Servants rushed to pull open the doors to the dining hall as Elsa came down the hall; her slight tardiness having caused them to slack a little. Now that they were again at their posts some smiled and gushed silently, admiring their queen.
"Your Majesty. You look stunning." A swordsman commented, bowing when she thanked him. Elsa wondered briefly if she should wait for her sister, that way they could go in together, but she knew she shouldn't let her surprise quests wait any longer if she could help it. Elsa nodded to the swordsman, and he pulled open the doors to the grand dining hall, announcing her arrival.
A woman and her son stood up by the table. They shared prominent blonde hair, but that was where the similarities seemed to end. The woman, whom was very beautiful, dressed provocatively in vibrant colors, her hooded eyes piercing, her smooth face intimidatingly alluring. Her smile was almost a mock, her gaze slithering along Elsa's young little body. The Queen could hardly meet her eye for longer than a few seconds.
Her son, however, was bashful and calm. His blonde hair was swept to the side and his smile warm. His hands were behind his back, pushing out his chest to show off his medals and pendents like peacock foliage. He was quiet in manner and physique...
...And he looked disturbingly like her father, the late King of Ardenelle.
Elsa froze, a chill filling her up as she stared at the boy, her mouth opening in frightened awe. A sudden shout from behind her jeered the Queen out of her shock, and she turned just in time to catch Anna before her sister knocked her over.
"Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Princess Anna." The swordsman projected, his posture military.
"I'm sorry! We're sorry, we're really late, oh gosh." Anna wheezed through a smile, panting as she straightened herself. "G'morning, please have a seat. You too, Elsa - I mean, Queen Elsa -"
"Anna."
"- And we can get this started. We haven't had guests in a long time. Well -"
"Anna."
"- We had guests for our - Queen Elsa's coronation, but... What?" Anna looked at her sister, her brow furrowing when she noticed Elsa's moist eyes. "What's the... Elsa?"
Her sister cleared her throat, composing herself as Anna slid her gaze to their guests, trying to figure out - oh.
Anna's breath left her, shallowing and leaving her mouth dry. Under her breath, for a slight heartbeat she believing what her eyes were seeing, Anna chewed out, "Daddy?"
It wasn't her father though. This mirage was too young, too clean-shaven. Too...Alive. Anna licked her lips, a sense of protection welling up in her chest as she realized the pain such a small mistake had caused her tiny family. "Who are you two? Why are you here?"
The older woman looked surprised, but she grinned in a cat like way. Teenage defiance.
The swordsman at the grand entrance shifted on his feet, clearing his throat awkwardly. Having gathered the royal sister's attention, he thickly proclaimed, "Presenting Queen Veronica, Regent of Ardennes, and her son prince Arryn."
The woman's vulturous smile turned chastised as the herald announced her status.
"Y - " Elsa swallowed, "You may sit." She said, trying to be heard from across the table.
The serving maids filled their plates with much of everything, leaving the rest within arm's reach of the Queen and her guests. The woman, Veronica, pleaded for wine, and once given had her glass filled to the brim. The wine matched her lips. Anna could hear the serving maids whispering with the cooks in the kitchen, and she nearly burst,
"So, what are you guys doing here?" She blurted out, immediately regretting her folly when Elsa hissed her name in chiding.
The older woman giggled throatily, her son's chest rumbled with his cool laughter. The sister's exchanged a quick glance, Anna smiling warily and Elsa completely frozen.
"Pardon us, Queen Elsa," Prince Arryn set his silverware down, apologizing. She lifted a dainty hand in acceptance. "My mother and I are being indecent, I know."
"Our dismal journey has blundered our manners, it seems." Veronica touched her son's shoulder, her lips in a laugh. "Sweet Elsa, I should like to introduce you to your cousin, prince Arryn. Notice his striking semblence to your father?" Lord knows, they noticed. "That is because your father was my brother. We were very close as children."
"Our... Aunt?" Elsa chewed out the words, in a state of confusion. "We... We were never informed of your - existence. Please excuse our shock."
Veronica scowled faintly, her years tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I have little doubt that was your mother's fault, if I'm permitted to so freely speak of the dead." But she barrelled on without consent nor rejection. "Lady SoandSo had my brother under her spell, and she always hated me. For what reason I do not know." Anna sensed that was a lie, but held her tongue. "I'm sure your father would have mentioned me if he were not so deeply in love with her. We were very close. Almost inseparable."
"I believe you." Elsa's hands curled, and Anna peeked worriedly at her older sister, listening to the authoritative strictness lacing her voice with ice. "Though it makes one wonder where our loving aunt was during my Lord father's funeral."
