(Hans)
With a heavy heart I watch her leave. Anna is chattering non-stop, normally I'd think it was adorable, but now I just wish she'd stop, if just for a minute.
"Look back… look back at me" I whisper. But she doesn't. And who can blame her.
She knows I was going to kill her. So she asked me to, is that really going to make a difference? Even after all this has happened, I still don't know if she remembers me. And if she does, what difference does it make? She still didn't write.
She needs time, time to recuperate, to bond with her sister and her people, and she doesn't need me around to make things awkward.
I look around me and see that my men have come onto the ship (which turns out to be mine) and are brushing the water off and rearranging the deck. I clear my throat and they look at me expectantly.
"Thank you for your promptness. Please continue what you are doing and let us aim to leave in two hours." The captain nods at me to assure me that it will be done. I leave them to it, and head into my cabin.
Surprisingly, there is little damage, only a few things need straightening here and there, and I decide it's high time for a little nap, to forget the ache in my gut, and also because I haven't slept all night.
I've only just closed my eyes when I wake from a rapping at the door, "yes? I reply with a sleepy voice.
"Your Highness, we are ready to depart."
"Yes, I will be on deck in a moment." Falling asleep fully clothed is not comfortable, and not very kind to my royal wear, but the time for royalness is past so I don my comfortable work clothes - a loose fitting poet shirt and black pants, leaving my feet bare. Drinian, my captain always jokes that I look like a gentleman pirate. Well, I'll just take that as a compliment, it's better than being called a dandy or a fop.
Twenty minutes later we've left the port and set sail to a soft wind. Watching Arendelle slowing shrinking brings back the loneliness that I've felt for years, minus the hope that I always held in the back of my head.
Knowing that the ship is in good hands, I decide to head back to my bunk and see if I can get some letters off to the different officials that I met during the banquet last night. Last night! Has it been that short a time?
Just ten minutes later, I hear a knock on my door. Thinking it's Drinian, I call out "come in."
When the door opens and closes silently I look up, and then jump up in shock.
"Elsa! Queen Elsa… y-y-your Majesty! What are...how did… um…"
I pause, there's a new look in her eyes. They are alight with a giddy happiness and misschief, and her chest heaves a little as if she's run very fast. She leans back against the door.
"Why are you leaving? I thought you wanted to see me?" she smiles but then grows shy and twists her fingers around the end of her braid.
"Um, what are you talking about? I mean, sure, yes, I did… I do want to see you. But I figured that you would have a lot to do, that you needed to be with your own for now. And I did almost kill you. I don't know how to feel about that." I look down at my feet, shuffling them like a little boy. What is wrong with me?
"It's like I told my people, it was my fault, and your willingness to comply saved all of us. My people told me how you helped them when I ran. I wanted to thank you for that."
I look up at her and see her tilt her head at me, waiting for me to react.
"Um, well, you're welcome I guess. I'm so happy you're alright."
Her gaze is steady now, and then the strangest thing, her eyes begin to trail down, to the neck of my shirt which is open in a V exposing a big piece of my chest.
And then she blushes…. O.
(Elsa)
I watch his nervous body through a new light. He can barely look me straight in the eye, I wonder why. Is it because of the near death, or is it something more? He looks sad. It's time to clear the air.
"I never got your letters."
He looks up with a quizzical look on his handsome face.
"I mean, I just found your letters, the ones you wrote to me, all those years, I wrote to you too, I found those as well. My father…" I pause, I'm jabbering like a parrot, when all I want to know is if he feels the same as he did when he wrote those lovely letters. "I believe you have something of mine. You were going to give it back to me when we met again."
I wait, tense, wondering if he remembers, if he'll laugh in recognition, or scoff. No he won't scoff, he's not that kind of person. But I don't want to make him uncomfortable.
His lips curl up in a lopsided smile, "you're very right, I've been amiss, but let me correct that mistake. I wouldn't want you to take me for a thief." He kneels down besides a chest, opens it, and takes out the blue ribbon. His fist closes around it, and he raises it to his lips before he stands and strides over to me, until he's standing only an arm's length away from me.
Locking his eyes with mine he bows at the waist with one hand behind his back and the hand with the ribbon lifted, open and giving. I take a deep breathe and place my hand in his to take the ribbon but then his warm hand closes around my fingers. He straightens, not letting go and takes another step closer to me, so that I can feel the warmth radiating from him. I feel flustered, my heart is beating like a loud drum and my knees seem to have forgotten their function of keeping me upright.
