Born and Bred for Boredom
It's been so hard finding things that will fill the day. Aside from sitting and watching the birds from the royal balcony I'm perched on fly back and forth between a bird nest that is tucked away underneath a plant pot holder and another that is perched way over there, right on top of the spire on the left side guard towers. I can't really decide why it's doing that… Do birds have two homes? Is he just visiting a friend? I think that's nice, though Elsa would know the real reason why he's doing it. It's probably something way too smart for me to know. I look down to see that the palace courtyard is bustling with people rushing through the gates to find the various market stalls that are open. There are also some children in the corner playing with a strange round object made of leather? Whatever that is, it looks fun! I really want to play with them, but Elsa always said that I need to be careful around strangers unless I'm really sure they're nice people, and right now I'm too on edge to judge whether or not they are or not. In the opposite corner, closer to the palace, there are royal guards performing some kind of display. They are all in two lines facing each other. The one with the large hat with a point on top paces through the middle. That's Senior Officer Gregor, and no doubt, he is checking his guards over as it's the first time he'll have stepped in for the guard captain.
Speaking of which, I wonder where he, Elsa and Anna are. Would they have left the trolls home now? Ah, this is too scary… What if Gregor asks me if I know anything about it? Because I DO know all about it, and Elsa always said to never lie to the guards, ever! However, if I do lie, then Elsa and Anna will be able to get a little bit further away, and closer to reaching Kristoff. What do I do? Oh- I don't know what to do!
I swing my feet back over and hop down to the floor. I wander across the hall towards the stairs, waddling that slowly I could see my flurry's snowflakes slowly falling and melting away into my feet. This really wasn't what I was expecting life would be like living in the palace with Elsa and Anna. I thought it was going to be a life full of fun and games, instead it's just the same thing every day: walking around the palace looking for things to do. Elsa keeps telling me that she would play with me when her work is finished, but she's always so busy that we never get the chance! I get that she's been away for a while and she has a lot to catch up on, but surely she can spare a few minutes to have just a little bit of fun? Maybe she really couldn't and I've just been selfish, but now my only regret was that she's gone on this big adventure, and I'll never see her again. What's worst then that? I can't tell anyone. I'm just supposed to pretend to be absolutely fine with the fact that she's gone forever, then act upset all over again when she doesn't return. This is going to be so hard.
But it's not all a sad story, for Anna and Kristoff anyway. They both will finally be able to live happily forever after together, well maybe not too happy. I think if Anna and Kristoff return, no- WHEN Anna and Kristoff return, Anna is going to be absolutely destroyed. She'll be an empty shell of a princess who has just lost her sister that she has only just gotten back home. What can I do then? Would I tell her that I knew what she was going to do, and I did nothing to stop it, that I couldn't stop it?
This train of thought occupied my mind for a while, as I now find myself wandering into the courtyard and right in the midst of all that's occurring here. The children playing with the ball have stopped for a while and are catching their breath while sitting against the wall. One of them spots me and calls out.
"Hey Olaf! Come here and play with us!"
"Yeah we need a goalie!" another said.
I really want to, but the last time I played with these guys it didn't go so well. The put me in goal and kick it at me really hard. It's really fun and when it hits me it literally goes right through me! All the kids used to feel really bad and say they were sorry, but after a while they realised it was all okay!
I'm still so upset with Elsa's chat with me that I can't even reply. I just turn around and waddle around some more. I decide that it's probably best to avoid Kai and Gerda in case we start chatting and I let something slip-
"Olaf! There you are little guy!" I hear a cheerful voice from behind me. I turn to see Gerda waving to me with one hand, holding a breadbasket in the other.
Great… Now I have to talk to her otherwise she might suspect something, "Hi Gerda!" I waddle over to her and notice that she's actually leaving the palace with the full basket, rather than heading in from the market. "Where are you headed with all that bread?" It sounded really accusing, but I was only trying my best to avoid the awkward conversation where she asks me how I am coping with Elsa's absence, and I'd have to lie through my- one big tooth.
"Oh these?" she raises the basket slightly; "These are all going to the orphanage down by the market! Anna usually takes them herself but in her absence I'm doing it on her behalf!"
"Oh that's cool!" I said, I forgot that she usually runs down to there every week or so.
