Chapter 15
Gerda's family went to get help from King Harald, who let them stay by his castle for the first night. King Harald stood together with Gerda and Mars at the stairs, that led to the other floors of the castle.
"Thanks to Gerda, things didn't have gone worse. I wouldn't know how things would have been if I had left Rollan hurt very badly without her interfering. I feared, that my mother would kill me," Mars explained while King Harald listened to him. "My sister locked her up with her magic and tried to keep her in there. Now Vegard and Kai returned to see if they could manage to put the antimagic chains on,"
"It was good, that you were able to confess everything, that happened before. You still will have to face a future judgment at the court. You have a few plus points for admitting the crime. You might get a lower punishment, which isn't so bad," Stated King Harald making Mars nod neutrally, then looked at Gerda, which had listened to the conversation.
"Thank you for letting us in," Said Gerda making Harald smile and hold out his hand to the blonde to shake it.
"You're welcome. I'm glad to help out an old friend," Stated the king making Gerda smile. Gerda looked upstairs at the empty space, then the King placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You can knock at the door. I'm sure they're done," Harald suggested making Gerda smile and go upstairs to head to the room, Rollan was located. Gerda knocked at the door, waiting for someone to open it, and watched it being pulled back to reveal the face of the Snow Queen.
"Am I disturbing?" Questioned Gerda making the Snow Queen chuckle.
"We're done. You can get in," Said the Snow Queen making Gerda smile and step into the room spotting Rollan holding over his lap a coffee board with a soup bowl in it. Beside him stood Una watching the Spaniard take the spoon to taste the soup, afterward the brunette woman looked at her daughter approaching the mother.
"How are the injuries?" Questioned Gerda watching Una smile.
"He looks like nothing had happened to him. The Snow Queen had been able to heal his internal wounds fast. You know I'm just able to heal superficial wounds. Rollan had one or two, which had burnt deeper into his skin. The Snow Queen's magic does deeper down into someone," Una explained making Gerda nod and look at Rollan taking a sip from the spoon to taste the soup. Gerda sat down on the bed to look at him, glimpse up at her and smile.
"How are you?" Asked Gerda seeing Rollan in a slightly short pajama blouse and she took a look at Rollan's arm to see his skin was clear from scratches.
"The pajamas I got are slightly tight. Are there from your brother?" Asked Rollan making Gerda nod.
"Ander's clothing would be shorter for you, so I asked Kai if he could borrow you his," Una explained making Gerda chuckle and take a look at the clothing again.
"Well, that marine blue doesn't really match you," Commented Gerda jokingly making Rollan nod.
"I'm more bothered with the size. Good thing is, that I just need to wear it when sleeping," Mentioned Rollan, then Gerda pecked him on his cheek.
"Nothing but your health matters. I will let you eat the soup," Mentioned Gerda watching Rollan take the spoon into his mouth to slurp the liquid. Gerda looked at the Snow Queen, that stood by the door watching out at the corridor, and waved at the outside hearing Kai's voice. Afterward, the Snow Queen moved her hand aside to lead Kai to enter the bedroom followed by Alfida, Vegard, and Mars's sister May.
"Hey guys, thanks for helping me back home. I really have appreciated it," Alfida said sarcastically making Gerda cover her mouth embarrassed from not remembering, Alfida was around as well.
"I'm sorry Alfida. I had taken Rollan along with Mars together out of the fire and had in mind to bring Rollan to my mom," Apologized Gerda. "I was focused on Rollan's deep burn injuries,"
"Cut-deep injuries on a simple human body are far more painful, than on us magicians. He's lucky Una was able to heal his wounds as I see," Commented May, then the Snow Queen faked a cough earning the young woman's attention. "Wait…..the Snow Queen did it?"
"Her healing powers are more advanced, when it comes to healing deep-cut wounds and such second or third-grade burns Rollan suffered," Explained Una making May nod, then Kai approached Gerda, Una, and Rollan.
"More or less good news. Merri was caught and she's locked up with two anti-magic chains to prevent her from using her powers, while locked up with them," Stated Kai. "My dad and Bodhi have quickly fixed some chains we had somewhere in the carriage and used them. It took a really precise timing to catch Merri at first and put them on,"
"Really? What happened to her now?" Questioned Gerda curious, then May stood behind Kai.
"The guards are watching her now. She's locked up in the cellar, all tied up with chains to avoid her to move. Until we find a solution or a way to lock up magical prisoners in an appropriate manner she will be there," May told the trio.
"I had one suggestion. I'm just not sure, if it's an appropriate one," The Snow Queen suggested. "Re-creating the portal to the mirrorlands. Just as before only one or two specific persons have the key to open it,"
"I thought we had disagreed on bringing it back," Stated Rollan watching Gerda shrug her shoulders.
