Things took an unfortunate turn shortly after that pompous old manservant returned to clear away the dirty dishes and serving trolley.

As the doors swung closed behind him, Elsa tried to hide her growing physical discomfort… She really did. It started with a faint trembling and rising weakness throughout her body that she could almost have convinced herself was only suppressed nerves finally catching up with her, but then the nausea arose like a wave, and it carried her off in its' grasp so quickly that she hardly had time to mumble out an apology before it overtook her completely.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me," she managed to the princess, before she then stumbled out of the pretty little sitting room, through the bedroom, and into that ridiculous bathroom with its giant tub and mosaic tile. She fell to her knees before the lavatory and heaved, painfully, convulsively, the delicious lunch she had just consumed with so much enthusiasm now pouring out of her to disappear down the cold, black depths of the royal toilet.

After the initial wet flood had left her, Elsa hiccupped and gasped, tasting the acid tang of bile on her lips, the room swirling in her periphery vision.

"Elsa? Are you… are you okay?"

She sucked in a breath and focused on not losing even more of her lunch, incapable of answering.

It was unfair. She had thought the illness behind her, but now here she was again, throwing up the best meal she had eaten in weeks. What an abysmal waste!

"Elsa…?"

The princess's voice was a bit closer now, coming from within the room itself. The way she said her name was so soft with genuine concern that it made her want to hide.

She wanted to answer, to tell the young woman to stay away, to just leave her be, but it was all she could do to breathe shallowly through her nose and focus on keeping any more of the contents of her stomach from making an ungraceful exit.

"I'm going to come in, okay?" Anna was saying, and then suddenly the girl was there beside her, close enough that Elsa could feel the warmth of her body kneeling next to hers.

"Sorry," she gasped, eyes tightly closed.

What a scene she must make, huddled over and retching like a common drunk in an alley. She hated to be seen like this, weak and vulnerable. Elsa would have happily threatened to gouge out the eyes of anyone who saw her like this back in Northuldra with ice shards. She wouldn't have done it, probably, but she would have threatened to. Being seen in her current state was even more unbearable than being dressed up in these slave's clothes and paraded around like an unruly pony at auction.

"My goodness, what happened?"

She sounded so truly worried for her new slave's welfare, that despite her trembling and her sickness, Elsa kind of wanted to laugh. What an absurd, unexpected, delightful oddity was she, this young Princess of Arendelle. She was more tender and kind-hearted than Elsa had had any right to expect. More tender and kind-hearted than her kingdom deserved, that was for certain.

As if in answer to her thoughts, she felt a warm, small hand come to rest tentatively on her back, just below the thin blades of her shoulders. When she made no reaction in response to the light touch, that hand began making slow, soothing circles, rubbing her lower back as though it were the most natural thing for her to do in the world.

A part of Elsa reacted to that touch with cautiously raised hackles, a cold and protective instinct, one born of many years of isolation, telling her that this caring, intimate contact with the other young woman was dangerous. Was she feeling more herself, she knew she would have shrugged Anna away. Perhaps snarl something stern, or just unkind, not caring if she hurt her feelings as long as it drove her away. Better to hurt her now and maintain some safe distance, than let her get as close as this.

But Elsa wasn't feeling herself. Not at all.

The past couple of weeks had been miserable in the extreme. The fever had burned through her like a forest fire, and though she had begun to feel mostly her old self again in the past day or so, her treatment as a new slave since arriving at the castle would have been a trial even without also dealing with the lingering effects of the disease. Clearly her body wasn't as recovered as she had hoped.

What was worse, she could feel her connection to her magic slipping away from her once again, just as it had throughout her earlier illness and captivity. The brilliant aura of power that normally overflowed from her almost without her conscious thought – the power that had always saturated her with an almost pleasurable, icy thrill, and by its very existence made her feel wild, alive, and so, so free! – felt as though it drifted just beyond her grasp. There, and yet just out of reach. With the weakness suddenly upon her again, she doubted she could summon even a snowflake at the moment.