"If you want to come with you could meet all the children Anna sees?"
"Okay! That sounds great!" Aww man! I'm supposed to be avoiding spending time with them! As much as I want to, I don't want to risk anything with Anna and Elsa!
"I was thinking about trying to find something for you to do! I expect you have been so bored without the Queen and Princess here haven't you?" she asks as we start heading towards the gate.
"Yeah…" I mumble, "But it's okay! It won't be long until they get back!" I chuckled, without looking her in the eye.
"That's the spirit Olaf! I must admit you seem to be dealing with all this so much better than I thought you would!" She states.
"Well I do have Sven to talk to, don't I?" Although the more I think of it, without Kristoff Sven has no way of replying to me.
"Of course, and me and Kai too remember?" Oh dear, is she suspecting something? I'm getting very nervous now. I notice that my flurry is starting to produce more snow than usual.
"Yeah, I know! I wouldn't avoid you guys! Why would I do that?" This is not going very well...
"Um… That's right!" she says carefully.
C'mon Olaf, change the subject quick! "So why does Anna often go down to the Orphanage with bread?"
"She's been doing it since she was a little girl. She used to wake up, run down to the kitchens and load up a basket of bread. She always used to run it down to the Orphanage and back in minutes, right before breakfast! Then, of course, I took over once everything happened with Queen Elsa. Once the gates opened and the Great Thaw happened, the princess started going again. You wait until you see all those little faces light up when they smell the bread!"
"Oooh I bet they love it!" I can only imagine that it tastes as good as it smells.
We take a gentle stroll down to the Orphanage, passing through the market stalls as we go. Having looked at the bread in the basket, I now know that the bread coming from the castle looks more prepared and has been buttered and carefully browned to keep it fresh. I bet that they will savour every single mouthful of this food! It looks so good!
A multitude of different scents wafted through my nose from the various market stalls. The smells of freshly cooked fish, baked bread, and herbs and spices softly spliced through the air around us, seemingly queuing up to intrude into our sinuses, and my eyes regularly found themselves slipping shut in admiration of the aromas. Gerda just carried on walking, obviously unaffected.
As we approach the big wooden building just in view from the market stalls, the sound of laughing children and crying infants became more and more apparent. Gerda gentle knocks three times on the door. After a few seconds it opens, and reveals a small lady dressed in black and white church nun's clothing answers.
"Ah, Gerda! How nice to see you!" she answers.
"Hi Abagail! Thought I'd run down your bread for you!" Gerda says cheerfully as she hands over the basket of still steaming bread.
"Ooh that smells divine!" Abagail says as she takes a long sniff of the bread, and her eyes fall upon me. "Olaf? Hi! I didn't expect to see you here! I thought you'd be up in the grounds with the Queen or the Princess?"
Remembering Elsa had grew another lump in my throat, but Gerda answered before I could, "The Queen and Princess are away on royal business, that's why I'm delivering these to you." She said, referring to the bread.
"Ah I see! I bet you're bored out of your head little guy?" She said to me.
"Kind of yeah, everyone is so busy around the palace nowadays that they never get the chance to have any fun at all!" It's true, they'd always say they would play once they've done this or once they have read this or filed that, I never got a look in!
"Well in that case Olaf, I have a favour to ask you…" Abagail said to me.
"Oh really? What's that?" I asked back, keen to find out.
"The children in this orphanage are all quite big fans of yours and they really would like to meet you! Would you spare a few minutes?" she asks as she gestures with her arm into the building.
"A few minutes!?" I repeat, "I could spend all day here!
She opens the door for me as I stroll in, and I am greeted with a fantastic sight. The Orphanage has marvellous oak wood flooring smoothed off at the edges. The walls were large panels of wood and square windows, divided up by stone columns. Each wall has chairs and tables stacked against them, as though the entire room can be quickly converted into a dining hall. There are children everywhere, much to expect from an orphanage, and they're playing! There are some in one corner playing with a leather ball similar to the group in the courtyard earlier, some in another are playing with big wide bats and a smaller ball, others are simply throwing snowball-sized balls and trying to get each other! It's like an indoor snowball fight! There is a grid with numbers on the floor that some children are jumping in and out of quickly, in time with the clapping hands of the others. Hopscotch! I've heard of this game before, it's so fun! All the way on the other side of the room, children are kicking a ball against a reinforced wall, and taking it in turns to kick it back off of it.
