Authors note: I want to thank you all for reviewing and reading the last chapter. Hearing your opinions means a lot and they also help if I need to edit or make something better.
I apologize for the disappointment, I had this story planned, guess it was not good enough. But no worries! I took your opinions and hopefully the new changes will be great!...Hopefully, if not then your all open to tell me as constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Any way again I apologize and hope this new chapter makes up for the old one.
After Christmas, New Year's Day came and went without much incident. As the months passed, Arendelle slowly began to flourish under the joint administration of Elsa and the flow of external trade had increased, and the national economy had begun to stabilize.
Elsa smiled to herself as she read through the latest reports. It had been six months since the Firebird had begun assisting her, and based on the information she had received, government corruption had steadily been on the decrease, and the social reforms she had implemented were beginning to take root; and it was all thanks to the Firebird.
She had to admit that if he had not given her the motivation and confidence to take on these challenges, Arendelle would still be languishing at the brink of ruin. She glanced over her shoulder to see him diligently sorting the documents by chronological order.
"Break" she heard,
"Pardon?" asked Elsa,
"I was wondering if we should take a break" said the Firebird as he briefly looked out of the bay window towards the palace gardens "Its such a beautiful day, it would be a shame not to enjoy it".
Thinking a bit Elsa realized there was somethings left to do, but it was not urgent and could wait. So getting up from her desk she said "Alright, I see no problem with that".
Giving a small smile Firebird hopped off of the bay window and together they headed out as yes a walk around the palace gardens was going to be enjoyable.
Walking through the halls quietly Anna was deep in though as she recalled the information the firebird had given her months ago and her promise, in all truth she wanted to tell her sister the truth, she hated having to keep it as she did not like to keep secrets from her sister, then there was the firebird himself and his past.
"Why do you hide?" though Anna as she had decided to take matters into her own hands.
Spotting Gerda Anna stopped her for a moment and asked "Gerda, have you seen the firebird?",
"Firebird? Oh yes, I saw him outside by the palace gardens with Queen Elsa your Majesty" said Gerda.
"Thank you" said Anna before leaving in a hurry as this was the opportunity she had been waiting for.
The discovery of the Firebird being a prince had only served to pique Anna's curiosity to the point that she had begun to develop theories over his true identity; but so far, she had not turned up a single lead. Asking him personally would not yield any results as he was very tight-lipped about that matter and it was evident that this was a subject he did not want to discuss.
Not wasting a minute Anna entered Elsa's room and closed the door behind her, she hated invading her sisters privacy...anybody's privacy really, but she had to as she had to know who exactly the firebird was, who was her sister marrying.
With that in mind she walked to the firebirds makeshift nest and began to look in and around, hoping to find something, anything that would tell her who the Firebird was.
Finding nothing on the nest she turned and gave out a frustrated grunt before she placed everything back, making sure everything was exactly as it was before she turned to leave.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something glinting on the ground, hidden underneath an arm chair. Picking it up, she was surprised to find a gilded pocket watch. It wasn't particularly ornate, but it was of fine craftsmanship. At first she wondered if it might have been Elsa's or her fathers, but upon she examined it further she knew it was not as the lid had a rather peculiar decoration that she had never seen before.
Engraved on it was the seal of a bird wearing a crown with its wings spread wide, and below was a proverb inscribed in Danish. "Stille vand har den dybe grunde," it read."Still waters run deep…" Her brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Just what exactly are you hiding?"
With that pocketed the watch and clasped it tightly. 'Well I'm going to find out one way or another,' she vowed, 'Something tells me that you will reveal the answers I seek.' and just as she had entered her sisters room she left it, leaving behind no indication that she had ever trespassed.
Sunlight played through the gardens of the palace as Elsa and the Firebird walked through just enjoying the day, maybe speaking about one thing or another. Stopping the Firebird flew up into a tree,
"Firebird?" asked Elsa confused only to almost shriek when the Firebird flew down, landing on the ground he held out a nosegay of wildflowers "For you" he said.
Taking them gently Elsa held them, taking a deep whiff at them before saying "Thank you" then pausing she smirked and asked "You were planning this were you not?",
"Maybe?" said the Firebird cheekily,
"You cheeky devil you, your lucky" said Elsa playfully swatting at the firebirds neck,
"Lucky about what?" said the firebird then gushed "Awww do love me" before he walked over and pressed against her leg. Elsa wanted to glare but found herself smiling as she admitted that she did care about the firebird... maybe... she loved him...
