So…going to pull a Disney and not even bother effecting the way people spoke in the mid-1800s. Was reading my first chapter and cringed from how pretentious it sounded. The characters will still speak more proper than present day, but I'm probably portraying something closer to the mid-1900s.
A couple or few reviewers have mentioned the fast pace of this fic, so I'm separating Elsanna just for them.
Just joshing, I was going to separate them anyway. I…don't know how to write conflict very well lol. I think a lot of readers are hoping for that "hate you till I love you" experience, but I haven't found that to be very true in my life. When I'm physically attracted, it's really hard to hate on her, even if she is a right bitch. Also, I don't normally have the opportunity to spend 24/7 with the object of my affections, so this is something like quality time on speed.
Instead, I can only faithfully deliver two girls who have strong feelings for one another from the start, but preconceptions and trials will slow down their progress. It's still a slow burn tension, because you'll keep asking yourself, when're they gonna do it!?
I make a small jibe at Christianity. Couldn't help myself, and in all fairness, I do believe. Even when most Christians and militant liberals would mock my belief, I do. It's an unfortunate position, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Chapter VI
…
"So...do you ever leave this room?" Anna asked, the question floating perilously in the air.
It was nearly time for them to retire, and though Anna was mentally drained keeping up with the intellectually inclined princess, her body was restless from never leaving the confined space, needing more sunlight than what the windowpane offered.
"It's not best for me to be out and about. I've gone months without leaving this room," Elsa said, turning a page in a new book. It had taken her a week to finish just one with her new distraction.
"Months!? Are you sick? I guess you're kind of pale and weak?" Is this why Princes or Dukes or whatever don't pursue her? Are they stupid? Lazy? Bloody blind!? She's the most desirable thing I've ever met! More than chocolate! If I had a choice between chocolate or the Princess every Christmas, there'd be no contest. Well, it'd be amazing if I could have her covered in chocolate—oh God—that image is making me dizzy— "—But I dunno—you seem really strong somehow," Anna said lamely.
A nervous tic came over Elsa's face. Strong somehow indeed.
"I'm not anaemic, Anna. I just...I don't really like people." That was sort of the truth. Even if Elsa weren't magically gifted, she would have found most people to be bothersome or an outright bore.
"So you don't like me?" Anna blurted out. And unfortunately for the both of them, the redhead's inclination to speak before thinking was rubbing off on the Princess.
"But you're not really a perso—" Elsa's hand came up to her mouth before she could finish that spoken thought. Her book tumbled to the ground, page lost.
"Wait, what?" Anna said testily.
Elsa would not eat her words. She didn't have to apologize to her possession.
"The fact of the matter is that—you. Are. My. Body slave. I can like or not like you as I please, because you belong to me."
The last of those words set something off in Anna. In another situation, it might have made Anna feel warm and wanted, but this was not that situation.
"You don't own me! I'm my own person, and I need to go outside!" Anna bellowed.
"Slave, you'll not raise your voice at me. Journey outside at this time of night? Don't be foolish. We're retiring for the night," Elsa said, in control.
The Princess bent down to pick up her book, and an incensed Anna was ready to pummel the blonde while she was down. In fact, Anna even marched up to where Elsa was, her fist drawn back violently.
Anna would have bloodied up any orphan or stranger who spoke to her that way. She hated her circumstances, that she was some pet to a royal, and that the royal even believed such an idea.
Still crouched, Elsa lifted her head to lock eyes and horns with an enraged Anna looming over her. Except, Elsa's horns were more show than substance, and a flicker of fear showed on her face before it bloomed throughout her body. The Princess didn't know how to fight. Her only brawl technique would be her powers, and she would impale herself on an icicle before hurting another person again. Yes, Elsa very well knew and respected Anna's personhood, but her verbal defense mechanisms made her bark with no bite.
A hotheaded Anna took in the submissive posture of her mistress. It would be so easy to beat the snobbish royal to a bloody pulp. Then Anna could break open that triangular window and climb her way down to land—freedom.
Or better yet, Anna thought darkly to herself, I could finally strip her down instead and leave no skin of hers untouched. My hands would grab everywhere, and I would even explore areas of her body not visible to the eye, Anna grinned maniacally. Her unseen skin was bound to be softer than her exposed skin, and I would claim it all. When have I ever gotten anything in this life? I should just take her for myself.
Anna grabbed hold of the collar at Elsa's slender neck to tear the gown off.