"This… Is… Amazing!" I exclaim as I throw up my arms in excitement. Just then all of the children stop playing and look towards me; one gets hit in the face by the ball he was supposed to catch.
"Olaf's here!" one of the children calls out, to which they all cheered loudly and started running over to me. I can't contain my excitement as I beam and run towards them. I quickly find myself engulfed in the arms of the children there, all chattering to me about every topic under the sun! Some ask about what life is like in the palace, some ask what Queen Elsa is like, one accidently pulls off my arm and looks really sorry, but it makes funny shapes and snakes around shaking hands with them. I'm so popular here! I had no idea that they all wanted to meet me!
Behind me I hear Gerda giggle to Abagail, "Well it looks like they are happy!"
"I know! Look at their faces! They haven't smiled like this in a long time!" I see her turn to Gerda, "It would be no bother having him stay you know, the children would love it!"
Gerda looks over to me for an answer, "Oh Gerda, please let me stay!"
"Hey I'm not expecting you to sit at the palace all day, am I? You're more than welcome to stay here as long as you want!"
At that, the children all jumped up with ideas of what we could do next. Some wanted to play with the bigger ball in the corner, others wanted to play Hopscotch, and others wanted to play their version of a snowball fight.
"You guys wanna see real snowballs?" I say as I give my flurry a shake. As I do, the snowfall becomes heavier and starts to settle on the floor. The children all get excited as they start to pick up snowballs and throw them at each other. One of the smaller ones comes up to me, "Hey Olaf, do you want to play Defend the Fortress?"
"That's my favourite game!" I said as I started work on my little fort. For the next few hours at least, I could forget about Elsa…
Well, this is very new to me! Trudging through the woods collecting firewood isn't a regular thing for us princess's to do. I've fallen over branches and tripped over twigs so many times already, and I'm absolutely soaked. It's not raining, but all the moisture and dew from the leaves and foliage had sapped into my clothes and made every step heavier. My walking boots are now caked in mud and loosened grass, making every step hard and heavy and… just plain messy, and I'll never forget the awful splodgy sound and the feeling underfoot. It doesn't help that it is quite far from the usually warm centre of Arendelle's realm, so it has not been tendered by people before and as a result, it is extremely thick and dense; untouched by man. There is no visible path ahead of us, other than that which Sebastian has cut out behind us.
Through the thicker trees and dense bushes I continue on, keeping an eye out for the thicker branches that Sebastian had told me to look for, especially mouldy ones and ones that crumple easily, apparently they catch fire easier than others. I reach to pick some up and hug it to my chest; I didn't realise how heavy it was! It leaves green residue and marks on my dress, but I'm sure it matters not.
Repeatedly bending town to pick up the logs of wood was all I was doing for the next few minutes and I had gathered up quite a bit! Ha! I'd like to see the fire go out with all this to burn! I stood up and start to head back to Elsa and Sebastian, when the snap of a twig freezes me in place. It takes only a few seconds for me to turn to face the sound, though it felt like minutes, but I see nothing. It had sounded like some kind of animal was approaching that was heavy underfoot. I slowly back away towards where I had already come from, and some more twigs in front of me snapped. I start backing away a little quicker now, dropping a few smaller bits of tinder, but I don't really care for them right now. The sound is louder now, whatever it is, it's very close. What can it be, a bear? No, there are no bears around here. A wolf? No, they'd be many more than just one of them. I spot a large tree behind me and make a dash for it, tucking in behind the thick oak trunk. My try and silent my breathing a little to remain unheard, but my dash towards the tree had quickened my pulse a little. I hear the cracking get louder and louder, until I hear what could only be the sound of something breaking through the bushes and standing right where I had just stood. I hear very low grunting and patting of feet on the floor. Whatever it is, it's quite big. It's going to find me! I consider calling out to Elsa and Sebastian, but it will definitely hear me. I start frantically looking around for something I could use to defend myself; my head remains frozen stiff, my eyes feel like they are going to wear out with how fast they are searching, but I find nothing.