Oh, that's such a good point! Anna thought and glared at their visitors.
"That is a part of why we are here." His mother was too shocked for words, so Prince Arryn was left to reply. "We hope you would be able to forgive us our small - transgression, Your Majesty. But it could not have been helped. My mother still grieves. We did, however, have a ceremony of our own in Ardennes, commemorating the rulers of our brother kingdom. We can only express our deepest regrets -"
"I loved your father." The Queen Regent suddenly proclaimed, spitting and teary. "I loved him with all my heart. As much as a younger sister could love her brother and then some. Do not sit there and silently accuse me of anything less than devotion."
The dining hall grew quiet. The doors to the kitchen pausing in their revealing of the next courses. Veronica was clutching her son's hand in a death grip, her eyes alive with fire. Then, "More wine!" she barked, and the world leapt to make up for lost time.
Anna could practically taste the awkward embarrassment wafting off Elsa as she screamed internally. "Sorry. We don't have any suspicions on your claim to our family. We - Queen Elsa and I share your grievance to our parent's deaths."
Veronica nodded, waving brusquely as she took a deep drink from her glass. Silence lapsed once again. Anna felt responsible to keep the conversation alive, if anything.
"Sometimes it feels as if Queen Elsa and I are alone. I'm glad you came to visit us, Aunty Veronica. I hope you and Prince Arryn will stay for a while."
The Queen Regent's smile loosened the knots in Anna's stomach.
"Ron."
"Uh - huh?"
"Call me Ron. Please. Veronica makes me queasy."
Anna spooned food into her mouth, trying to hide her blush. Elsa stirred beside her, straightening in her seat. "May - now that we've gotten through the bad things, and there is no longer any hard feelings between us, may we ask what the other reasons for your visit are? Not that we don't appreciate visitors, but..."
"Yeah, you're showing up here was pretty unexpected." Anna chimed in, enunciating surely around the unchewed mouthful of mead.
"Anna," Elsa whined.
Prince Arryn chuckled, fingering his napkin on the table. "That is very true, Princess Anna, Queen Elsa. But we are much too far away -"
"Much," Veronica bemoaned.
"- for riders or even ravens to be successfully received. It is not just sea that separates us. We are thousands of leagues inland as well, milady.
"With all that slop between us, I refuse to be sorry for any lack of communication." Veronica refilled her glass, her smirk a little forced. Anna wondered what as passing through her mind just then, but was too hooked in by her son's charisma that she soon forgot.
"There is a folklore which proposed dragons were once used to carry messages betwixt our lands. But that is a story for another time."
"The month we had word of the - passing, " Veronica's falter was a bereft, brief bearing of humanity; everything else about the woman seemed... Other-worldly, Anna supposed. Unreal, Elsa judged. "of my brother and his Lady wife Ardennes was in the midst of a Godforsaken drought - "
"Mother."
"Hush love. Livestock and their tenders alike were jumping to their deaths left and right because of the inedibility of the crops; the lack of water and moisture and the abundance of starvation was too much for the poor souls."
"It was devastating." Prince Arryn shook his head, made solemn by the mere memory. Elsa felt a surge of pity. "A near third of Ardennes' kingdom perished - honorable men and women, suckling babes as well."
You can imagine the sisters' reaction to this.
"Aye, milady, it was all very lamentable."
Veronica had sat back in her seat, relaxed and leisurely. She ran her tongue over her lips before she continued, "It took well over a year after the first rains to accumulate enough cargo to make the journey. But we are here now, yes? And we have much to discuss besides droughts and heartache."
Prince Arryn rested his hands on his lap, for the first time looking almost uncomfortable, before he shed that skin of unease and grinned loosely. His mother was eyeing him approvingly, critically.
Elsa was watching too, though her gaze was softer, less like the gaze of a passerby inspecting a leg of lamb. She watched, hypnotized, as Prince Arryn's creased eyes morphed into a handsome shade of purple. His smile was addictive, it seemed, for Elsa felt her features mimic quite suddenly and devoid of her consent. She lowered her eyes to the bread in her hand.
"It is a well-known fact that marriage within the family was almost habitual to our ancestors. It kept the line pure, kept the platinum hair" a sly glance was directed towards Anna, "and big cocks." There was a round-the-room spit take. "Anyway, in order to strengthen our ties to Arendelle I, Queen Regent formally request, on behalf of my son Prince Arryn, for your hand in holy matrimony."
Wait - what?!
A.N. Happy late holidays! So, we have some new characters BTW, lol. How is my Anna, though? I'm not all too confident in how well I'm portraying her, to be real... Anyway, R&R loves, and enjoy!