Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2019 - Licia

Her weight had started to distribute evenly, thanks to her tall, willowy figure, and it was becoming evident now that she had a baby growing her belly, though she hadn't said a word to Yelena until two weeks after Vanja had told her she was pregnant. The healer checked up on her regularly, taking the time to update her on the situation with Yelena, of which there was nothing they could really do. Honeymaren had started searching for the best medicinal herbs for pregnancy, and Kristoff had written to inform them that he had talked to General Matthias and filled him in on the situation. The General, in turn, had written to Elsa, to make sure what she said was true, for it was his duty to protect Arendelle, and Elsa had written back, insisting that yes, it was true.

But Elsa knew the man was still not convinced, and so that was how she found herself mounting the Nokk before dawn, midway through her eighteenth week of pregnancy. Hans watched her take the reigns. "I don't like this, Elisabeth."

"What? Me meeting with Kristoff and Matthias, or me going up to my palace?"

"Both."

She sighed. "Johannes, I will be fine, I promise. Kristoff knows about my pregnancy, and the Nokk will watch out for me." Her husband scowled, though he knew she was only using his given name to make him understand. She sighed, reaching down and caressing her belly. There was a nice, noticeable roundness to her tummy- Ryder had asked absentmindedly one day if Elsa was carrying more than one, for the size of her tummy, and the Snow Queen had decked him with a snowball. She had discovered that she could use her magic for little things; snow flurries in her hands for light instead of a lantern, filling a bowl with water, lowering her temperature if she got too warm, the occasional snowball to shut up well-meaning but innocent cousins should not have been on the list but what Vanja didn't know.

Her sexual appetites had grown with the start of her second trimester as well, and Hans often found himself agreeing to a late night at the alcove in which she was often insatiable the first hour or two. Her energy had also returned- to a point. She'd also had to modify the clothing she crafted with her magic; her tunics weren't as formfitting as they had once been, and her leggings had a little extra room to accommodate her expanding waist.

"I still don't like it. I don't care if the Nokk and Kristoff are going to be there. You're not going alone."

"Johannes-"

"No, Elisabeth." He cut off her whine, and, patting the Nokk on the nose, moved to mount behind her. She started as she felt him join her on the frosted horse, as the feel of his hands on her waist. "Forgive me if I'm not exactly comfortable with sending my pregnant wife to meet with the Arendellian General at her ice palace on the North Mountain. Why not agree to meet them at the lake by the alcove? Then it wouldn't be such a journey on you." She grumbled something that he didn't catch, and gently patted her hip. "Say that again, love? I didn't catch that."

She sighed. "Not the alcove. That's our place. And so is the lake, by extension." She pouted, refusing to look at him as she gently nudged the Nokk. The water spirit, understanding the shift in Elsa's weight and the bump that was responsible for it, did not go sprinting towards Arendelle and the North Mountain as he once would have. Even with this new pace, they still reached the mountain in record time, and Elsa put the water spirit into the stable with Sven and another reindeer that she noted must have belonged to Mattias before taking her husband's hand and taking him towards the bridge she'd reconstructed.

Hans gulped. The last time he'd been here with Elsa, had been the night those two Weaselton goons had tried to kill her, and she'd fought back in self-defense. He tightened his grip on her hand, as they made their way up the bridge.

"Mama!"

Elsa smiled softly at Marshmallow as he came lumbering towards them, but stopped, seeing Hans. Instantly, his countenance turned, and he growled, as Hans held up his hands. "Woah, easy, big fellow!"

"Bad Man! Bad mad hurt Mama!" The snow golem roared, picking up a- well, Hans' wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he had to think quickly, as Elsa stepped between them, hands on her hips.

"Marshmallow!"

But Hans, realizing the snow golem wasn't going to listen, shoved his wife out of the way; Elsa had just enough time to conjure a good heap of snow that would soften her fall and minimize the shock to her belly. Once his wife was out of the way, Hans looked up and stumbled back as the golem stormed towards him; he tried talking him down, to no avail.

"Bad man hurt Mama! Bad man go away!" Hans stumbled back, landing on his back on the ground. Snapping his eyes shut, he waited for whatever frozen death the golem deemed appropriate for him.

"Marshmallow! You stop right there, Mister!"

Hans cracked an eye open, to see the golem standing above him, a chunk of ice held above him. He glanced to the side. His wife was standing not far away from a ten foot pile of snow she'd conjured to soften her fall, her long white hair pulled back in her customary braid and tossed over her left shoulder, booted feet planted firmly a shoulders-width apart, hands fisted and firm on her hips, her jaw set and eyes narrowed. Her tummy stuck out in front of her, just slightly in the whiteness.

She looked every bit the mother, dealing with an unruly toddler.

"Bad man! Protect Mama!"