It'll be so worth it...I'll defile her right—
Elsa's chin trembled, and the fear on her face grew to stark disbelief and betrayal. Anna let go, her thoughts and Elsa's expression shaming her. Anna stared at her hands, then back to Elsa's wary face. The redhead shook her own head for good measure. Was she really about to commit such crimes against the helpless princess? Could Anna live with herself after one night of unrestrained violence and passion? Looking into those gentle blue eyes, Anna knew she would have regretted it. Her mistress was harmless.
The mistress had cowered in submission, and the slave had become the brutal owner.
Anna couldn't look upon Elsa's face anymore as she turned around, shoulders slumped, and walked towards a hearth that was never used. The redhead threw herself on the floor and curled up into a fetal position. She hated herself and didn't want to be anywhere near the source of all these conflicted feelings.
Elsa remained crouched for some time, waiting in case her deranged body slave advanced on her again. Seeing that Anna was still, Elsa crept under the covers of her bed, hoping the darkness of the blankets could protect the world from her. It would seem people only ever became angered or saddened because of her unnatural ways. Elsa was a dangerous pariah, and everyone would be better off if she were shut away.
…
When Anna and Elsa woke up, they were miserable, respectively. Elsa rose dejectedly from bed, ready to begin her life's endless routine. The blonde even went so far as to grab one of her old pair of gloves, even though she had followed Gerda's advice about practicing touch this whole week.
Anna lie still on the floor, not sure how to deal with her mistress. But even knowing she was in the wrong, Anna couldn't help the niggling feeling of—
"Why do you shut the world out?" Anna asked into the room. The redhead was known for her random, ambiguous questions, but certainly, this one struck a nerve with her mistress. Anna really had little tact.
"Enough, Anna," Elsa said tiredly, blowing some bangs out of her face.
"What are you so afraid of?" Anna sat up, not exactly contentious, but more curious.
"I said, enough!" Elsa glared at her, at the edge of her sanity after a terrible night's unrest.
"Princess Elsa, please—" Anna gestured to all four corners of the room, "—I can't live like this anymore." My mistress, you shouldn't live like this anymore.
"...Then leave." Elsa threw her gloves at the floor in front of Anna. It was implied that Anna would need to cover her body slave brand with the gloves. Elsa's face was impassive.
"Wait, wha—you're letting me go?" Anna asked aloud with disbelief, picking up the two gloves. The redhead wasn't entirely daft; she knew what the gloves were for. She was being told to leave without being noticed.
The blonde was still expressionless, eyes narrowing into an even colder gaze at Anna.
Mouth agape, Anna drew herself up and walked to where one of her washed day dresses was hanging near Elsa's wardrobe. She picked the dress that would allow for the most mobility in the cold weather, a caped long-sleeved one that didn't quite touch the ground when she walked. She changed right there and folded her sleeping gown neatly before awkwardly putting it on the floor; she would usually put her gown on Elsa's bed with the assumption she would return there for the night. She patted down her hair and tied it into two braids. This had been a slow process on Anna's part as the girl was attempting to mull over the tense situation.
Elsa was a statue, observing all of this unaffected. Look what you've done—Anna is really going to leave. Is that what you wanted? Why don't you just go outside with her? That's all she wanted, right? No, she said she can't "live like this." With you. She can't live with you.
Anna walked back to the gloves and bent down to retrieve them. They fit perfectly onto her hands, having been Elsa's when the Princess was younger. Anna lifted her gaze to stare warily at her silent mistress.
Running away?
Come with me.
Do you hate me that much?
I'm so alone.
Am I really that unlovable?
I would stay if you asked.
Please don't leave me.
Please don't let me go.
It didn't matter whose thoughts belonged to whom. Both hearts were breaking.
"I guess this is it," Anna hovered, hands fidgeting.
Both wanted to shout, cry, be heard in some way.
Anna bowed to the Princess, having taken cues from Gerda.
Both sets of eyes were ready to spill over from heaviness. Gravity itself seemed to weigh mercilessly upon the both of them.
"Goodbye, Princess Elsa."
Both needed to fall to their knees, unable to support themselves. It was too much. They begged to be defied.
Anna walked to the door—took one long last look at Elsa—in case the Princess changed her mind. But the royal was too stubborn. Anna saw no alternative but to exit the room.
Elsa crumbled to her knees, tears spilling forth. She clutched at her chest with one hand, the other wiping at the streams along her face. She cried silently, her sobs like mournful hiccups. No one would hear her even if she shrieked in hellish agony. The walls were too thick. The Princess's torture was kept private, hidden from all eyes and ears in the confines of her room. There was no worse prison. Even imprisoned body slaves had companions.
