"Elsaaaaa," Elise cried, standing up in her crib, holding on to the railings for support. The morning sun was warm and inviting, illuminating the little girl's room through the large glass window. Despite the good weather, Elise was most certainly not in a good mood. "Elsaaaa!"
In the room right next to Elise's, Elsa bolted awake at her daughter's cry. It was rare that she would call for her like that, especially early in the morning. She supposed that all children would call for their parents like this, but Elsa couldn't help but be worried. The hall her room was in had no other inhabitants other than her and her daughter, but she was afraid that her cries can reach even up to the other parts of the castle as well.
Elsa reacted as quick as lightning as she hastily put on her robe before walking barefooted towards Elise's room. Once she spotted her daughter's tear stained face, she made a beeline towards her before cradling her in her arms. Elsa hummed a little tune as she pacified her, rocking her slightly. She ceased her crying and started to relax in her arms.
"Good morning to you too, Elise," Elsa started, sitting down on the rocking chair by the dresser. She wiped her tears away before setting her on her lap. "You gave me quite a scare."
Elise wrapped her arms around Elsa's middle and rested her head on her chest, still pouting. Elsa responded by wrapping her arms around her, kissing the crown of her head.
"Stay," Elise said, slightly squeezing Elsa's middle. "Stay toooo-night."
"You want me to sleep here later this evening?" Elsa clarified. She felt Elise nod against her chest. "I don't think I will be able to. Your crib would not fit both of us." Elsa mused, poking at her daughter's stomach, making her giggle.
"How about, you sleep in my quarters for tonight. Just once." She felt her nod against her chest again, more enthusiastically this time. Leaning back against the rocking chair, Elsa brought her hand to Elise's back and started to rub little circles with her thumb.
"Little love, I have to attend to a meeting after breakfast. I'll be there with you for lunch, but I have to go once again for a few hours, up until a little before dinner. Your aunt Anna will be with you the whole time I am not around." Elsa said slowly, giving her an extremely watered down version of her schedule. She wasn't even sure that she completely understood her, but Anna managed to keep her entertained while she wasn't around for the past month. It'll all work out fine.
"What do you mean you can't take care of her?" Elsa screeched across the dining room table, trying her best not to scare Elise. "I have important meetings to attend to today!"
"I'm sorry! It's just that, I already promised Kristoff that we were going to go out alone." Anna shot back, trying her best to defend herself by hiding behind a blunt butter knife and a fork in an X position. "As much as I love Elise, I really can't take her today. Why don't you ask Gerda to look after her?"
Elsa sighed, and then nodded. It would only be for a day, she told herself.
"Gerda," Elsa called, standing up from her seat. Gerda immediately came into view, curtsying before asking what the Queen needed.
"Yes, milady?" She queried, eyeing the toddler who was feeding herself porridge with her hands.
"I entrust my daughter to your care during the periods when I am not available to accommodate her. See to it that she is changed, bathed and fed when the time calls for it. Also, please do not hesitate to interrupt and call for me in case of emergencies." Elsa laid down thickly, making it sound more like a heavy burden instead of a simple baby-sitting task.
Gerda nodded solemnly, smiling a bit. "Of course, milady. I won't let you down."
Elsa dismissed her before sitting down, and she noticed that Anna was already long gone. Looking to her right, she saw that Elise's dress, hands and face were covered with porridge. Elsa loosened up, laughing a bit at how silly she looked. She sighed with a small smile on her face as she started wiping her down. "I guess that's the last time I'm allowing you to eat that by yourself."
"I really don't see how this would be beneficial for both kingdoms. If you would only agree to our terms..." The trade advisor of Corona prattled on and on. Elsa's mind was going back and forth, her patience starting to wear thin from the meeting.
As if her impatience was sensed by a divine entity, a knock on the door was heard. "Enter," Elsa called out, thankful for the distraction. When she saw Gerda by the door, all daydreaming was cut and she immediately went over to her.
"I'm sorry for disturbing your meeting, milady, but little miss had met a little accident." Gerda started, but that was enough to make Elsa's eyes grow wide.
"What?! I thought you were taking care of her!" Elsa lashed out, ice shards quickly appearing from the walls. Before Gerda could defend herself, Elsa went back inside the room, trying to keep herself in control.
"I apologize for the delay and the abruptness, but I need to attend to something urgent. I leave the trade advisor of Arendelle to confirm all agreements in my place." Elsa announced hurriedly before running out the door.
