I am grateful to Collington! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the help!
Two foolish princesses
There were few better things in the world than making fun of someone — especially if that someone was a jerk. Maybe it was only better if you had a partner in the joke. Iduna knew that very well, so she lent herself to the game. The sun was shining, the sweet, intoxicating scent of blooming flowers flying all over in the air, their wild colors blossoming on everything they touched. She sat in front of a thick-trunked oak tree with a book in her lap, though its pages went unread. Instead she watched her girls as they chased each other around the tree. She loved listening to their laughter, watching them as they jumped, and laughing with them when they jokingly shot out their tongues. The tag became sluggish over time as the two little girls got tired. With beads of sweat running down her forehead, Elsa sat down next to Iduna and panted, resting her head on her shoulder. Anna jumped next to them — though she was already breathing quite heavily, her face flushed as well.
"Can a hide and seek come now?" she asked, blinking at her sister, who shook her head.
"Later. But not yet." The younger girl's lips twitched in frustration, then she threw herself into her mother's lap. She wanted to say something — Anna always wanted to say something — and her mouth was already open when she suddenly frowned and stared into the distance. An elegant man dressed in navy blue approached them. He walked slowly, admiring the flowers that were blooming in the yard, and when he saw them, his eyes lit up, and he picked up his pace at a barely noticeable haste.
"Who is this?" Anna wondered aloud, tilting her head. Iduna shrugged, probably a subordinate or leader of some ministry. But who knew, there were so many…
The man reached them and took off his hat with a huge smile on his face, then bowed playfully to the two little girls.
"Ah, good morning, Your Highnesses. I hope you are having fun here with your nanny."
Anna looked up at Iduna's face, then began to laugh, so much so that she fell over and thudded heavily on the grass. Elsa first grimaced at the man, then she also started to laugh when she saw her sister's reaction. Iduna smiled and nodded her head to the side. So she would be a nanny today.
She was not surprised; Agnarr sometimes called her the Queen of a Thousand Professions. For the first time, back in the year of the coronation, she had been a gardener. Because she had had to make up her mind to pick strawberries in the garden, one time an hour before a rather important meeting. And if she was already there, she would start weeding. It was like there weren't people who were paid to do this. No. She remembered it now.
She tore the weeds with loose hair, in a shirt, slightly baggy pants, and knee-high boots. Then a female voice had spoken behind her.
"Hey, gardener!" Iduna froze, then turned slowly. Was that her?
"Yes?" She asked as she straightened up. In one hand was a bowl of strawberries, in the other a little spade. She found herself being confronted by a dark-haired woman who was watching her with a not too reassuring look.
"I came to the queen for a meeting, I was sent to the blue salon, but I don't know where it is. Will you tell me?" Then she looked at her critically. "If you know." It was not awkward. Not even a little.
She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes. I know. West wing, third floor, the hallway to the left, and the fourth door from there."
"Lead me there."
Iduna smiled as kindly as she could. Although Agnarr sometimes said she looked like she was about to kill when she did this.
"Gladly."
She jumped out of the vegetable garden and led the woman into the castle, then didn't stop all the way to the salon. She opened the empty room, where, already prepared, was a teapot and two cups and the documents they had to talk about. A contract she had already guessed would not be concluded on her part.
The woman took off her burgundy travel robe and sat down, then looked at Iduna standing in the doorway.
"What are you standing there for? Fill my drink." Iduna continued to smile, nodded, went inside, and poured tea into one of the cups. "Into the other too."
Iduna almost replied that she didn't want to drink now, but she caught herself in time and obeyed the order.
Then she looked up at the woman, who kept tabs on her every movement.
"What are you grinning at now? Call the queen here to me."
Iduna smiled at her again just for spite.
"I understand. Of course. I think she's not ready yet, but… I'll tell her," she nodded and began to back away toward the exit. She slowly closed the door behind her, then started running.
As she turned around in the hall, she almost pushed Agnarr.
"Why are you running here?" Her husband asked, grabbing her arm so she didn't fall. "Shouldn't you…"
"Yes," Iduna nodded and pressed the strawberry bowl into his hand. "Wash them!"
And she was already running.
