Christian's sixth birthday
After a predictably chaotic birthday party, with the likes of present mixups, birthday cake juggling and reindeer ice racing, Elsa knew she needed a few moments to herself. She knew Christian probably wanted them too, so they decided to be by themselves together.
As the cleanup raged on in the castle, Elsa and Christian walked through the garden outside, enjoying the quiet and the company. However, there was more company than they expected, although it wasn't as quiet – yet it hardly announced itself on an Olaf, Sven III or Anna level.
"Did you have your fill of snow flavored cake too?" Prince Jorgen of the Western Isles asked as he came into view.
"No! That was the best part!" Christian actually lit up.
"Well, that gives me a high bar to go over. But I'm going to try," Jorgen declared, taking out a little box from his pocket. "I hid this away before everyone's gifts got mixed up. I kept this safe for you personally. Yorick helped me pick it out, so I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if I lost it."
"He did?" Christian asked, remembering the first person to befriend him outside of Arendelle, three years ago. Yorick's brother then handed over his gift, and Christian carefully unwrapped it to reveal a snow globe. But not just any snow globe.
"We both remember how much you liked the snow globes at the Western Isles. So we had a special one made up for you," Jorgen explained, as Christian admired the floating, tiny figurine of himself floating around the figurine of Castle Arendelle, along with fake snowflakes.
"I'm flying!" Christian admired as he shook around the globe and watched his mini self fly around. "And it's in a globe, so I'm fine!"
"Yes, you are," Elsa let some admiration into her voice. "What do you say to the prince?"
"Thank you, Prince! Thank Yorick too!" Christian smiled. "Aunt Elsa, can I go play with snow globe me?"
"Of course. Just don't go far and wind up on the reindeer ice track," Elsa nearly rolled her eyes, mostly at herself for being talked into making that.
"I won't!" Christian promised, then ran off to play around with his new toy – leaving Elsa alone with her potential suitor.
"You and your family have a long memory," Elsa told Jorgen, encouraged that she didn't let the awkward silence last too long.
"When you meet another prince and a Queen for the first time, you tend to remember things," Jorgen assured.
"Christian's not a prince. Well, he is, but not in the official way," Elsa stumbled, taking back her earlier praise of herself. "He is, but he won't have to be a…..prince prince if his mother and father don't succeed me."
Rambling and stumbling over words – if Anna was here, she'd say that was a sign Elsa really liked this guy. Or since Anna stumbled at first with Hans, she'd say that was a sign Jorgen wasn't to be trusted either. If his association with an Isles didn't already make Anna distrust him.
Between Anna's theories, and those of every old and post-modern romance book in the castle, Elsa didn't know what cliché and theory applied here. Or with the other suitors.
Anna did say she was supposed to feel right away when she found her true love, not get it from reading about romantic story formulas. But since Elsa was a stranger to romantic feelings – and since Anna didn't exactly feel that way for Kristoff right away – she had Anna there.
Still, would Jorgen be more likely to be Elsa's true love if she hated him right away – which she didn't? Would it be likely if she merely tolerated him right now? Or just liked him right now – which seemed more likely after that gift? She didn't fall for him, or the other suitors, right away – so the Hans theory didn't quite apply here.
Or maybe it meant if she didn't feel….something like love for any of them soon…..it might not happen. Then this whole thing was nothing but a process for an arranged marriage after all. Then Joan, Anna and the committee's efforts really were for nothing. Nothing lasting or….magical, anyway.
Elsa didn't realize she rolled her eyes at that thought until Jorgen finally spoke up. "Penny for your eye rolls?"
"Oh! Oh, sorry," Elsa got out of her own head. "How long was I out?"
"I lost count after 30 seconds. Math wasn't my strongest class, though," Jorgen hopefully joked.
"I didn't mean to ignore you," Elsa assured. "I just get lost in my head sometimes. It's a very old habit."
Jorgen didn't inquire further – but Elsa went back in her head and made herself realize something. If she was ever going to feel more than like for these men, she needed to test them out by….sharing.
It was a privilege she still only really shared with her family, talking snowmen, children during royal treks through town, and reindeer when Kristoff couldn't settle disputes between Sven's family himself.
But if any of these men were going to be family too….and if Elsa was ever going to love it instead of just liking it….
