A/N: Kai. You rock. This is for you.
Kai stands before the throne like a guard. The guests eye the empty chair - where is the queen where has she been all these years why is she late - and Kai does his best to meet their stares with his own, which is a very clear she's the queen she'll show up when she damn well pleases.
Ahem.
The footman pulls the door open, and in strides Elsa, straight-backed and the picture of confidence, grace, control. The people stare again and this time it is the queeen! look at her! so beautiful! so regal! this is our beloved queen! with only a few devious looks from the parties of Weas-Weselton and the Southern Isles.
Kai surveys the girl he's helped raise for twenty-one years, her dark high-necked, floor-length gown. He remembers days of pale blue skirts and short sleeves and bare hands. He remembers a child crying for her parents, the king and queen's panicked voices, and a book not meant for his eyes but left wide open on the library desk.
Kai doesn't know the truth, not exactly. He wonders, and he imagines. What he knows is in bits and pieces. A crying child. A book of runes. A locked door. He knows Elsa is smart, and caring, and she wants to be queen. She wants to make her parents proud and guide her people.
Elsa stands before him, turning slowly, and finally surveys the crowd. Her back is straight, her head raised. Kai expects something to give. He had watched her hands shake, her face mask terror at the coronation. But she does not falter. She does not tremble. For the first time in forever, she is calm and content and she smiles.
He announces, proudly, "Queen Elsa of Arendelle!"
And perhaps he knows why she's so content, for the next thing he announces is "Princess Anna of Arendelle!"
There is a clatter from the opposite side of the room. Anna, breathless, wide-eyed, and skittish with excitement, bounds across the room and stares out at the people, trying to present herself with as much decorum as her sister. But there are so many people and she's overwhelmed with the desire to meet and talk and know everyone that she has to wave, with a little too much enthusiasm. Elsa is looking out at the people, and she doesn't notice what her sister is doing or where she is standing.
She has stopped a good ten feet from Elsa.
Kai sees the gulf between the sisters. He remembers playing with a young princess who spoke nothing but admiration of the sister she never saw and hardly remembered.
He remembers abandoning all protocol and furtively whispering to the tutor "Is she—Princess Elsa—okay?"
He remembers reaching a hand to wake Anna, still in the clothes she wore to the funeral, fast asleep and curled in a lavender blanket at the foot of the white door.
Kai clears his throat and crosses down to the princess, who has now received a confused wave in return and couldn't be more delighted. He grasps her gently by the shoulders and steers her towards her sister.
He remembers two inseparable young princesses.
He remembers two grieving young women.
But he sees two sisters, desperate for love.
Before he can think too much about what he's doing or if he really should be doing it, he plants Anna firmly next to Elsa. Anna stammers out something of a protest, but finishes with a meek okay and takes a quick sidestep. Elsa is glancing at her, still smiling and Anna doesn't know what's going on or what to do or what to say.
Kai backs away, watching the pair of them smile and laugh. The room is suddenly warmer, he thinks, or maybe he's just relieved he has not been reprimanded. Someone tugs on his sleeve, clearing his throat with importance. It is the party from Weasel-Weselton, and it is anxious to meet with the queen. Kai watches the sisters he has been charged with half of his life. The Duke is impatient at his arm, but Kai waits a beat, and another, and another, knowing full well his place and not giving a damn.
Ahem.