Upon the groups arrival to the Kingdom of Corona, several guards stationed nearby the docks immediately made their way down to escort them to the castle. Without saying, it was clear Anna was beaming with anticipation. It was unfortunate that their arrival in the night meant they would have to wait until morning light before she could do any proper exploration. However, simply being in a new setting brought an inexplicable sense of joy to them all.
As they approached the walls of the ever towering castle that stood atop the peak of the island, Elsa couldn't help but appreciate the grandness of it all. Her kingdom was vastly different in contrast to Corona's. It was merely their castle that stood alone on an island while the rest of the kingdom spanned across the shores and into the mountains, encompassed by the outer walls. This island was Corona, is Corona.
Unconsciously, she took her sister's hand, a part of her slightly afraid of stepping into these grandiose building standing before her. Text, tales and folklore did not compare to where she stood. Her feet felt locked and unable to move. Fear was slowly taking hold. Anna looked to her sister with a hint of surprise. She watched as Elsa's anxiety was gripping mercilessly to her. The deep seeded fear was rearing its ugly head.
Instinctively after that, Anna tugged onto her older sister's hand. Their shoulders suddenly collided as the towering doors began to open in front of them. Elsa looked at her sister abruptly to meet her eyes, both stern and serious. "You don't have to be afraid." Anna's face lightened as her smile grew ever so bright. "I will be right here."
Almost on cue, she felt slender twigs grasp her other hand. Turning away from Anna, she looked down to see the happiest grin she could only place on none other than Olaf. Holding both their hands tighter, she turned back to Anna to see Kristoff standing beside her and smiling as well with Sven's tongue lolling from his mouth. Elsa let out a breath followed by her lips curling. She was no longer alone. Insecurities be damned because, in their presence, her heart would not waver. Not now and never again.
As the large doors drew open before them, Elsa gripped their hands tighter still, this time in anticipation of facing something new together. However, once the guards had completely opened the doors, they were caught by another odd surprise standing in front of them. Both Elsa and Anna quickly shot a glance at each other before looking forward again.
They were met with a sly smile. "What took you guys so long?" Jack turned his head to acknowledge them before turning his attention back to the interior décor that spanned all the walls.
They all stared blankly for a moment before Anna began looking in all direction around her as if trying to find a second Jack that should have been with them the whole time. "How are you in here?" she questioned.
"I'm sorry?" Their escort asked, looking slightly perplexed.
"What?" Her head snapped to the royal guard beside them. "Wait- oh!" Her free hand rose up to her mouth to try and silence it before she made an even bigger fool of herself. The man in blue laughed heartily before putting a finger to his lips in a silencing manner.
"Might wanna be careful there, Anna. Not everyone can see me." His mischievous smile grew even wider, remember all the times he playfully teased the princess in front of nonbelievers. Her eyes quickly narrowed to his, wanting to retort but knew that this was a game he's bested her in the past.
"She's a little tired from the long journey. Where will we be resting tonight?" Elsa questioned, diverting the man's attention from Anna's slipup.
The guard cocked his head from princess to the queen, still slightly puzzled but quickly regaining his composure. "Ah, yes, yes of course. The king and queen have prepared the rooms you'll be staying in. I apologize that they will not be able to meet with you at this time as they are finalizing arrangements for the event in the coming days. Allow me to show you to your rooms. Your bags will be with you momentarily." He bowed his head. Elsa returned an approving nod before they continued to follow behind him. Jack took the opportunity to tease the group as much as he could, knowing full well there would be no immediate repercussions.
"Bed, bed…" Anna moaned in ecstasy as she lay comfortably on the soft linen fabric of the bed sheets. The cool silk blanket draped over her feet and onto the carpeted floors. She was on cloud nine, literally feeling like she was floating on a cloud.
Suddenly, her body flopped into the air before snuggly landing back onto the fabric after Kristoff momentarily dropped all his weight onto the bedside opposite of hers. He snickered for a moment as she began to breathe heavily from the fright/flight. "Finished with your little date with the bed sheets, princess?" he teased.
"Oh, quiet you! I can't help it! The beds are sooooo comfy, Kristoff. You don't even know!" she whined as she stamped her hands down on the fluffed pillows. He scoffed before turning his attention to the window.
"Seriously though, you plan on getting up anytime soon? Elsa said that the princess wanted to show us something before we went to sleep and you're about three seconds from snoozeville." He commented jokingly.