"Elsa' he breathes o so softly and I am putty in his hands. I can only gaze at him while my breath comes in little spurts. Slowly his eyes follow the sound until they are resting on my lips and - feeling the dryness - I have to lick them. His eyes narrow, and his mouth twitches, but rather than attacking mine (which I'm hoping he will do before I die here), he looks deeply into my eyes and whispers "Elsa, may I kiss you?"
I nod.
As his face bows down to mine, my eyes close in relief, and I feel his nose brushing my cheek. The hand not holding my own sweeps over my other cheek, trailing down to my neck and leaving my skin tingling until it settles, with his fingers twisted in my hair at the nape of my neck.
His nose caresses my nose and his soft warm lips press onto my cheek bone, then my eyebrow, then my nose and finally I feel his hot breath on my lips.
I'm a melted puddle and there is no patience left in me, so I lift myself up onto my toes and push my lips against his. The hand holding mine loosens its grip and I lift both my hands to grab him by his shirt. He moves his large hand to my waist and slides around to the small of my back to pull me flush against him. My feet leave the ground.
A whimper falls from my lips as all of my body burns like a hot furnace. His hands grasp me tighter but his mouth is ever so soft as it slants across mine, his lips opening and his tongue licking across my lips.
It feels strange and wonderful, I gasp for air as his lips glue themselves to mine and his tongue delves between my lips in a delicious way, causing a wave of thundering butterflies to cascade down my throat and settle into an ache in the pit of my stomach. I feel luscious.
My body seems to have a mind of its own. I slide my hands over the muscles of his chest, onto his hard shoulders, then up the side of his neck to his face. I caress his cheeks and run my fingers through his fine sideburns and then up into his soft hair, my chest pushes against his and I pull him towards me until I feel my back collide with the door. He complies to my body's unspoken question and presses his hard body into my own, like chocolate into a chocolate pudding.
My legs are restless and need to be included so I lift up my left leg around his thigh, opening myself up to a whole new realm of possibilities. He groans and moves his hand firmly down my side, brushing my behind until his fingers reach the underside of my thigh which he pulls even higher, causing my lady parts to move against his front. Something explodes in me.
His lips leave mine and he's breathing heavily, as am I.
"Elsa!" he groans, "o Elsa, you don't… I want… you." His face lowers into my neck where he places soft kisses on my shoulder, trailing up my neck and behind my ear where he sucks softly on my earlobe. My head falls to the side giving him more access. I run my fingers through his hair and he moves the hand in my neck to my shoulderblade, down, and then, after a moment, smoothes it under my arm till his thumb is just next to my breast. I hold my breath, and sigh when he swipes his hand across my breast and then moves it back to my side to spread out his fingers on my back.
"We have to stop." he says, his voice a little husky. Nooooo, my body says, but I do agree with him. I don't know if I can take any more. And it wouldn't be very becoming of a queen to…
He presses his forehead against mine and his eyes are closed.
"Elsa, you don't know how long I have wanted to do this, wanted to be with you, to hold you..." He kisses me, letting his lips linger on mine, moving languidly and then slowly, reluctantly he withdraws his body. I begin to panic, until he takes my hand, leads me over to his cot, and - after he sits down - pulls me onto his lap.
I snuggle up against him, his left arm like a vice around my back. His right arm is on my legs, his fingers pressing into my thigh, my right hand running a pattern through the hairs on his arm. What a manly bicep he has! His shoulder is a perfect fit for my head and my nose nuzzles against his throat. I stroke the other side of his neck with my left hand.
"I mean, of course we only met that once, and I didn't really know what you looked like now, but I know how pretty and sweet I thought you were then, and I was smart enough to know that you grew up as well. But now… wow, you are so beautiful. And even though there's a lot to learn about you, I can tell, or maybe my heart can tell, that you are still the sweetest girl I've ever known."
I sit still, no words coming to mind as I bask in his affection.
"Will you come back?" I ask him, raising my face to his. "Now I mean, will you come home with me? I could use your help and just the thought of you leaving makes me miss you already. And you never got my letters either. So you'll have to read those and catch up. Although they were written in a sad time. I'm so happy now, I feel like a different person."
He kisses my lips softly and then smiles, "I know what you mean. I'll stay as long as you need me."
I raise my eyebrows "are you sure? I may never let you leave."
"Even better, love, I'm all yours." He pulls me to him and begins to show me how much he is mine.