"Maybe" being the key word as she knew she had began to care and love him, but what kind of love she was not sure. Walking ahead further into the garden till they arrived at a lake surrounded by trees and shrubbery.
Pausing for a moment she looked and said "I will make a snow man".
Turning the Firebird flew up and sat on a branch of a nearby tree to observe as Elsa moved her hand to make a snowman. Sparks of light blue snow and snowflakes formed and swirled till they formed a nice snowman. When done Elsa stood back and watched, Firebird stared then smirked before he with a movement of his wing melted it.
"Hey!" said Elsa as she turned and glared,
"What? Its an accident" said Firebird looking all innocent.
Saying nothing more Elsa turned and used her snow magic to make another snowman.
When done she smiled till he melted that one, annoyed Elsa turned and said "Will you stop that?!".
"What? You could do better, heck! You could make a whole army of snowman if you wanted" said Firebird.
Elsa frowned then backed away, pressing her hands against one another nervously,
"Will you?" asked Firebird, Elsa looked away,
"Have you ever done something like that?"The Firebird pressed on curiously.
Elsa turned her head not to meet his gaze and said "My powers are dangerous" closing her eyes she could see what happened to her sister...
"No their not" said Firebird,
"How do you know?! You are not a ruler whoes people can kill if they see you as a threat" said Elsa,
"No..." said Firebird but added "but they will never see you as such... you want to know why?", Elsa did not answer but he knew she was listening,
"Because what makes a person a monster is what they do, not what they have" said Firebird "If you ise your magic for good nobody except small minds will see you as a monster".
Elsa remained quiet,
"Come on! Where the feisty warrior queen I know is in there somewhere" said Firebird,
"Fiesty warrior queen?" Said Elsa chuckling,
"Of course! You come from a long line of viking warriors there for deep inside you is a viking queen screaming to get out and show the world what she ks made off" said Firebird.
A small smile spread across Elsas cheeks as she blushed a bit. She would be lying if she said she was not touched by what he said. Also she was surprised that he knew about her ancestry, then again he was her fiance and he seemed to take that role seriously as she had seen him studying the court ways and such.
"I don't know" said Elsa,
"Come on Elsa" said Firebird "Hows about we spar",
"Spar?",
"Of course, a simple spar, me againsg you, fire and ice" said Firebird "Surely you would want to know what would win",
"No and no, were not going to spar" said Elsa as she turned to leave.
Pouting a bit he though then smirked and said "Your right... i mean its very obvious I will be the winner here", that made Elsa stop and said "Excuse me?",
"Its true and by you walking away means that i am more powerful than you" said Firebird,
"That means nothing! I can beat you if I want" said Elsa glaring,
"You can try, but you will fail" said Firebird.
"Never!" yelled Elsa as she threw ice at him which he quickly melted with his flames.
"Is that your best shot? Come on! I have seen amatures that can do better than that!" said Firebird before throwing fire at her which the dodged then threw ice.
They threw and fought but careful not to hurt one another. The compeition making Elsa forget about her fears and reservations as she threw ice and erected walls to protect herself.
At the same time she was impressed, watching the firebird use his magic to fight was very much like watching a dance, there was a kind of grace in his movements as he used his magic to conjure up flames or turn to smoke to dodge her attacks.
Moving she turned to throw ice only to slip and throw it, reacting the firebird beraly dodged as the ice grazed by his wing making him drop to the ground.
"Firebird!" Said Elsa terrified as she stopped and ran over praying he was not hut,
"I am okay!" He said gettig up "I am good!", turning Elsa said "This is why my magic should never be used",
"Elsa... nothing happened" said Firebird then added "Besides... have you never once though about what you can do? Push your limits and test your abilities".
There was silence before Elsa turned and said "no" with that she picked up her skirt and ran away.
"Elsa wait!" called Firebird as he flew after her.
Seeing Elsa bolt into the palace the Firebird landed into the main courtyard to go into the palace too only to be nearly trampled by an approaching carriage. It was only because of his quick reflexes that he was able to fly up to avoid getting crushed.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" hollered the surly, middle-aged coachman as he sharply pulled the vehicle to a stop.
"I was walking there!" the Firebird shot back. He peered down to see a certain weasel-like duke alight from the carriage, looking like a cat who got the cream. 'The Duke of Weselton? I wonder what scheme has his hungry little brain cooked up this time.'
"You'll have to excuse my man, Milord" apologized the Duke. "He's been rather irascible as of late."
The coachman harrumphed at that.