Hans pushed himself up, seeing his wife's features soften slightly before returning to the glare they'd been in earlier. "I know, Sweetie, thank you for protecting me, but you don't need to. Not anymore. He's not bad anymore. Now put it down."

The golem seemed to listen to her briefly, before hefting the ice again-

"Marshmallow! I said Put. It. Down." She took a deep breath. "Now!"

A moment passed, as the giant contemplated what to do, but one breath from Elsa convinced him, and he dropped it. Hans released the breath he'd been holding and climbed to his feet-

"Mama, hug!"

Marshmallow now lumbered towards Elsa, gigantic snow hands outstretched. Though he was made of snow, he still probably didn't know his own strength, nor did he know- or even understand- the condition Elsa was in. "No!" Hans darted in front of his wife, blocking her from view. "Mama no hug! No hug, Marshmallow! Mama's in a..." He stopped, knowing he would get it later for using such a phrase, but it was the only thing he could think of to make the snow golem understand. "Mama's in a delicate condition!" Almost instantly, he could feel his wife's glare hit the back of his head. "Mama can't hug right now, she might get hurt!"

Sadness crossed the golem's features, as it looked from Hans to Elsa behind him. Sighing, she stepped up beside him, taking his hand, her moving to rest on her belly. "I'm sorry, Sweetie, but Papa's right." It was Elsa's turn as Hans' head whipped to the side, emerald eyes wide as they bore holes into her head. She ignored him. "I won't be able to hug you for a while." She squeezed his hand, meeting his gaze with a cheeky grin as she spoke. "Papa and I are having a baby, which means I won't be able to visit for a while either. So you're going to have to keep looking after the palace until I can come back, okay?" Marshmallow nodded. "And by then, your brother or sister will be here, and then you can hug me all you want. How's that sound?"

"Brother? Sister? Papa?" She scowled at him as Marshmallow broke out in a toothy grin. With a last goodbye to the golem, Elsa tugged him along, up the steps to the palace. "Seriously, Els? Papa?"

She stopped on the way to the kitchen, turning back to him, the hand on her belly absentmindedly rubbing slow circles as she talked. "Consider it practice for when this little one makes their arrival in twenty-two weeks." Then, she turned on her heel and stalked through the kitchen into the small room where she'd met Kristoff last time. Hans sighed, and with a roll of his eyes followed her.

"Sorry about that gentlemen. We had a bit of an issue with my palace guard." Hans stopped behind his wife to find Kristoff and a tall, slender dark-skinned man get to their feet.

"You had an issue with Marshmallow?" Kristoff asked, going to her. He wrapped her in a hug, and Elsa 'hmmed' in response, but upon spotting Hans behind her, he understood. When the two parted, the ice harvester smiled, eyes landing on the swell beneath Elsa's tunic. "So it's true." He glanced at Hans. "You got Arendelle's Snow Queen pregnant." Pride briefly filled Hans' chest at the comment, before it penetrated his brain that Kristoff was being smart, and he made a face in response. Elsa glanced over her shoulder at him, a wide smile filling her face, and Kristoff chuckled. "I'm kidding. Congratulations, both of you." He held out a hand, which Hans too.

As the two men spoke, Elsa turned back to the second man. "General Mattias." She held out her arms, and the older gentleman bowed quickly to her.

"Your Majesty."

"I'm no longer, Queen, General, Elsa is fine." She was soon enveloped in a gentle hug.

"You are the rightful heir to the ancient and honored throne of Arendelle, Elsa." He replied, pulling away. "It's your birthright, just as it's this baby's birthright, by way of your blood." Normally, Elsa objected to someone else besides Hans, Vanja, Yelena or Honeymaren touching her stomach, but with Matthias, who had served her home country for years, it was different. Elsa had grown up hearing stories about the honorable Lieutenant Matthias, and had held a great respect for the man. He had proven his loyalty to not just Arendelle, but by extension to her. He was gentle, vowing to protect not only her, but the precious cargo she carried within her, and for that, Elsa would be forever grateful.

"Thank you."

Once they were all seated, Hans and Elsa filled got Matthias up to date before filling both men in on the situation. "Things have... kind of come to a stand still in the tribe. Not... not with the tribe, but, with us..." Elsa said; she sat holding her belly, one hand at the bottom the other stroking the top. Hans sat beside her, a hand on her back. "I can't do much- well, I shouldn't be doing much... it's complicated."

"Isn't it always?" Kristoff asked, and Elsa flashed him a wiry smile.

"How far are you?" Matthias questioned, and Elsa sighed, continuing the stroke her belly.

"Midway through eighteen weeks. I didn't realize I was pregnant until I was about twelve weeks along." She chuckled softly. "I attributed all my symptoms to stress, not pregnancy." She shrugged.

"Eighteen weeks?" Hans nodded. "That's... almost halfway. Are you sure you aren't further along, Elsa?" Hans winced at Kristoff's words, expecting to see the customary snowball hit his face, but Elsa simply sighed, clenching her jaw.