It had begun to return to her. She had felt it that morning when she had woke, to her great relief, and earlier she had struggled to contain it properly in front of the princess. It had reminded her of when she was younger and her control over her powers had been clumsy, but it had been there. During those early years, strong emotions (especially fear) had often caused it to react in unpredictable ways. But the power had been there, of that she was sure. The unfortunate teapot had been proof enough of that.

It was just the illness… Just her body's weakness and fatigue betraying her. It had to be. Another day or two of good food and proper sleep, and she would be herself again.

Captive… weak… Your magic abandons you… Helpless… trapped here forever... No!

She interrupted her own thoughts with a silent snarl, pushing the negative emotions away. She was in control. Had to be in control. She did not become who she was by letting her fears control her. No… No, she was the one whom others feared now.

Her shoulders trembled. The warm hand at her back continued stroking her, grounding her, and she heard Anna murmur something soothing and meaningless. Strangely, she found the touch helpful, and despite her earlier thoughts about keeping her distance, she was glad the other girl hadn't yet pulled away.

Eventually the room stopped spinning and her stomach stopped trying to climb up her esophagus. Elsa took a full breath before finally opening her eyes and turning to look at the girl who was now sitting next to her on the tile floor of the bathing chamber, her hand still rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry, Anna," she said, meeting the princess's lighter eyes with her own and offering up an apologetic smile.

She really did have singular eyes; as pure as the finest cut stones of aquamarine or turquoise that Elsa had ever seen, stunning in both their depth and clarity. If light blue eyes could be said to be warm, then Princess Anna's eyes were as warm as a tropical ocean breeze, and just as soothing to feel caress one's face.

"Shh, it's okay. Don't be sorry for being sick," Anna reassured her. Her hand ceased its stroking, but she did not remove it, simply held it there against her, supporting her. Her palm felt hot against the thin cotton tunic and shabby corset they had given her to wear that morning.

Elsa shook her head. This wasn't like her. She didn't do vulnerable and meek, and she didn't, as a rule, let people touch her, either. Gathering her knees further under her, she sat back and away from the other girl, forcing her hand to fall away. She scooted back until she was pressed against the wall and let herself sit there, drawing her knees up to her chest under her skirts and clutching them tight with both arms. She let her head fall back to rest against the cool tile of the wall, intensely aware of her own unsettled emotions and the obvious defensiveness of her posture.

Anna shuffled closer on her knees, seemingly not interested in letting Elsa get beyond arms reach. Her face was a mask of tight concern, one hand petting one of her thick auburn braids where it fell forward over her shoulder, the other reaching for Elsa for a brief second before the princess seemed to think better of it and retract her hand, wrapping it instead around her own midsection.

"Was it the food?"

"I think… in a way, yes. I should have known better. So much rich food, so soon after being ill for that long, it's no surprise it upset my stomach."

She should have just had some bread and broth and left it at that, if she hadn't been so overwhelmed by the mouthwatering sights and smells of the small lunch feast. For a stomach that had been consuming nothing but thin gruel, porridge, and hunks of day old bread for the past couple weeks, the decadent meal had been too much.

"You were sick?"

Now Anna looked even more concerned. She shuffled minutely closer again, reducing their personal space even more.

She's like a touch-starved puppy, Elsa thought, half smiling to herself despite her continued discomfort.

The princess clearly didn't understand the meaning of personal space. She was also unreasonably adorable. It was therefore nigh impossible to grow angry with her when she repeatedly trespassed on Elsa's usual, rigid boundaries. It might become a problem, Elsa knew, were she to stay here much longer. Actually thinking about how adorable the princess was could only be a short step away from other, more problematic thoughts and feelings, and Elsa knew she couldn't afford to be thinking things like that about the heir to the Arendelle crown… and her current captor.

Good thing I shan't be staying much longer, then.

Elsa decided to choose her next words carefully, being certain not to say too much while still speaking the truth. It was better to always be as truthful as possible whenever you could, she found, as lies could become dangerous webs that swiftly entangled and exposed you.

"Did no one tell you of my illness? I thought it might be on those slave papers you signed earlier."

