Elsa had heard stories of the servants, those who, like their masters, had wishes they wanted to be granted through the war. She'd heard legends from her father of noble heroes, benevolent in all regions, staples of kindness, all fighting for what they wanted. She remembered the first time she'd seen her father's servant, a tall slender woman with beauty beyond comprehension, and she always smelled of exquisite lavender. She stood almost regally beside her father, and if she were anyone else, she would have mistaken them as husband and wife. The clothing she'd had on was marvelous, extravagant dresses sewn by the most meticulous and luxurious hands. She had been impeccable, a servant worthy dying for.
This girl in front of her, her noble servant, was anything but.
If she'd seen this girl on the street, she would have pitied her, offered her food and clothing. That was why the rapier was such a surprise. The sword looked pristine, it's golden handle shimmering in the moonlight that had formed a spotlight on the girl, forcing her and the shining metal to stand out amongst the darkness of the room. The contrast was bewildering to Elsa. It seemed the girl cared more about her weapon than herself.
"Who are you?"
The girl's head turned to Elsa, and their eyes met. The redhead's teal irises shimmered like crystals, and Elsa was unable to look away no matter how much she was repulsed by the girl's appearance. "I'm your master." The Queen answered, taking slow steps forward as she offered the girl her hand. "I think the better question is, who are you?"
The fingers on one of the girl's hands curled into a fist. "That's not fair," She stood, dusting herself off, leaving the Queen's hand hanging in the air. "You know we're not supposed to reveal our names."
Elsa's brow raised in confusion as she let her hand fall to her side. "What do you mean?" In the time her father had been alive, she hadn't even stopped to think about the woman's name. Maybe she'd just never asked, but the idea that she was never supposed to know in the first place hadn't occurred to her until now. "Are you saying that I can never know who you are?"
The girl shook her head casually before bringing her arms over her head into a stretch. "Of course you can, I just can't tell you." She yawned. "So, when do we start?"
Elsa's eyes narrowed now. The girl didn't even seem to be taking it seriously. Either that, or she was just clueless, and idiocy was something Elsa ad never been good with. She had to deal with enough of it in her council, she didn't want to have to babysit this girl too. "We start when I know your name." She retorted curtly, crossing her arms over her chest. "And after you take a bath. You're disgusting."
A chuckle came from the girl's lips, a warm one despite Elsa's rude tone, another thing that she still didn't understand. The next thing she knew, the girl's hand was out toward her, asking for a shake. "Anna." The girl said with a smile.
Elsa raised a brow at the girl, diverting her eyes between her hand and her eyes. "That's your real name?"
The girl shook her head, waving her hand dismissively. "Of course not, but you have to call me something, right? Besides servant. So, just call me Anna."
The Queen fought the urge to laugh. The name Anna meant grace, and the girl was far from that in every way. Elsa's eyes once again went to the girl's hand, her brows furrowing in contemplation before their eyes met again, and she nodded, taking the girl's hand in her own. Her skin was coarse, another obvious sign that she hadn't exactly had a privileged life the way Elsa had been brought up in. It was a different feel from the smoothness of her servants' hands, far away from the even and well-manicured feel of her father's hands, it was so different that she enjoyed it. Maybe a little too much.
Her eyes went slightly wide as the girl dropped to one knee in front of her, and there was suddenly the softness of lips against the top of her palm. "Your Majesty.."
The girl's voice, barely above a whisper, sent shivers down Elsa's spine. She was lucky she'd had all those years of training her expression, otherwise, her cheeks would have been bright red.
"Now take a bath." Elsa interrupted the moment, pulling her hand away from the girl. "I'll have someone bring you a new pair of clothes as well. That outfit is hideous and dirty and it will be thrown out."
Elsa was already walking away before the girl even had a chance to respond. Kai followed beside her, and Elsa heard the footsteps of a servant dragging their new guest out of the room before she was out the door, back into the hall. Her head was forward and her arms were clasped behind her back. "Do you know why, Kai?" She asked to seemingly to the air in front of her.
