Growing Together Chapter 3
Three days later, when Anna, Kristoff and Sven reached the top of the mountain with the honeymooners' weekly batch of food, they beheld a sight that stunned them. The Queen of Arendelle was finishing the royally-dignified task of burying her Prince-Consort in the snow, with nothing visible except his face and his feet. His bare feet. From what they could see, he wasn't unhappy about the situation; in fact, he was wiggling his toes. Elsa seemed rather cheerful about it, too. When she saw them arrive on the other side of the chasm, she waved happily, then resumed her work.
Prince and Princess stood motionless, their mouths hanging open, totally unsure how to handle this situation. They glanced at each other; they stared at Elsa; they looked at Sven as though he might have an idea. (He was eating snow and was oblivious to what was going on.) Finally, they each took a bundle of food, climbed the icy stairs that crossed the gorge, and stopped next to the royal couple.
"Oh, hi," Anders smiled from his face-sized hole in the snow. "I forgot today was delivery day." He tried to stand, but the snow packed on top of him kept him from moving. "Elsa, could you give me a hand here? I'd like to greet our guests, but I can't get up."
"Say 'please'," she smiled.
"Please, Your Majesty, I humbly request that you permit me to stand up."
"All right. You did ask nicely." She gestured skyward with one hand, and most of the snow that covered Anders drifted upward until the wind caught it and carried it away. He stood up and brushed the rest of the snow off his shirt and slacks, which were the heaviest clothing he was wearing. Kristoff nearly dropped his bundle.
"Uhhh…" Anna struggled for words. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?"
"It's a trust exercise," Anders explained. "Elsa showed a huge amount of trust in me a few days ago, and I thought it would be fair to show her that I trust her, too. When I'm buried like that, I can't move; I'm completely dependent on her to get me out of the snow." He turned to his bride. "Did I pass the test?"
"I guess so," she replied, looking thoughtful, "but it would have meant more if I could have left you there for an hour or two. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow?"
"That's not what I meant!" Anna burst out. "Anders, where's your coat? And your hat, and your mittens, and your boots, and your scarf, and your layers of heavy clothing?"
"And your mind?" Kristoff added. "Have you lost it?"
"He's still got his mind," Elsa replied, "and he left all that other stuff inside."
"It kept getting in my way," Anders added.
"Okay, knock it off, you two!" Anna ordered. "You know what we're trying to say! We're up here on the top of this mountain, with a balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that can give you frostbite on your spleen, and you two are acting like it's a day at the beach! That's normal for you, Elsa, although I'm not used to seeing you smile this much, but… Anders, why aren't you dead from the cold, or numb from frostbite? What in the world is going on here?"
"I'm enjoying my wife's wedding gift to me," he smiled. "She shared something very special with me so we can do everything together from now on."
It was Kristoff who finally figured it out. "She did something cold to you, so the cold doesn't bother you anymore?" The newlyweds nodded.
"How did you do that?" Anna demanded.
"The hard way," Anders replied. "I don't recommend it for anyone who doesn't really need it. Besides, it stresses my wife out, and I don't like that. But we've got many, many years to spend together, and it bothered me that I had to dress for foul weather in her favorite climate. Now we're really compatible."
"I don't suppose she gave you her powers over cold, too?" Kristoff asked speculatively.
"We've tried everything," Elsa answered. "He can't even make a snowflake fly. I guess my powers are non-transferable. Arendelle will have to get along with just one ruler who can make it snow."
"One is plenty," Anna commented. "Anders, would you please put your coat on, just for me? I'm feeling cold just from looking at you!"
"But I just took it off!" he mock-protested. "I'll tell you what – I'll grab a bundle off the sled and join you inside, and if you still want me to dress warmly when we're indoors, I guess I'll do it to be nice. After all, princes are supposed to set a good example for everybody else." He scampered down the stairway, seemingly having no problems with slipping on the ice, and soon rejoined them with a bundle in each arm. They entered the ice palace (which still gave Kristoff goosebumps when he looked at it) and they sat down in some comfortable-looking ice furniture that Elsa had created that morning, complete with snow-cloud cushions.
Elsa wanted to hear the news of the kingdom, but Anna refused to divulge a single detail until Elsa and Anders explained every aspect of what they'd done. Anna was the queen of stubbornness when she wanted to be, and they all knew it, so Elsa yielded and told them the story.
"So that's what was going on in the royal suite the other night!" Anna burst out. "Kai told me it was a fire drill!"
"He was right, from a certain point of view," Anders said, and described the embarrassing scene when the servants burst in. Anna giggled, and Kristoff was nearly howling with laughter. The Princess had to give him a quick elbow in the ribs to settle him down.