She burst into the bedroom, washed her hands, then dragged some clothes out of the wardrobe and changed clothes as quickly as she could. She made herself some simple hairstyle and a basic make-up, put the tiara on her head, then went back to the woman and, throughout their one and a half hour discussion, she tried not to laugh for not recognizing her. And then she told her heartlessly she wouldn't support her idea, sorry. (The woman said she wanted to create a foundation for the workers. Her!? It was clear she didn't show any respect for them. That money would have gone into her pocket.)
But since then, she'd been a waiter once (because she had had to hold the tray until Kai went to the bathroom), an artist (because if someone had drawn, she was an artist right away), a stable girl (because if someone stands in the barn and talks to a horse, that's a stable girl) and even a goose-girl too (this happened if you helped the real shepherd in the village catch the birds if they escaped and you were not spiffed out, while the ambassador of the neighboring country stumbled on you). But she was proud of herself because she'd been caught only once, which hadn't been her fault either.
So her new occupation wasn't surprising. Nanny. Not bad. Definitely better than a goose shepherd. But she would have preferred a stable-girl then. The man now frowned as he watched Elsa, who wiped her tears from the laughter, and Anna, who was weltering on the ground.
"Why are they laughing?" He looked at Iduna, who looked at the two little girls. "They are fools, unfortunately."
The girls laughed even more, and she added in herself that, "They are not, and you are." Not even by accident. On the other hand, the man's gaze darkened.
"How dare you say that about the princesses?" He snapped. "Yet what do you think their mother would say if she would know what you're splattering here?" Anna began drowning in her hysterical laughter.
Iduna wondered what to say. She figured a big quarrel was coming. Elsa had a teacher, and if she had just said a bad word…
"What luck, she doesn't know," she said slightly ironically.
"Not yet! I'm complaining to her," he declared and dashed away angrily.
"Wow," Elsa blinked at her mother. "What if you find out what you said?"
Anna jumped up and stared at her with big eyes.
"You won't give yourself the boot, won't you?" She hugged her and continued dramatically. "No, don't do it. We love you!"
For some reason, the man could not find the queen in the palace, but returned proudly because he did find the king. Agnarr stepped in front of them with slightly raised eyebrows, with the tattletale on his side. Those sitting under the tree stood up when they saw them approaching, and Agnarr glanced at Iduna.
"I want to talk to the nanny." She curtsied deeply and lowered her head.
"Your Majesty."
"I hear you called my daughters fools."
"No, papa! Please," Elsa begged, but couldn't hide her smile. "Don't send away our dear nanny!"
Anna jumped between the two adults. "Sir, my king, she is our only nanny," she lamented, hugging Iduna's leg. "She's our everything!"
The man who brought the family together smiled contentedly. Agnarr, on the other hand, looked at Iduna.
"I'm sorry, girls. This woman can only stay if your mother wants her to."
"Don't tell her!" Anna pleaded. "She'll be terribly angry."
Iduna put her hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Calm down, Anna, sweetie. If Her Majesty also orders me to leave I accept her decision. Even if her decisions are often questionable," she mused. "I question them almost every hour. I don't think she's a completely normal woman."
Her family laughed, the man's face flushed with restrained rage, but Agnarr raised his hand and motioned, then looked at his wife.
"In that case, I'd like to talk to the queen."
"Okay. What's that, honey?" Iduna smiled at him and booped his nose.
"You know, the nanny told our kids today that they are fools," Agnarr said gravely, an expression of horror coming onto his face.
"Oh no!"
"Unfortunately. What do you say, should we send her away?" he asked. The man's face next to them began to purple.
"The truth is, I would like to stay if you don't mind," she said. The two little girls hugged her legs even tighter, and Agnarr nodded.
"Fine then." He stepped beside them and put an arm around her shoulder, then added, "By the way, I voted for you too. That's a four-quarters majority. I'm sorry, sir, my wife will be staying." He glanced at the man, who, hesitating, just shook his pale head, mumbled something, then ran away.
They watched with a grin as he stumbled on his own feet, clumsily fell on his stomach, and finally disappeared into the bushes. Anna giggled.
"Iduna," Agnarr said after a few seconds, "Why did you call my kids fools?"
Fun fact: I wrote the story on April Fool's Day.