A/N: This fic takes place in the summer following "Queen Anointed". It is the next installment of the Queen Anna AU. This will be a shorter, multi-chaptered piece. Cover art for this fic made by atelier-aria on Tumblr.
This is a HANSANNA story and is appropriately marked as such. Please don't leave comments solely for criticizing the pairing choice.
Chapter 1
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The swinging pendulum on the grandfather clock seemed to be the only thing Anna could focus on as she sat in a regularly scheduled conference with her advisors. Such gatherings were always held on Tuesday afternoons and usually lasted no more than an hour. Except today. It felt as if she were being held hostage in her seat with the innocent ticking of the old clock mocking her.
The three-hour mark was quickly approaching, and it was taking everything she had to maintain a straight posture and to merely display plain interest in what was being discussed. The important topics— trade agreements and domestic affairs were handled early and were over with so long ago that part of her almost forgot some of what was said already. A good thirty minutes alone was wasted on the older gentlemen hinting at several suitable young men throughout the realm that would make for excellent husbands. She certainly made sure to tune them out through that. As if she were really ready to entertain the notion of marriage, and to a stranger, no less!
No, she had her preferred choice of husband. A lone prince hiding himself away in the Southern Isles…. It was all just a matter of time at this point.
Time for her to be comfortable with herself and her life.
Time for her to work up the courage to drop that bombshell on her courtiers. She already knew that conversation would be incredibly unpleasant.
So for now, she forced a smile and a nod here and there so her stuffy old men wouldn't think she completely zoned out on them, and all the while she mentally counted down the minutes for this meeting to end so she could drown out her misery with dinner and a nice hot cocoa.
Movement caught her eye on the other side of the chamber. One of the double doors opened and in stepped General Mattias. His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the conference still going on, and he made a show of pulling out his pocket watch and waving it about. A silent question of 'are you really still in here' seemed to come off him, and Anna could only nod her head in his direction.
"Well, I think that concludes our agenda for the day." The eldest courtier in attendance said while adjusting his glasses and flipped through the many parchment notes before him.
Yes! Finally, I'm free—
"There is actually one more item to discuss," a rather large gentleman to Anna's right spoke up suddenly and cleared his throat while intently staring at his elder comrade, as if his gaze would immediately jog the man's memory.
Oh for the love of cocoa!
"…Ah!" The eldest said suddenly and folded his hands onto his pile of notes. "Yes. Now that there has been a comfortable period settling Your Majesty into your role—"
Comfortable? Comfortable for whom?
"—we feel it's time that we commission your official Coronation portrait."
Of all things, a painting commission was definitely not something she was expecting. That certainly piqued her interest. Almost immediately her eyes lit up and she sat up straighter in her chair. "Oh?"
I've never sat for a formal portrait before! Well… not as an adult, at least. In the last family painting, I was a toddler. I barely remember it at all!
Her mind instantly went to other recent paintings that featured her— two canvases that featured Elsa, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf. One of them was a birthday gift from Elsa when she turned nineteen. The other was done during a summer festival last year. They no longer hung in the art gallery. One of the first things she did after handling Elsa's memorial was to have them removed and placed in storage. The reminders of what used to be were too painful.
But this news excited her. To think that something was going to be done for her for a change!
"Do I get to choose the artist?" She asked before too long a period of silence went by.
"Yes, Ma'am." One of the younger gentlemen nodded and reached down to a box sitting under the table. He pulled it up and pushed it down the table to where Anna was sitting, "We've already taken the liberty of reaching out to several reputable painters. Their names and samples of their work are here for you to inspect and choose from."
Anna's hands traced along the ribbon closure of the box. It took a lot of restraint to not rip the package open right there and take a look inside. "How long do I have to make my decision?"
"Ideally, we would like to have the chosen painter start within the next few weeks, but of course if Your Majesty needs more time to—"
"—perfect!" Anna said and quickly got to her feet and clutched the box to her chest. "Well… I think that's all we have time for today. I do have some big decisions to make, after all.
"Oh wow! These are stunning…" Anna exclaimed as she passed some sketches over to Mattias, who was sitting at the other side of her desk. "It's going to be really hard to make a final pick." She set the ones already viewed off to the side towards him and picked up another paper. Her eyes widened a bit as she took in the sample. "Though… maybe not this one." She said with a forced little smile as she turned the paper around to show her companion.
Mattias chuckled. "I think that one might be a bit too… abstract for a formal portrait."