"Back to the matter at hand," Hans cut in, and he felt his wife relax against his touch. He glanced at Elsa, who shook her head, curling into his side. He slipped his arm around her waist, resting his hand against the side of her belly as he spoke. "We aren't really sure where to go from here. We should be able to figure out some more about the curse, but..." He glanced down at Elsa, reaching over and laying a hand against her belly. "With the baby on the way, I don't want to put them into any danger if I can help it. She's doing good now, she's got the energy but... pretty soon she's not going to have the energy, and it's gonna get closer and closer and... call me overprotective, but I won't her, either of them."

"You are aware that we're right here beside you, Johannes." Elsa quipped, nuzzling into his shoulder. He kissed her head.

"I know, Elisabeth."

Matthias chuckled at the gentle squabble. "You're a father-to-be, you have every right to be overprotective."

Silence fell then, each caught up in their own thoughts. Eventually, Kristoff spoke up. "If this... deal Yelena made with the river... goes through, then it means you would only become the guardian of Ahtohallan. You wouldn't be able to defeat the troll queen."

"We already came to that conclusion, Kristoff," Hans sighed, resting his elbows on his knees as Elsa stood and began to pace, her energy back up despite the chill that was affecting everyone else. "We need to find a way to counteract it, or stop it or... something." He watched her pace, saw the continuous movement of her hands over the swell, and for the briefest of moments, he couldn't help agreeing with Kristoff; Elsa did look further along than eighteen weeks, closer to twenty weeks or even twenty-two, maybe twenty-three at the most. She had gained weight, common in pregnancy, and her normally thin heart-shaped face had filled out more, gaining a definite roundness to it.

Could Vanja be off in her calculations? Could Elsa have conceived earlier than we thought? We didn't exactly take a break from each other; and there was that weekend we spent at the alcove- we didn't even return to the camp for supper, brought it with us and then didn't touch it. We've both got strong appetites when it comes to sex, that much is a given; she's as bad as I am at times. It doesn't exactly help that now her appetites are near always insatiable. The woman may just drive me into an early grave, if she keeps this up.

"Hmm? Sorry? I wasn't paying attention."

Elsa rolled her eyes, and returned to her pacing. "I said, my darling husband, if you had been paying attention, that there's this... ancient ritual that... binds soulmates or breaks soulmates or... I'm not sure what it does exactly, but it has to do with couples. Specifically ones that have been destined for each other."

"Like us."

She nodded, turning on her heel and resuming her pacing the other way. "It could be a way to... to trick the river, if only we knew what exactly it was."

"Would Vanja know?"

Elsa shrugged, stopping to face her husband, her hands moving back and forth on either side of her belly. "I don't know. I can ask her when she checks on me next week. She's been taking care of Egil's wife, so I can't ask her right now. Remember? Iben's health is failing. It's why she didn't stop by for my checkup this week; she's trying to make Iben as comfortable as possible." Hans nodded; Egil had been the only elder on the council to object to his being there. His wife had stood against him, insisting that Hans was simply a man, and an injured on at that. He has scowled as their relationship had grown, and when Elsa announced her pregnancy, Egil had accused her of 'polluting Northuldra blood with foreign blood' to which Elsa, fourteen weeks along- Hans assumed- at the time, had stood up against the man, pulling out her mother's shawl and wrapping it about her shoulders.

"My mother was Northuldra! My father was Arendellian! I am a Princess of the People of the Sun and the rightful heir to the throne of the People of the Spring! My husband is a former prince of the People of the Sea! This baby that is growing inside me is not just from the People of the Sea, but the People of the Sun and the Spring! Because I am of the Sun and Spring! You accuse my husband of foreign blood, then you accuse me too, even though my blood comes from the lost Princess that escaped before the mist fell! As the daughter of the lost Princess, I have right to the Chiefdom if neither of my cousins marry and produce heirs by the time they each become chief! And if neither has done so by the time they step down, I have sole right, for I carry an heir inside me at this moment!"

She had then grabbed the loose material of her tunic and pulled it taut against her belly, exposing the bump she'd taken such great care to hide. It had stunned the elders; not necessarily her pregnancy, but that she'd spoken back. Iben had approached her then, reaching out and gently caressing her belly with a smile. "I had suspected, when you first entered, for you are walking the way a woman who carries another within her walks. I have been there, trust me, I recognize it."

He nodded as the memory faded, rubbing his forehead. A moment passed, before he finally replied, "I could ask Yelena."

"Can we trust her?"

He met his wife's gaze. Matthias stayed quiet; they'd caught him up, especially about Yelena and the deal she'd made with the river as a young woman. He couldn't believe it, it didn't seem possible. After a moment, Hans stood, going to her. He took her hands when he got close enough.

"I don't know, but we have to try. Besides, it's just a question. No harm ever came from asking a question."