Olaf's ABC
Elsa walked the hallway leading to her study after a break. She had been working all day in the last details of a trade agreement with Westland. The agreement was important for both countries and they had been trying to come up with the best deal for both parties. The whole week her council, Westland dignitaries and herself had spent long hours of arguments that seemed to led nowhere, before they had come up with the best ideas. And for that reason, Elsa had spent the whole day reading, editing, and making sure everything was ready for the following day. She wanted to present the final documents with her signature to Westland's dignitaries in their last reunion, to make sure they returned to their kingdom with everything ready on Arendelle's part. Truth be told, the agreement was more beneficial to Arendelle, than she wanted to let them know, and so, she wanted to sign everything before the neighbouring kingdom changed their mind.
Of course, the long hours sitting and reading the same papers over and over again, trying to make sure everything was as convenient as possible, took a toll on Elsa. The whole week had been exhausting, and she couldn't wait to sign the last few documents and call it a day. Not to mention she had promised her sister to spend the evening with her and Kristoff. Anna understood the importance of the reunions, but it didn't mean she was okay watching Elsa tire herself to the bone, working long hours.
That morning, after an argument about Elsa's health, Anna had made her promise to stop working as early as possible and make sure she spent some time with her family and join them for dinner. When Elsa made the promise, she had believed it to be a terrible idea. She had had to work non-stop since breakfast to make sure she finished her work before sunset, but at the end, it had been useful. Not wanting to disappoint her sister, Elsa had worked in the most efficient way possible. She was tired -exhausted to be honest- but she was pleased with the achievement. The fact that it was a few minutes past four, and she only had a couple more documents to sign, was proof enough she had done an excellent job.
She entered the study, a hand rubbing her neck to relieve some more tension before she returned to her work, when she noticed Olaf was sitting in her desk. What was worse, he was not only sitting, he was holding her quill and was using it. Worried about what the snowman was doing, she run the distance between the door and her desk, and called Olaf's attention.
"Olaf, what are you doing?!" she asked, afraid to know the answer.
The snowman raised his head and smiled at her, not really noticing the worry in her voice. "Oh, hi Elsa! I'm helping you," he said happily as he rested the quill on the wooden desk and picked the piece of paper.
"Helping me, how?" asked Elsa. Sadly for her, she already knew the answer, she was quite sure the piece of paper Olaf had picked was one of the documents of the agreement. She hadn't been able to see what Olaf had done with the quill, but something told her it was nothing good.
"I heard you say you were tired this morning, and Anna was angry with you. So, I thought I could help you finish." He put the document on a pile on his right and picked a new piece of paper from the left side.
Knowing that her fears were true, she moved quickly and took the paper from his hand and put her other hand over the left pile to prevent he picked another paper. Not only Olaf had been writing -or pretending to write- on the documents she had been working on all day, he also was changing the order of the pages. Elsa didn't need to look at everything in detail to know Olaf had ruined the last two or three hours of her hard work. She could only hope he hadn't touched anything else while she was away.
Elsa knew his intentions were good, but her frustration at seeing the mess on her desk was too much to stop herself from raising her voice at him. "Olaf! What have you done?!"
Shocked by the way Elsa had took the paper from his hand, and the tone of her voice, he froze in place not knowing what to answer, "I- I was…"
"Olaf, look at this! It's all covered in ink! I can't read what was written!" she said as she picked other parts of the agreement that were scattered over the desk. "What were you thinking?"
"I- I wanted to help you," he said, not daring to look at her in the eyes. He was not used to seeing Elsa so angry, especially at him. "I wanted you to spend more time with us and I thought I could help."
Elsa pinched her nose. She knew her anger and frustration was clouding her judgement. She tried to calm down before answering. "Even if it was well intended," she said in a lower tone, "you need to learn not to touch things without permission. We've talked about this." She watched him nod his head in agreement. "This is why I always tell you not to do it. Now these documents are ruined."
Olaf looked at the desk trying to understand the mess he'd made, and asked, "can you fix them?"
She noticed Olaf felt bad for what he had done, and she suddenly regretted yelling at him. "It'll take time but I can fix them. Don't worry."
He sighed in relief, climbed down Elsa's chair, and began walking towards the door. Before he could grab the door knob, Elsa stopped him. "However," she said calling his attention. "I want you to stay here until I finish."
"What? Why?"
