Start chapter 9 Anna & Kristoff
Note: Reviews are welcome.
I fully appreciate the reviews by Loridhhp, but I would like to hear from additional people.
Queen Elsa motions him to up the throne.
He moves forward. He, Kai, Anna and Elsa, all lean together, they all speak in low tones, for privacy.
"I will not agree to any decision until I hear the full council." Queen Elsa warns.
He shakes his head. He says in a low voice, "It's not that, Your Majesty. Last night everyone was so relieved about the end of the your Magical Winter, that they did not do much. Tonight, though, people are going to party. Party hard."
Anna claps and says in a happy voice, "That's easy to solve. All Elsa has to do is make another Ice Rink."
Elsa brightens up for a second, then she notices the dark looks on the Captain's and Kai's faces, "What, Captain." She asks in a hard tone.
The Captain takes a breath and says, "Princess Anna, these are going to the people of the docks: sailors, longshoremen, carpenters, others. They are people who only enter the castle grounds when they dragged in after a drunken fight."
Anna grimaces and nods. "Oh."
"Go ahead and increase your patrols around the docks." Queen Elsa orders.
"Hopefully, we can keep it to just barroom brawls, not street fights." He remarks to those orders.
Everyone nods.
"Is that all?" Queen Elsa asks.
"Everything else can wait until this afternoon or later."
Kai coughs into his hand.
She sighs. "Kai?"
"Your Majesty, there are other people who wish you to hear their pleas." A subtle point of a finger to a group of people talking to a couple of Kai's assistants near the main entrance. They are keeping it quiet, but you can see that there is an argument happening.
Queen Elsa orders, "I will retire to the waiting room behind the throne for a few minutes. You can organize them. I still wish to visit people, informally, in the court outside, so please kept it to only a few people."
A smile at her sister. "Anna, you can come with me, so you can leave and talk to the Ice Master and Deliver, Mr Bjorgman."
Anna nods, with excitement. "Yeah. I saw him come in a few minutes ago."
Kai acknowledges his orders.
The Meeting at the throne breaks up.
"Marcus." Elsa whispers to him as he begins to back away from the throne. "Thank you."
He smiles and replies. "Thank you, My Queen. Life with you will be interesting."
Captain Marcus leaves on his own business. Elsa and Anna open a door hidden by a tapestry on the wall behind the throne and leave the Great Hall.
"There will be a small break, Citizens." Kai orders. "All with business before the Queen will approach."
The sound of the staff of a pole-arm hitting the floor.
A small waiting room behind the throne.
The room is there to give the King or Queen a place near the throne to relax, out of sight, in the middle of a days work. There is a table, a few chairs, something to drink and snack on. A full length and comfortable couch, for naps, if needed. The walls have paintings of seascapes. The room has a full length mirror, as well, so the Queen can make sure of her appearance before returning to the throne.
A door leads to a private room for more personal business, another door opens to the rest of the castle.
Gerda is waiting as the sisters enter the room. "Your Majesties, do you need anything?' She asks.
Queen Elsa starts to shake her head, then says, "Not this second, Gerda, although, please stay. I will have something in a minute. Kai is just organizing things in the Hall, while I am out-of-the-way."
Gerda bows and backs up the wall.
"Elsa, what was that last little bit about?" Anna asks.
Elsa smiles, brilliantly, "He staged that so-called trial as a test, Anna. What type of Queen would I be? A woman frozen on the throne, a chilling sorceress, or, hopefully, a good Queen."
"You are a good Queen."
Elsa smiles at the compliment and says, "And, with that he helped me greatly. That show trial was just about the perfect first time on the throne for me. It allowed me to show my judgment and mercy as a calm and stable Queen. Not, as I'm sure that many in the Hall thought, as an angry and fearsome witch."
"Nice!" Anna smiles. "Great, You have to do something for him."
Elsa nods. "Of course. Once we meet on Monday, I'll do something so he does not have to pay that fine. Exactly what, I have not decided yet." She shrugs, "I might pay him a bonus equal to the fine, perhaps."
Anna glances at the door, bouncing on her feet, trying to restrain herself.
Elsa smiles at Anna, "Go ahead and visit him. Find out want he needs and feel free to fix it, if you can."
Anna turns to the door, than pauses, and asks as she looks over her shoulder at her sister, "How come that you think that something is broken?"
"One of a Queen's jobs is to fix problems. The number of times that I've read about someone approaching a Queen without a problem is few." A quirk of a smile. "And the times that someone did approach a Queen without a problem, they were trying to seduce her. I do not think Kristoff is here to kiss me. You on the other hand?"
Anna and Gerda blushes. "Elsa!" Anna exclaims with a wave of her hand. Elsa places her hands on her lips, hiding a smile.
Anna gives a hopeful look at her sister, "Do you mind?"
"If you do?" Elsa asks.
Anna nods, slowly.
Elsa carefully says. "You did say that you were going slowly, Anna. A pretend kiss on the check, a kiss to your hand, those...are fine. Just remember that you said that you'd go slow, for anything else."
"Just go slow. Got it." Anna says, smiles, and leaves the room. Once the door closes, Elsa and Gerda can hear her shoes hit the floor as she starts to run.
"A comment, Queen Elsa." Gerda states.
Elsa nods.
"Your definition of slow and her definition of slow may not be the same."
Elsa quirks an eyebrow, "And this was not obvious, how?"
They share a quick laugh.