I know that I must stay hidden as I have now means to defend myself against any animals here, but I can feel my sense of curiousness getting the better of me. I must have a peek! I gently place all the firewood down on the floor next to me and carefully place my hands on the massive oak root and slowly pull myself up to peek over towards where it should be standing, but there's nothing there. What?! I'm sure there was something there.
Just then I feel a warm breath on my shoulder and the back of my neck. It's found me. I slowly turn to face the creature, which quickly covers my entire face with its tongue.
"Euck! Cinnamon!" Great. I was scared stiff by my own horse. She must have followed me from the camp, she never liked being tied up. I gather up the firewood I had dropped and turn back to Cinnamon, "Let's get back to others…"
I'd be scared stiff if it wasn't for Sebastian being here. We've cut out a small area on the edge of this forest to camp. We'd travelled most of the day, from the troll's valley, sticking to the road, but he suggested that we make camp here, out of view of any travellers. The journey here had been fairly uneventful thankfully, aside from the odd traveller that waved or curtsied to us. Since we'd arrived, Sebastian had transformed an area of bushes and grass into a quaint little place for us to rest. We have erected our tents; Sebastian has his own whereas Anna and I share our own. He suggested that we don't bring our own personal one as it might give away who we are. He does have a point, we're trying to remain anonymous and staying in a purple and yellow tent sporting the Arendelle royal seal is not staying anonymous at all! Instead, he has provided us with a dark green tent with black borders, so from dusk to dawn you have to be right next to it to see it. It's a typical size tent, like a square based pyramid with a lit torch kept safe in a glass lantern suspended from the top. Our sleeping bags have very soft linin inside with a soft, puffy body that is supposed to be thermal and keep us warm. I'm sat on a coincidentally well placed log in front of an unlit fire that has been prepared by Anna and Sebastian; he was showing her how to do it. It kind of reminds me of ones that I had seen in the survival books that I had read when I was younger. I used to fantasize about running away from Arendelle and leaving Anna with Mum and Dad. That way, they could open the gates again and Anna would have been safe, and I couldn't hurt anyone. So I used to read as many survival books as I could so that I could fend for myself when I was out here, though I have a feeling that, with all that I had read, I still wouldn't be as prepared as we are now, thanks to Sebastian.
The sound of Anna returning with Cinnamon trotting closely behind had snapped me out of my daydream. I jump up with slight excitement, all my ridiculous reflections of the past has made me treasure every moment I spend with her, "There you are! And there's Cinnamon!"
"See I told you your majesty, she'd only follow Anna's scent." Sebastian said behind me.
"She gave me quite the fright too!" Anna said slightly out of breath, no doubt from carrying what looks like half the forest in her arms. "Will, ugh… this… do?" she grunted as she dropped the pile of foliage down on the ground and slumped back on the log next to me, her dress now stained in dark greenish mossy stuff that definitely won't come out.
"Hmm…" Sebastian said as he wandered over to the pile, rubbing his chin inquisitively. He takes a knee and begins shifting through the mixture of twigs, branches and larger twigs that are about as thick as my arm! How on earth did you carry all this? I ponder to myself.
After a few moments, he finally answers, rather excitingly, "Princess Anna, this is great! There is enough timber here to keep us going for days!"
"Really?" she said back whilst I massage her hands better, "I though wood burns really quickly?"
"To an extent yes but if you build a campfire right only a little wood is needed. Remember we are aiming to use as little as possible."
"Why?" she asks back, "There's so much of it here!"
"Yes but we do need to make an effort to preserve nature around us!"
Anna asks why, again. I however already know the answer from the biology books I used to read. They taught me that trees and plants are actually like the filters of the air that we breathe; they feed on the bad air, and spit out our good air. As I'm thinking this, Sebastian is explaining it to Anna at the same time. He really is very knowledgeable about this sort of stuff, and I can tell that he cares about us; he's not just doing this because it is his duty. Heck, if he were only following orders, he'd have turned us in for running away already!
"Wait- so the flowers eat the air WE breathe out?" Anna briefly summarises.
"They do your highness."
"So in theory, breathing directly on a plant in a pot would help it grow quicker!" Oh no, I think I know where she's going with this…
"Absolutely!" Shoot…
"Ha!" my overexcited sister says as she turns to me, "See I told you! Singing to plants does help them grow!"
