Winter months in Arendelle, when the night started so early it was still afternoon, could get very boring. Anna had a low tolerance for boredom. Growing up she had often managed to wear herself out sufficiently to sleep at the proscribed bedtime for little princesses. Since everything had happened though, things had almost reverted back to "The sky's awake..." arguments.
It was fortunate for the others in the castle that Olaf was nearly always ready to play or explore with Anna or else her husband, sister and her sort-of-sister-in-law would be driven mad. Today was not one of the days that Olaf could serve as a distraction, they had lost track of him at some point but weren't worried, the little snowman turned up every time.
Kristoff and Freya were being bothered by Anna now.
"Can we go for a ride Kristoff? We can get the sled and Sven and go and look at the lights." Anna said, lying on the couch and across her husband's lap. They were all in one of the cosier rooms of the palace, the darkness outside meant the lamps and fires had to be lit and everyone preferred the company, not to mention keeping the fuel costs down.
"Not today Anna, I gave the sled a fresh coat of paint remember? You helped. It has to dry before we can go anywhere." Kristoff said, until her head was in his lap he had been picking out tunes on his mandolin which had been sufficiently entertaining for a while.
"Fine." Anna sighed gustily, she had helped paint the sled earlier in the day, but it didn't change the fact that things were boring now. Sitting up again she looked around to see what Freya was doing.
Freya was concentrating it seemed, she had her head inclined to look at a book in her hand and a pencil was working its way across the page. Anna had often seen her sketching in the evenings but had never seen what was in the book. That was going to change. She marched over to Freya. "What're you drawing?"
"It isn't finished yet." Freya said, shifting a little to hide the page. Anna pouted.
"Do you have any finished sketches I can see?" She peered around, trying to get a glimpse of the paper.
"I'll have to sort out the book to show you Anna." Freya said calmly keeping the page out of sight. "I don't think you'll be interested in some of the drawings."
"Are you sure?" Anna took another angle to look from. It wasn't helping; Freya had a good shield over the drawing. "Awwww. But I'm bored."
"I am certain that there are drawings in here you won't want to see." Freya said firmly. In fact she closed the book. Mercifully the door opened and Olaf came bounding in with Elsa behind him at a more sedate pace.
"Hi guys!" Olaf greeted everyone in his usual manner.
"Hey Olaf. What have you been up to?" Anna switched her focus, getting a hug from the little guy and then from Elsa. Anna and Olaf moved to chatter and Elsa found a space on the chair next to and mostly on Freya.
"Hi." She spoke softly and settled herself onto Freya in a familiar and comfortable manner. An arm moved to support and hug her.
"Hello. Finished the meeting with Kai?" There wasn't much work in the winter but Elsa had some Jule plans to work through with the chief aide.
"We have a plan drawn up." Elsa said, relaxed in the comfortable embrace. "Speaking of, what are you working on now?" she pointed to the book. It had been a birthday gift to her partner, modest but really all Freya would accept, especially as the palace paid her a wage.
"Oh, just a little sketch or two." Freya turned the page to a half completed series of drawings of Anna. "She doesn't stay still long enough to get a whole one down. I think these might end up as composites when she is anywhere similar to what I have."
"They're lovely." Elsa traced a partially realised image of Anna watching the fire. There had been so many missed moments between the sisters that immortalising even one little one was a treasure.
"Hey!" Anna called everyone. "Do you want to go play in the snow?" She smiled to all the faces she loved.
"Yes." Elsa said decidedly. She climbed off Freya and dragged her out of the chair to come too. Kristoff was grinning and standing to join them and Olaf was already making his way to the door.
It took a little while for those who noticed the low temperature to get coats and boots and gloves and hats but everyone had a very enjoyable time in the torch-lit courtyard and knee deep snow.
It was a few days later that Anna returned to the sketchbook as a subject for investigation. She had brought it up in conversation with Elsa the afternoon before. "Freya likes to sketch, she used to make things from iron, remember? I gifted her a nice book instead of all the scraps of paper she used to use." Though there had been no word on just what Freya drew.
