The cats out of the bag now girls. Where can this be going...
-IEA-
Iduna looked around in surprise. Though she knew everyone knew, and that in theory they accepted it, it was still quite something to see the villagers actively applauding as Elsa displayed her powers openly. The entire royal courtyard was full of Arendellian citizens, the gates wide open and the ice that Elsa created to spread across the ground ended just at the gates. Just beyond the ice were tables groaning under the weight of bowls and bowls of frozen treats, and a gentle snowfall fell from the sky overhead to keep everything chilled.
She wasn't especially confident on skates herself, but ice skating was now something Arendelle did, and Iduna lived in Arendelle. Plus, it was a celebration of Elsa's magic, really, and after the years of helping teach her young daughter to fear them, she owed Elsa.
"Come on Sven, we gotta skate!"
The reindeer snorted, but dutifully followed the talking snowman out on to the ice. Reindeer were good in snow, but that didn't make them natural ice skaters. Olaf was made of ice, so he had something of an advantage. Elsa was a natural, and Anna had obviously been practicing. After a few minutes of most of Arendelle either eating ice cream or gliding happily across the ice, her daughters came to a stop near where Iduna was hiding at the side.
"What's wrong?"
"I'd rather not fall flat on my face in front of the whole of Arendelle."
Elsa laughed softly.
"You wouldn't be the only one, we usually end the day with at least three or four falls. No serious injuries though. But if you don't want to skate, you can always go and get some ice cream instead."
Iduna felt a little silly by herself, surrounded mostly by children clamouring for tasty little treats, but it wasn't long before the lure of chocolate ice cream summoned Anna over too.
"What did you get?"
"Oh. Strawberry. You got your taste for chocolate from your father, not me. Though I do enjoy it."
Anna laughed as she scooped chopped nuts into her bowl.
"Yeah. I remember sometimes people would give you gifts of really fancy chocolates, and you would have two or three and father would just eat the rest."
Iduna felt a smile cross her face, finding conversations about Agnarr far less painful than they used to be. It was nice to just be able to reminisce with her daughters about him.
"Indeed. I grew up with a far less refined diet than he, so fruit was my idea of a sweet treat. When your father first courted me, he was very bad at hiding his amusement when I was confused by so many new foods."
Anna stifled a giggle poorly in her hand, then tried to cover it up by stuffing a huge spoon of ice cream in her mouth. They finished their bowls in short order, and Anna encouraged her back toward the ice. Elsa wasn't immediately visible, but they quickly spotted her off to one side, making little toys for the children of Arendelle out of ice and snow. There were lots of smiles and joyful squeals as she dispensed little snow-fluffy teddy bears and dolls and, rather oddly, a snow-creation in the shape of a fish.
"Won't they melt?"
"Not if Elsa doesn't want them to. If everything she made melted, her castle wouldn't still be standing. And her clothes could disappear at random..."
Anna trailed off, and Iduna did not ask where her mind had gone to.
"Yes, I suppose that's true."
"Come on, the ice won't bite. You did great in practice with Elsa the other day."
Something strange passed over Anna's face, but it was gone before Iduna decided whether or not to ask what was wrong with her daughter. Feeling incredibly self-conscious, Iduna let herself be cajoled on to the ice in skates again. She expected everyone to be staring, waiting for her to fall flat on her face. But when she looked around, everybody else was focused on having their own fun, parents chasing their tearaway child or teenagers twirling with those they were courting. Nobody was watching Iduna's slightly inelegant trailing around the ice.
Well, nobody except Anna and Elsa, but both gave her gentle smiles that she supposed were meant to be encouraging. Then Anna was taking herself off to be at Elsa's side, Elsa's smile widening as she turned to look at Anna. A peculiar feeling rolled over Iduna, almost like... jealousy? She shook it off, sure it was simply a pang of loneliness - with her physical recovery done with and life at the castle ticking over with her a part of it now, Iduna had a lot more time to miss her lost husband. Of course she was lonely.