"I think it just broke because no one was there. It was mainly there for the Snow Queen and…..without her, the mirrorlands was useless," Mentioned the blonde.
"Bodhi and I managed to make the chains work against magic. Eventually, we two can work together and build a tower or change a couple of things there to make it work. It just might take a long while," Suggested Vegard making Una nod amused by the idea.
"How high is the risk of that woman breaking out of the cell with her magic blocked?" Questioned Rollan looking up at the trio beside him.
"We're all working on a solution. It has to be safe for both magicians and regular humans. If something goes wrong you got me," Stated Gerda leaning her shoulder on Rollan's. "I just need to workshop on my transformation and things will go better, " Promised the blonde making Rollan smile relieved and Gerda pecked him on his cheek.
Four years have passed now. Things have changed over the time, mostly for the better. Throughout the month, Merri was defeated, Bodhi along with Vegard have put themselves together to create cuffs, that would block a magician's criminal its powers from escaping prison. Additionally, with the help of the Snow Queen, King Harald, and Prince Anders, followed by a few volunteers, they reconstructed a few towers by the castle into an armored one to have the magicians locked up in there with a bit of freedom to move around the place. Currently, Merri and Mars got to be the only two magicians to be in the newly renovated prison, so far the anti-magic blocking seemed to work out very well. That has been most notable on Merri's side, who seemed to try daily to find a way to escape the prison with her powers, but she kept failing. Mars was in a similar jail and just spent the rest of his time writing down on sheets things he had witnessed in his past life. Once in a while, he would receive visits from either his sister or his father. One of the days, even his friends Mikael and Oliver passed by, mainly because the woman he had met at the bachelor party was curious about his whereabouts. Mars still had one more year in front of him to accomplish his punishment, he promised Annie, if she was interested both could go out someday for dinner. Furthermore both would see, if they were ready for a second one if things seem to be working for the two.
With Merri off the business, May and Bodhi took over it and partnered up with Vegard again, this time with the goal of working together and creating necessary things to help out the people in the world. The two families still worked well together not needing to follow the previous idea of the engagement of their own children. The fact the two were happier in other ways. Gerda in those four years got married to Rollan, beforehand in the first year of the two dating Gerda figured out, she had gotten pregnant from their previous ship ride. Despite it being early as expected, she embraced the miracle and shared the news immediately with the Spaniard. The two were going to face a hard time together in terms of parenthood, not because they weren't prepared or anything. During the year, they had prepared themselves with help of their own family for the change of life. What nobody had expected was, that the two were blessed with twins! A girl and a boy. Both families were excited to know this. Even their town and kingdom were surprised about the situation. It was considered normal for it to happen according to doctors. The chance for it to happen was around four to a million to latest facts. Rollan and Gerda used to get a lot of visits and some gifts from the neighborhood, mainly to see the two bundles of joy. Gerda's parents offered the two help with the kids, whenever they needed it. Despite Gerda being unemployed to be around her kids for a few years and Rollan using the days he received on paternity leave, both still struggled with handling both their babies. Both would separately get needy with anything and this would really wreck the newbie parent's energies down. Leticia, the mother of Rollan came to Murmansk to see his son and her grandchildren and offered help as well, weeks later Gerda asked Leticia to live with them, so she would be closer to Rollan, which she accepted. With both parents' sides, Gerda and Rollan could slowly rest every once in a while fully, so they could work with their children again with more energy.
By the home of Gerda and Kai's parents, Una stood together with Rollan's mother working on a large menu together for the entire family, that they had invited for lunch. By the couch sat Kai together with Alfida, which lied with her head over Kai's lap and he massaged the round belly of her, which made her smile joyfully. Kai observed her face showing him, that what he was doing was doing good to his wife. From down the ground Luta got up on the couch to observe Kai do the job, then Luta lied beside Alfida to rest making Kai smile.
"By seeing Luta now, Gerda told me a lot of times, that Luta would nap over her belly when Gerda would sit on the couch reading something," Stated Kai watching Alfida nod and look down at the weasel, then place her hand over Luta's back to caress her.
"And I got you here," Alfida added making Kai smile.
Una looked at the duo together with a smile, then took a look at the outside to see, that the table was set and Alfida's mother sat on the table together with the Snow Queen having a chat and King Harald stood by the other side of the water fountain together with Vegard and Bodhi working on a grill together. An invention by the three men. Una noticed, that napkins were missing on the table and she walked into the kitchen to take them out of the drawer, then counted them and sighed as she didn't have enough. From a separate room, Prince Anders came out, adjusting the collar of his shirt, and looked at Una having eye contact with the prince.