"Yeah. I agree." Anna said with a slight giggle in her voice, "Something tells me my advisors won't quite go for this." She set that particular sample aside and then reorganized the remainders into groups to further narrow them down. While she took second, even triple looks at the sketches and managed to slim her top choices down to five, out of the corner of her eye she could see Mattias stand up from his seat, stretch out his arms, and walk about her study. Every so often, her eyes would dart from the sample in her hand to his position about the room, at least until he seemed to settle near the mantle of her fireplace. Then she was able to devote much more attention to her task. With another several sketches tucked away into the 'not interested' pile, she let out a huge exhale and slouched backwards against the back of her chair.
"Are you alright, Your Majesty?"
"Oh yeah," she casually waved him off. "This is just a lot more mentally-intensive than I thought it would be…." After a few more deep breaths, she shoved herself forward again. "But I'm determined to narrow this down today. I have to!"
"You were only given these samples yesterday. I thought there wasn't an immediate rush."
Anna pressed her lips into a thin line. "Th-there isn't. Not really, anyway. But the sooner I decide, then the sooner we can get the man here. I'm really excited for this, y'know? Finally, my stuffy old counselors are doing something for me."
"Well, don't make too hasty a decision." Mattias offered, "You want to be pleased with the artist's work."
"I don't really see how I could not be. All of these men are so talented! It makes my own artistic ability look like…well… garbage." She cleared her throat and picked up her top picks to sort through again.
"Is this one new?" Mattias asked suddenly. Anna glanced up to see him now staring up at the medium sized painting hanging over the fireplace. "I don't remember seeing this before."
"It came last week." Anna said and stood up from her chair to approach and admire the mounted artwork: a scenic, moonlit perspective of Arendelle's main square framed by columns of wisteria. Such a view was only possible from a particular balcony on the south side of the castle, and one that reminded her of one of the most pleasant moments of her life. "Remember that large, awkward crate that Kai had brought in right before my birthday?"
Mattias wrinkled his nose at the memory. "How could I forget? It smelled horribly like fish."
Anna giggled. "This was hiding in there… along with a selection of other little gifts. Thankfully nothing else got fishy. Hans would have been devastated. Something tells me he didn't intend on sending everything over on a fisherman's vessel…"
"Hans?" Mattias raised his brow and glanced back at the painting. In the bottom right corner just below a vine of leaves was the neatly printed letters 'H.W'. "Ah… the Southern Isles prince? I didn't realize he took up the arts."
Anna smiled fondly. Her eyes softened as she took in every aspect of the artwork. "Yes! It must be a natural gift or something. He claims he never went to an art academy or anything." Her head tilted to one side, "Back when we were in the Southern Isles, I got to see his living space. The walls were covered in paintings and sketches… everything from hands and trees to landscapes… even scenery from memory. I couldn't tell you how many paintings he's made all from the day we met. There were Arendellian elements down to the finest details… a-as if he sat right in front of them and painted on site. Everything was absolutely breathtaking…."
Mattias turned to glance between the artwork on the wall and his queen's adoring gaze upon it as she continued on praising Hans' talents. It was perfectly clear that she seemed to take far more interest in this one painting than any of the samples scattered across her desk. He wondered if it were for the level of showcased talent, or merely because it was a gift from someone that she adored.
"Do you suppose," Mattias began in a questioning tone as a thought suddenly came to him, "that perhaps this prince paints portraits?"
Anna immediately shrugged, "Oh I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen a single portrait around his secluded space. Hans isn't really a people person, you see. He keeps to himself and feels more comfortable out with his horse where—"suddenly she shut herself up as her brain caught up to her mouth and almost instantly, she blushed. That wasn't a mere question of curiosity, and she suddenly felt silly for not catching on sooner. "I… oh! You mean… my portrait? You… want him to paint me?"
Mattias shrugged lightly. "Is that not something you would enjoy?"
"Immensely!" Anna exclaimed and clasped her hands against her chest. "I could only imagine how gorgeous it would turn out! His attention to detail is sublime! A-and I know I could trust him to make me look my absolute best…." Her voice suddenly trailed off as the smile on her face waned. Her shoulders slouched forward ever so slightly and her hands lowered back to her sides. "But… to ask that of him? I don't think I could really do that."
"Why not?" Mattias asked.
Anna slowly turned and strolled back to her desk. "Because it's Hans… and asking him to paint me would entail bringing him back to Arendelle. You and I both know that my courtiers would never go for that idea. They don't like him after what happened in the past, and I really doubt that they care if I forgave him or not." She sank back down in her chair and gently picked up the one sketch at the top of her pile, "I'm sure they're expecting me to pick someone from this list… an artist that was carefully selected… and probably Arendellian, too."