The memories of her daughters holding her refused to quite go away though. Of course, she'd hugged her daughters more than two times, but the time at Elsa's icy palace was a very clear, unique memory. As was the time she'd actively sought out comfort from her girls while plagued with the memories of her earlier loss, of her old life before Agnarr and Arendelle. She didn't like to dwell on it, as it mostly made her sad, but Iduna also never wanted to forget. She still remembered the song her mother sang to her, her voice echoing in her mind on nights when Iduna struggled to fall asleep, or when she looked at her daughters and saw the passing resemblance.
Iduna shook away her maudlin thoughts and focused back on the ice, finally relaxing enough to not feel as though everybody was staring until she realised she was actually having fun alongside everybody else, and it was nice to be simply joining in on what had effectively become all of Arendelle's favoured hobby.
Elsa and Anna were skating together, often holding hands but nobody gave it a second glance - they were mindful of how intimate they were in front of others, but it was clear everybody expected and accepted a level of physical contact and closeness from the sisters in public.
Iduna found herself wondering how many suspected the truth. She knew some of the staff knew - they had to. She remembered the way several had tried to dissuade her from finding her daughters that first night back, as they had clearly known what Iduna may have interrupted. And there were a few unwritten rules that would have otherwise been quite peculiar, such as always knocking before they entered any room they thought the sisters might be alone in, and not even the cleaning staff allowed in Elsa or Anna's bedrooms without permission. Those who washed their clothes must have seen both sisters garments come from the same room, or noticed how only one bath was drawn most nights.
But the secret was obviously kept quite safe, as the relationship being truly public knowledge would have brought noticeable consequences. Iduna supposed it spoke to how beloved the royals were, because Elsa took such amazing care of her people. Even used her powers for things as playful and indulgent as ice skating and ice cream, making toys for the children and crafting pretty shapes out of thin air just to delight.
The afternoon wound itself down as people began to tire and head home for meals and rest and to warm up again, filtering away until Elsa waved a hand to remove the ice and fallen snow from the ground. All except the snowman Anna and Olaf had built, of course. Elsa was sat watching them, smiling softly and only looking up to thank the various staff members taking empty bowls and tables back inside, Kristoff helping them while Sven had left for his stables to sleep after so much excitement.
Rising from where she'd been sat smoothing out her snowman, Anna brushed snow from the skirts of her dress before she headed over to Elsa. Elsa shuffled along a little on her bench to make space, and wrapped an arm around Anna the moment her sister leant in to her side, the two sharing a smile. Iduna made her way over - they respected her wish not to see more, but she was fine seeing them simply cuddle.
"Have a good day Anna?"
"The best! I love skating days. I love seeing how happy everyone is around your magic, and how happy it makes you, and I also really love ice cream!"
Elsa laughed lightly at Anna, who was still somehow brimming with energy despite a few hours of exertion and the sky darkening rapidly overhead. As Iduna approached, both her daughters offered bright, beaming smiles to her.
"How about you mother? Did you enjoy your first ice day?"
"I did, and more than I expected to. However, I do wish to go and warm up a little now."
Elsa nodded.
"Of course. Dinner will be served in about an hour, so you could always take a bath beforehand."
Agreeing that sounded like a good idea, she headed inside and asked for her bath to be drawn. Heated water chased away any lingering chills, and while she wanted to put on her nightclothes after, Iduna refused to attend a meal improperly dressed. Anna clearly had no such compunctions, as she attended dinner in a nightdress Iduna was fairly sure Elsa had made for her, with the soft, glittering white details that looked like a dusting of snowflakes had just landed on her. Elsa was still dressed as she had been before, but Elsa could take off and put on clothes with a wave of her hand. Opting not to think of what those two had been up to in the hour before dinner, Iduna took her seat.
Dinner was followed by 'family night', where four humans, a magical talking snowman and a reindeer gathered in one of the libraries together. Initially feeling rather out of place there, Iduna had come to enjoy them, look forward to them even. She wasn't quite as invested in the games, but they talked and drank and laughed and it was a simple, lovely time. Iduna was even getting used to Olaf, though his personality was still a little effervescent for her liking but he seemed to understand and tried to tone it down. Mostly.