Her advisor's head turned to face her. "Do I know what, your Highness?"
Elsa bit her lip, squinting in thought. "Why she can't tell me her name." She replied, "Father never explained that rule to me. I didn't know it even was a rule until now."
The larger man hummed and turned his face forward. "It's for safety."
Elsa turned her head toward him, giving him a skeptical look. "Safety? What do you mean, safety? It's not as if they can't handle themselves."
Kai nodded along. "That is true, Queen Elsa, but they can handle themselves when around others who aren't servants." He glanced at her. "Who they are might give away weaknesses, pasts that, if revealed, could be their downfall."
Elsa bit her lip, turning her head to look down the hall as Kai spoke again. "Who they are could get them killed."
/
The interior of the palace was nothing like Anna had ever seen in her life. She had only been to one castle in her life, but it paled in comparison to the structure she was walking through now. The wood of the throne room turned to scarlet carpeted, with the crocus, what she assumed to be Arendelle's symbol, embedded in gold occasionally amongst the carpet. There were dressers among the wall, adorned with antiques while the wall itself, boasting the same red color as the carpet, was lit with candles, a myriad of ivory doors separating each one.
She looked up at the high ceiling. She could probably stack twenty of herself on top of each other and it still wouldn't be enough to reach the top. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide as she examined the pictures that lined the walls. There was a man dressed in a black military uniform, standing slightly at his side with his head slightly toward the girl. He was visibly old, with grey receding hair and a frail body, but he still stood straight, regal. She assumed it must have been a prior ruler.
The portraits continued on like that, with one pair or single ruler after another, both men and women. She finally came to a younger looking couple. The man wore a military jacket, decorated with metals and gold epaulets, along with a red lined pattern flowing down the center until a red sash that was tied around the man's waist cut it off. On his chest rested a large gold medallion. He was handsome, with auburn hair that was parted more toward one side than the other, his large emerald eyes seemed that they looked into the girl's soul. He looked warm, comforting.
There was a woman next to him, her voluminous dark hair tied into an impeccable twisted bun, leaving wisps of her bangs to cover her forehead. The sleeves of her floor-length dress were lavender, while the bodice was a darker shade of violet that covered the rest of her fabric. A black and fuschia addition covered the back of the dress and fit over her arms like a vest, and faint floral patterns and an engraving of the crocus could barely be seen. She was beautiful. The two looked perfect together.
The girl's eyes shifted to the side, expecting to see a portrait of the Queen she'd just met, yet there was nothing there. She turned to the servant, a thin woman who wore the mandatory forest green uniform of all servants, along with a cap in the same green to cover her hair, yet strands of grey managed to be seen underneath it.
"Excuse me!" The girl ran to catch up to the woman who'd already made it halfway down the hall. "Excuse me," She repeated, finally coming up beside the woman. "Why isn't there a portrait of her up there?" Anna pointed to the paintings, but the woman just kept her face forward.
Rude... Anna thought to herself. She's not even going to look at me, huh? I mean, just because I'm a servant to her doesn't mean that she has to completely ignore me like I'm just some-
"Her Majesty is still having hers worked on. She has another meeting with the artist later this week." The woman sighed. "It would have been up by now if she'd actually wanted it done."
Anna's internal monologue ceased at the woman's raspy, yet warm voice. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why doesn't she want it done? They're all great, and she shouldn't really be worrying about how she looks. I mean, she's gorgeous! Why would she-"
Anna caught the woman's gaze. It was hard, almost glaring. The girl cleared her throat. Right... she internally sighed. Commenting on the Queen's appearance is a no go here, but she is really pretty... Like really, really pretty.
Anna's eyes went back to the woman whose face had suddenly turned solemn. "She knew this would happen. The war."