Anna needed a scheme to get it, some sort of distraction so she could have a look through without anyone stopping her. Anna grinned, she was good at schemes.
"No." Kristoff picked up a bunch of carrots to take out to Sven as his wife, lively as ever, pestered him.
"Kristoff, you don't understand I just have to see into that book." Anna pressed herself against him in a way he found quite distracting.
"Why do you have to look at it?" He wondered if that was a regrettable question for a moment.
"I've seen it and Freya wouldn't show me so now I am curious and I need to know! Really, I explained this before I asked you for help." It was a warning tone then.
"I asked again so you would see how, strange, a reason that was?" Kristoff defelected, he had somewhat filtered out the request but for the bare bones. When it came to Elsa and Freya he had a healthy respect for them and their boundaries.
"Hmph, you're no help at all." Anna pouted.
"Well right back to the first scheme you pulled me into I've been put into situations of extreme risk." Kristoff teased. "I lost a sled."
"You got one back, and you got a wife too." Anna wheedled, though she wasn't quite as insistent. She was remembering their first few days together and the events that occurred. Time had made them less fraught, given them a glaze of goodness since the after-effects turned out so positive.
"Yes, but I'd rather not risk the wrath of Elsa, if you upset Freya she might not take too kindly but if I upset Freya I might get frozen in place in the courtyard or something."
"True." Anna conceded. "I'll just have to get someone else to help." She stood to her tip-toes, kissed Kristoff on the nose and turned to leave. "No telling on me though." She smiled winsomely, waved, and dashed away.
"Sure." Kristoff was dazed and waved back slowly. There was more than one reason Anna got away with so much.
It wasn't hard to think of her next potential accomplice. There was really only one choice. The staff wouldn't conspire with her and Elsa was certainly not going to help her out. That left a certain little snowman. Olaf was in garden looking for the first signs of snowdrops again. "Hello Olaf!" Anna shouted, she had bundled up against the cold.
"Oh Anna! Hi!" Olaf came toddling over with his ever present grin and had a hug from Anna.
"Say Olaf, you aren't busy are you?" Anna had sat on the snowy ground heedless of staining her skirts or getting snow-damp.
"Well, I was looking around to see if any of the flowers were ready to come out and play." Olaf pointed to the barely visible lines that marked out lawn from flowerbeds, "But it seems we're still too far into the winter."
"Yes, the only flowers we'd be able to see are the ones in paintings or drawings..." Anna said, she wasn't going to trick Olaf but to get his help in this scheme she would have to make it appealing.
"What do you mean, drawings?" Olaf was perceptive when he wanted to be. Of course he had picked up on Anna's little emphasis.
"Weeeeell... Freya has this sketchbook and I want to take a look inside but she won't let me and if you can help me distract her then I can get it."
"Is this something we might get in trouble for?" Olaf looked at Anna with an expression he had probably learned from her.
"Maybe?" Anna allowed, drawing out the syllables.
"Okay. I'll help." Olaf grinned. "I've never been in trouble before, it might be fun!"
"I thought I was an optimist!" Anna laughed. "Come on, we'll need a plan." She led the snowman inside, her scheme needed some work still and a co-conspirator would need to know the plan so far.
Freya was in the library with Elsa, winter did mean less work for the monarch and she wanted to spend some of her free time with her partner. She was sketching again; while it wasn't sculpting iron, taking grey-black bars and creating something of beauty, it was creative enough to fill the void. "I think I need some sort of snack." Elsa said, rising from her seat. "Oof, I need a break from sitting too." She stretched out and wasn't surprised to hear Freya stand too, a hand traced her spine and a kiss was laid where neck met shoulder. It seemed whenever she did anything slightly sloppy or unlike her usual poise then Freya was driven wild.
"You want me to come with?" Freya said, mumbling the words into the pale skin. She slipped her arms around the trim waist of her partner.
"I think I can collect a sandwich in my own castle safely." Elsa smirked and snuck her hand around to squeeze something toned but soft and certainly hers to admire. It was so useful that Freya liked to wear trousers instead of skirts with all sorts of bustle in the way.