"No! It didn't say anything like that… I mean, I don't think it did. I didn't exactly have a chance to read it all earlier," Anna admitted, flushing slightly. "Everything just happened so quickly and I… hmm."

The princess looked a bit embarrassed as her words trailed off, perhaps due to her mentioning the Writ of Slavery that she had signed to become her legal owner. It hadn't escaped Elsa's notice that any mention of the fact that she was her slave seemed to throw the girl into a fit of mild anxiety.

It was rather cute, she thought… Not that she noticed. Not that she should notice, rather. Noticing how cute the Princess of Arendelle was when embarrassed might be worse than noticing how generally adorable she was all of the time.

As she considered her and decided on her next words, the other girl had wiggled just a bit closer again, which now meant that her dark green velvet covered knees were nearly touching the draped hem of Elsa's own simple gray skirt. She was too close for Elsa's comfort now. Too close. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at her, letting her head relax against the wall as she spoke, forcing her features to remain calm and composed.

"My whole life, I've never been prone to illness," Elsa confided, watching the darkness float behind her eyelids and forcing her grip to relax, her body to still. Control. "Other kids would get fevers or chills, or the coughing flu. Whole families and villages might fall ill around me, and I never so much as sneezed. I suppose I just assumed that I was stronger than others, that way. So when we arrived in the Southern Isles and learned that the early spring had also brought on a fresh outbreak of sun fever in the city, well… it didn't even occur to me to be concerned for myself. When we departed three days later, we were hardly out of sight of land before I was so taken with fever that I couldn't even stand upright."

She hadn't been the only one, either. Many of the other Northuldrans on board had fallen sick along with her, all of them suffering far more seriously from the illness than the people of the Southern Isles did. The captain of the vessel had very sensibly ordered that every person showing symptoms be kept quarantined below decks, in the hopes that they might keep it from spreading further amongst the crew and passengers. At the time, she had not been in any sort of condition to argue with him, though she wouldn't have anyways. It was the only thing to be done. In all likelihood, his actions had saved the entire ship from succumbing to the disease.

She continued.

"I was sick with fever for several days aboard ship as we made passage north, along with many others. I wasn't even conscious when your Arendellian warship intercepted us. I was told that most of my other countrymen died in the fighting when your father's men first boarded us, and the few who were taken alive were all as delirious with sun fever as I was. They… didn't survive either, in the end. The fever just burned them up."

Elsa's recollections of events after leaving the Southern Isles was hazy at best. She mostly remembered fractured images of a small, dank, airless room below decks, and the sounds of people coughing and calling out in fever dreams. Someone (she thought it must have been Einar) had tended her in her illness, bathing her forehead in cool sea water and wiping the sick from her lips with as much kindness and tenderness as if she were his own daughter. Mostly she remembered being feverishly hot all the time, as though her skin was on fire from within, and how desperately she had tried reaching – in those few rare moments when she was coherent enough to think to try it, that is – for the soothing cold balm of her power, only to find that it would not come.

"I only really learned what happened a few days after the battle, once I was recovered enough for sensible conversation. Apparently they found me collapsed on the floor below decks near the hatchway ladder, dressed only in my night shift, feverish, and shouting nonsense in the northern tongue." Elsa had vague memories of hearing the sounds of fighting, distant as though in a dream. She must have dragged herself from her room and tried to reach the deck, though she couldn't remember doing so. "They took me easily enough, of course, along with the other few souls still sick below. I'm told that after those men all died over the next couple days, the ship's surgeon declared me a lost cause as well. I'm not sure who was more surprised when my fever finally broke and I woke up on that ship, me or the Arendellians! By then, of course, I was already a prisoner, and we were only a day away from arriving here."

Elsa kept a firm hold on her emotions as she finished her tale, not letting the rage she felt be seen. The anger was almost like a purifying flame, and she felt the last of her trembling weakness and nausea leave her.