...
Anna set out immediately for Kristoff. She had not forgotten his tip to meet him early mornings in the stables. It was easy enough leaving the quiet corridor that contained the Princess's room, but Anna had not a clue as to where the stables might be. She considered asking one of the castle staff, but she was receiving enough odd stares as it was. Better she just keep moving along before someone apprehended her.
She even caught a, "Is that the Princess?," and Anna wanted to lash out at the gossiping staff. Seriously, me? The Princess? If only you had the chance to know the real Princess. You all make her so unreal with your stupid rumors when you don't know anything! The only thing unreal about the Princess is her beauty. Oh chocolate goddess, the Princess's beauty!
Anna shook her head to rid herself of the distracting thoughts. It was not time to dwell on a person she might never see again. Never see again?, Anna choked. A tear fell from Anna's eye as she sighed and kept walking. Logically, the stables had to be somewhere around the perimeter of the castle walls.
After a fountain, garden, lake, outhouse, and armory detour, Anna found the stables. The neighing and sputtering of several horses were a dead giveaway, too. She peered in stealthily, not wanting to draw the attention of other stable hands. Luckily, it was just Kristoff, brushing not the horses, but his beloved reindeer.
"Pssstt…Kristoff," Anna called out.
The Ice Master's head perked up. He put his hand over his eyes, though there was a roof shielding the sun.
"Feisty-pants?" Kristoff said, squinting his eyes.
"The one and only," Anna grinned at the friendly man.
"Wo-wow, wow, wow—what are you doing out!?" Kristoff heavily ran over to Anna, stopping just short of bulldozing her over. His weathered hands were spread out, open and sincere.
"I'm taking a stroll," Anna said, not wanting to reveal too much about her situation. He did work for the King after all.
"The Princess allowed it?" Kristoff asked incredulously.
"Don't get me started on her," Anna said in a clipped tone. She was still processing being sent away by her mistress.
Kristoff frowned, feeling the discontent of the redhead. She looked to be thinking deeply with a knitted brow and ready to rant about—
"She's the most stubborn person I've ever met! Things have to be done her way, and when you try to suggest another way, even nicely, she just pretends like you don't exist! She's really odd, and so private—sometimes I felt like I was living with a ghost!" Anna paused, forgetting to breathe as she spoke.
"So she really is evil?" Kristoff said.
"Well n—" Anna tried.
"Can't say I'm surprised considering she's locked away in a corner of the castle—"
"I'm confused about that, too—"
"She must be the meanest, harshest woman in Arendelle—"
"No, wai—" Anna was becoming a little upset.
"I mean, even her own father won't talk about her—" Kristoff had clearly stopped listening, giving his thoughts voice without filter.
"That's not fai—!"
"I bet she's no prettier than Sven—and he's a reindeer—if they have to hide her—"
"STOP IT!" Anna shouted at the Ice Master. Her head was down, and her firsts were clenched tightly at her sides. "You. And everyone else. You don't know anything about her," Anna spit out threateningly, eyes ablaze. It was as if the redhead were defending the honour of the mysterious Princess.
"Whoa. Sorry, sorry..." Kristoff put his hands up placatingly. "But ya know, you did come in railing on her..."
"I know." A sigh. "I guess I'm just like everyone else. She just really gets under my skin." Anna even made a show of scratching her arms like she had a really nasty itch. "Wait, isn't it um, forbidden for us to talk about her?"
"That's the King's law, but I won't tell anyone. You're safe with me." Kristoff gave a fat thumbs up. "—And I'm really curious myself—what is she like?" Kristoff asked carefully, not sure if he wanted to hear about the hermit Princess assaulting the body slave.
"Wow, I don't even know where to begin..." Anna took a seat on a wooden crate.
"Where'd you get the gloves?" Kristoff pointed at the silk gloves covering Anna's hands.
"Oh, she gave them to me—I think, so that I wouldn't be taken by another person." Not that she wanted me herself.
"So she's smart. That's not surprising. Royalty are tutored by the best scholars gold can buy. By the way, you want your gold?" Kristoff said with a grin on his masculine face.
"Oh wow, I didn't remember that at all," Anna admitted, revealing how much she cared for riches. "It doesn't matter; I have nowhere to go."
"What do you mean? Don't you have to return to the Princess?" Kristoff scratched his chin. He had assumed Anna received the gloves so that another could not steal the redhead away from the Princess, not that the Princess wanted Anna to be protected.