"Because you need to understand your actions have consequences."
"But-"
She crossed her arms and said, "no buts. Sit in that chair and wait. It's not fair if I'm the only one who has to stay here and work."
Reluctantly, Olaf did what Elsa told him and sat in the chair near the door. He wanted to go out to play, but at the same time, he was not used to seeing Elsa angry, and he didn't want to go against her wishes. He sat there and hoped for Elsa to be able to fix his mess soon.
Olaf tried his best to remain silent while Elsa worked. But after two hours sitting in the chair doing nothing, he couldn't stop himself and asked, "I'm bored. Can I go play outside?"
"No until I finish," said Elsa not raising her head from her work. Truth be told, she was utterly bored too. There was nothing she despised more than doing the same work twice, but she couldn't leave things as they were. She needed the documents ready the following morning. "It's your fault we have to stay here working and getting bored."
"But I only wanted to help. It's not my fault I don't know which papers are important." Olaf usually didn't contradict his creator, but it was difficult for him to stay in the same place for more than an hour without complaining.
"Everything in my desk is important," said Elsa, who kept working. She just wanted to finish her work and call it a day.
"I could help of I knew what things are ot not important."
"I know what is and what is not important because I can read the documents. That's why you need to ask first. And that's why you can't help me with this," explained Elsa hoping he was going to stop distracting her.
"But it's your fault I don't know how to read," said Olaf pouting.
Deep down Elsa knew Olaf had said it because she was the one who created him. She knew Olaf believed he needed to be born with the skill to be able to read and write. But still, somehow what he said, and how he said it, had touched a chord in Elsa. All of a sudden she felt inadequate to take care of Olaf, and she felt guilty for not teaching him how to read. Olaf was like a young kid, full of energy and eagerness to learn new things about the world; and she was neglecting him by not giving him the chance. She hadn't really thought about it before that moment, but she realised the huge mistake it was. Olaf had been living with them for over a year and not once she had thought about the possibility of Olaf learning how to read and write. Elsa felt ashamed. She had, unconsciously, neglected someone she loved once again. She felt the need to fix her mistake at that moment.
After a few minutes in silence, Olaf thought Elsa was going to ignore his remark and decided to keep quiet too. He thought that maybe Elsa was not in the mood to keep talking with him, after all she was probably angry with him about what he had done. But to his surprise, Elsa raised her head after she finished writing something and said, "Olaf come here." He did as told and walked towards the desk, he stretched to be able to see what was on Elsa desk and waited for her to say something.
Elsa picked the piece of paper and showed it to Olaf. At the top of the page the word 'Olaf' was written. She let him see it for a few seconds and asked, "Do you recognise this word?"
He analysed the word and said, "no."
"That's your name. It says 'Olaf'."
"That's my name?" said the snowman in awe, as he traced the word with his finger.
Elsa's heart warmed at the amazement in his eyes, but it only made her feel more guilty for not thinking about teaching Olaf before. "It is. Now you know how to read your name," she said. "Would you like to learn how to write it?"
"I can learn to write?"
Elsa noticed how excited he was about the idea of learning, and she thought it was best to give him something to start with while she finished her work. She wrote the letters of his name one under the other, as best as possible, and said, "These are the letters in your name. If you can copy them, you'll be able to write them. And so, you'll be able to write your name. Why don't you write each letter as many times as possible in the row to practice while I finish?"
Olaf's face lighted up with happiness and answered, "yes!"
She smiled at his eagerness and handed him the piece of paper and a pencil. She watched him lay on the floor next to her and began writing before turning to her own work. She hoped Olaf's assignment was going to give her enough time to concentrate and finish. But she could only transcribe one more page before she heard him mutter.
"Like this? No, no, no. That's not right…" he said not noticing Elsa was watching him work. "Maybe like this? No, it doesn't look like Elsa's."
Elsa chuckled. She thought it was really sweet to see him so focused in his task. However, she soon remembered that her mother and her tutors had taught her how to draw each letter before giving her assignments. She felt she was being unfair with Olaf, and so, she called his attention. "Olaf? Come here, I want to show you something," she said, gesturing for him to get closer.
Olaf picked his piece of paper and pencil and was by her side in an instant. "I want to help you. Watch this," Elsa began explaining how to draw the 'O' but noticed it was hard for him to see correctly. "Come here," she said, picking the snowman up and sitting him on her lap. Olaf giggled, happy to be able to see what she wanted to show him, and to sit with her at the same time.