Too many good men and women. Too many of her small nation's best fighters, dead now, their bodies rotting in an ocean far from their homes and families. How differently things would have gone, had she not been struck down by that freak fever. How different things might be now, had the illness not lingered for days even after she regained her wits, sapping her strength, stealing her powers from her when she needed them most. Now she had fallen so deep within the spider's web that extricating herself without further complications would be difficult and dangerous.

No matter. Her magic was returning to her, as was her physical strength. She just needed to be patient and let herself recover. Patient and careful, until she had everything she needed to safely escape this gilded prison and cross the many dangerous miles necessary to return home.

Her eyes opened when she felt Anna's hand come to rest on her shoulder. With alarm, she had no time to act before the girl's other arm wrapped around her and she found herself engulfed in a tight hug. It was awkward, because of how Elsa had been sitting against the wall and the fact that they were both on the floor, but somehow the princess managed it anyways, her arms pulling her into her with surprising fierceness. The younger girl was shaking, she realized, her slightly smaller body nearly vibrating with some kind of strong emotion, and Elsa simply froze in her embrace, completely thrown by her current predicament.

When Anna finally spoke, her words were no less startling than her hug.

"I know you have no reason to believe me, and I know there is nothing I can do or say to make up for what you have been through, but I promise you, Elsa… I promise, nothing terrible like that is ever going to happen to you again. Not if there is anything I can do about it! I know it probably doesn't seem like much, but I swear I will protect you. It… it doesn't make things right, though. It doesn't make you free… or bring back your friends… and… I'm… I'm so sorry!"

Anna was crying. Her voice strained around the words, as though she were trying to hide the fact that she was crying from her, but it was obvious regardless. Abruptly, she released Elsa from her stranglehold and pulled back. Sniffling, she wiped her eyes roughly with the fine sleeves of her dress, rubbing away the tears. Her face was blotched with red, and her expression was tremulous with a mix of sadness and anger, but she was beautiful in her wild disarray.

Elsa just kept looking at her in astonishment. This wasn't exactly the reaction she had expected to her story. She wasn't sure what she had expected from the young princess, but this sudden, tender ferocity had not been it.

"Anna, I…"

Shoot. Damn it all. She didn't know what to say. What should she say to the girl, after a proclamation like that?

She will protect me? It was ridiculous. This entire situation was ridiculous in the extreme. Captured by her enemies! And even worse, enslaved by them. All her wits, and plans, and cunning rendered meaningless, her value to them only that of a mere plaything to distract their pretty, naïve princess from her boredom. She was the bloody damn Ice Queen of Northuldra, ruler of the frozen wastes, commander of dragons and men, elemental master of ice and snow, feared by all who dared to call her their enemy…!

… and she was sitting on the bathroom floor with a crying Princess Anna, totally at a loss for words.

"I mean it, Elsa, I truly do," Anna repeated, anxious that she should believe her. "I won't ever let anyone hurt you."

She sounded so fierce, so determined, that Elsa couldn't help but smile. She might doubt the princess's ability to actually do the things she promised, but she didn't doubt her intentions.

"Yes, I know, Anna. I know you mean what you say, and… thank you. Honestly. Thank you."

Why did her words mean so much? It should have meant nothing. Some sympathetic platitudes and empty promises. They couldn't change the past, or the present. She was still her prisoner, her slave. Nothing would change because of the words that had just been spoken… and yet, Elsa couldn't help but feel like something had changed.

"I know it doesn't really help fix anything," Anna said, swiping a hand across her eyes again to clear away the last stains of her tears.

"No, it doesn't," Elsa agreed, sighing. "But… but it does, in a way. In a way, it helps a lot."

"Okay, well, good then. I'm glad."

"Yes."

"Are… you still feeling sick?"

Anna sounded less sure all of the sudden, her bout of assertiveness finally seeming to have run its course. She looked adorably awkward and self-conscious now as she struggled to meet Elsa's eyes.

"No, not much. I feel mostly better. Perhaps we should…?"