"Alright then. I'll be here." Freya released Elsa and returned to her seat, watching with fondness as she walked away.
Elsa didn't notice two figures watch her leave the library. "Snow Queen has left the site, let's move Mister Olaf."
"Aye aye Captain Anna!" Olaf scuttled across the hall to the library door, looked around carefully and waved Anna over. "All clear Captain." Olaf saluted.
Anna had read a lot in her years alone. Her father had been very fond of naval fiction and many a day a young princess had commandeered tables as ships, wearing some hat she had scrounged from a loft. "Good work Mister Olaf. Now for operation book borrowing." Anna opened the door and Olaf walked in.
Freya was sat at a table bathed in sunlight, reading some book from the shelves. Her sketchbook was near her at the table with some pencils beside it. She looked up when Olaf arrived. "Hello Freya! Have you seen Elsa?" Olaf smiled wide and waved.
"Uh, didn't you pass her on the way here? She only just left the library." Freya looked at the little snowman slightly puzzled.
"Oh did she?" Olaf leaned his head to the side, an action he completed by holding one side in place with his arm. "I must have missed her. Can I wait here for her?"
"Of course. I think she shouldn't take too long." Freya picked up her book again.
"What're you reading?" Olaf hopped up on a chair near Freya to peer at her book.
"The Amber Witch. It is a story." Freya replied, keeping her eyes on the page. "A nice one really. Elsa recommended it."
"She read it to me once!" Olaf chimed. "It has a good ending."
"Don't tell me please. I'm only a few chapters in." Freya warned. Olaf was very happy to share all about what he had read and been read to by the sisters which meant the unwary could have a story spoiled by a cheerful comment.
"I like it when Elsa reads to me." Olaf said, the warmth in his tone the special one he used when speaking of his creator. Freya carried on reading. She had to agree though, Elsa could read and speak seven modern languages fluently and communicate well in three more. She could also read and speak Latin, Greek and the ancient runes of the land. This opened up a lot more of the library to Freya who could only just about read English besides their native language, there were not too many books in her native tongue to choose from.
What Freya had not noticed though, as she read and thought fondly of the times Elsa would read to her, was Anna sneaking across the library. The redhead had taken a roundabout way to approach the table Freya sat at, keeping hidden so as to borrow the sketchbook. Spotting her chance Anna moved surprisingly stealthily. Her arm reached over to the book and she lifted it carefully, soon the book was in her grasp. Following her path back to the door she grinned. Hopefully Elsa was a few minutes away. Tarrying a moment was her undoing, Freya noticed her. "Hey! Anna, give my sketchbook back!" There wasn't threat but there was surprise, Freya stood.
"Woop! I'm going to look! You have to catch me!" Anna ran, a few more cries of "Woop!" as she slid on a rug or avoided running into something when she checked for pursuit.
"Olaf, were you working with Anna to help steal my book?" Freya looked at the snowman with a stern expression. As much as she adored he snowman too, for he was Elsa's and he loved her deeply and was loved in kind, this was annoying. Especially if Anna's bad influence resulted in more behaviour like this.
"Yep!" Olaf grinned. "Am I in trouble? I've not really been in trouble before! Not like this." He kept on smiling. Freya recalled a story shared by Kristoff, of how he had told the snowman to keep quiet after they were about to be separated and Olaf had agreed only to merrily speak to the first person he met.
"Yes you are in trouble." Freya sighed and put her book down on the table. "It was naughty and also naughty of Anna." Freya sincerely hoped that eventual motherhood would calm the princess down. "So there is a question of punishment." It didn't take long for Freya to think of something fair and hopefully effective. Then she went in search of Anna.
Elsa returned to the library to find a strange sight. Olaf's head was in an empty sconce high up the wall; a relic of torch lit past, his body sat beneath it, stick hands balanced on rocking feet. "Olaf?"
"I was naughty so Freya punished me!" He said cheerily. "She was right, sending me to my room wouldn't work and I don't have to eat so no dessert was pointless too! I can have my head back down in ten minutes or as long as she takes to track Anna down!"