A few of those strange pangs struck her occasionally when Elsa and Anna were particularly close that evening, but Iduna brushed them off. She had no real reason to feel so lonely, surrounded by what was now her family. Though, with his portraits hanging throughout the castle, Iduna supposed it was understandable that she feel lonely without her husband. The black shroud still hung over the portrait of herself and her husband, and she'd insisted it stay that way out of respect for Agnarr.
Thinking of portraits led to her thinking about Elsa, who was sipping from a glass of wine while Anna and Kristoff seemed to be having some kind of mime-off while Olaf cheered.
"Have you set a date for your re-coronation yet?"
Elsa blinked in surprise at the sudden question, but otherwise took it in stride.
"I have a couple of prospective dates. As the first one was scheduled with my coming of age well known in advance, it was expected that everyone else schedule it in to their diaries around me. As this is a re-do, I have to be mindful not to set a date an important ally cannot make, lest anyone feel slighted. It wouldn't do to go through all this and upset anybody Arendelle relies on as an ally. I've drafted some letters to those most important, to ask which of the dates would suit them best, and go with whichever suits the majority. But it ought to be sometime this autumn. I'd have scheduled it closer to my birthday in order to reduce the number of parties I have to hold" Elsa rolled her eyes, and Iduna stifled a laugh at how her daughter was still not fond of being center of attention "but it would be too tricky a journey when some of the oceans are frozen solid. And I think some sunshine would reassure those still wary of my magic."
"Perhaps you should host some smaller get-togethers between then and now. It would help to maintain good relations with anyone who might not be able to make the day, as well as help you get used to hosting as you will have to do it throughout your reign."
Tapping her fingers delicately against her glass, Elsa nodded. Before she could answer, Anna dropped down next to her, almost upsetting the glass Elsa held. Elsa was obviously used to such behaviour from Anna though, and gripped the glass tighter in response.
"Are you guys talking work? Boooo."
Giggling, Elsa smiled indulgently at her sister.
"Mother asked if I'd set a date for my new coronation, that's all."
"Oh. I guess that's not so bad. Did I hear parties mentioned?"
Elsa relayed Iduna's suggestion, and Anna considered it for a moment.
"What about an end of summer party? Invite some of the people who are only a couple of days away, have some summer fun with Arendelle out in the square then back here for dinner and dancing with the people you're hosting? Gives you a chance to show off a little magic in a fun way and show off how well you're doing as Queen before you announce intentions of re-doing the Coronation, all while giving everyone the chance to put on a fancy outfit and drink too much, which is usually how royalty makes friends."
Listening intently, Elsa nodded.
"I really like that idea. I'll make a start on that tomorrow, there's not much of summer left after all."
Anna beamed.
"Happy to help! It's getting kinda late, so I'm thinking hot chocolate and bed?"
Everybody else agreed, and they wound down with warm drinks before everybody parted company for the evening. Seeing Elsa so relaxed despite the talk of things she didn't enjoy, like big events and being the centre of focus, and knowing that was mostly thanks to Anna and her unique way of keeping Elsa calm and happy seemed to have shifted something for Iduna. As she watched her daughters leave for bed after bidding her a good night, seeing their joined hands and knowing they were both headed for the same bed...
Iduna found she didn't actually mind as much as she expected to, as though the inevitability of it had finally settled in her mind and the energy of fighting against it was just no longer worth exerting. She wasn't quite happy about it, but she was sure that was just as inevitable in the future.
-IEA-
I'm not certain, but the timeline might be a little wonky. Elsa's Coronation was summer, and Anna's birthday in Frozen Fever had a very spring-time vibe (to go with Olaf's Frozen Adventure being winter, and Frozen 2 being autumn), but was apparently the summer solstice, so I've been working with Anna's birthday being a couple months early (her birthday is actually June, but June is summer...) than it actually was. I'll try to keep it straight from now on, but as I was date checking some stuff while writing I realised there were some inconsistencies, and since I know how readers like to point those out...
I'm aware, but I'm not going to go back and re-write parts of fic and alter my plans for the future over it. I'll just try not to let them happen again.