"No, she let me go..." Anna said rather despondently.
"That's great!" Kristoff exclaimed, completely missing the redhead's tone. "Now you can use your gold and be free! And if you have nowhere to go, you can always join me in ice harvesting, uh, but not so much during this season. I help out with the stables during these colder months."
Anna didn't respond immediately, and Kristoff finally registered the redhead's demeanour.
"She must not be that bad if she gave you your freedom," Kristoff deduced.
"Um, I sort of yelled at her and lunged at her, ready to strangle her," Anna said guiltily.
"Whoa there, feisty-pants. That's treason."
"I think she's scared of me."
"Scared of you? Couldn't she have summoned the guards, had you beheaded, used sorcery on you? Oh yeah, does she have magic!?"
"Wait, what? No, that's crazy," Anna asserted.
"Bummer. Well, you're making her sound like some fragile, helpless princess. And unless she's dying, that helpless image would have been too perfect to hide away from the public." Kristoff cocked his head and leaned in conspiratorially. "Is she dying?"
"That's what confuses me! She isn't anything like what people say about her. She ordered me around, but she never hit me."
"Did she—" Kristoff couldn't sate the horrible, burning curiosity, "—you know, touch you?"
"No," Anna gave one emphatic shake of her head. "She's a real saint alright," Anna delivered the line with annoyance, but not the usual accusation of hypocrisy that others employed such a term of phrase with. "If anything, I wanted to—"
"You wanted to what?" Kristoff asked with raised brow.
...
A little over an hour ago...
When Gerda entered Elsa's chambers with the morning meal for two, she wasn't surprised to find the Princess curled on the bed—her darling charge was sleeping-in more these days—but she was baffled as to where the effervescent redhead was.
"Elsa dearie, what's wrong? Where is Anna?" Gerda asked worriedly, setting the tray of food immediately down on the small dining table.
Elsa only sniffled in response, fitting of an abandoned child.
Gerda approached the bed and hefted herself onto it, her plumpness unwieldy in comparison to the nubile bodies of the two young women. The loyal maid rested a comforting hand on Elsa's shoulder.
"Oh dearie. This old heart can't bear your tears. Tell Gerda what's wrong," Gerda said soothingly.
Elsa wiped at her eyes and turned slightly towards the older woman.
"She left me, Gerda. She left me," Elsa chanted.
"Did she escape?" Gerda asked in disbelief. "You two were getting along so well..."
"Quite the contrary. She became upset with me and wanted to leave, so I gave her permission," Elsa told her side of the story.
"Anna asked to leave? That's not really the place of a body slave. And dearie, as any other master or mistress would have done, you could have forbidden her. How did you upset her?" Gerda felt like she was missing something in the bigger picture. Elsa had a tendency to misconstrue situations due to her gift with words.
"She wanted to go outside—"
"—Which would have been good for you," Gerda interrupted, further growing her favor for Anna.
"—I said she was not a person, but rather, my possession—but she then persisted in knowing why I hid in my room, why people spoke ill of me, and why I was closed off in general!" Elsa blurted out, confusing when certain words had been exchanged.
Gerda could feel the visceral tension in Elsa's body, and she paused before speaking again. Feeling sorry with Elsa would only lead Elsa to believe the Princess was right in how she acted, and Gerda predicted Elsa responded poorly to Anna's concern. Yes, Gerda was certain only a person who could observe and could care would ask why her darling was indeed closed off from the world. None of Elsa's suitors had put forth as sincere an effort as Anna.
"So you ended the line of questioning and she asked to leave?" Gerda started again.
"The girl had the audacity to push me a second day, this morning," Elsa's ire was lighting up. "She asked me 'what I was so afraid of!'—Everything!" Elsa released a panicked shout, holding the sides of her head with both hands. "Granted I didn't say that, but it should have been obvious."
"Dearie, the only obvious parts of you are your blue-blood and good-looks. You give as many tells as a seasoned gambler," Gerda replied mirthfully. "So you withheld an answer and she asked to leave? Suddenly Anna's curiosity was sated and she was ready to never see you again?" Gerda looked like she already knew the answer to this, which was all the more infuriating for Elsa.
"Oh very well! I told Anna to leave. But it wasn't a command! It was a suggestion, no—" Elsa was fumbling over her words in her emotional distress, "—it was an option. She didn't have to take it!"
