"I told you it wouldn't work."
Hans looked away from Tobias with a scoff, eyes glancing over the dusty tomes of the library with disinterest. It was, as with all other parts of the castle, frigid; except with all the irreplaceable, precious works stored here, very few lamps were lit and braziers even fewer, making it a great deal colder than Hans liked to deal with. All the windows in the world didn't help with lighting either, not with the perpetual snowstorm raging around the castle, so they were left in a cold, dark vault.
Gods knew why Tobias liked this place so much.
"I never expected it to," Hans answered. "I would be a fool to think Alvard capable of killing Elsa."
"Then why, exactly, did you feel the need to push our brother to his untimely death?"
If he didn't know better, he might have thought Tobias cared. "I wanted to see what would happen."
"A flimsy excuse for a sloppy job." Tobias leaned his chair back, far back, legs outstretched and feet clamped down on the top and bottom of the desk to keep from falling. He fixed Hans with a stare. "But then, Alvard may have been our brother, and not yours."
It took much, much more effort to control his temper than Hans was used to, but with practiced ease he still repressed the age-old resentment. Not many of his brothers would outright mention the suspicious circumstances of his birth—a mother pregnant for much shorter than ten months, giving birth to a child dissimilar to the king—but Hans knew what they and their father thought.
Markus had never believed Hans to be of his blood.
Even if he were not thirteenth in line, he would never have a chance at the throne. }
"So do you care after all?" Hans asked.
"Well, no," Tobias admitted. "What are brothers but otherwise unrelated people placed together by chance? Blood doesn't matter. Still, losing Alvard for such a fool scheme is unfortunate. I would have preferred to extract greater use before discarding him."
"On the contrary, now we have Alek as a replacement," Hans said, watching carefully as Tobias snorted and slammed his chair back down. "Angry as he is, he should be easy to use."
"Rubbish to replace trash. That is your grand plan?" Tobias shook his head, one hand brushing his hair back. "I feel that my time is wasted on you, Hans, when you cannot see the benefits of your own actions."
"Oh?"
"It was also a good test of how the Arendelle girl comes into play," Tobias said. "And, as we have seen, she is very much something we can exploit."
As though he really couldn't see, but as usual, Hans allowed himself to be underestimated. "And how would you suggest we do so?"
"Edmund asked about her welfare, and Elsa said she was unharmed. Think about that." Tobias stood and picked up a small lamp from the table, bringing it up to the shelves of heavy tomes. Fingers skimming over the spines with what Hans considered an unhealthily loving touch, Tobias at last stopped at one volume and slid it out.
"I'm not following you," Hans said.
"Of course you don't," Tobias sighed. "Think back to what happened. From what I gather, Elsa actually caught her, with bared hands. You do not find it strange she was unharmed?"
"So Anna has some form of resistance to Elsa's powers." Hans raised an eyebrow. "You cannot expect her to kill Elsa for us?" As ironic as it would be, Hans couldn't see it happening.
"Must everything be so morbid with you?"
Tobias opened the book, and Hans could imagine how often he must peruse it when he cracked it open to the exact page he wanted. When his brother beckoned him forward, Hans leaned in to take a closer look. Rather than cracked, yellowing parchment like what Hans had imagined, the pages were pristinely preserved, perfectly white; and the black text, though seemingly handwritten, was bold and legible.
Was that thing. . . perhaps a mirror?
"What is this?" Hans asked.
At times like these, he remembered why he enlisted Tobias in the first place. It was not like him to spend hours poring over the volumes here, but Tobias had knowledge that he could use. It helped, of course, that despite his intelligence Tobias also thought himself above him. Otherwise, Hans had the feeling Tobias would never divulge all this to someone he considered a threat
"My theory about Elsa," Tobias answered. "And if I'm correct, the road to the throne. You will, of course, remember the sealed topmost tower? Do convince your little project to take a trip there."
"You're assuming Anna will listen to me?"
Tobias smiled. "But that is your use to me, brother, for I lack your charming voice and pleasing face. I'll make sure to reward you well when I am king."
". . . Of course."
And when Hans was king, he would make sure to punish Tobias for his insolence.
…
It was a little awkward in the morning.
