All or Nothing

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Note: I have a lot of weddings to attend and a lot of jobs to do this season so my updates may go back to being sporadic for a bit. Hopefully I'll be back to normal by the end of July.

Also, a reader noticed that the timeframe of this story has taken a leap forward, and I'd like to take a moment to explain that this is very deliberate. While Elsa and Merida were in close proximity time was slowed down to appreciate their relationship, but as they are separated now it's a bigger picture and history is being made in broad strokes. I'm in this ship for the long haul.

…..

An invitation to visit Dunbroch arrived almost as soon as Merida gave birth to the heir to Dunbroch's throne, but it took nearly a year to work out the semantics of Elsa actually leaving the country in order to visit. By then, the Arendelle heirs were just about old enough for Anna to take over the throne duties long enough to let Elsa leave safely.

Magnus and Lennart were eighteen months old, and although Magnus was walking he was a decidedly quiet child, but required his own nurse to watch him at all times because he climbed on anything that could be climbed on. Lennart, on the other hand, was a babbler just like Anna had been as a child but showed no signs of being ready to walk. He was the twin Elsa was happy to have sit in her office with her; even with the amount of noise he made, he was unlikely to hurt himself or break anything as Magnus inevitably did.

"Keep an eye on him," Elsa warned Anna as she handed over the keys of her office. "If he rips anything important I have more work when I get home."

"Fine, fine," Anna said, waving her away. "Don't worry, just have fun. Give Merida my love."

The sea voyage was quick, as sea voyages went. They were there within just three weeks, ushered into what passed for a port in Dunbroch. A group of warriors, including the Macguffin clan leader and his son that she had met in Arendelle, were waiting to escort her to the castle.

What struck her from the moment she left the ship was how green Dunbroch was. The air was damp and heavy, so crisp it almost hurt her lungs, and although the cold certainly didn't affect her the rain-suffused atmosphere was so unlike Arendelle it was like stepping onto a different planet. Even though the rode her horse walked along was clearly well-used, she was surrounded on all sides by thick forest, the branches of the trees so close together they were practically a barricade. No wonder it had been so difficult to invade and keep this place.

The castle was at the top of a hill, and all around it life bloomed. Homesteads, newly planted farms and rows and rows of tents to temporarily house the foreign factions dotted the hill and the surrounding lands. Every person she saw bid her an almost casual greeting and then went about their business. It was so different to Arendelle she couldn't help laughing.

The laughter died when she saw Merida, though her heart swelled with joy.

Merida's son sat on her knee. His complexion was swarthy, dark as his father, but his hair was as red as his mother's. He was a big strong boy, intelligence glimmered in his eyes. Exactly the kind of son Elsa imagined Merida would have.

Motherhood suited Merida, clearly. She looked healthy, not as thin or pale as when Elsa had last seen her. Her hair was longer, braided into a long thick rope, and a small gold circlet perched on her head. Her face lit up when she saw Elsa, and Elsa was sure her own face did the same.

It almost distracted Elsa from noticing that her stomach was swollen with life. Almost.

…..

"He didn't waste much time," was what Merida said when they were alone, stroking her belly.

"Did you have any say in the matter?" Elsa asked cautiously.

"Of course," Merida shrugged. "It made sense. Especially while we're still at war."

"Where is your husband now?"

"He is in the east," Merida answered. "He has gone to collect more of his men. Angols are preparing to invade some time in the next year."

She didn't sound worried.

"I'm not."

Elsa blinked. She hadn't realized she'd said that out loud.

"Angols' king is worried about losing face to all the other nations they've invaded. That's the only reason they're trying to invade us. They still consider us to be little better than savages, so they consistently underestimate us."

"Diplomacy isn't an option, I'm assuming," Elsa said.

"Not right now," Merida said.

There was a knock on the door, and in sauntered Nadiya, the granddaughter of Sultana Jasmine. She wore the thin silk garments she had worn in Agrabah but she was also draped in a roll of woolen tartan and a thick fur-lined cloak. Merida introduced them, although she had to know that Elsa had seen her through the book.

"You are here to find a husband, so I've heard," Elsa inquired, to Nadiya's tinkling laughter.

"I am here for blood, my queen," she answered, stroking the tartan. "I want my future children to be strong."

"The men are fighting for her hand," Merida drawled. "I hated it, but she seems to thrive on it."

"And why not? The strongest of them will make the strongest children," Nadiya shrugged.

"Mirrikh is bringing more of Nadiya's friends with him on the way back," Merida said. "Any Agrabah woman that wants a Dunbroch husband. The men are delighted, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"How do the Dunbroch women feel about it?" Elsa asked.

"A good number of them have soldier husbands now, they seem happy enough."

Merida's son (Fiachra, his name was) yawned and babbled something that could have been Gaelic or gibberish. Merida handed him off to a passing servant woman with some quiet instructions.

…..

Dunbroch's castle was a considerably less guarded place than Arendelle's palace, which made sneaking into Merida's room unnecessary as Merida brought her right up, without even a second glance from the few people still around to see.