It was a rueful pressing of fingers to forehead that Elsa gave in reply. Of course Anna was getting Olaf to join her in mischief. "Alright. It is a clever punishment and I will respect it. Though I had hoped better of you Olaf." She wagged her finger at him and could only feel nostalgia for the times is had been her mother telling her off for whatever jape or scheme Anna had dragged her into. Her book was where she left it. Le Dernier Homme had been a book she had read in solitude with one perspective, now she was experiencing it with another to greatly different result.
Anna had a good head start on Freya and the benefit of knowing just where everything in the palace led. She had taken a few tricksy doorways through rooms and had deemed herself safe from discovery at the other end of the building to the library. Listening out a moment there were no sounds of Freya. Anna dropped into a comfy chair and placed the book on her lap to have a good look through, she opened the cover and began to leaf.
There were excellent drawings of horses in all kinds of states, galloping free or grazing and any way in between. Anna carried on flicking through, admiring the horses and noting a nice one of her favourite. There were sketches of Olaf at play with local children, looking at flowers or striking a pose. Anna giggled at those. As she flicked through drawings of the family group, together or separate, they slowly became more and more a focus on Elsa.
Portraits that seemed to capture the vulnerability and strength Elsa had, so lovingly drawn that Anna felt herself tearing up a little. Studies of her skating or creating with her ice, the familiar poses even had a little colour added. Drawings of a Queenly Elsa from perspectives obviously from where Freya stood as guard, drawings of Elsa with her, it was wonderful to see her sister smiling from that other view. The situations grew increasingly more casual, sketches of Elsa in her favourite chair or sat in the garden enjoying the sun, the simple joy on her face almost glowing from the page.
"So sweet..." Anna mumbled, finally realising she was probably intruding to be looking through the sketchbook without Freya's permission. It looked like the book was empty from then on but there was one sketch then, after a few blank pages and more promised beyond from the looks of the ruffled pages. At first Anna noticed how unguarded and simply happy Elsa was, her face free from even the slightest hint of stress or anxiety. Then she looked at more of the sketch and realised something, something she really had never not ever wanted to consider, honestly.
Elsa wasn't wearing anything in this sketch. Not one stitch. Oh, it was a very tasteful drawing. She was on some fabric or other, 'Probably the bed' Anna's traitorous mind suggested, and there wasn't anything to see as such. Just a curve here, a little shading there... Anna dropped the book with a yelp.
More pages fluttered over.
"Oh my goodness!" Anna slapped a hand to her eyes and did her level best to shut the book but not look at the book.
"Ah, I have found you." Freya's tone was lightly amused and came from the doorway. Checking the book was indeed shut, Anna opened her eyes and looked up to face Freya.
"Nudes Freya? Does Elsa know about them?" Anna knew she was very much blushing; she hadn't ever wanted to see her sister like that or have that context in her mind!
"Of course." Freya smirked, "She wouldn't have posed for them if she didn't know." She took the book back. "There are plenty of things to do when we have a day off and don't leave the room all morning. Drawing is one." Anna really could pack a punch but Freya was sturdy enough not to be affected too much. "Ouch."
Anna was still blushing brightly. "I did not need to know that!" she wailed; "Now that is in my head Freya. You have put this in my head." Her mock weeping and overwrought gestures was certainly over dramatic but she really wanted to purge her mind, it was like the pink elephant game and it was not fun.
"I told you not to look in my sketch book. I was going to show you the horses and Olaf, I have another smaller one that i take out, there are some of Sven and people skating too, lots of horses and boats. But this one is mostly private." Freya held the large book under her good shoulder; she was using a similar tone to Elsa when she wasn't quite scolding Anna.
"I'm sorry, though I definitely learned my lesson there." Anna was working on moving her mind onto the portraits of Elsa instead of the other drawings. "Though, I would have liked to see some of the drawings of Elsa. They are really very good and I have spent a lot of time around art."
