Elsa sat herself down for a brief rest after a long, long day. She stared out the window, feeling a painful, albeit brief, surge of envy. Anna was outside singing a song with Kristoff. Her boyfriend was smiling at her, and she at him. The two sat under a clear, blue sky. They were so in love...
"Your thoughts?"
Elsa sighed again, "Hans... how can you keep this up?"
His impressive professional demeanor slipped for a moment before he restarted, "Um... what?"
She sighed, "Marriage, and work!" Her eyes popped open angrily, "And work, and work, and work!"
He shrugged, "I always wanted to run a country, so..." Her king handed her some papers, "You need to sign here so-"
She batted the papers out of his hand with a 'swish'.
"-you can swat them out of my hand."
Elsa let out a growl of annoyance, letting her head slump down into her hands. Sensing not all was well with his queen, Hans sat beside her.
She sat there, silently. He waited. And waited. Finally, he just asked.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
He let out a scoff, "Clearly."
He tried to put his arm around her, but she drew away. Hans rolled his eyes, as she tried to stand. He laughed, grabbed her waist, and pulled her back down.
"Hans, I'm leaving."
"No, you're not," He then added, "Clearly."
She pushed against him, but he held on firmly. It was frustrating to her. She was queen. How dare he refuse to release her?!
"I am queen, let me leave!"
"No," He said, "I don't want to."
"Clearly, what do you need me here for?"
He smirked, "Nothing."
"And I should stay why?"
"Your king demands it."
"Clearly," She stated with some snark.
"I will release you, once you let me know what's going on," He paused, and added, "And sign those papers. Erik in accounting needs them done by six, so we can get the lower rate importing salt."
"But we don't need salt," Elsa sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"No, we don't. But if it seems we do, our neighbors to the northwest of us will offer to sell us some for the excess ships we made three months ago, and we can instead convince them to sell us their wheat, which we actually need, for a lower price."
"Ah," She said, remembering the explanation from this morning.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"So if I sign the papers..." She ventured.
"Elsa..." He warned.
The queen let out a sigh, "I... feel..."
"Yes?"
At a loss for words, she said, "...am I a bad queen?"
The question hung in the air as Elsa, immediately regretted asking it.
Hans let out a chuckle, "What...?"
"Am I a bad queen?!" She demanded, "Be honest!"
"No!" Her husband, insisted, rubbing his hands up her arm, "We could discuss what you could do to be a better wife, but..."
She swatted his arm with vigor. Hans rolled his eyes again.
Elsa squirmed uncomfortably against him, "I just... I'm not you. I wake up every morning, and I go to work, and I focus, and concentrate, but no matter how hard I try, you, you are a natural at this."
"You want to be more like me?"
"NO!" She insisted vehemently, "...yes... Maybe, I don't know. What would make me a better queen?"
Hans understood what she was going through, "Well, I think you're an amazing queen."
"But a bad wife."
"A good wife would tell her husband what was wrong," He said, releasing her from his hold. She stayed there anyways, listening.
"But... I can barely keep up with all the work they expect of me," She said, closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead.
"Which is why I'm here."
The queen looked at her king for a moment. Did she trust him? Marrying him had been out of necessity, not love. Yet time and time again he'd shown that he could be counted on.
"Why are you here?"
Hans reacted comically, "Are you serious?! We're married! Where on earth would I be if not with you?!"
"You know what I mean- what if... what if you bore of me?" She asked, searching his eyes.
"Impossible."
"What if you get angry at me?"
"Improbable."
"What if... I don't know what I'm doing?"
Hans stood, and turned around, "Everyone; me, Anna, Kristoff, every one of us believes in you."
"I can't do it," She insisted, "I don't understand half of..." She gestured wildly at Hans, "those 'errands' you went on, and I can barely run my country. How can I be a good queen?! I can barely keep up with what's happening right under my nose!"
"That's why you have us; to help out. As for," He gestured between himself and Elsa, "The other 'us', I came to Arrendelle for you, hunted you up a mountain, and brought you back down, heck," He chuckled, "I went into a blizzard to find you, there's nowhere in this world you could go that I wouldn't follow you; not in a councilor's room, not our bedroom, and not your kind-of-creepy-spying-on-Anna-and-Kristoff room."
Elsa let out an embarrassed laugh, "You... really are here for me?"
"Clearly," He said, "Clearly."