"It's safer in my mind sometimes," Elsa shared. "Thinking is much better than….acting. At least it was for 13 years." Laughing to herself, she admitted, "It's funny that I think my mind is safe now. After it did nothing but torture me for over a decade."
"For 13 years. That ended 15 years ago, didn't it?" Jorgen said simply. And it did sound simple enough. So much that Elsa never really thought of it that way.
"15 years….after just 13 years," Elsa repeated. "I've really spent more time feeling happy and….fulfilled than being alone and miserable. How did that happen?" she still couldn't believe. Another old habit that never died completely.
"If it didn't, none of us would be here now. Especially him," Jorgen noted, pointing at Christian shaking his snow globe at a distance.
Elsa could be quite impenetrable when she was in a thinking or less than fulfilled mood. The only ones who could break through it so quickly were Anna, Joan, Christian and Olaf. Even Kristoff on a good day.
Yet the way Jorgen put things in perspective, so quickly and without much effort, was almost….Joan esq. If not quite Anna esqe yet.
Maybe that was as much of a building block of love as any. Of course, modern day romantic stories told Elsa it would make it more shocking when he became evil. So maybe looking more likable right now bode poorly for him.
"You can tell Yorick that Christian loved the gift. Whenever you see him again," Elsa changed the subject.
"Hopefully that won't be anytime soon," Jorgen surprised them both by saying.
"What does that mean?" Elsa got suspicious.
"Nothing! It's just that….the snow globe wasn't my idea at first," Jorgen confessed. "Yorick wore me down, and now he'll never let me hear the end of it. He can be such a….know it all goody goody, and this'll give him more license to steamroll me. It makes him a good brother and gift giver technically, but it's….often annoying in the other moments sometimes. You know?"
Anna was living proof that Elsa knew. However, as much as Anna was more of a know it all goody goody than Yorick – which Elsa would know even if she never met Yorick – she was never that annoyed by it. Not for 15 years, anyway.
Nearly killing her twice, and never having to lock the door on her anymore, usually softened Elsa just in time before she got that fed up with Anna. Maybe Jorgen was more impatient because Yorick never got frozen. Maybe.
But if that was a negative thing about Jorgen, then he wasn't overly perfect – and perhaps wasn't a surprise villain after all. However, he did still call Yorick a good brother, so it wasn't bad enough to make him an obvious villain either. He might be somewhere in between.
Perhaps that happy medium of not being overly perfect, or way too obviously bad, was the right one. Besides, Elsa was far from perfect, and wasn't as obviously bad as she thought she was for 13 years. And they both seemed to love Christian – so that made two promising things in common.
"Should I offer two pennies for this thought now? I can go as high as three, but I left my money on the boat," Jorgen broke up Elsa's runaway train of inner thought again.
"No need. I do need a new partner to walk in the garden with me, though. My first choice got distracted, thanks to a certain someone," Elsa shifted gears again.
"Then this certain someone will need to pay his debts. I can work off five pennies on the walk, but I insist on using real money after that," Jorgen proposed.
"We can negotiate after we walk, then," Elsa compromised, to which Jorgen agreed by following her once she started walking.
In the surprise of all surprises on this day, their walk actually took place without a sound. It was companionable silence – not the oppressive silence Elsa was used to half a lifetime ago, by herself.
Romance novels and satires didn't usually count that as a plus. Or set it up for a big minus to come. But Elsa trusted herself to take this as a good sign anyway.
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When Elsa and Jorgen quietly met up with Christian again, Jorgen took his leave, wished Christian a happy rest of his birthday, and bowed to Elsa while holding her hand. Christian smiled, but kept to himself as he and Elsa prepared to brave it out in the castle again.
However, before they could get back into the ballroom, they were met by the other big birthday guest of the day. Christian's early favorite got to be here – so Anna and Joan thought it fair to invite their early favorite too.
"I'd still give it another few moments," Prince Goran warned. "The trolls claim to be fixer uppers, but it took a lot of them to help fix this much."
"Ah. Thank you for that update," Elsa thanked.
"Fortunately, I salvaged my own birthday gift in the carnage," Goran revealed. "I could tell right away I wouldn't be able to hand it over. Not before the…..madness started. So I kept it safe until I could get a moment's peace with the birthday boy."
The birthday boy looked entranced as Goran unveiled a thin, wide box from behind his back. Christian and his family saw enough boxes like that to know what was in them. Considering who was giving this away, it made it easier.