"I doubt that's a true requirement, Your Majesty," the general pointed out, "There are a great number of artists selected for you that reside throughout the realm. And besides…" he said calmly, "I do believe you have been itching for a reason to see the Prince again."
"I… I have been. I miss him terribly." Anna sighed, "I'm just worried about what the counselors are going to say when I even try to propose such a notion-"
"Then don't propose it." Mattias said, "You are the queen, and the decision on this matter rests with you. You can inform them of your final choice, and they will have no other option but to deal with it."
If only it were that simple… Anna sighed. Still... I can't believe I didn't even consider Hans and his artistic talents for this project! Now that it's been brought up, I would love more than anything to have him here to paint my portrait. I mean… just having him here at all would be absolutely wonderful! I really do miss him… and I'm sure he feels the same about me. At the very least, I bet he's itching to get away from home even if it's only for a short while. But even bringing up his name to my courtiers would be setting myself up for disappointment. They went through a lot of trouble to research and reach out to all of these amazing artists. It feels…I dunno… wrong to just toss all of that hard work aside because of my personal feelings towards another man.
Anna flipped through her top three choices and really studied each sketch. If this were Elsa… I'm sure she would pick whichever Arendellian artist she liked best. Or… she'd merely find the one who painted Papa's coronation portrait and seek him out, so long as he was still living. Elsa was a stickler for tradition, even if her magic did put her own spin on things. It's no wonder she and my advisors got on so well.
I appreciate and honor traditions, too… but I still want to be able to make my own choices without prejudice or pressure.
Ugh, why does everything have to be so hard?
"Mattias, what would you do?" She suddenly asked and glanced up at her friend. "—And don't you dare say 'the next right thing'!"
He chuckled. "Follow your heart, Your Majesty."
"… you want me to choose Prince Hans."
"I want you to select the artist that you truly believe would be best for the job. But I also would wish for you to enjoy having your portrait done. Sittings do take time. It's a great deal of one-on-one time with your artist of choice. Not to mention that arranging the prince's stay would do wonders to brighten your spirits. It's been a hard couple of months, and I think I speak for everyone in this castle when I say that you deserve to do something for yourself that brings you joy."
She still felt torn with the idea. "Do you think the courtiers would try to throw a fit bringing Prince Hans here?"
"Oh, I'm sure they would. But as I said before, it is your final say."
Anna made a face and returned her gaze to the sketches before her. I could have Hans here in a heartbeat. Even if I don't even tell him what this is for, he would drop everything without hesitation just to come see me. After all, he did say he would wait however long…, she mused, remembering their last moments together. I just wonder if bringing him here will get his hopes up too much. Or worse… will he think it's too soon? What if he doesn't want to come to Arendelle at all? What if he's still unable to forgive himself and move on?
…What if I'm waaaaaaay overthinking things?
"Do… you think Prince Hans would want to come back to Arendelle for this?" She asked quietly. It seemed like a strange question to ask the general. After all, she was the one who knew Hans best, not him.
"There's really only one way to find out." Mattias replied. "You would have to ask him."
Somehow, I knew he was going to say that. There's just so many implications in bringing Hans here, and I'd hate for his stay to overall be a miserable one thanks to my court… or worse, the people of Arendelle not accepting his return. That's what I'm afraid of most, and I don't think I could bear putting him through all of that.
Besides... how quick and simple it would be for me to just shove one of these papers into Mattias' waiting hands and say 'hey, go bring this person here'! I could sit quietly and patiently as a mere stranger— well, a highly skilled stranger— takes his time making early sketches and painting my likeness on a canvas probably bigger than I am. I mean… that's what everyone else in this realm does… right? No king or queen really has romantic feelings towards their court painters.
That route would be best for everyone. It's harder for me emotionally, but in the end, it's a more proper and regal road to take. That would be the next right thing. And the more I dwell over this whole ordeal, the more I'm going to overthink everything.
Anna stacked the three papers nice and tidy in her hands and held all of them out to Mattias. "I'm going to task you with retrieving my painter, General Mattias." She finally said. "I narrowed it down this far. I think from here, I'm going to let you make the final decision on my behalf."
Mattias' brow raised curiously. "Are you sure, Ma'am?"
Anna nodded reluctantly. "Yes. I want to be surprised. This is my final word on the matter." The tone of her voice didn't quite match how adamant her words were, so she at least tried to put on a confident face.
He gave a curt nod. "In that case, I'll review your choices and set out the first thing in the morning." The papers tucked under his arm as he moved to stand at attention and bow to her, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, he caught her eyes shifting from him to Hans' landscape hanging on the wall behind him. There was a sad longing in her gaze, and the sight alone was enough to cement his decision on where to set sail.
A surprise indeed.