"Prince Anders, could you do me a little favor?" Asked Una making Anders nod.
"Sure," Responded Anders coming close to the woman, which opened another drawer to take out a small box to hand out Anders several coins.
"Could you go down at Anna's bakery and buy ten napkins?" Questioned Una. "The white ones,"
"Sure, I will be back," Anders said watching Una hand him out the napkins.
"And place them on the table, I will come down and spread them around," Mentioned Una making the brunette nod and leave the woman back, then she joined the Spanish woman again.
"Want to try the fabada?" Questioned Leticia offering the woman a different spoon for the woman to try, then she smiled as she tried it out.
"Mmh it's delicious," Mumbled Una making Leticia smile.
"I used to make this at home as my husband was still around. Doing this for only two people now is a little too much," Said Leticia making Una nod. "I love cooking, but it's not the same as when you're doing it for more people,"
"I know, what you mean. You see now with the rest of us, you're going to have a better feeling now. A few will get to know the Spanish cuisine, you will be able to impress the king and queen. You got there a lot of people to impress," Commented Una. "I'm going down to bring the few aperitifs," Said Una picking up two plates and walked to the exit, then got stairs down and left to the outside to see Vegard collect the few meat bits onto a plate. Una placed the aperitifs on the table, then began to put beside each fork a napkin and heard somebody whistle. Una looked up to see Rollan come along carrying on his shoulders his daughter as beside him walked Gerda with their son in her arms, which eyed the location curious. Una smiled at seeing the young family approach, then walked towards the family to welcome them.
"Gerda, Rollan, great to see you here," Said Una, then watched above Rollan's head the girl wave at Una making her smile. "Oh Helena, you look just like your father," Commented Una making Rollan chuckle and roll his eyes up at his daughter.
"Abuelita te gusta, linda," Commented Rollan feeling Helena pull him on the hair strands making him chuckle.
"Roscoe is more closer to Rollan, than Helena. He's basically a mini-Rollan," Commented Gerda making Una nod.
"Perhaps, that's why he's your favorite," Commented Una making Gerda shake her head.
"I love both equally. They're the best thing, that has happened to us," Gerda said watching Helena stretch her hand wanting to grab Gerda's hair making the blonde chuckle and grab Helena's hand gently to give it a kiss, making the toddler chuckle. Helena wanted to take Gerda's hair making the mother chuckle, then she got on her tiptoes to kiss the daughter on the cheek making her smile, afterward Gerda blew a raspberry on the toddler's cheek making her laugh along with the father. "Who's mama's little baby girl?" Asked Gerda smiling at the toddler, which clapped with her hands while being watched by the father.
"Who could it be?" Questioned Rollan. "Is it Alfida?" Suggested Rollan getting hit on his eyebrow, shrieking him unexpectedly by the kid hitting him while clapping.
"Be careful, Helena. You just hurt papi," Commented Gerda, then Helena clapped gently on his head trying to pet him for comfort making him smile.
"Papi, would like a kiss for the boo-boo on his head," Asked Rollan making a sad face making Gerda chuckle.
"Helena, give your papa a kiss, just like me," Gerda demonstrated giving him a kiss on her side above Rollan's eyebrow, then Helena gave him a small peck on the part he had hit Rollan making him smile.
"Gracias, mi tesoro," Said Rollan watching Helena place her hands on his hair again, giving Rollan an idea. "Hey guide me to the table? Can you do that?" Asked Rollan watching Helena pull one of the streaks, watching Rollan move one arm up making Helena smile at his game, then pulled two different strands from Rollan's head to watch him walk oddly towards the table pretending as he was being controlled by the toddler. Gerda watched her husband trott away with their daughter, then looked at her mother holding her hands out at the grandson, which smiled and moved her arms at the grandmother, which happily took the grandson.
"Do you want to see grandpa making the food?" Questioned Una showing the three man by the fire, then she made her way towards the trio making Gerda smile, which followed her husband to the table and see their half of the table ready for lunch. By the door appeared Leticia carrying the pot with the Spanish stew and Gerda made her way toward her mother-in-law to greet her.
"Hola, Leticia," Greeted Gerda. "Can I help you out?"
"Hola niña. Don't worry your brother is helping me already," Said Leticia making Gerda nod and watch the Spaniard walk towards the table. Gerda looked into the corridor to see Kai come along with two different bowls, then Gerda offered to take one of the bowls.
"I take this one," Offered Gerda making Kai smile.