Anna hummed in understanding, running a hand over the nape of her neck. "What's her wish?" She asked, eyeing the woman carefully.
The servant bit her lip and eventually sighed. "Her father had been a part of this war before her." She explained. "He'd made it as far as the final two, but he was eventually defeated, killed..." She looked at Anna. "After he died, her mother took her own life. The grief was too much for her to bare. Her Majesty simply wants them back. I can't necessarily blame her." Her eyes went to Anna, skeptical once again. "What's your wish? From my time as the former King's advisor, I learned that master and servant are paired by wishes."
Anna froze, unable to speak, and her heart began to beat rapidly against her chest. It panged with guilt, regret, loss, pain. Anna gulped back a lump in her throat. "I can't say."
The woman looked away. "Right, of course. You're all under scrutiny, aren't you?"
The woman eventually stopped outside a tall white door. "This will be your room. I've put you close to the Queen should you need to be able to protect her at any time." She cocked her head towards the door right across the hall. "Her room is there." The woman pushed open the handle, revealing the interior. "Take a bath and get ready, the Queen expects to see you as soon as you're done. I'll have clothes on the bed for you when you're done bathing."
She pushed Anna inside the room, and the door was shut behind her before the redhead even had a chance to object. She sighed and turned on her heels to face the interior of the room. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped for the hundredth time so far.
The interior was spacious and neat, with a single bed against the side of the wall that was draped with the most lavish comforter of lavender. As she took steps closer to it, the graves of the crocus were imprinted onto the fabric. She ran her hand over it, sighing at its smoothness. She laughed as she jumped onto it, flopping onto her back. Her eyes then met the blank face of the ceiling, also painted lavender, and the symbol of the crocus stared at her again, this time, in the hue of an eggplant.
She sat up and greeted the moonlight of the window, and her jaw gaped at the view of the garden outside. She ran toward the glass, pressing her face as close as she could against it until couldn't breathe. The array of flowers outside was magnificent, far more majestic than any land or creatures she'd ever seen. The flowers looked so calm and peaceful, swaying gently to and fro as the breeze sang them a lullaby before they'd be burned by the sun the next morning.
Slowly, she backed away and turned her head towards a dresser with a mirror posted on the wall, and when she saw herself, her eyes went wide. "Wow..." She picked up one braided pigtail with two fingers, disgusted by just the sight of it. "I really do need a bath..."
Even with her newfound motivation, she moved slowly, taking in every inch of the room.
And the Queen just... lives here...
The thought was almost too much for her. She could never imagine it, living in such a high echelon that people simply came to you, dressed you, fed you, guarded you while you slept. She moved to the bed, carefully removing the golden rapier from her side.
A smile graced her lips as she set it on the bed, and the moonlight hit it just right, allowing the gold to shimmer and highlight a bit of script embedded into the holster. It looked like gibberish to her, but it wasn't the words that brought the weapon meaning.
The girl bit her lip and closed her eyes, letting out a sad sigh as she removed her clothes. She'd never, in all her life, had this much privacy. She almost didn't know what to do with it all.
She walked into the restroom, her eyes going wide as she saw a steaming tub already waiting for her. The second she hopped on, she became numb with pleasure. The water soaked into her pores, cleansed every inch of her body, and she felt like it had reached her soul. She felt calm, truly at peace just sitting there. She undid the knotted braids holding her hair together and let her hair feel the release the water brought the rest of her body.
"I could get used to this..." She muttered, running her fingers through her hair.
She couldn't tell how long she'd stayed like that, lingering in the steam and warmth, but she knew that eventually, the water had gone cold. The next thing she knew, she was shivering, and she quickly washed each crevice of herself before jumping out of the water like an antelope being chased by a lion.
She was beyond glad that a towel had been placed conveniently by the side of the tub, but even the warmth of the soft fabric wasn't enough to keep her from shivering. She ran out of the room, hoping to see a warm garment on her bed as the servant had said, and though she knew the clothing must have been warm, it wasn't what she'd expected.