"You're three seconds from snoozeville…" she mumbled under her breath.
"Har, har, feisty pants. You're a comedic genius." The large man got up and dusted off his knees. "By all means, please enjoy the company of your dearly beloved pillows. I'm gonna head over to the- wha!" He was abruptly assaulted as Anna leapt onto his back with the ferocity of a lion coupled with a less ferocious and cuter growl. Her arms lazily dangled over his shoulders as she clung to his backside.
"What are you doing?" He asked but smiled subtly as he already knowing the answer.
Anna's face split in two as she responded with a childlike reply. "Carry me!" she requested happily. The blonde man could only let out a sigh of defeat as he leaned himself slightly forward to ensure she wouldn't slide off.
"What if I get back problems because of you." He stated while opening the door and peeking around the corner to ensure there were no guards around to catch a glimpse of the not so princessly princess. She shimmied herself further up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Then I'll have to rely on Sven!" Her grin couldn't possibly grow wider as he let out another long sigh, holding onto her legs to further ensure she wouldn't fall. As he confirmed the lack of guards stationed around the area, he picked up the pace and began jogging towards the designated location given to him by the Princess of Corona's fiancé.
Rushing down the corridors, it was clear that the castle was a slightly wider space all around but shorter travel time from one end to the other compared to Arendelle. Running down the halls, he knew he'd never truly get used to being in a castle, any castle really. He much preferred the humbler settings. Anna, on the other hand, was enjoying her little joyride on top of Kristoff. It had taken her ages to finally convince him to allow her to ride on him without the lengthy banter before her "I'm the princess!" instant victory argument.
As the two reared around the corner, they finally caught sight of the group in the seating room. "Nice of you to finally join us." Elsa greeted as she sat opposite of two other people. Anna's eyes first landed on her sister before glancing over to a little snowman perched on top of a girl dressed in a pink and purple gown.
"Hi Anna!" Olaf waved happily. "This is Rapunzel."
"I believe we've met before at the coronation." The brunette girl smiled.
"Met under the common interest of stuffing your face with foo- ouch! Hey!" The man seated next to her groaned as he was immediately thwacked in the back of the head by the flustered princess.
"Eugene… Don't forget, she's still a princess, who is sister to the queen." She leered at him menacingly, more embarrassed than upset. He began rubbing his head, trying to recover from the attack. Elsa simply giggled at the exchange. Anna grinned as she hopped off of Kristoff's back and towards Elsa's side. Kristoff followed behind with Sven's nose nuzzled against him.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Princess Rapunzel! It's not like I'm all that graceful or anything, myself. I mean, yes, Elsa's a whole lot more like that than I am. I'm just a bumbling, uh… Well, not really bumbling. I prefer bubbling if anything, really. Anyways, anyways, you don't have to worry too much about acting accordingly because I'm or we are royalty. Not that I'm saying you're 'acting' or anything. I mean- oh god- I'm rambling and I-"
"What my loving sister is trying to say is to please be at ease around us." The queen assured as Anna quickly rushed to her side and hid her face in the blonde girl's braids. Both parties seemed to relax after Elsa's cool and comforting words and Anna's awkward banter.
After a small moment of silence and enjoyment of the drinks before them, they began discussing about their kingdoms, mainly questions from Anna to Rapunzel about her kingdom and how the two met. Her curiosity only grew stronger as she learned more about the pair and their adventures. She also enjoyed taking quick glances at the cute chameleon that grew jealous of the attention Olaf was getting over himself.
As the night grew darker, it was growing increasingly more apparent that sleep was taking hold of the energetic princesses. With a rather loud yawn from Anna, Rapunzel grinned and rose from her seat. "I think we should probably get some sleep but, before we do, I'd really like to show you something." She smiled as she tugged on the brunette man beside her who would momentarily drift from dreamland to reality with every passing minute.
"Oh, right. There was something you wanted to show us?" Kristoff asked while taking Anna's arm and putting it over his shoulders and wrapping his around her waist to keep her steady. Anna was also on the verge of collapsing. Her older sister had suddenly become the most appealing pillow in existence at that moment.
"Yep! It's something you have to really appreciate before you see the floating lights." The brunette princess smiled before walking up to the glass doors leading to the balcony. "This is actually why I brought you guys all the way up here. Come on!" She gestured to follow suit as she ran outside, still dragging Eugene behind her with Olaf only a few steps behind. Slowly but surely, they made their way outside.