"You know dearie, sometimes your voice has an air of authority to it—"
"She wanted to leave, Gerda. I read it in her eyes. She had probably wanted to ever since she was enslaved," Elsa said sincerely. The blonde did not think it necessary to bring up the part where Anna had lunged at her and vise-gripped her collar. Despite misconstruing the incident with Anna, Elsa wasn't really one to speak poorly of others. It was a waste of her energy. She spent enough of it in self-loathing.
Gerda hummed in thought.
"It's for the better, too, right?" Elsa chuckled uncertainly. "I probably would have hurt her with my powers—"
"How will she survive with that brand?" Gerda asked.
"I supplied her with a pair of my old gloves," Elsa said.
"Dearie, do you really believe you're more dangerous to a girl like that, more dangerous than the world out there?" Gerda stared hard at Elsa. Her tone softened. "I saw you Elsa. You treated her better than any other slave owner I've encountered. And I've seen a lot of nobles in all my years. Given her likely humble upbringing, you may have treated her better than any person in her life. Once the gloves are taken away, will the world be as good to her as you were?"
A grimace slowly took over Elsa's face before realization sunk in. Panic was written on her.
"I-I don't know!" Elsa choked into her hand. The tears were returning. "Oh god, she's so small too! Wh-what if an unruly lot of men happen upon her? She's insufferably pretty—they'll devour her! What have I done, Gerda!?" If Elsa had possessed any unbecoming habits, she would have been gnawing away at her nails.
"I think she'll be coming back," Gerda said evenly.
"How is that?" Elsa asked flabbergasted.
"I just believe she will. But I'll send out a search group just to be sure. Ginger girl, age 18, insufferably pretty?" Gerda made to lighten the mood.
"Insufferable imp should suffice," Elsa sniffled, a small smile surfacing on the tearstained face.
...
After lunch that day, the insufferable imp was riding alongside Kristoff in his sleigh around the North Mountain. Kristoff had taken out some of the royal horses to give their legs a stretch. Of course, Sven was leading the pack. Anna had a passing thought of a legend saint who distributed gifts among those children lucky enough to be saved by some all-powerful, judgmental god.
Anna had avoided Kristoff's question of what she had wanted to do to the Princess. They had other things to talk about. Both spent most of their lives outdoors, liked roughhousing—Anna more than Kristoff—and were orphaned.
"So who raised you then?" Anna said.
"Well…in my childhood I was kept by some…experts," Kristoff spoke as if he had imaginary friends. He wasn't supposed to talk about how the King had taken him in.
"Of what?"
"Ah…many trades—mainly love."
"Love experts?"
"Yes," Kristoff said defensively. "If you have unanswered questions, they're always right. I learned that the hard way lots of times when I was a kid."
"Questions about the Princess?" It seemed Anna's mind always returned to Elsa. The evil enchantress! The redhead's mind also liked coming up with strange epithets for the blonde.
"Uh, sure. Just know that my friends won't just answer any question. It has to come from the heart." Kristoff looked at Anna to gauge for sincerity. "Princess Elsa uh, really put a spell on you. She must be one special old lady."
"She's 21," Anna said.
"Sh-what!? The King had her so late! I-is she has hideous as they say!?" Kristoff gawked.
"No! She—I—I would smear her beauty with my simple words. Hm…'O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright—"
"—Come again?" Kristoff interrupted.
"Shakespeare?"
"You need a weapon?"
"No, ah…Aphrodite, Helen—?"
"—Are you speaking a different language?" Kristoff had to make sure he wasn't mishearing.
This was getting frustrating for Anna. She had been spoiled this last week; her mistress had known every reference to literature she had made. Anna never realized how wonderful it was to have a companion who had read all the same—and many more—texts as her. One more attempt from popular culture—
"Freyja?"
"Uh, oh. Ohhhh." Kristoff nodded, mouth agape. He was passably literate, but he did not enrich himself in books. Luckily, Freyja was a Norse goddess of love and beauty, a frequent character in oral storytelling among townspeople.
"Yeah, she's something like perfection," Anna stared dreamily out. "Ahem, and I have serious questions about her!" The redhead tried to school her face.
"My mind is just…blown. She is the exact opposite of what I imagined her to be. But uh, all right! Let's go visit my friends! We're not far from their den," Kristoff said excitedly.
"Den?" Anna had a sinking feeling they were wolves, and Kristoff was crazy.
"Yep. Just up that cliff and through some geysers," Kristoff said breezily.
…
Ugh these chapters are getting longer...would love some inspiration! No seriously, I think I'm losing interest in this story.