Still, it wasn't even as bad as last night. Anna hadn't noticed at first, but Elsa had fallen asleep in her embrace. Not the light sleep she had witnessed last time, not the type of sleep where Elsa prepared herself to spring to action at a moment's notice—which Anna now knew was likely a defense against assassination— but actual deep sleep. After a brief moment of panic when she noticed Elsa still wasn't breathing and thought she had died, Anna saw a very, very weak rise and fall to her chest.
Once her heart steadied, Anna carefully laid Elsa down in bed and tucked her in.
And then very creepily watched.
When Anna realized what she was doing, she flushed so badly she thought she must look like a beacon of red light in the dark room, and not even the persistent chill could cool her down. She was just more and more fascinated, and the thought that Elsa needed sleep, at least, once again made her distinctly more human. Of course, Elsa didn't end up with bedhead and didn't snore or drool or anything, but she would take what she could get.
It was still strange to see how much more relaxed Elsa looked while asleep, and even stranger still to be able to watch the cold, regal expression gradually soften. Only at moments like these did Anna realize Elsa wasn't that much older than her. Without the tension lining her face, Elsa could be any other normal person. A rather beautiful one for sure, but. . .
. . . oh, a strand of hair actually fell over her face. Well! Anna smiled a little at the thought that Elsa's hair could be messed up after all. The wispy platinum-blonde lock fell directly over her nose, and Elsa twitched at the feathery touch. Anna fought hard to repress a laugh when Elsa crinkled her nose, and to let her sleep, she carefully brushed the strand away and tucked it behind her ear.
Anna had intended to sneak back to her own room after a while, though she wasn't quite sure when exactly that was. Maybe there would be some divine signal for her to go. So, sitting there on the bed as Elsa slept, Anna let her mind wander, first from recalling the busy days since she had arrived and then to more pleasant things like chocolate and marshmallows; and eventually her eyelids fluttered so badly even the moonlight streaming in through the windows dimmed, and Anna thought maybe she should go.
She woke the next morning snuggled up next to Elsa. "...Good morning," Elsa said, when Anna simply stared at her with ever-widening eyes, breathing picking up into short spurts before stopping altogether. While she squeaked incomprehensible noises, Elsa frowned. "Are you all right? Is this. . . a normal reac—"
Anna released her pent-up breath into a piercing scream. She clutched the covers close to herself before screaming even louder at the sight of Elsa still without her top, and so she threw them towards the queen, flailing, shoving Elsa away—Oh God, I just felt her up— before shuffling backwards in a hurry and tumbling off the bed. Impacting rather harshly on her back knocked the breath out of her again, and so Anna stared up, speechless, as Elsa peered over with eyebrows knitted together.
"Fine," Anna gasped. "I-I'm fine. Just surprised me. Clothes. Please."
"Oh." Looking down and realizing her state of undress, Elsa slid off the other end of the bed, took a few more steps away, and then carefully waved her hand over herself. Ice shards spread from the remaining fabric at her waist and slowly snaked its way upward, coalescing into Elsa's usual flowing gossamer dress.
Almost the usual, except. . .
"Do the proportions seem a little off?" Anna asked, picking both herself and the last shreds of her dignity up from the floor.
"Not just a little." Elsa grimaced and pulled at the shoulder, once again exposing her collarbones as Anna veered her eyes away. "I have trouble with this sort of magic now." Another wave of her hand and the dress stretched out in a light flurry of ice particles, reforming at an even worse angle. Elsa waved her hand again, this time with impatient force, only for a similar result.
"You have trouble with it?"
"My control is... tenuous at best," Elsa admitted, looking up sheepishly once her dress had been fitted to satisfaction.
Anna tried to smooth down her hair as best she could, but the puffiness overcame her efforts. With her hands still clamped down on a fistful of hair at the top of her head, she said, "But this is you we're talking about. I mean, I've seen you change the weather. Like maybe I can't control my hair, but you, I thought you could do anything."
"Larger feats are easier by comparison," Elsa said. "When I was younger I could create more things, but my powers grew stronger and stronger, until now... well."
"Oh." Thinking back to yesterday, Anna realized something had been strange. "Is that why you didn't, uhh, freeze the arrow or something?" Or blow it offcourse with wind, Anna thought. Or block it with a wall of ice. Or throw a snowball at it. Or a lot of other things; Anna had a rather active imagination.
