(Author's Note: I apologize for the short chapters. Very busy with another project. But I tried to put a lot of effort into this one. I just didn't plan for it to be a long string of scenes in the first place!)
"…The baker insists the child's actions were intentional. He was unable to provide proof, but the word of a hardworking adult often trumps that of a hungry child. …My lady?" The chamberlain raised his eyebrows. "Princess Elsa?"
In the throne room, Elsa's gaze was fixed on someone just past her overweight advisor. She was trying with great difficulty not to laugh. Jack Frost was behind the chamberlain, giving him reindeer antlers with his hands.
Her third day standing regent for the King and Queen of Arendelle, and she had managed to conceal her powers—sort of. Often her nerves and worries got the better of her, but whenever she made a mess, all she had to do was look at Jack, focus on him, and she could usually clear it up before any of the palace staff arrived. And even when she lost focus, terrified of her own magic, Jack could dispose of the evidence in a pinch. He always waited until the last second, though, adamant that she could do it herself. The chamberlain, bless him, had been faithfully prompting her action in little things, making sure she was as prepared as she could be for the tasks of ruler.
"Your Highness?"
Elsa blinked. "I beg your pardon, chamberlain, I-I was just…" She bit her lip.
Jack pretended to spit on the chamberlain's bald head and rubbed it with an elbow.
"Um." Elsa exhaled in the beginning of a giggle, and held it in. It was nearly impossible.
"Princess, I know there must be quite a lot riding on your shoulders at the moment."
Jack mimicked the chamberlain's upheld finger, strutting about and giving himself a double chin. Slouching.
Elsa bit her lip. "Yes."
"And it's really very easy to give in to that pressure. I can understand if you need a bit of a break."
"Right." Frost was drumming on the man's head now.
"It's just that you seem distracted, Your Highness, and if you'd like—"
"Stop, Jack!" Elsa blurted at her friend, riding on a full laugh. She gasped immediately, wishing the noise would blow her outburst away from existence.
The chamberlain's eyebrows rose to what would have been his hairline. He stammered. "I'm sorry?"
Cheeks burning, Elsa watched as Jack tucked his arms behind his back as if he hadn't done anything at all in the first place, blue eyes on the ceiling.
"N-N-Nothing," Elsa cleared her throat, smoothing the skirt of her dress. "Please continue."
"Who is Jack?" The chamberlain glanced about, but of course he saw no one. "My name is Geoffrey. Princess Elsa, are you feeling all right?"
Jack, strolling behind the man, casually tapped his staff on the floor, as if bored. Ice crept around the chamberlain's shoes, not thick enough to make him slip or to even become noticeable. It was a drawing made of frost—of Geoffrey's head, with an unfair and totally ridiculous exaggeration regarding the size of his nose. Elsa covered her mouth with her hand, fighting a smile and a wave of annoyance at the same time.
"Please forgive me, sir," Elsa mumbled, steadying herself. "Actually, I think I'll take that break now."
"But Your Highness—there isn't anyone else here. What—"
"Excuse me." Elsa rushed past him, grabbing Jack's hand on the way to her room and dragging him with her.
When they reached the upper level, Elsa saw with a sickening fear that Anna was just coming down the hall. Her redheaded sister seemed to grow in height every time she saw her. Apple in hand, Anna's eyes lit up when she saw Elsa.
"Elsa!" she cried, delighted. They'd seen each other all of four times in the past three days, when Elsa was forced to be out of her room to attend any duties she might have. Anna quickened her pace. "There you are! You're not busy? I mean, you're busy, of course, not like you don't have a life. We could—"
"Not now, Anna," Elsa muttered, barging by and swinging open her door, pulling Jack inside and slamming the door in Anna's face.
"O-Okay. Bye."
Listening to her sister's footsteps retreating in a glum slowness down the hallway, Elsa whirled on Jack, dress swishing, gloves tightening as she curled her fingers into her palms.
"What on earth was that?" she demanded.
Jack was busy laughing. "You should've seen your face when I knocked his wig off!"
Elsa tried to both control her anger and hold onto it. It wasn't easy. "It was a toupee, and you shouldn't have—"
"Man, that guy's head is shiny."
"Jack!" Elsa almost stomped her foot. "This is serious. How can I tend to my duties when you're dancing around making a fool of yourself?"
Jack adjusted his shawl, pulling it harder onto his shoulders. "Hey, you've seen me dance. Doesn't look like that."
He was trying to make her smile. Well, she wouldn't. Even if the memory of their dance was pulling at the corners of her mouth. Irritation flashed over her and shoved the memory backward.
"And not only did you make a fool of yourself; you made a fool of me, too." Elsa turned her back on him crossly, folding her arms. "There's a right time and a wrong time, Jack, and during important discussions with the chamberlain while I'm standing regent…" She took a deep breath. "…Is the wrong time."
Jack put his hands up. "Okay, okay, I give. Sorry."
Elsa blew a stray strand of hair off her forehead. She glanced down at her gloves. "I froze my meal this morning." She felt her fingertips tingle. "One of the guards asked if an assassin they caught near the docks should be given a trial, or taken to the gallows and—and I just…"
"Choked?" Jack bent down a little to look at her eyes.