"I used to sketch when I had free time, then I wasn't in the right mindset to do so. When Elsa and I got together I started again. She does get embarrassed that I draw her so much though." Freya chuckled, "I think it is a way to share with her how I see her. I guess a little too much love goes into them because she always gets so shy."
"I could see, the way you caught her eyes on the one of them, it was like Elsa was right in front of me." Anna smiled. It was very clear just how Freya felt about her sister. The artwork must have been the best expression of it the guardswoman could share due to the secrecy required for the two to stay together. "I won't try taking your sketchbooks again, but could you show me the other one?"
"I suppose I could, though I would be more comfortable if this was put away too." Freya indicated the book under her arm. "Come on, it is in my room." They walked together from the part of the palace Anna had run to.
"So, 'your room' or your room?" She giggled.
"My actual room. Too many servants clean up Elsa's suite; I was successful in keeping them out of mine. That's where we keep everything we don't want found." Freya smirked. Anna really did not want to find out why everything had such an undertone to it.
They passed the library on the way. "I have to tell Olaf his punishment is over." Freya explained. Anna didn't appreciate the stern look.
"Do I get punished too?" Anna asked, wondering just what could be applied for her. Withheld dessert was still quite a dreaded one, even considering she was twenty.
"I think finding the back pages of the sketchbook was an adequate deterrent from similar mischief." Freya commented, amused at the face Anna pulled. When they reached the library they found Elsa reading and Olaf still in place. "Are you now fully punished Olaf?" Freya asked.
"Yep. I won't help Anna borrow things from you without permission." He grinned.
"So that was what he had done." Elsa said drolly, putting her book down. "He said you were punishing him and he got a scolding from me." She looked at Anna. "Do I need to give you a scolding too?"
"No, no... I learned my lesson the hard way." Anna's face was turning slightly pink which earned a quizzical look from her sister.
"Someone decided they just had to look through my sketchbook." Freya tapped the book under her arm.
"I see." Elsa thinned her lips and blinked. "I am sure Anna won't be making off with your things again."
"Never!" Anna squeaked and nodded her head to agree with Elsa fervently. She knew that Elsa had guessed exactly what she had found in the book.
Freya had been putting Olaf back together while the sisters spoke. "Okay little guy, next time have a think before you jump into schemes with Anna. Or I might have to put something even higher up." She chuckled and patted him on the head.
"That could be fun though." Olaf smiled and shook his newly reattached head to check the fit.
"Olaf..." Elsa warned.
"I'll be good." Olaf smiled his winning smile and then toddled off to play somewhere else; he hadn't found being in a sconce as much fun as he'd thought.
Anna had taken a seat beside Elsa. "I'm sorry for looking, but the other pictures were lovely." She leaned on the table. "You know, you need a portrait done, soon. Before you're thirty anyway." Anna looked at Elsa.
"Maybe I do, though father had only one done after his coronation, his and mother's marriage portrait." Elsa considered the idea she'd had. "Maybe I can get one done but, honestly, Freya's sketches and watercolours are fine until some jubilee event."
"I'm glad you like them so much." Freya had joined them and gave Elsa a hug from behind. "Now Anna, I had promised you a look at the safer sketchbook..." Anna jumped up to follow her to the room.
"I'll still be here." Elsa called to them as they left, returning to her book. 'A portrait might be nice though.' She thought, Anna's suggestion was a valid one. Maybe she could have a few more made, her father had only two because of his strict stance on strangers in the castle after all.
So, this is one on the trail to a few 'plot point' stories that will be leading up to the ending I have in mind for Free. I have some more to go, also for Becoming Family and maybe some more M rated content once I can get a little more plot around the smut.
Though one question for readers: Do I ride the feels train right through unto death? While my planned epilogue is a more 'distant' perspective from a descendent the penultimate can either be their end or a much less sad place. Thoughts?
Another is this: Could I, should I, approach some Elsa femslash with a fresh new OC? Of course this will be once all the Freya and Elsa tales are told and hopefully when some headway is made in SyaStK...
Ho hum, hope you enjoyed this chapter.