"Most of what I do targets a large range, for maximum effect," Elsa confirmed, unwittingly reminding Anna of the large-scale destruction of her invasion, and then the training exercise. Come to think of it, she had never seen Elsa do anything small. "I would likely have killed you too, and I didn't want to risk it."
Morbid thought. "Wait, should you even be telling me this?" Anna asked. "I mean, this seems like pretty sensitive stuff."
"Probably not," Elsa said, rare smile on her face again, and Anna could have sworn her voice took on a teasing edge when she added, "I'm almost sure this counts as top-secret information."
"Like your uppermost tower?"
Elsa sobered so quickly Anna got whiplash, smile dropping into her stone-like mask and voice training back to an impassive monotone. She nodded once, with all the professional air of a queen once more. But not like an entirely different person. Anna could tell she was just putting on airs now. "Yes," Elsa said stiffly. "If you'd like, we can go to the dining hall now."
". . . Uhh, if I might make a small request first?" Elsa blinked.
". . . Where's your bathroom?"
…
After washing and waking up just a little more, Anna followed Elsa to the dining room. It was another strange experience, actually walking there with Elsa; Anna had been led by a butler the last few times, and she found herself unsure about where to walk relative to the queen. Trying desperately to remember her etiquette lessons, Anna flew through the options and decided the safe choice would be a step behind and to the side, respectful and deferent.
But when did she ever pick the safe choice?
Elsa raised a brow when Anna took a large step forward and walked beside her, but she took the change in stride. Grinning widely and walking with a spring in her step, Anna eventually overtook Elsa and ended up leading her. Elsa followed, smiling and shaking her head in amusement. They took their place at the overly long table, but this time, as Anna stared across the three meters. . .
"We should really do something about this," Anna said.
Elsa tilted her head in question.
"Isn't this a little much when it's just the two of us?" Anna stood up and took great lumbering steps from her end to Elsa, making a show of stretching her arms out stiffly. When Elsa only blinked, she dropped the act and huffed, "Well, I'm done having to scream across the table when we talk. It's like we're on opposite sides of a river or something."
Struck by sudden inspiration, Anna snatched up a plate, piled it with jelly cookies and krumkake, and plopped down on the floor.
". . . Anna, what are you doing?"
"Eating comfortably," Anna replied over a bite of krumkake. Truth be told, the seatback had been rigidly straight and uncomfortably hard, but there was another reason she was doing this.
Elsa acted as though she wasn't the slightest bit perturbed, but Anna noticed the way she kept glancing from the table over to her. She didn't pay it any mind and just continued eating, savoring the sweet desserts that tasted much better than they had the previous days, bursting with flavor over her tongue. Probably something to do with her mood, but Anna could find it in herself to enjoy them now. Especially when Elsa actually started fidgeting, or as close to it as she would ever come, fingers lightly tapping on the table like playing the piano.
Finally, Elsa sighed and glanced down. "Are you sure you won't come back up?"
"You can come join me instead," Anna said, patting a spot next to her.
"It isn't proper."
"Nothing wrong with that once in a while."
"Will you at least eat more than just dessert?"
"If you ate anything at all."
Elsa closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. "If you insist." Anna watched with glee as Elsa took up a plate and, just as she did, skipped over the actual breakfast foods and loaded it with chocolate. She had a sweet tooth too!
"Hey, what happened to eating more than just dessert?" Anna grinned when Elsa sat down on the floor next to her, only about a foot away instead of that dreadful distance before. Of course, Elsa still made sitting much more graceful than it ought to be, folding her legs to one side, the slit of her dress riding up just enough to reveal a flash of skin. Anna sat with her legs crossed under her and felt like a barbarian.
"If I must eat, I suppose I should eat something I like," Elsa said. Anna watched with bated breath as she carefully raised a piece of chocolate to her lips—a truffle, Anna's practiced eyes picked out, most likely a raspberry truffle—and bit down.
Such an expression of surprise and delight washed over Elsa's normally controlled face that Anna had to fight back giggles; but she ended up bursting into laughter anyway when Elsa hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then threw the whole truffle into her mouth and chewed away, the large piece of chocolate bulging out the side of her cheek.
