the girls would be rather taken aback if they were to see you in this...condition."
"Relax, Kristoff," said Elsa as she stepped into a pair of pants. "I'm not going to go over there and announce to the entire prison that my little sister has decided to come over and live with us. I'll keep my distance. But if they catch even just a glimpse of me, it might be enough to steal some of Merida's thunder."
Kristoff sighed as he watched her finish dressing. It was hard to talk Elsa out of doing something once she had set her mind to it, but given how she had risked being seen in order to 'check in' on her sister last night, he wasn't sure if he trusted her to make decisions right now.
"I got three phone calls yesterday," Elsa said as she made sure that her gloves were on her hands snugly. "All from different press outlets. All wanting to do an interview with Anna."
"This soon?"
"The media never tires of discussing the woman who should've been a circus freak but instead became a prison warden." She gave her belt buckle a small yet precise adjusting. "And now that Anna's an inmate, they want to harass her with questions about me, while maybe making one brief comment about the crimes that landed her here before they get back to what they really want to talk about: 'Elsa the Wicked Warden.' I guess I must concede that it does have a certain kind of ring to it, doesn't it?"
"I didn't know you knew they called you that."
"I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't know what the ladies were chatting about at the water cooler." She bent down to tie the laces on her boots. "Although, the water cooler they have access to technically isn't very cool since it's kept at room temperature."
Kristoff didn't like this. Elsa had a habit of making awkward attempts at jokes when she was becoming nervous. His boss was good at many things, but being a comedian wasn't exactly one of them.
"Elsa, why don't you let me go out there instead?" he suggested, hoping he wasn't being overbearing. "The inmates know I don't fool around by now with them. Heck, I could even run the prison for a couple of days, if you would like to take a vacation or something."
Elsa turned to look at him.
"Thank you for the offer, Kristoff, but my place is here."
"No, your sister's place is here. You, unlike her, have not been convicted of homicide. You don't have to live in a prison. She does."
Elsa sighed as she prepared to walk out the door.
"I wonder if Blondie would share your sentiments," she said softly as she gave her gloves one final tug. And before Kristoff had a chance to reply, she was gone.