A dress had been laid out. It was the deepest green Anna had ever seen, and the velvet fabric more luxurious than anything else in the castle. It was plain, yet it held more beauty than any other simple dress. It was long, and would almost reach the floor if she put it on, and the neckline was conservative, it would barely leave her collarbone exposed. She swallowed as she picked the garment, holding out as far away from her body as she could as if she would get a disease if she brought it any closer.
Eventually, she sighed, and threw it over her head, smoothing it out over her figure and stepped in front of the mirror to redo her signature braids. The dress fit her surprisingly well. How had the woman known her size just by looking at her? The proportions were just as she'd expected them to be, and the fabric was breathable, the opposite to what she'd thought it would be, but she still felt and looked uncomfortable in it.
She wasn't used to the way it clung to her every curve, how it accentuated all the things she simultaneously loved and hated about her appearance.
With a sigh, she finished tying the twin braids of copper, grabbed her rapier which was still where she'd left it on the bed, and she waddled out of the room and into the corridor.
The woman had said she'd been put close to the Queen, and if Anna recalled correctly, she was right across the hall from her master. She took hesitant steps as she stopped in front of a door similar to hers, and smoothed out her dress again, feeling her cheeks heat up.
She hated it. All of it.
Without a second more of hesitation, she knocked.
"Come in."
The response was immediate, firm, yet welcoming all at once. Anna pushed open the door, and her master was revealed to her. The Queen's platinum blonde hair rested over her shoulder in a single perfect braid as it had before. Her dress was the same shimmering ice blue. She was the only thing in the entirety of the estate to put every once of beauty it had to shame.
The woman's icy eyes lifted from what seemed to be a piece of paper, and they landed on Anna's turquoise orbs, and the servant closed the door behind her, shyly stepping inside.
"How was your bath?" The woman leaned back in the velvet chair, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It was lovely." She dipped her head in respect. "Thank you."
Her master hummed, her eyes skimming over the girl's figure. "You seem comfortable."
The sarcasm was obvious, and the heat building in Anna's cheek exploded and rushed to the surface. "I'm just..." She rubbed the back of her neck, attempting to soothe herself. "I'm just not used to it is all.." She bit her lip.
I don't think I'll ever be used to it at all...
"Well, then what would you prefer?" Her master was standing and walking towards her. The next thing Anna knew, she was touching her. Well, not her exactly, but the dress. The Queen examined it from every angle, circling the redhead. "It seems to fit right."
"It does," Anna replied sheepishly, "It's just... I've never exactly worn a dress before..."
The admission didn't seem to faze the Queen. "Alright.."
Anna's eyes went to the woman to find that her brow was creased in thought. Even with severe focus, she still looked beautiful. The moonlight struck the crystals adorned onto the woman's icy dress, giving her a glowing aura, and the silhouette of darkness that plagued the room, that plagues Anna, didn't swallow her whole. It was as if the darkness was afraid of her.
"We can find you something then."
Anna let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as the Queen walked back to the chair behind the mahogany desk. "I'm going to assume you'd prefer something similar to what you'd come in."
Anna nodded, clutching her rapier a bit tighter.
"Very well, I'll arrange for a few different ones for you." The Queen motioned to another chair, that Anna hadn't noticed, sitting in front of the Queen's desk. "Sit." She urged. "Let's talk."
Anna gulped as she hesitantly made her way toward the chair. "Talk about what?" Her eyes met the Queen's as she sat down, but the orbs of the woman in front of her were elsewhere. Behind and above Anna.
"About this." The Queen lifted her hand, turning the top of her palm toward the girl, revealing the red spade that now adorned her hand.
Anna's heart began to beat faster against her lungs at the pure sight of it. That had been the death of so many others like her.
"You obviously have some concerns about this."
Anna looked down slightly. "About what it can do." Her voice was quiet, afraid.