"See? It's good, right?" Anna leaned forward excitedly and tried to steal one, only for Elsa to quickly smack her hand away. "Oh, you did not just—"
"Eat your own," Elsa said.
"I thought you didn't even eat! And the one time I see you eating, you start pigging out on me?"
Swallowing, Elsa picked up another piece and ate it a little slower this time, mulling over the taste and tongue poking out to lick the edge of her lip. "I only learned from your example."
Except she didn't make eating look anywhere near that good, Anna thought, and the words were right on the tip of her tongue before she stopped herself.
"You're red again," Elsa said.
"No!" Anna fanned herself, to no avail. When she saw Elsa raise a hand to cover her smile, an impulse ran wild through her thoughts. Before she could think twice, she grabbed Elsa's hand and pressed it to her reddening cheek.
Elsa let out the tiniest of gasps before regaining her composure, a slight second slipup that was at once barely noticeable and startling. "Anna. What are you doing?"
"Cooling myself down."
"You are very strange," Elsa murmured, but she didn't pull away.
Anna was just about to respond when she felt Elsa trace a thumb over her cheek, and she stilled. She wasn't cooling down any; if anything she felt herself heating up even more despite the comfortable cold of Elsa's skin, and she didn't even know how that was possible but it was happening. Elsa widened her eyes and drew back once she realized what she was doing, and Anna's slackened grip gave no resistance.
"Umm, that was awkward. Sorry, I-I'm awkward." Anna took a deep breath and laughed nervously. "S-So, uhh, why don't you eat more often?"
Elsa seemed grateful for a change of subject and readily answered, "It helps to portray invincibility. It makes it seem as though I'm above the others, if I don't need to eat or drink. And chocolate. . . "
"Not the most mature food," Anna finished, laughing at the thought of Elsa commanding a bunch of princes with chocolate smeared across her lips. "So how long has it been?"
"It's been a while."
"A while since you last ate chocolate, or ate at all?" Anna snorted at her own joke. As if Elsa really didn't eat. Honestly, the more she thought about it, the sillier she found her old belief. "All right, so what else do you like—"
"Actually, Anna, there are some matters I must discuss with you." Elsa replaced the truffle and lightly flicked her fingers. The faint chocolate smears on her fingertips froze over and flaked off.
She sounded completely serious again. Anna wondered what she had said that might have triggered the abrupt shift, something she was beginning to realize Elsa used as a self-defense mechanism; but there wasn't much else she could do but wait for her to slowly break out of it.
"And what would these matters be?"
"Regarding the recent... incident. I did not expect you would be in danger."
"I'm fine, though," Anna said. Thanks to Elsa. If this was leading into another apology. . .
"For now, but I would like to guarantee your safety. If it is not disagreeable to you, I would move your quarters to mine."
"That sounds fine. Whatever you think is best." Elsa tilted her head. "Do you. . . entirely understand what I am proposing?"
"Sure, you want to..." Anna ran over the proposal one more time, which had gone in one ear and out the other. "Wait, what? Okay, wait, wait. Are you saying you want me to stay in your room?"
Elsa nodded.
". . . Oh."
"I know it may be improper, but I would feel more secure knowing that you are safe," Elsa said quickly, leaning forward as she spoke. "I had hoped distancing you might help you avoid undue attention, but at this point I must make it clear to the others that you are under my protection. And you are, after all, my responsibility. If anything happened to you—"
"It's fine!" Anna cleared her throat and said again, a little quieter, "It's fine, I mean, really. I don't have any, uhh, disagreement towards it."
And she really didn't. All through breakfast, Anna had acted the way she normally did around anyone, without even realizing how much her dynamic with Elsa had changed. Only now did she see it. She really didn't have a problem with the arrangement and, by extension, Elsa herself. Quite the opposite, actually, and she wasn't sure how it had happened. She wasn't sure she even needed to.
"Then—I'm glad," Elsa murmured. She raised her head. "Anna. May I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
". . . Are you afraid of me?" Elsa asked, ice-blue eyes boring into hers, searching for an answer she needed but had been denied.
"No," Anna said. "I'm not afraid."
I've never been afraid of you.