"Alfida is just bringing the salad, the rest is down here," Mentioned Kai making Gerda nod and walk along with the sibling at the table to put the bowls on their free spots. Gerda sat down on a chair, beside her husband, which had their common daughter on his lap, that looked around the table curiously. Gerda pulled her chair closer to her husband to tickle their daughter making her laugh, then Gerda bowed down at the daughter to play with her. She laughed along with the toddler, then got up at her chair now holding her kid over her lap and Rollan glimpsed back at the duo with a smile. Rollan lifted his arm up as he spotted Kai across the table, then watched him pull the chair back, then look aside to see Alfida come with the salad bowls and put them down on the table. Kai watched Alfida pass by her husband, then Kai pulled the chair farther behind to show the pirate captain, she could sit down. Rollan got up to reach above the table his hand, afterward, Kai got it, what he could do to facilitate Alfida's life, and gave her his hand as well, so she would sit down. Rollan sat down, while Kai sat across the Spaniard, then Rollan gave him a thumb up making him smile.
Una sat down next to Gerda with Roscoe in her arms, then watched Leticia steer the spoon inside the stew and the men returned from the fireplace and Vegard moved to Una's side, while King Harald walked towards the side, where the Snow Queen sat among the pirate boss lady.
"Here we've got four times chicken and the same does Bodhi bring to the middle and Vegard to his side," Explained the king and placed the plate down. "My queen, which part of the chicken do you want?" Asked the brunette man looking at the Snow Queen, which eyed the available meat.
Rollan looked at Gerda adjusting the bangs above Helena's head, then Rollan placed his arms around Gerda to embrace the two and pressed his lips on his wife's cheek.
"What shall I scoop out for you?" Questioned Rollan watching Gerda shrug her shoulders and lean her head against Rollan's chest.
"There's a lot on the table to pick….it's quite difficult," Confessed Gerda making Rollan nod.
"How about I suggest you a bit of fabada, rice, some salad with tomatoes?" Asked Rollan watching Gerda nod.
"Sounds good to me," Commented Gerda making Rollan smile, then peck her on the forehead and watch his mother sit beside Alfida watching the woman pick out from a bowl of potatoes.
"You know, what potato would taste good with?" Questioned Alfida looking at Kai, which shook his head. "With hazelnut syrup," Responded Alfida making Kai look confused at his sister, which chuckled about the sister-in-law's comment.
"Sounds…...weirder than porridge on a rice cake," Mentioned Rollan trying to remember any of Gerda's odd cravings during pregnancy.
"I actually liked it. What I liked the most was sandwich with chocolate syrup," Admitted Gerda making Rollan nod.
"The first time she tried it, she offered me to dunk my sandwich into the bowl she had emptied the syrup in it. I had spent the rest of my day looking through the whole village for a new bottle, cause it was sold out everywhere and Gerda was so hungry for it,"
"The stories you told me you have experienced with Gerda had woken up a new fear in me and I already have two, before you brought me a third one!" Kai complained making Gerda shake her head amused at her brother's overreaction, then looked down at her daughter shoving her hand into her mouth making Gerda smile enamored and peck the baby on the cheek.
Prince Anders had appeared at the table to hand around the last napkins and retrieved the exchange to Una, which smiled and watched the Prince return to his father and sit down by an empty table to see all, including Alfida's mom had something on the table.
"My dear guests, before you all take a bite of the food, I would like to thank King Harald for contributing to half of the ingredients here on the table. Our new so-called grill has roasted our meat very well. Take the chance to taste it and tell how it is. I'm sure this is going to be very handy in the future for many others," Explained Vegard making the guests nod and look down at their king, which lifted up a glass of wine he had in his hand. "As well we've got some wine bottles on the table, otherwise we've got here a jug of water and lemonade. I will bring more if needed," Offered Vegard sitting down and watch the people around the table begin to scoop food.
Una watched Roscoe on her arms reaching her arms to Gerda, which smiled and allowed the boy to come to her arms as well, then Gerda looked at Rollan, which waited for his time to scoop and saw Gerda with both kids in her arm, then took Helena back into his arms and pecked the toddler on her forehead.
"We're now going to eat. What do you say? Are you hungry?" Asked the Spaniard making Helena giggle and Rollan embraced the daughter watching the others prepare their own plates while the raven-haired along with the blonde awaited with their common treasures for their turn to fill their plates with food, including giving their offspring some of their own food as well to help them gain more nutrients for their growth.
The End
I don't know why, but I felt like adding their kiddies (my headcanon babies I mean) into the fic. I didn't really have an ending planned for it and came up with this ending instead. What are my next plans? I don't know. I think I will just go with the flow. Eventually wait for the Snow Queen 5 movie, whatever comes first. I have already seen a leaked image of the end credits and most of the English actors at least join the movie. That's at least something good about it.
Uh….. that's all folks.