"Royal dignity," she whispered.
"Do you think it would ruin our public image if the people knew that their leaders had to deal with humiliations like that in their private lives?" Elsa wondered.
"All I know is, I'm glad we can drop our royal façades and act like ordinary people when it's just us," Anna decided.
"I could live without the royal elbow, that's for sure," Kristoff added, with a glance at Anna. "Anders, now that you're cold-proof, what happens next?"
"In public, I'm going to act and dress like nothing has changed," the Prince-Consort said thoughtfully. "It might be best if the kingdom still thinks of me as a totally ordinary guy with a crown on his head."
"And completely white hair," Kristoff added. "People will wonder how that happened. It's not the usual consequence of going on your honeymoon."
"I think it makes him look distinguished," Anna said firmly. "It looks way better on you than it did on me."
"No argument," Elsa decided. They chatted the afternoon away; Anna and Kristoff prepared to leave only because they didn't want to finish their homeward trip in the dark.
"Hey, you never gave me the news of the kingdom!" Elsa complained.
"There's only one news item," Kristoff said at the door, "and that's that Stavanger and Glauerhafen are looking for a way to end their war without making either side look like the loser. Since Arendelle is right in the middle of the two of them, both their rulers are willing for us to chair a peace conference."
"Tell them we're quite willing," Elsa decided. "It's just a matter of time until we get sucked into that war, unless we can find a way to stop it first. But they'll have to wait until my honeymoon is over."
"First things first?" Anna giggled.
"You got it," her sister smiled.
There wasn't much to say about the rest of their honeymoon, in the sense that nothing happened that hadn't happened already. They both knew that, once they returned to their daily routines, their royal schedules would keep them very busy, and would often take them in opposite directions; it might be years before they could spend any amount of time alone together again. They made the most of the time they had. When Anna and Kristoff rode the sled up the mountain to bring them home at the end of their month-long honeymoon, they were startled to realize that Elsa and Anders were slightly tanned from all the time they'd spent outdoors. Suntans were extremely uncommon among the nobility, especially in Norway.
"I suppose we'll have to get ourselves out of honeymoon mode and get back to business," Anders sighed as the town came into view.
"You'll definitely have to get back into the royal-dignity habit," Anna told them from the front seat of the sled, and put on a mock-serious face. "The kingdom expects a sober, serious, respectable sovereign!" Elsa had to laugh at her sister's attempt to look and sound respectable.
As they entered the town, Kristoff had to slow Sven down to a walk. People were thronging the streets to welcome their Queen and their new Prince back to the capital. Just like that, the honeymoon had to end. They sat straight in their seats, holding hands instead of holding each other, looking mildly happy instead of laughing, and giving royal waves to all the people. They would occasionally glance at each other and give each other a special smile, but they quickly hid it and resumed waving to the crowds.
Once they arrived in the palace courtyard, Kai and Gerda rushed out to meet them. Theirs was an unusual position – they were common-born servants, but they had served so long and so faithfully that Elsa and Anna regarded them more like family than employees. Gerda was probably the only commoner in the kingdom who could get away with hugging the Queen, and she did so today. Kai was only slightly more reserved as he pumped Anders' hand.
"Welcome home, Your Highnesses. It's good to see you again; I hope you enjoyed your time together. Nothing in the palace has changed, except that we removed some of the more feminine decorations from the royal suite, as you requested. May I inquire if there will be any more... fire drills... in the near future?"
Anders snorted; Elsa did a pretty good job of keeping a straight face. "If there are, we will definitely let you know in advance." She and her husband wandered inside; he leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made her laugh out loud.
Back in the courtyard, Kristoff turned to Anna. "Is that the same Elsa who panicked and froze the whole kingdom? She's like a different lady now."
"I haven't seen her so playful since she was a small child," Anna nodded. "It's as if she's reclaiming a piece of the childhood that got taken away from her. I couldn't be happier for her, but I hope the two of them don't start a giggling fit in the middle of a Nobles' Council meeting."
"They're not dummies, and they can help each other stay straight and dignified," Kristoff decided. "But I won't be a bit surprised if they start playing footsie with each other under the Council table."
Anna gave him a sly look, then reached over with her boot and gave his foot a nudge. He realized that the Queen hadn't cornered the market on playfulness. Well, he could play that game, too. "Tickle fight!" he shouted, Anna shrieked and ran, and for the next few minutes, the Royal Palace of Arendelle was one of the least dignified, but happiest, places in all Scandinavia.