Note:

Chapter nine! Ten should be done before June, but no promises because I have to make sure it gets somewhere that I'm happy with because chapter eleven is a doozy (in a good way). Anyway, thank you to everyone who's reading this story. Its' been my child, almost like That Can Be Arranged had been. I just love writing OCs for Elsa to hang out with. Reviews are great!

Disclaimer:

I do not own the rights (or anything) to Frozen. This story, and my OCs are my own though. This chapter also mentions the works of Shakespeare and Emily Bronte – I don't own those either, they are simply used to further along some dialogue.

Happy reading!

- JQ

Chapter Nine: Learning Something New

The next evening, just after dinner, Elsa went to wait in the library for Tina. They had scheduled a time to see one another and she was obviously early, but the ice wielder wanted to put her best foot forward. She knew that Princess Tina once thought that Elsa hadn't liked her, so she wanted to prove the brunette wrong (in a nice way of course). However, while she was waiting on her own, Prince Nolan sought her out before bed and wanted to show her his new talent: reading animal encyclopedias with little assistance.

Emphasis on 'little assistance'.

Nolan was seated on his aunt's lap. He had already finished reading almost two pages of the encyclopedia to her. Elsa was helping him hold up the book and she tried not to laugh at him comically squinting his eyes at the book. "...this...um...this is a..."

"Can we spell it out?" Elsa suggested, pointing her finger at the word he was struggling with. She felt him stiffen but with her other hand, she encouragingly rubbed soft circles on his shoulder. "It's okay, Nolan – it's just me."

The little prince groaned in response. "But you're like an expert in reading!"

The platinum blonde just laughed and hugged her nephew closer to her. "Yes, but you know how long it took me to learn?" the little boy just shook his head. "Nolan, I'm thirty years old – I didn't become anything I am today overnight." she laughed out, "I promise you that you're on track to becoming anything you want. Including..." Elsa then tapped the boy on his nose, causing him to giggle, "...an expert reader."

After a new boost of confidence, Nolan began to spell out the word. "This bird is a...c-o-r-m-o-r-a-n-t..." after reading out the letters, he began to sound out the word on his own. "...Cor...mo...moe...more...ant?" he looked to Elsa for approval and she just nodded happily.

"That's it! A cormorant! Good job, Nolan!" she tugged his little body into hers and snuggled him tight. He released his grip on the book and threw his hands up in the air in celebration.

Both aunt and nephew cheered and celebrated which caught the attention of Kristoff, who entered the library from the hallway. To Elsa's shock (and mild delight), Kristoff was pushing Tina's wheelchair into the library.

"Are we missing a party in here?" asked the princess.

"Yeah," Kristoff agreed, "we could hear you guys from the end of the hall."

"Obviously," Elsa said.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Cried Nolan, jumping out of Elsa's lap. "I read a whole two pages of the book to Auntie!"

"Oh, man!" Kristoff said, holding out his hand for a high five. "Nice one, Nolan!" after their high five, the ice harvester picked up his son with one arm and continued to push Tina's wheelchair closer to where the fifth spirit was sitting.

"Are you going to start reading to us then, Prince Nolan?" Tina asked.

Nolan shyly tucked his head under his father's chin and thought about it. The then looked down at Tina and said, "Um...does that mean...you won't read to us anymore?"

Tina's heart melted at the boy's question and she looked up at him softly. "Oh, of course not. I can read to you as long as you ask me nicely." Nolan smiled at that response and then yawned.

Kristoff chuckled as he pushed Tina's wheelchair to the spot right beside Elsa's. "Okay – it sounds like my little reader is tuckered out." he and Nolan bid Elsa and Tina a good night before exiting the library.

"He's such a cute kid." the brunette told the former queen.

"Yeah," Elsa sighed, "Anna and Kristoff did a great job with him and his sister."

Tina laughed and looked up at the platinum blonde. "Past tense?" she teased, "You do realize they have to continue getting older?" Elsa just shrugged.

"Just let me live in the moment." Elsa then stood up. "May I?" she asked, gesturing to Tina's wheelchair. The brunette just nodded.

"Go for it," Tina said, "I'm all yours." she said it innocently enough, but Elsa inhaled a little too sharply and started choking on air a bit. Tina turned around to check on the older woman, but Elsa just waved her off.

"I-I – ahem! – I'm fine." after regaining some of her composure, Elsa began to push Tina deeper into the library.

