Disclaimer: I don't own the story of Frozen or any of its original characters, including but not limited to Anna, Elsa, The King, Olaf, Sven, Gerda and Kristoff.
AN: This story is back to the timeline of the first chapter. I really appreciate your guys' reviews so far and I am always looking forward to more. I'm also looking for someone to beta read this story, if interested send me a message on this site.
The air is brisk outside and I can feel its light sting against the skin of my face. My brief meeting with one of the visiting princesses has put me in a worse mood than I ever would have anticipated. I have known about this proposal for a long time; the royal family of Corona are our cousins after all, and marrying the families together only ensures the friendship between the two kingdoms remain strong.
It is a logical match, a princess of Corona and I. Of course whomever I married would rule Arendelle with me since I am first in line; and the other would marry someone to rule Corona. It would not matter which daughter, since they were both girls, and I would be able to choose the one I fancied more.
That was how my father explained it to me when he first told me of their planned visit over a month ago. I felt the same way then as I do now; I will not marry the eldest, no matter what, because I will respect her claim to her throne in Corona even though none of our parents seem to. I will not marry the youngest either if she is over eight years younger than me. I have no idea of how old anyone is, but if she is eight years younger than me that would make her 15 years old, and I cannot and will not marry a child.
If I am being perfectly honest I would rather not marry anyone at all. The whole point of me marrying a woman would be to produce heirs, and that is evidently not going to be a possibility. And I cannot marry a man because the king does not get pregnant with his own children. I would rather die alone and pick someone to rule next.
That is, of course, never going to be an option for me.
I do appreciate what my father has done for me; due to my unique position as an ice magic wielder, my father never wanted me to have to answer the beck and calls of anyone else. At least that is what he told me the reason was, I have a feeling it is more to do with the fact that I am the only heir and as a woman I cannot rule. But I still appreciate it; whether his pretend reason is true or not, it is still valid. If I was a woman all the time, I would not be my own person.
I return to the thought of the Corona princesses; how can my own father expect me to take away their freedom as an individual? After all, marrying them would unintentionally do that. And I do not even want to let my thoughts drift to what we would have to do to obtain children at some point.
As I am walking and flooding my brain with nothing but worrisome thoughts, I lose my way. I suddenly stop, jerked awake from my thoughts by the realization that nothing around me looks familiar in the slightest. I turn around a few times and try to remember where I am going. I see the familiar sled near the vegetable cart and remember; I was going to see Kristoff.
Kristoff is my oldest friend, and the only person outside of the castle who knows my gender secret. He is also the only person outside the castle who understands the full extent of the ice curse. Only Gerda knows besides him, about the nightmares and the fits.
Unfortunately I am also cursed with smart asses for friends in this life and Kristoff is even sassier than my lovely Gerda at times. Today is not one of his sassier days though, he is feeding carrots to Sven the reindeer and chatting with the vendor. There is a big smile on his face, he must be thinking of something nice.
I walk up behind him, unnoticed by him, and whisper "boo" in his ear. He startles forward and drops the carrot he was holding. He turns around and a bewildered look has replaced the smile which appeared on his face only a moment ago. However, when he sees that it is only me, the smile returns to his face.
"Highness," he addresses me, the sarcasm is cut by his smile and is not nearly as effective as he planned it. He regains the sarcastic tone though, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"My father is whom you owe the pleasure to, he gave me the morning off." I smirk back at him. He can read through my thin smile though. I know he can because I see a change in his eyes. The deep brown eyes shine with concern and I lower my gaze.
He shifts away from me and hands some money to the vendor. "Thanks for the carrots, you know how Sven hates to eat anything else. Now, please excuse me but I have to remind his highness how we peasants have fun." The vendor smiles and waves us away.
Kristoff mounts Sven and helps me up behind him and we start riding to the cave.
We found the cave when we were children, probably about eight or nine years old. It is not so much a cave as it is a fortress and a hideaway from the world and the problems we faced. My lies and Kristoff's terrible truths cannot hurt us there and so it is a magical place.
In all physical descriptions, our cave is pretty ordinary; there's a pool of water in the middle and lots of trees and plants, there is a small opening on one side of the ceiling which lets in the natural light. But being in the dark in the cave is even better because it is so still and so calm. We have fallen asleep there before when we spend too long.
When we arrive we tie Sven to his favorite tree outside. It is big and casts a large shadow that he likes to lie in. Kristoff and I go into the cave and he puts down his things and lies against a tree. I pull off my upper layers of clothing and am in only my undergarments and bindings.
I sit near the pool and splash some water on my face, trying to wake myself up from the unintentional trance I have entered since meeting Anna this morning. As I wash my face and neck a bit, I can hear Kristoff pulling off the top layer of his clothes as well. His feet are soft against the floor of the cave, but I can still hear him as he walks closer to me. He sits down behind me and scoots himself closer until our barely covered bodies are touching.
He rests his head against my back and lets his hands rest in my lap.
"Els, what's wrong?" For a moment I do not answer him, this is our cave, troubles and problems should not enter here.
"I have to get married." Somehow, despite the whirlwind that is inside my head, my words sound very calm and collected. I know they will not remain that way the longer we sit here and talk. They will eventually gain a trembling quality.
"Who?" His voice is anything but calm.
"One of the princesses from Corona."
"You don't know which one?"
"I'm not meeting them until later."
"Then how do you know you are going to marry one?" He is getting defensive now, and I am feeling myself lose it. Lose the calm edge I have had on my voice.
"Kristoff," I say, tasting the name in my mouth slowly before I continue, "It's just how these things work. Corona is a valuable ally and we have been friends with the family for so long. There is no one else that father would pick."
He sits silent for a moment and I feel his head turn against my back so his face is pressed into my skin. His lips press into my skin for a moment.
"Elsa, you're getting very thin." He runs his rough fingers gently over my ribs, which are visible through my skin.
"I know," I sigh loudly. "Kristoff this is not something we can hide from. I am going to have to marry someone, even if it is not one of these girls. It will be some girl some day and she will have to be my wife."
"Els, I like you better less thin. These ribs, they make you look sickly."
I turn around to face him, and I must look like a mess because he says nothing, only pulls me closer and hugs me tightly. My face rests in the crook of his shoulder and he strokes my hair gently.
"Kristoff, I don't know how I'm going to through this." He pulls his body away from mine and puts his hands on my shoulders.
"The same way you get through everything else Eza."