"Oh! Yes, uh… Let me just…"

The princess scooted back and struggled up to her feet hastily, brushing her hands down her dress to straighten it once again. For no obvious reason, the two girls were now finding it impossible to look each other in the eyes. Elsa began to climb to her feet as well, accepting the offered hand from Anna to help her up. Once she was standing in front of her, their eyes met for a moment before they both quickly glanced away, their joined hands springing free from each other's grasp as though each were bitten.

What… What is this? Elsa wondered, not without some dismay.

This atmosphere now was completely unacceptable. Unacceptable. She needed to stay in control.

"Here, let me show you how to run the tap. See, you just turn this lever here, and… Well, you can see. Ah, here's a little towel you can use. There are toiletries on the shelf there. Just help yourself to… whatever. I'll… I'll let you freshen up," Anna told her, handing her the towel without meeting her eyes. She backed out of the room, pointing over her shoulder with a thumb. "I'll be right in here, if you need anything, okay? Take as much time as you need."

Elsa thanked her with a smile and softly shut the door behind her, her heart pounding in her throat. Standing before the mirror as the water splashed into the bowl from the opened tap, she stared at herself in accusatory silence. A feeling that was something like fear burrowed deep into her chest with sharp fangs, and she felt her power rise from its slumber again, its welcome presence filling her once more.

This time, when its chill crept out from her to fill the room so much that her breath fogged, she let it, controlling the flow of her power and containing its effects to the room alone.

Slave here in Arendelle or Queen in Northuldra… that girl out there would ruin you either way, you damn bloody fool.

Her reflection didn't answer, merely disappeared behind the cold flush of winter frost that swept across the glass.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Princess Anna paced her bedroom. She paused from time to time to stare at the closed door to the bath, sometimes even taking a step or two in its direction as though thinking to knock or call out, before shaking her head and resuming her pacing once more.

What was she going to do about her new slave? Seriously! What a mess she was in. Why did messes always just seem to appear wherever she was? It wasn't fair!

She heard the sounds of splashing water and paused, then silence again from the other room. She resumed her pacing.

Anna hoped Elsa was truly feeling better. She was so hard to read, so good at hiding her feelings, that it made her wonder. It had been such a surprise when she had suddenly rushed from the room earlier, her already pale features going even paler and more washed out. Then, it sounded like the poor girl had deposited every bite of the meal she had just eaten into the princess's toilet.

Aggressively deposited.

I shouldn't have forced her to try all those chocolates, Anna chastised herself, hoping that those little devilish goodies they had eaten after their meal hadn't been the final straw for her apparently tender stomach.

What was worse, was Anna could just sense how much Elsa hadn't liked being sick like that in front of her, and honestly, she didn't blame her for feeling that way. She knew that if she had just vomited loudly in front of her beautiful new slave, instead of the other way around, well… she would be hiding in her closet for the rest of the day in embarrassment. Even worse, to have something like that happen after they had only just met? That was exactly the kind of social humiliation that a young woman's worst nightmares were made of.

Still, Anna was just glad that she hadn't turned away her attempts to help and had let her comfort her, even if it had gotten a little… um… awkward there at the end.

Speaking of which, she also couldn't get the other girl's story out of her head, either. What a horrible ordeal she had suffered – was still suffering. It was obvious to Anna that she wasn't fully well, either. A person didn't just get up and go skipping along after being so seriously ill for so long. The poor girl should still be convalescing, not slaving for a princess. She should be comfortable in a big bed, with someone bringing her plenty of cups of hot tea and bone broth, and keeping her dry and warm, and maybe reading a bit for her, and… and… Dang it, taking care of her!

But then again, she did have someone to look after her now. Princess Anna was on the job. Though she had never asked for such a thing, Elsa was her slave now and her responsibility. Anna's jaw set into a stubborn line as she brooded over how best to protect her new ward. Yes. She was going to have to think carefully on this.

Maybe she was being a bit dramatic and silly, but it felt important. It felt like maybe the most important thing she had ever put her mind to in her entire young life.

Oh yes… Things were about to change, she could just feel it. Soon enough, all of Arendelle, and Northuldra, and even all the kingdoms beyond would find out what this princess was truly capable of, and god help anyone who stood in her way.