"I know, that's why I wanted to set some boundaries."
Anna's eyes went slightly wide, and she looked up at her master. She was prepared to see a sickening smile on her face, an evil smirk, but she saw genuine concern instead, and she couldn't describe how grateful she felt. "Boundaries?" The girl asked slowly. The Queen nodded, and Anna let out a bewildered scoff. "I don't.. I don't understand.." She looked at the symbol. "You don't have to set boundaries with that. If you tell me to do something, I'll do it."
Elsa hummed. "Yes, but since when is that fair?"
Anna's eyes kept getting wider. Never before had she heard a master speak of fairness. Never had they been like this woman, caring and genuine. "Fair...?"
The Queen sighed, and her eyes left Anna's for that same position, above her and behind her. "Masters have their own set of rules. Some don't care. Others do. It's, quite frankly, not hard to understand." Her eyes met Anna's again. "You're still a person, you have feelings, goals, wishes. I'm of the minority who have the opinion that you are not just a weapon. You are a person, and I'm going to treat you as such."
Anna could only stare at her master. The woman only had three commands, only three to tell Anna what to do, and she was leaving the decision in the girl's own hands?
"I don't kill." The girl met the woman's eyes with more confidence than she'd ever had. "I don't kill the masters... I should say." She looked down at her rapier. "The servants are fine. They can defend themselves, but I won't kill another master. I'm more powerful than them, they can't fight back."
The two women stayed looking at each other for a moment before the Queen nodded. "Done. I won't command you to do anything like that." A small smile came onto Anna's lips. "Is there anything else?"
Anna opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Her eyes settled on the Queen who let out a tired breath. "Come in."
Anna's head turned back toward the door, curling her fingers around the sword's handle, but they relaxed as soon as she saw the large red-haired servant man from the ballroom. "Queen Elsa," He bowed low to the woman in the chair.
Elsa...
Even the woman's name was beautiful. It rolled off Anna's tongue like honey, it rolled off of everyone's tongue that way. She was the embodiment of grace and poise, of strength and beauty, and that very woman was who she would now serve. Her heart swelled with pride, honor, and something else that was warm and sweet that she couldn't put a name to yet.
"Yes, Kai?" The Queen's eyes landed on the man who walked toward her, coming up beside her and presenting her with an envelope. "Who is it from?" She asked, taking the letter in her hand.
The man paused. "The Southern Isles, your Majesty."
Elsa froze as well, and she sighed, sliding the letter across the table until it stopped in front of Anna. "Thank you, Kai. I'll read it later." The man gave another bow, and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Anna's eyes were focused on the envelope, specifically, on the seal that held it closed. A pair of two swords crossed together.
"Read it to me." The Queen's command was curt, shorter than any other tone she'd used with Anna.
The servant nodded and slowly took hold of the envelope, breaking the seal apart from the parchment underneath, and it unfolded into a piece of paper. She stared at the script for a long time, her brow furrowing in concentration.
What...? I've never seen that letter before... doesn't that one make an 'ah' sound? And what's-
"What's wrong?" Elsa's voice made Anna jump slightly, and she continued to stare at the letter, unable to meet her master's eyes. "Read it."
The command had Anna biting her lip. "I can't." She looked down as she placed the letter back on the table, pushing it toward Elsa.
Elsa's brows raised a for a moment. "What do you mean you can't?" She clasped her hands together. "I ordered you to read it."
Anna caught a quick glance at the Queen before shifting her eyes down to her sword, to the script she couldn't make out. Not because it was illegible, but because... "I can't read..."
There was silence between the two of them for a moment before Elsa's voice filled the room. "Can you write?"
Anna shook her head, her cheeks heating in embarrassment.
Elsa hummed and leaned back in her chair. "It's not a problem." She reached across the table and took the letter, rising from her chair. "Go and get some rest. We have a busy day tomorrow."
Anna rose as well, watching the Queen circle around the desk. "Busy with the war?" She questioned.