"Where is she right now?" Elsa asked sharply, instinctively walking towards her daughter's room to see if she is there. Gerda tried to keep up with her long strides. Elsa opened the door and saw Elise lying down in her crib, a cloth bandage wrapped around her head. A spot on the cloth was was stained red, and that was enough to make her panic and anger grow.
"Tell me what happened to my daughter." Elsa forced out through gritted teeth, trying her best not to make the temperature drop in the room.
"I gave her a bath after lunch," Gerda started shakily. She swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing. "She was playing in the tub and when she stood up, she slipped on a bar of soap that was in the water and sliced her head by the soap holder against the wall."
Elsa breathed heavily through her nose, trying not to let her anger to overpower her. She allowed Gerda to continue.
"I wrapped her in a towel before rushing towards the doctor on the third floor. He said that it was good that it wasn't too deep, but it was deep enough to need stitches." Gerda tried to hide the strain from her voice, but failing miserably. Elsa gasped inaudibly, looking once again at her daughter.
"She will be alright, though. It would take a few days to heal, but he said to be extremely careful with her for safety precaution. The doctor will be coming back every few hours to change the bandage." Gerda added, hoping to appease the queen, at least a little bit.
"Thank you, Gerda." Elsa stated, but carried on. "Please inform them that I will not be attending my meetings for the week. Kindly bring up our meals for the rest of the week as well."
"Yes, your majesty." Gerda replied, her head bowed down.
"Gerda, I entrusted my daughter to your care, and I was not expecting anything like this to happen. I do not believe that I will be able to allow you to take care of her in my absence again, but I do forgive you for the events that have transpired." Elsa exclaimed before dismissing her. She watched at she scuttled out of the door.
Sighing, Elsa went up to Elise's crib and simply watched her sleep. She watched how her chest rose and fall with every breath she took, how her nose occasionally twitched, how her tiny little hands opened and closed. Elsa reached out to lightly brush her finger over the bandage, then held one of her small hands in her own. Unconsciously, Elise wrapped her hand around her slender finger.
Waking up with a yawn, Elise slowly opened her eyes, pleasantly surprised that Elsa was back.
"Hello there, Elise. You've had quite a day." Elsa smiled a bit, watching her reach out for her. Carefully supporting her head, she picked her up from the crib and they went directly to Elsa's quarters. Elsa propped herself up against a pillow, resting her legs on the bed before placing Elise on her lap.
"Elsa, baby fell." Elise jabbered, referring to herself as 'baby'. Elsa kissed near the area where the blood clotted, making Elise slightly wince.
"I can see that baby fell." Elsa supplied, playing along. She then continued, "Does it hurt?"
Elise brought her index finger and thumb close together to show that it hurt a little bit. A knock on the door was heard.
"Enter," Elsa said. The doctor came in, bowing first before stating that he had to change Elise's gauze and bandage, as well as disinfect it again. Elsa shifted Elise on her lap so that she would be facing the doctor.
The doctor was quick to remove the bandage and gauze, and Elsa saw that it was a fairly large cut, but like what Gerda said, it was not too deep. The doctor started cleaning off the smeared blood on the sides of the cut with a damp cloth, but when he pulled out the bottle of disinfectant, Elise turned her head away.
"I know it stings, little love, but it'll help your cut heal." Elsa soothed, her voice low and relaxing to appease Elise. She held her tightly on her lap. When the doctor started to dab the disinfectant on Elise's forehead, she started wailing at how much it stung and started struggling against Elsa. She held Elise's head against her chest, whispering encouraging things to her as the doctor cleaned her wound quickly. He replaced on her head a new gauze and bandage.
"Your majesty, I'm pleased to say that the bleeding had stopped a great amount. I will be back tomorrow morning, after breakfast." He bowed. Elsa acknowledged him before he left the room.
Elise was still fussy about the disinfectant, but Elsa hugged her close, wiping away the tears. "You were brave, little love. I'm proud of you."
"No Gerda to-morrow?" Elise asked, her voice slightly hoarse from the crying. Elsa shook her head.
"I apologize for earlier. I will be with you the whole week." Elsa said, trying to make her smile. Sure, she had double to workload to face the following week, but it didn't seem to matter to her at the moment.
It was only them for now, and she cherished every bit of it.
Mama Elsa is touchy, but Elise doesn't seem to mind. I'm still adjusting to writing again. This one was unplanned. I was supposed to write something else, but things happened. By the way, these aren't continuous because I will want to jump from age to age, but, they will reference each other once in a while.
Please do tell me what you think. Wishing you all the best!