Their worn out expressions evaporated from every fiber of their being almost instantly as their eyes rose higher and higher up to the night sky. The view they were looking at was breathtaking. Just above the moon that shined in the night was a cloud of stars. It was bright and velvet lavender that spanned across the horizon. It was less like a cloud but a bright river that partially blanketed behind the sprinkle of lights.
"This is… amazing." Elsa finally commented, almost dumbfounded by the sea of stars.
The princess of Corona simply smiled proudly as she looked up. "My dad asked the people to put out all their lights in the dead of night during this week before my birthday. You only get to see something like this when the night is darkest and the lights are out. But once everything is dim that's when they are the brightest."
"I… I can't… What is… this is-"
"The Milky Way." Anna was cut off by a familiarly spry voice. Landing beside the group, all eyes quickly turned to see the ever so recognizable winter guardian, also admiring the stars in the sky. Collectively, they all realized once again the lack of Jack Frost during this whole engagement.
"The milky what?" Kristoff asked.
"Via Lactea." Elsa answered.
Jack turned to her and grinned. "You sure know your trivia!"
The blonde girl's graceful demeanor was faltering again as a blush graced her face, turning away slightly from his gaze. He began toying with his staff, casting small snowflakes all around them.
"You know, people use to believe that the Milky Way contained all the stars ever to exist in the universe. Crazy, right?" he laughed heartily as he expanded the space where the suspended snowflakes occupied.
The three girls got closer to each other, looking one another in the eyes before looking back to the person that seemed to know way more about the subject than they did.
"So… does it?" the two princesses asked in unison.
The man in blue continued to look up at the sky expectantly. With a quick whirl of his staff, he suddenly stretched his arms wide with an innumerable amount of snowflakes coming into existence all around them, almost as infinitely as the stars they were admiring. His lips curled higher still as he looked at everyone's expression of bewilderment and wonder. Laughing louder at their reactions, he whipped his staff up to the night and looked to the center of the cloud of stars.
"Not even close!"
With the boom of his voice, the group couldn't help but take notice of one particular light grow infinitely brighter. The surprise did not seem to end as they took notice of a star not only growing both brighter and larger; it was growing closer and moving faster in their direction. As their attention diverted from Jack to the moving object, the guardian slowly moved back and crouched down beside Olaf, enjoying the spectacle.
Mere moments from them, they began bracing themselves for impact of god knows what. However, as the light made its way closer to the castle, in a sudden blinding flash of pure white, it began to dim, moving ever so slowly to the edge of the balcony. Before them stood someone ever so familiar to the few that had ever seen him. As the tip of his toes slowly fell to the earth, Rapunzel's hands shot up to her mouth as she gasped. Her eyes slightly teary as her arms suddenly enveloped around the boy in shining armor, no taller than her but no less excited. The tall brunette man let out a huff before taking on a gentle smile, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. Turning to face the older looking man the boy nodded his head and was met with the same gesture.
"I totally set him up for that entrance." Jack whispered to the small snowman beside him with a chuckle. Olaf giggled along with him, not totally sure what he was giggling about. Quickly rising from the ground, he put both arms over the two sisters' shoulders. "Whelp, now that we got that out of the way, let's give them their alone time. Also, you need to go off to bed." He joked as he poked the side of the redhead's cheek.
Anna tried to push his arm away, resisting his attempt to pull them back inside. She couldn't help but gawk at the boy shining brightly in front of them. He was probably the second most magical thing she had ever seen next to her sister. Elsa couldn't help but steal a few glimpses of the bright boy. He was most definitely a spectacle to behold.
"Mind giving us an explanation of what just happened." Kristoff questioned as he walked alongside them, now carrying Anna in order for her to cooperate.
Jack shook his head, his arm now around the queen as he escorted her. "It's just a friend that really needs to do a better job of visiting."
"Not good enough! Who is he?!" Anna groaned defiantly, demanding an answer as she began flailing her arms and legs. The large man was having difficulties holding her still. Jack began chuckling at her actions while Elsa silently giggled, though curious as well.
"He's the candle placed at your bedside, the crack in the door to your bedroom, the light through your window. He's the moon's personal body guard and yours as well from the darkness." Jack turned his head around to see the boy standing opposite of Rapunzel and Eugene standing side by side. "He's Nightlight."