Elsa shook her head. "No, teaching you to read and write."
Her master's smile caught her off guard. The whiteness of her teeth was disarming on its own. She managed to keep her flustered mouth shut, and she knelt in front of the Queen, taking the woman's hand and pressing a kiss to the red spade. Elsa's hand was the smoothest thing she'd ever touched, softer than the comforter, softer than the fabric of the dress... softer than...
Heat surfaced on her cheeks, and she was only glad that she was looking down at the moment. "Goodnight, master."
The second Anna felt the slightest bit of resistance, she released Elsa's hand, and she stood, bowing to the woman before stalking off out of the room, closing the door behind her. She couldn't explain why her stomach felt like it was doing flips. She didn't understand why her hands had suddenly gotten clammy and sticky. The reason why her breathing had gotten faster was far beyond her comprehension, so she decided to push it all into the back of her mind.
She reentered her room, and for some reason, the air was easier to breathe in. She didn't feel so anxious or giddy, but the new atmosphere suddenly had her eyelids feeling heavy.
She pulled the dress over her head, letting it fall onto the ground as she sunk under the covers of the bed. She melted into the mattress that supported her better than the floor supported her feet. She let out a pleasure-filled sigh, and the world slowly dissolved away around her, until she was thinking of nothing at all.
/
The moonlight failed, every night, to reach the depths of the forest. The trees sheltered the area so well it was known, in Arendelle, to be possessed by witches who covered the sky in a blanket of darkness each night so they could proceed with their conjurings and spells. This time, the darkness was in service of another who stood in the middle of a clearing wheezing as drops of red, coming from their flesh formed a large circle with intricate symbols lining the outside.
They eventually stepped to the side, admiring their work before tearing a piece of cloth from their cloak and wrapping it securely around their arm that was now gashed and dripping red. The made their way to the center, where they placed a golden medallion that was swallowed by the darkness. Carefully, they stepped back to the outside and held their hand out toward the circle's center.
"My wish is to get my revenge." The circle of blood began to glow a faint blue. "Divine gates of justice and power, open and send me a guardian, a spirit on which I can rely who will heed my every beck and call, who will offer me power and victory in this war." The light grew and grew, breaking through the seemingly permanent darkness of the forest. The wind began to pick up, and when the light was at its zenith, they spoke again, "Spirit, if you will help me in this fight, appear!"
The light overtook the forest, and when it disappeared, it was as if the sun had gone out. The figure had found themselves on their behind, their arms over their eyes and their face in the dirt and grass on the ground. Immediately, they opened their eyes, which were still adjusting to the darkness. They raised their left hand and smirked from behind the hood of their cloak.
A complexly designed red arrow had planted itself into their skin, and a chuckle escapes their lips, and they stood up, dusting themselves off. The summoner took in a breath and turned their head, and the moonlight had made a silhouette of another figure. This new person was broad-shouldered and muscular, and a mop of messy hair was visible, but the color wasn't. A string was slung around their shoulders, but it took the summoner a few moments to realize it was a bow, along with a quill of arrows.
But what stood out the most was what the figure was holding. A spherical object landed in the muscular figure's hand, and they tossed up into the air, letting the moon cast just enough light on it to make out its red color. The figure caught it in mid-air, and brought the object to his mouth, taking a large bite out of it.
The crispness of it echoed through the forest, and the summoner chuckled as they looked at their new warrior.
The two looked at each other for a few moments in silence before the figure dropped to one knee, "Master."
A/N: So, that took a whole lot longer than I expected it to. Sorry for the delay, I just really wanted this chapter to be good. Quick side note: the servants are based on people from history, mythology, and folklore, but their backstories were changed for story purposes. If you guys want, try and guess who they are! I think that would be a pretty fun game to play, and if you guess it right, you'll get a shoutout when it's revealed! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Follow, Favorite, and Review if you want more :)