"What kind of chocolates did you get for me?" Christian asked eagerly, putting his snow globe down.
"Only the best from my country. Only the best worthy of this one, too," Goran impressed him, and Elsa too. Of course, Elsa was more equipped to see this coming - and was slightly more skeptical of this prince from a kingdom of chocolate experts than Anna and Joan.
But only slightly. Especially when Christian opened the box of drool worthy, chocolaty confections.
"Remember to share with your Aunt Elsa, if you can," Goran reminded him, winning a few more brownie points. And not just for the chocolate brownie at the center of the box.
"What do you say, Christian? I'll say it with you to help you out," Elsa offered.
"Thank you, Prince Goran," Elsa and Christian said together. Goran nodded back, as the two royal family members looked over the box of goodies. As much as a nice, quiet walk helped after chaos, this would really make Elsa ready to go back in the madhouse.
"What's this?" Christian interrupted Elsa's blissful stay in her own head. Picking up a piece of chocolate on the bottom right of the box, he felt it and asked, "Is this hard chocolate?"
"I believe so, why?" Goran didn't realize what he was saying.
"You put a hard chocolate bar in there?" Elsa began to frown.
"Yes, why?" Goran repeated.
"Chocolate's not supposed to be hard! You gotta drink it and chew it and savor it!" Christian insisted. "You lose your teeth biting hard chocolate! Right, Aunt Elsa?"
"Yes. It's been the number one cause of lost teeth in my family for generations," Elsa backed up. "Yet we all got into it at one point or another growing up, and our mouths all paid the price. Sometimes even after we grew up," she shared, blocking out when she fell off the hard chocolate wagon, and actually had to see a dentist afterwards.
Blocking out memories of that evil profession, Elsa continued, "In any case, we're not a hard chocolate family. It's not by choice, but it's true. I would think someone searching for a birthday gift….among other things….would take the time to learn that."
"You never gave the impression you hated any kind of chocolate. None of you did!" Goran defended himself. "Besides, it's just one piece! Just throw it away!"
"Throw it away? Like it's that easy?" Christian asked incredulously, and Elsa looked the same way.
"No true chocolate lover would think it's that easy," Elsa suspected. "A businessman would. Someone who's not a true connoisseur would."
"Yeah, you're not a con boar!" Christian didn't quite get right.
"Wait, you're going to be mad at me for that? Kick me out for one little mistake?" Goran couldn't believe.
"Not quite. The rest of the chocolate buys our silence," Elsa decided. "You're very lucky Anna and Joan didn't see this. I'm only keeping quiet because it's my nephew's birthday. And this castle is barely standing right now as it is."
Throwing the hard chocolate bar at him, like it was infested with disease, Elsa told Goran, "Just get this out of our sight. And know this….doesn't bode well for you. If you want to do better, then know the people you're wooing and buying presents for."
"But, but…." Goran stumbled, yet Elsa and Christian's frowns made it clear nothing would work. Nothing short of leaving and burying the teeth-killing, way too tempting present.
Once he was gone, Christian breathed a sigh of relief. "Does this mean he's not gonna be my uncle?" he asked Elsa.
On the one hand, he made an obvious evil lapse in judgment. Or maybe he was just oblivious. Or maybe he buried himself so deeply back there, he would turn out to be her surprise true love while Jorgen and Devin turned evil after all.
God, guessing romantic clichés really hurt sometimes. And today was supposed to be a peaceful day. Even if that ship sailed the second the first cake was ruined.
But to answer Christian's question right now, Elsa settled on, "If he can make up for that, he probably deserves to be. Maybe."
"Maybe," Christian repeated. Biting one of the good chocolate pieces, he moaned and said, "Wow, that's uncle-y!"
"Really?" Elsa was happy to get back to the good stuff, sitting down with Christian against the wall. "You mind if I see if that piece is too?"
Although he was the birthday boy and although this was birthday chocolate, Christian still let Elsa take a piece anyway. To her credit, she stopped after having just three more.
And as the rest of the family/committee kept cleaning up the mess in the ballroom, the birthday boy and his aunt found peaceful, yummy solitude in the halls. They even found time to admire the snow globe together, and not get it too sticky with their fingers.
All in all, it was a memorable birthday. And not for the reasons the rest of Arendelle would never forget. No matter how hard it tried.