"I know! I've known for a very long time!" I say, thinking back to my books, "I only said that to stop you singing all the time!"
"Hey! Mum said that I had the voice of an angel!" she said, pretending to flutter her arms.
"Mums are supposed to say that, it's their job!" I said, "As your sister, I am allowed to be more honest." I said with a playful wink. From the day she could practically talk, Anna used to sing all the time. Now she has a beautiful voice, the most amazing voice I've ever heard actually, but when we were kids, it was just unbearable! It's hard to believe that the voice I hear now is the same one twelve years ago.
"Now now girls, no fighting!" Sebastian joked, "We need to have a little talk before we continue- well this." he said waving his hand at us.
"You just gestured to all of us?" Anna said.
"Indeed I did." He remarked.
I giggled a little, "Hehe, sorry Sebastian, what did you want to talk about?"
"I can sing!" Anna whispered through gritted teeth, just as Sebastian sat and leant against the tree opposite us and the campfire.
"Now," he begins, "I know it is going to be hard at first, but is absolutely vital that you never call each other by your names anymore."
"Wait- what?" Anna interrupts, "Why?" She asks an awful lot of questions!
"Now that we're at the edge of Arendelle's territory, we really must remain invisible to the outside world if we are ever going to make it to The High Isles. Now you two have one heck of a reputation after the history that has been set in stone recently."
"That's true," I said, "I doubt there's a town or city within a thousand miles that hasn't heard of the Ice Queen and her sister she almost killed..."
"…and then saved!" Anna said, "Without you I would have frozen solid, remember?"
I do remember that it was her love for me that finally thawed her heart, but it was only there because I put it there!
"That is all true your majesties," he interrupted us, "But that is not the story that has reach other settlements at all!"
"So what has everyone heard about us then?" I ask. It is an interesting prospect to see out of everything that has happened, exactly what news has spread of us.
"Oh your majesty," he chuckles quietly, "the story of the two royal sisters who's love for each other has spread to almost every town on this continent!" He says. He then reaches into his bag and pulls out a newspaper that he'd bought along the way. "Look at the front page!"
I begin scanning through the page but it doesn't take me very long to realise what Sebastian is talking about. About the large chunk of text, a very large image of Anna and I embracing each other on the deck of the ship that we stood on after the great thaw had been pictured. The main headline read:
ROYAL SISTERS TOGETHER AT LAST, TREASON PLOT THWARTED!
"Wow look!" Anna said, "We're all over the news?" she asks Sebastian.
"You are. Your story has taken the country by storm, and it is spreading! Soon all of Corona will know of their queen's Cousins and their story. There are probably people on their way to Arendelle to interview you two right now!" he says pointing at both of us.
"Wow!" Anna says excitingly, "What does it say about us?"
"I actually haven't read it yet your majesty," Sebastian said, "I haven't had a chance."
"Oh wow! This is so cool! Elsa, we're famous!" She throws her arm around be and, with the other, gestures metaphorically towards the sky, "We'll be known as the unbreakable sisters! Or- no wait, the Un-freezable sisters! That's a word right?" she asks lowering her arm again. Her excitement makes me laugh, but I have already worked out exactly what this means for the three of us.
"So what you mean is, soon everyone from here to Corona will recognise our faces. Instantly."
"That is correct your majesty." He says bluntly, "It would seem our little exploit has become that little bit harder." He rubs his forehead in deep thought for a few moments, then starts again, "for now we stick to the original plan that we'd discussed Queen Elsa: stay out of sight and stick to initials only. From this point on, I'll be known as 'S', you Princess Anna will go as 'A', and you my Queen, 'E'. It will be awkward and difficult at first, but a requirement nevertheless."
"That is going to be so weird calling you two by letters…" Anna says.
"It's a necessary evil I'm afraid, the names; Anna & Elsa aren't very common ones, and they do kind of scream 'royal' wherever they're mentioned now. As for this," he says tapping the newspaper in my hands, "Let me deal with it." He says as he stands up and heads towards Cesaer.
"Where are you going?!" Anna says jumping up from the log.
"Back to that trade post we passed not too long ago, I need to get some things before it closes." He quickly pulls himself atop his horse with ease and gently turns him towards the subtle path we had left in the clearing, "I'll be back very shortly but until then, 'A', why don't you try and get that fire started the way we talked about? It'll be getting dark and cold soon."