Elsa grabbed the pencil and began showing Olaf how to draw each letter. After she demonstrated how to do it, she gave the pencil to him once again and told him how to hold the pencil correctly and where to start drawing. Once she finished, Olaf began drawing the letters.
Elsa's original idea was to show him the process and continue with her work, but watching him work and improve after each letter he draw distracted her from her. Before she knew, Olaf had finished the four rows and turned his head to her, waiting for the next step to follow.
"Wow…" she said. "Olaf, you drew them perfectly." She patted his head and asked for the pencil once again. "Now, all you have to do is write one letter after the other in the correct order and you'd be able to write your name. Look."
"That's it?" he said when Elsa showed him how she used each letter to write 'Olaf' on the paper once again.
"That's it. It's not easy to write fast though. So, take your time and draw each letter slowly at first."
"Okay!" said happily as he grabbed the pencil from her hand.
Elsa laughed and put a hand on his head as she pointed to the things he needed to improve with the other. She watched him draw his name over and over in the sheet of paper, and soon forgot about her work.
Anna, who had been waiting in the dining room, decided she and Kristoff were not going to wait for Elsa to join them for dinner anymore. They had sat in the table on their own for over thirty minutes and she had had enough. She had tried to be patient with her sister, after all, she knew Elsa had a lot of work to finish. But she couldn't keep the castle staff waiting for a Queen that was most likely not going to show up. Not to mention she knew Kristoff had been working all day, and he was starving. She asked for dinner to be served and the two of them had dinner by themselves.
Anna was disappointed Elsa hadn't taken the time to send someone with an apology. Anna knew Elsa wanted everything to be perfect for the last reunion with Westland dignitaries, but wanting things to go well didn't mean she had to forget about her health and her family in the process.
"I can't believe Elsa is working late again. She promised to spend the evening with us," said Anna when they left the dining room.
"You know your sister is busy. It's just one more day," answered Kristoff.
"It could be just one more day, but what if it becomes a habit? She needs to take care of herself. Not to mention spend time with her family."
"Your sister only works a lot because she cares about us and Arendelle. I understand what you mean, but maybe she is doing what she believes is right."
"Then, maybe I should do what I believe is right too," said Anna as she turned in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" said Kristoff who was surprised to be left walking alone on the hallway. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to force Elsa to leave her study this instant," answered Anna who was already walking in the direction of Elsa's study.
"What? No, no, feisty pants. Listen, you are angry right now because your sister didn't show up like she promised, but forcing her to leave her study is not going to help." Kristoff knew Anna's intentions were good, but he also knew an angry Anna and a tired Elsa were a recipe for a useless fight.
To Kristoff's dismay, Anna kept walking not paying attention to what he was saying. He decided it was best to follow her to Elsa's study. He expected Anna to enter the room demanding her sister to stop working, or an explanation, but he was surprised to see Anna stop on her tracks the moment she opened the door. When he caught up to her, Kristoff was able to see what Anna was seeing. Elsa sat on her desk like it was habitual, but to their surprise Olaf sat on her lap while he draw. They didn't notice he and Anna were standing on the door. Elsa was focused on Olaf's work, and she was laughing wholeheartedly at whatever she was seeing.
Before Anna or Kristoff could say anything they heard Elsa say, "That's not how you write my name. I already showed you the letters. You are writing it wrong on purpose."
"I think it looks better like this. And it sounds better too." said Olaf laughing too.
"Olfa sounds nothing like my name," complained Elsa, laughing. She then hugged the snowman and rested her chin on top of his head. "Try again. But this time using the letters we practiced."
Kristoff was about to comment he didn't know Olaf knew how to write, when the door silently closed on his face. Anna had closed it without saying a word, and she was already leaving.
"Anna? Where are you going?" asked Kristoff following her.
"I thought we could go to the library like we planned after all," she answered, a smile plastered on her face.
"I thought you were going to tell Elsa to join us."
"I was going to tell Elsa not to work so much. I was angry because she was working herself to the bone instead of spending time with the people she love," said Anna. She then turned to Kristoff and asked, "but, did you see her in there? I can't complain if she misses dinner because she was spending time with Olaf. Specially knowing how much he misses her when she works so much."