Kaya closed her eyes, allowing them a brief reprieve, and leaned back on her hands. The sun had set a while ago, but sitting on the roof of the balcony to her room beat being cooped up in her chambers all night. Her back rested against the roof tiles, the hard nature of the plating not doing anything for the subtle ache she'd accumulated today, but she'd felt worse.

Elsa's soldiers, for the most part, had good instincts, not unlike herself, but they needed to be honed, and properly. If such instincts were not cultivated properly, lethal mistakes were made, and people got killed.

Despite their initial gripe with each other, once Loren took her advice, albeit only once that day, he'd proved to be one of the most talented of the bunch. At this point, his only flaw was his headstrong nature, not a hint of submissiveness in sight. She would need to have care in dealing with him in particular. If she could win his trust, he could prove to be a powerful asset later on, despite his lack of magic.

The ever-burning flame in her subconscious burned brightly and she stroked it mentally and it arched like a cat being petted by its master. She smiled lightly. The control over the magic was hers, but the power itself, unfortunately, was not. She hadn't been born with the powers, but cursed. At least, that was what her father had always maintained.

In Palladon, there was a myth of a monstrously powerful fire demoness (Orinda, as Kaya later found) that had wreaked havoc over the land for years upon years, the kingdom struggling to survive, the demon was so malicious. Finally, a travelling priest that had gained a reputation for his skill with magical seals passed through Palladon after hearing of its distress.

Kaya sighed. It was said that one thing led to another, and the demon was sealed inside an infant of the royal family. The priest assured the rulers that the demon could not manipulate the child, so long as she bore a will stronger than the demon's. That was said to be centuries ago. So much time had passed, everyone in Palladon eventually forgot the emperor's sacrifice. Rumor had it that the child grew up to be mentally unstable, screaming at walls and setting the palace on fire countless times before the monarchs locked the woman away in the dungeon. It was there that she would remain, in chains, for the rest of her days, no longer a significant danger to herself or anyone else.

Kaya had later found the reason for the first princess's seemingly-insane rambling to thin air. When Orinda had first spoken to her, it had been directly after the first of what would become a very long line of traumatic experiences. The demoness loved trying to get a rise out of Kaya, and the chase was more interesting in this particular incarnation, simply because of Kaya's tendency to remain outwardly unaffected to anything that happened around her.

The emperor's advisors feared that if they killed the princess right away, the demon would be set free. They later found that the princess held an unusually long lifespan. The advisors attributed this to the demon keeping its host alive with its dark magic. It wasn't until the princess's many-times-over-great-niece was born, years later, that the princess's heart finally stopped, and the demon was transferred into another. The royal family took on a number of odd practices in an attempt to avoid having female children, as a way to prevent the demon's transfer. Of course, that wasn't something that they could really control, so on the cycle went.

Kaya almost regretted that her father cared nothing for tradition. If he had given a damn about what was considered 'normal', he would've dropped dead at the thought of her preference to women over men. Still, she had to wonder if that was really her own desires talking, or the demon's (it was rumored that the demon had preferred women). Not that she minded.

Something nagged at her peripheral senses. Apparently, there were two people not only up and about, but moving in what felt like a very stealthy manner.

Kaya sat up. They were too far away to tell age, or male from female. But since it was now her job to protect Arendelle's castle, she should at least check it out.

As she got closer, she rolled her eyes. It felt like the royal sisters were having a moment to themselves in a ballroom that she'd only ever seen closed off, up until this point.

They aren't standing physically close. She thought. What could they possibly be doing so late?

As she reached the entrance to the ballroom, Kaya felt the temperature drop, and the door was open a crack, allowing her to peer inside without being seen.

Queen Elsa was in a sheer, icy-blue nightdress, and Anna had a nightgown of green cotton. Elsa was swirling her magic in her hands before throwing the ball of magic to the ceiling, where it seemed to shatter and rain snowflakes all around the room.

Kaya scoffed, shaking her head at the sisters' antics. Why they had to do this in the dead of night, she had no idea, but it wasn't any of her business what the royals did in their spare time.

The captain left the two sisters in peace and ended up in the library, reading a particularly interesting novel about ancient battle strategies and the maps that depicted them. Hours passed, and she left the library, intending to return to her room.

By chance, she happened to pass the queen's chambers and noticed that the queen's heat signature was off somehow. She was tempted to see if the queen was alright, but since Elsa controlled icy magic, it wouldn't come as a surprise to find that her body temperature was unusually low. Still, that was what bothered Kaya. Elsa's temperature seemed high than it should have been if Kaya's theory about Elsa's magic lowering her body temperature was correct.

That was when she heard a frightened cry from inside the room. There was no one else in the room with Elsa, so Kaya knew that it had to be the queen herself. Was she having a nightmare?