"Ooh-ooh okay! Here Elsa look at this!" Anna says eagerly as she pulls my arm and I towards the unlit fire pit.
"'E'!" Sebastian corrects her as he and Cesaer begin hurtling out of the wall of trees and out of site.
"Unbelievable scenes took place on the frozen Fjord of Arendelle yesterday as a plot to kill the Queen and Princess of Arendelle was thwarted, with the help of two unlikely friends!
Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Princess Anna of Arendelle had that very same day finally broken their silence for the new young Queen's coronation, but celebrations were short lived as Queen Elsa revealed what was possibly the reason they have hidden away for so long; she can harness the power of snow and ice at will! The Queen made a run from her palace, with Princess Anna close behind, before inadvertently firing a ball of ice towards the Duke of Weasleton and his men. She then fled to the North Mountain where she hid for a few days.
During this time however, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles was plotting a dastardly evil plan to kill both the Queen and her sister; it is believed that he planned to take the throne of Arendelle for himself, though this is not confirmed. Through the clearing of a thick blizzard, the people of Arendelle witnessed the Prince attempt to murder the Queen, but was prevented from doing so by her sister, an ice deliverer by the name of Kristoff Bjorgman and a living, walking and talking snowman called Olaf, believed to be a fragment of the Queens Powers.
The gates of Arendelle have remained open since, and life in Arendelle has been much like how we are more familiar with it…"
CLING-CLING!
The sound of my new customer quickly reminds me that I forgot to close up shop early. Ah well, may as well serve one more before closing, plus he looks like he is royalty, could receive a nice bonus! "Hello sire! Welcome to Stevie's Wares, can I help you look for anything?"
"Oh I'm no sire my friend!" the very tall, blonde man replies to me, "Just a traveller looking for some spare clothes; I came slightly unprepared as you can most likely tell!" He said, waving his arm in display of his regal clothes, definitely not suitable for travelling!
"Ah I see! Well, feel free to browse!" I said as he began wandering around the shop. I feel at a loss, usually I like to show my customers around, helps to build a business relationship!
A few minutes later, he returns to the counter holding two thick, grey capes with large hoods outlined with blue on one and pink on the other, and two pairs of walking boots, neither looked like they would fit any men I knew of! "Ah! Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yeah, all these were your last in stock! Did I just catch you?"
"Why yes actually! I was just going to finish reading the news article about the royals from Arendelle before closing up early for the weekend!" I say tapping the newspaper
Something I said must have spooked him; he glanced towards the article and began scanning it. "If you wish to read it, feel free!" I assured him, "I have yet to make a note of purchase!" I say as I open the big logbook to the side of me, "Now, could I please take a name?"
"Seb- err… Simon. Simon Perridew." He stuttered, still very much into reading the text.
"Okay thank you! Let's see, one hooded cape, grey and pink; one hooded cape, grey and blue-"
"Oh no…" He says under his breath,"Er, will this cover it? I'm in a rush." The man said as he threw an excessive amount of gold onto my countertop.
"Why yes, and more!"
"That's fine!" He said hastily as he grabbed his stuff and jogged towards the door, shouting "Thank you!" as he left.
That's odd, why did he leave in such a hurry? He could have stolen something for all I knew! Not that I cared, there is enough gold here to cover it! Maybe it was something in that newspaper. I peek over to the page he had left open and continued reading on his behalf-
"The twisted and thwarted Prince Hans responsible for the attempted High Treason has been imprisoned on a ship set for the Southern Isles, under the watchful eye of the French Foreign Dignitary, to answer to his own country for his actions. However, the ship designated The Jeanne d'Arc, failed to check in to the registered dock it was headed for. It is believed that the ship has been tragically lost at sea"
Hey everyone I'm back!
I'm really sorry that this chapter has taken so long to upload, our lecturer at college surprised us with a ridiculously long assignment to do over the holidays, and balancing it with this just wasn't working at all...
It's bizarre that it takes me 4 weeks to write a 2,000 word assignment, yet it takes me a few days to smash out a good 4,000 for this story!
Anyways, hope you enjoy!
All the best,
-Dan