"I know what you are getting at, Gerda. I must trust her. Only after she makes a mistake can I do something."
Gerda sighs and, as she remembers a problem with a pig during the spring fair, and thinks, 'And here I was hoping that Elsa would control her.'
"Gerda." Queen Elsa says in a slow voice, "I am finding... being addressed as Queen Elsa from you...is disturbing. I keep remembering you as my substitute mother and..."
"I must, Queen Elsa."
Elsa grimaces, "Yes. In public, of course." A plea in her eyes, "In private?"
Gerda nods and smiles. "It is odd for me as well, Elsa."
"Thank you."
"Now, Gerda, I need to ask you some questions."
"I am at your service."
"You and Kai see and hear just about everything that happens in the Castle and the City, so... What exactly what did the Council do while Prince Hans was in charge? They should have been in charge. Not Prince Hans and especially not those foreign envoys, who as I was writing my decrees yesterday, acted like they were my Councilors. Where were my so-called Councilors?" The last few words of that question are in a tough questioning voice.
Gerda begins to explain what happened in the city while Elsa froze it.
Let's keep an eye on Anna, while Elsa begins to interrogate Gerda.
"Kristoff!"
That shout is all the warning that he has as Anna jumps into his arms. "Trust exercise." She whispers into his ear as she hugs him, tightly.
He hugs her back, then hearing coughs in the background, lets her go.
Anna lands, barely managing not to fall, "Huh?"
Kristoff wrings his hands, "Sorry, Anna." He points with his head at the group of people who have gathered around them, watching them as Anna and Kristoff are in the crowded Great Hall.
"Opps!" Anna brings her hand up to her face to hide her smile as she look around. She cringes at Kai's glare. "Forgot."
She grabs his hand, "Here, let's go somewhere private." She drags him out of the room.
Kai's eyes close at that comment. 'And how many people are now sure that she and that man are doing something that she should not do.'
A flick of his hand to attract a guard, a quick order and the guardsman follows Anna.
Anna drags Kristoff to the Portrait Room, her favorite room in the Castle.
The maid on her hands and knees cleaning the floor, quickly stands up, bows, and leaves the room with her brush and pail.
Kristoff looks around the room, very nervous. He is a man of the wilderness and a working man of the docks, not a man of a castle.
He thinks, 'Hell. I am afraid to touch anything. Just breathing is dirtying up the Castle.' He takes off his cap and wrings it in the hands. Something to do, to control his nerves.
"Why did you come here, Kristoff? Yesterday, I tried to invite you home and you declined." Anna asks as she closes the door.
As she moves away from the door, the guard cracks it open. The maid on the other side of another door, on the opposite side of the room, also, cracks it open. The castle servants will be very careful of Anna's reputation, even if she is not.
"Well. I'm not. You know." Kristoff tries to explain his problem.
"Never mind." Anna waves his explanation off. "So, Why are you here?"
Kristoff's jaw works as he tries to figure out what words to use.
"Kristoff?"
He starts to speak in an nervous voice, "I was with some... friends. Yeah, friends last night. You know, other Ice Harvesters."
Anna nods, thinking, "Why is he nervous? He wasn't like this those last few days. During all that weirdness, he was rock steady, why is he having trouble at home?'
"Well. One of them. Asger. He is an old man, now." He says, uneasily, "But, when I was younger, he helped me. A lot. And..."
"And Kristoff? Come on, I can't help until I know what the problem is?" Anna asks as she circles him, trying to find something wrong with him.
'Did someone hurt him.' She thinks as she does so.
Kristoff twists around, looking at Anna as he continues to try to talk.
"Umm. I told them about Elsa. AH. Queen Elsa and her powers."
Anna waves her hand in dismissal. "Everyone knows that."
"And. Well. He was wondering." He pauses, "And others agreed with him. Well."
"Well, what?" A pause, "What has gotten into you?" She asks peevishly.
"Nothing. I'm just. I don't know how to say it." He keeps having trouble talking.
"Just say it." She badgers him.
"He thinks that Elsa will drive all the Ice Harvesters out of business." He spits out, finally.
Anna blinks in surprise. "Ahh?' She places the tip of a finger on her chin, and says automatically, "That's easy to fix."
A pause, as she thinks, "AH. Let me think."
She twists around and begins to wander the room. "What do you think, Joan?" She asks the painting of Joan of Arc.
Silence.
"You're no help." She growls at the painting.
She spins around and looks at Kristoff.
Who looks he did when his sled fell of the cliff.
"Hey, don't worry, Kristoff. I am gonna talk to my sister and she'll fix it." She pauses.
Both of them share a look as they remember the last time Anna said that.
"It will be better this time." Anna says, firmly.
He nods, firmly.
"Let's go see her." Anna starts that sentence with excitement and ends it with gloom.
Kristoff nods. "Yeah. This time she's not going to freeze your heart." He says without thinking.
Silence...
"I am so, sorry. I did not mean that." Kristoff spits out, practically ripping his cap apart as he twists it.
Anna licks her lips. "Yeah. I know." She says quietly.
A deep breath.
Stand tall.
Straighten shoulders.
Remember that you are a Princess.
"Follow me." Anna says in a determined voice as she goes to open the door.
She slips on the waxed floor when the guard surprises her by politely opening the door for her.
Kristoff catches her before she hits the floor.
"Good catch." Anna smiles up at him.
He smiles down at her. "Not a problem."
End chapter 9
How do you like my Anna and Kristoff?
Thank you for reading.
jeff