"I've never been asked those kinds of questions before."
"The big ones."
Elsa nodded. "They expect me to decide another person's fate? Just like that? I couldn't cope." She threw up an arm, pacing nervously. "And the maids want to know whether it's warm enough to dry the royal laundry outside rather than by a fire, and the chamberlain needs me to think of what to do with a little boy who stole a single loaf of bread—I never realized how many people relied on my parents, for the most trivial things. And now it's my job, and I…" Elsa sighed.
"It's only three weeks, Elsa," Jack reminded her. "Don't let it get to you."
She closed her eyes. "I keep making mistakes. Sometimes I'll think too hard, a-and the next thing I know, the curtains will be covered in ice! Or Anna will find me with no excuses, or the staff will give me strange looks and I'll...freeze." She chortled bitterly at the last word.
Jack didn't say anything, leaning against the wall.
"And why shouldn't they stare?" Elsa added, turning back to him. "I mean, here I am. Holed up in my room for ten years, and now I'm talking to the air—"
"Me," Jack interrupted, voice unusually firm. "You're talking to me."
Elsa bit back another complaint. "Exactly. No one else can see you, Jack, no one else hears you."
"Thanks for the reminder, Princess."
"No, I—I didn't mean—" Elsa stopped, thinking of how she'd like to word this. "It's just, they don't know you're there, so to them I'm talking to the air. Who would leave Arendelle in the care of a madwoman?"
"Your parents." Jack rolled his eyes, smirking, waiting for her to smile back at his teasing. She didn't. He hated the uptight look in her eyes. He'd caused that? No thanks. Time to fix things up a little.
He darted toward her, pulling her toward the window, blowing it open with his staff. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"You wanted a break, right? We're gonna take a break."
They climbed onto the roof, Jack insisting she take off her shoes lest she fall. He could fly—she couldn't. The sun was setting on a long day, and though Jack didn't feel its warmth, he could see it was soothing a shaken princess. Elsa sank into a sitting position, folding her arms over her knees. She wondered if members of palace staff were already looking for her. Anna probably was. Fighting her nerves, she decided to make conversation.
"Jack," she began, "where do you go?"
"Huh?"
"When you're not here, I mean."
Jack was tempted to ice a butterfly a few feet below them. He resisted. "Eh…just hanging around. I visit the fjords and stuff."
"It must be wonderful. To escape whenever you please." Elsa rested her chin on her hands.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Who said I was escaping? I know you're a stick in the mud, Princess, but you're not that bad."
Elsa finally smiled, nudging him. "Sometimes…" Her smile fell. "I wish I could just leave."
She sighed, looking straight ahead, watching the sun sink into the sea, past the docks. Were her parents doing all right? Mama sometimes got seasick. Papa got bored so easily on a rocking vessel. But they hardly ever got even this long to themselves. They must be enjoying their journey, however limited their surroundings. She hoped they weren't thinking of her—no—she hoped they weren't worrying about her, about how poorly she was handling her newfound authority. They seemed to gray with anxiety whenever they saw her. It was that lack of color that made Elsa believe they were fooling themselves. Making her regent was the wrong decision. She was far, far from ready.
Jack leaned forward, interested, breaking through her thoughts. "What do you mean, leave?"
"Just that." Elsa glanced at him, then out to the town, and further, off to the mountains. "Sometimes, I wish I could go far away. From all the people. The worries, my room, those walls…" She gestured to the stone wall encircling the castle, the tightly closed gates, the wood chipped with the suspicion and disappointment of the citizens.
"Anna?" Jack added, head dipping a little.
Elsa looked sharply at him. "No!" Then at her hands. "I…I suppose…" She bit her lip. "I don't know. It would be so nice, not to have to worry about hurting her—or anyone else I love."
Although Jack's companionship had helped her find a little control over the storm, her nightmares were worse than ever. Every night it was a different, colder demise for her family and her kingdom. Every dream made sure she knew it was her fault.
"And I wouldn't have everyone here looking to me to be a great ruler someday, especially now. I'm just not prepared. I'd be free if…" Elsa raised her head, returning her gaze to the sunset. She chortled. "It probably sounds silly."
"No, no, no," Jack assured her, a little too quickly. "It makes sense." He glanced at his staff, almost balefully. "Guess that's the good part about being invisible. You can do whatever you want. Nobody's watching you."
Elsa gave him another small smile. "You aren't invisible to me."
Jack grinned back. "And you're not my ruler yet." He elbowed her. "Don't sweat it, Princess."
"I don't sweat, Jack."
"Really? Everybody sweats."
"I don't!"
"If it makes you feel any better," Jack offered, "I don't either." His eyebrows knitted. "Do I?"
Elsa laughed.
Smirking, Jack added, "Anyway—don't worry about being Queen. That's not gonna happen for a long, long time."
Elsa rested her head against his shoulder, the way she had when she was little. Jack would've tickled her back then, but he didn't now. He just sat with her, still grinning, watching a bunch of kids running about in the marketplace below.
He was right. She wouldn't have to be the official leader of Arendelle for many years. Relief washed over her, knowing that hearing the words Queen Elsa was surely a long way off.