Pregnancy had changed her body. She tasted different, not in an unpleasant way. Elsa was careful around her bump, and around her breasts which now had a habit of 'leaking' if she pressed too hard. Still, their lovemaking was as passionate as it had ever been. It felt good to be together after so long.

Right up until Merida's belly twitched, and she clenched around the fingers Elsa had inside her, and a startled Elsa shot out a tiny flurry of ice in the worst possible place to have ice.

"Oh my God," Elsa spluttered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, are you okay? Oh God...!"

Merida muttered something Gaelic and probably very rude into the pillow, pressing the blankets in between her legs and rolling around.

"We need to get a doctor," Elsa panicked. "How are we going to explain...never mind, does it hurt? Is there blood? Oh my God, I didn't mean to, it just..."

"Elsa," Merida groaned. "Stop panicking."

"All right," Elsa agreed, but she was no less worried. "Are you...?"

"It doesn't hurt, it's just really cold," Merida grumbled. "Really, really cold."

"We need the trolls," Elsa muttered. Memories of Anna's comatose state after being shot with her ice flooded her mind. "They'll know what to do..."

"Elsa, it's fine," Merida told her. She had rolled onto her back now, and although one hand was still pressing the blankets between her legs the other was resting on her bump. "The swimmer is still moving. It's okay."

"How do you know?"

"I'd know if something was wrong," she said.

"Okay. If you're sure," Elsa said, relaxing a little and getting up. Merida reached out to grab her arm.

"We're not stopping, are we?"

"Do you...want to keep going?" Elsa asked incredulously. "I could have killed you!"

"No, you couldn't," Merida sighed. "You just shot a load of ice up my jacksy, it's not going to kill me. Come here and warm me up."

Well, how could she refuse?

…..

Elsa was back in Arendelle much sooner than she would have liked, but there was only so long she could realistically stay away from her throne. Anna had filled in well as the interim queen but she was glad to leave the work to Elsa and go back to playing with her rapidly growing sons.

Word reached her later on that Merida's second child was a healthy girl.

Time became a nebulous thing, between missives from Dunbroch and the work that went into maintaining Arendelle's shifting trade agreements there was nothing much to occupy her. Elsa's nephews continued to grow, Lennart finally began to walk and then run, and Magnus learned how to talk at least enough to demand more food and complain about being sent to bed.

Dunbroch's rapidly expanding army made a bold move; after defeating another invasion attempt, Mirrikh lead his forces into a land mass that had once been a small nation taken over by Angols, ripped away the Angols leaders occupying it and restored what was left of its exiled royal family to the throne. It was a ready-made ally with no real manpower to add to Dunbroch's army, but with rich fertile land to feed the people and make excellent trade prospects.

Three more times, Angols tried to take over Dunbroch. Three more times, they failed.

Dunbroch's list of allies grew larger. Along with Agrabah's trade agreements making the country rich enough to attract swathes of mercenaries, other nations that were defending their borders from Angols were lending their strength to Dunbroch's.

By the time Merida was pregnant with her third child, her war machine had rolled entirely over Angols and captured their king. He was executed, along with the men that stood with him, the men who had put the idea in Warrick's head to try for Dunbroch's princess as a wife. She showed mercy to the queen mother of the nation, however, and to the king's young wife, also pregnant and so sure she was going to die that she entered negotiations sobbing and trembling. She allowed them to keep their seats on the throne as rulers in name only, with the promise that the heir born would never try to impose Angols on any other nation ever again.

It seemed, to Elsa's eyes, that her nephews had grown more every time she saw them. She spent so much time locked in her office, and stuck in negotiations with her advisers, that she hardly saw them unless Anna insisted.

"You're too thin, Elsa," Anna warned one day, putting a large slice of cake in front of her to go with her coffee.

Elsa took a bite, but sweet food seemed dry and ashy, and savory made little impact on her tastebuds. She had never been a big eater, but these days even the simple act of ingesting food seemed pointless. She could take no joy in it.

"The boys hardly know who you are," Anna said, tugging at Lennart's hand as he reluctantly inched forward into the office. "You're their aunt, you should at least try to interact with them."

"I know," Elsa answered. "I'm sorry."

And yet, they turned five years old before she knew it. Now that she could see them as people instead of the somewhat formless children they had been, she looked forward more to the day when she could hand her throne over to one of them (most likely Magnus, even as the older child he seemed more sensible) so she could lead her own life.

More and more, she thought about the future. One day Arendelle would have no need of her, and she would have no need of Arendelle. Anna had her husband, and one of her sons would make an excellent ruler. She could help him choose the best bride to sit on the throne beside him, and her work would be done.

Merida's oldest was a good strong boy, and one day Dunbroch would have no need of her either. Her husband already spent more time sailing across the world than he did by her side, returning only to give her another child. She would not miss him.

How easy would it be to make a life together? They would be older, but who was to say they would love each other any less?