Nodding the Firebird asked "What brings you to Arendelle Castle and what is your business here?",
The Duke took off his monocle and as he cleaned it he said "I am here to see the queen to discuss some very important matters, so if you could kindly let me in–",
"I'm afraid I can't," the Firebird told him, "Only Queen Elsa has the authorization to approve your audience."
"Now, look here!" the Duke growled, his patience beginning to wear thin. "I'll have you know–"
"Ah, Firebird! What are you doing out here?"
All three males turned to see the queen and the princess coming up from the palace entrance.
"Queen Elsa!" crowed the Duke, throwing his hands up in delight. "It's s good to see you again!"
"Likewise, Your Grace," she replied with a curt nod. "So what brings you to Arendelle?"
"As you know, the purpose of my visit is to discuss the nuances of a long-term business proposal between our two nations," explained the Duke.
Nodding Elsa lead the Duke back inside of the palace as they did Anna whispered "Think he is planning something",
"I do not think...I know" whispered Firebird as they entered the palace and the doors closed behind them,
"You will protect my sister?" asked Anna,
"Of course, I made a promise and I will keep it" said Firebird softly,
"And you will tell my sister?" asked Anna, that made the Firebird pause, he seemed to hesitate.
Walking over Anna placed her hand on the Firebirds back she said "I know your scared, I know you don't want to hurt anybody, but your are hurting my sister" she paused then added "If she means the world to you then tell her".
Bending his head she knew what she said had affected him as she knew he was a soul who would not want to intentionally hurt anybody, "I am sorry" said Firebird softly,
"Its okay" said Anna "I know you have worried, but now I promise you, if you take this chance you will not regret it, sure Elsa will be angry...maybe try and freeze you" she whispered the last part then added "But I know that after you tell her what you told me she will understand and maybe give you a chance".
Firebird said nothing, but he knew that Anna making all the sense in the world, but his fear, his responsibility as the phoenix and a fateweaver, everything was just on his shoulders. But at this point...she had to know... the question now is...how to tell her?
It was late at night when the Firebird flew into Elsa's room after he had spent the entire day trying to figure out a way to tell Elsa the truth. So far it had not been an easy task as every possible conversation he had though off was worse than the last.
Tired he decided to leave it for later as he needed to turn in for the night, arriving to the room he noticed that she was nowhere to be seen. He checked the time and frowned. '11:30, and still not in bed?' It was so unlike her as she was not the type to stay up late, unless it was work-related or Anna as the two sisters would have a sleepover every now and then.
'Probably is with Anna'
Just then, someone was heard knocking at the door. Thinking it was one of the night guards, the Firebird answered it, only mentally groan upon seeing who it was.
"Good evening to you, Sir Firebird," greeted the Duke, his voice still nasal from the punch he had received from the princess.
"Likewise, Duke Weselton," the Firebird replied as politely as he could, "If you're looking for Queen Elsa, she isn't here at the moment, so perhaps you can discuss–" He moved to shut the door, only to have the Duke catch it with his foot.
"Actually, it's you I wanted to speak with," said the Duke. "Regarding the second challenge."
The Firebird motioned for him to continue. "Alright, I'm listening."
"A month from now, a ball will be held in honor the queen's upcoming coronation anniversary," explained the Duke, "And as Her Majesty's most loyal vassal, I came up with a test that could benefit you both."
"And that is?"
The Duke's monocle glinted eerily in the dim light. "A retrieval mission. I'm sure you've heard of how King Agnarr and Queen Iduna, Queen Elsa's parents, tragically lost their lives after their ship sank in a terrible storm at sea four years ago. And as you know, Her Majesty loved her parents very much, most especially her father, so what is a better gift than to recover what has been lost?
"As in to recover their bodies?" asked the Firebird, his face an impassive mask.
"Yes, and their crowns," said the Duke, "If that doesn't help you win the queen's heart, I don't know what will."
The Firebird nodded in acceptance, but said little else. It was as clear as day that the Duke had something up sleeve, what with the nature of the task. He was weak against water, so while this mission would be was not impossible, it would still be difficult, dangerous even. Already, he had began to map out a rough plan on how to approach this quest. 'I might need to pull a favor for this one…'
"Glad to see that you've accepted the terms," said the Duke. "If you succeed, not only will you have passed the second test, but Queen Elsa and the people of Arendelle also will love you all the more for it."
Once the Duke had left, the Firebird returned to his nest, feeling more driven than ever. While he did not, and would never, agree with the older man's rationale, he was still determined to take on the challenge albeit for different reasons. Hopefully, it would ultimately show Elsa the true extent of his feelings.
To be continued...
Authors note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review to tell me what you think and stay tuned for the next one.