After checking to make sure no one would see her go into Elsa's chambers without permission (that would create more problems than it would solve), she quietly entered the room.

Elsa was thrashing on the bed, moaning as she twisted in her sleep. Kaya crept closer, noticing for the first time the tears that ran down the Snow Queen's cheeks.

"Queen Elsa." Kaya grasped Elsa's wrists to still her movements. "Queen Elsa."

"Anna..." Elsa wept, more tears appearing as she whimpered, "No!"

The queen finally shot awake, sitting up so fast she almost slammed her forehead into Kaya's. Luckily, Kaya's reflexes were sharp, and she pulled back rapidly, only to find herself locked in Elsa's clouded gaze.

"Captain Kaya?" Elsa blinked as if she thought she were still dreaming. "What are you doing here?"

Kaya couldn't exactly say she'd known something was wrong by the queen's body temperature, of all things. Elsa would never believe her.

She settled for a half-truth instead. "I heard you scream."

Elsa looked to Kaya's hands that still lightly gripped her wrists. "Oh." She ducked her head. "I apologize."

Kaya didn't respond to the apology, but her eyes seemed to gentle as she watched Elsa look down with her brows furrowed, as if remembering something frightening. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The queen's gaze snapped back up, searching Kaya's face as if she'd forgotten she was there.

"I- um, n-no, I'm fine."

She most certainly was not.

Kaya raised an eyebrow and released Elsa's wrists before using a gentle finger to catch one of the salty drops that still lingering on the queen's soft cheekbones. Elsa looked up, saw the tear, and cocked her head.

The captain almost laughed. "Are you?"

The queen looked as if she was going to protest, her eyes narrowing, her lips pursed. She still hadn't wiped away her tears, and her chest still heaved with every breath.

Kaya shrugged and moved away. If the queen refused comfort when she was obviously in need of it, who was she to force it on her? It wasn't like Kaya was exactly doing what was natural to her, even offering in the first place. She didn't want to think about what the meaning of the change in demeanor meant.

"Um..."

Kaya realized she had stopped moving as she had been lost in thought. Elsa was most likely trying to find a polite way to order her out of the room.

"I'm leaving, don't worry."

She didn't expect the desperate hand that grabbed at her sleeve in an attempt to stop her.

The fire-user stopped in her tracks and looked at Elsa with surprise, then down at the shaking hand that gripped her sleeve like a lifeline.

"I-" Elsa looked away, red flushing through her once-pale cheeks.

Kaya's heart melted a little at the sight of the vulnerable Snow Queen before her. She thought back to before her mother had died, and there had been many a night as a small child that she had been in Elsa's position. Her mother had always handled it the same way, every time.

Her voice was soft as she spoke. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Elsa bit her lip and released Kaya's sleeve, sat back on her heels and didn't answer.

Kaya sighed. Before the queen could protest, Kaya had picked her up and had sat back against the headboard with the queen in her lap, Elsa's head on her shoulder. Elsa had held on her Kaya's shirt for balance, and blushed when Kaya stopped moving.

"Go back to sleep, Queen Elsa." Kaya said in a gentle voice.

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep like this."

Kaya rolled her eyes and proceeded to slide them down so that she and Elsa were on their backs, her body now only barely brushing Elsa's.

In what seemed like an uncharacteristic act of boldness on the queen's part, Elsa scooted closer as Kaya made to pull away, and settled her head on Kaya's shoulder once more.

Kaya wrapped an arm around Elsa's shoulders for comfort and was glad when Elsa sighed, signaling that she was trying to relax.

"I'm sorry." Elsa murmured.

"Shhh." Kaya tensed when she felt Elsa's hands on her side, grasping the material of her tunic as she shifted even closer. "Sleep, Queen Elsa."

At her Captain's gentle tone, Elsa finally thought it would be possible to go back to sleep after witnessing herself striking her sister again, this time so badly that even an act of true love wouldn't have been able to save her. She buried her head in Kaya's shoulder even further at the thought.

"It was about Princess Anna, wasn't it?" The captain's question was unexpected. "Did you freeze her heart again in your dream?"

Elsa didn't have to say 'yes' for Kaya to know that she'd hit the nail on the head.

The arm around Elsa tightened as Kaya said, "Put it out of your mind. Princess Anna is safe." Kaya didn't say that she knew for sure because Anna's signature was safe and sound in her own room; likely fast asleep.

Elsa sighed as she nodded, closing her eyes. The calm, strong, steady beat of her Captain's heart soothed her in a way she never thought possible. She's so warm...

Kaya was nothing short of relieved when she felt sleep finally overtake the queen in her arms.

She draped the arm that wasn't wrapped around her queen over her eyes with a sigh.

What the hell am I doing?

Thankfully, Orinda had remained silent through the entire encounter. Frankly, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her own question.


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