Elsa knew that the main part of the library was the path most travelled by visitors, so she thought that bringing the princess to a different spot would be beneficial for their meetup (and more importantly: her own anxiousness). She had done some thinking throughout the whole day and was still at a loss about why Tina made her so nervous. She thought that she had gotten better at controlling her emotions over the last six years, but that had proven itself wrong fairly quickly. Elsa's only guess at this point was that the mysteries of Botarskal, that she heard during her time as an active monarch, had coloured her subconscious. She took Anna's advice being that she just needed to get her handle on who the Princess was. As such, Elsa wanted to share a bit of Arendelle's history with the brunette. Literature and history had always been things that Elsa loved so she thought it was a little easier to talk to people about these subjects.

Once Elsa reached the area of the library that she wished to be in, Tina took a look around at the new surroundings. The platinum blonde had pushed her wheelchair into a new room in the library that wasn't exactly hidden from plain sight – it was just tucked away from the main sitting area. Past rows and rows of books, there was a door that Tina had never seen before. She made a joke about being kidnapped but Elsa told her that the door couldn't be locked and it was just a quiet place for her to be. The ceiling in this area was higher and the dimensions of the room were smaller. It had three large windows, nearly the full size of each of the walls without the door on it. There was a single desk with two candles lit, at the centre window, and one lone bookshelf off to the right of the room.

Tina shuffled in her chair – not uncomfortably – and turned to watch as Elsa scanned the small bookshelf. She tried not to get distracted by how her long blonde hair looked in the dim lighting; or how she adjusted her hair over her shoulder, giving the younger woman a very enticing view of her pale neck and shoulder. Tina blushed but maintained her composure.

"So," she said, breaking the silence, "what do we have on our agenda tonight?"

Elsa smiled and walked over to the small desk with a handful of scrolls and one large book. "I thought that I'd share some brief history of Arendelle with you." Elsa said, taking a seat. "I know your father had visited a long time ago, but I thought that you'd enjoy learning a bit about our kingdom from a former queen. I also know that for a fact, Anna has not really gone into any history or anything."

Tina laughed and nodded lightly. "You're right," she said, "any stories of Arendelle that she told us were about her childhood or about your parents' love story." Elsa just shook her head.

"That's Anna for you. A classic romantic."

The brunette nodded but wasn't unaware of Elsa's tone. "You said that last part as if it was a bad thing." she hoped that her question came across as playful and not as an interrogation method. Thankfully, Elsa just smiled.

"Oh – it's not a bad thing at all." the blonde stated, "Anna just tends to hyper-fixate on romance if it's available."

The princess laughed lightly and looked over at the ice wielder. "I assume that isn't you?"

"Not really." Elsa answered, "I mean – I can enjoy a good romance novel but it's not what I tend to focus on, when I read."

"So, if I may," Tina began, "can I ask a question? Something to push a theory your way and all."

Elsa scoffed a little. "Oh? You have a theory about me?"

Tina just smirked. "Of sorts."

"Well I do enjoy a good theory or two." Elsa didn't realize that she had done so, but she leaned a little closer to Tina. The brunette did notice and she felt her face flush and her heart rate sped up. "May I know what your theory is?" asked the blonde.

The princess just shook her head. "No – I fear that may taint my results." Elsa laughed heartily and Tina found that she quite liked it.

"Okay – fair. What's your question?"

Tina's finger tapped against her chin and wore a smirk on her lips. She never broke her eye contact with the ice wielder and carefully thought of her question. "How familiar are you with that novel by Emily Bronte?"

"Wuthering Heights?"

"Yes. That one." Tina answered. "What would you say you like most about it?"

Elsa shrugged. "I mean...if you want me to be honest, I enjoyed the read."

Tina smirked again. "...but?"

Elsa smiled. "But...I don't typically like the premise." the blonde explained, "The main character – He's basically tortured by the idea of this woman for most of his life. It feels so...bizarre to me."

"And why is that?" Tina asked in encouragement.

"I admit I'm not too into the romance of it, but it certainly feels a little extreme. I mean...he became so cynical. Just because he couldn't be in love." Elsa shook her head incredulously. "It might be because I haven't ever been in love, but I know what love feels like and it doesn't...well...I don't think it should feel like that."

Tina thoughtfully nodded along. "Honestly – that's the same for me. I don't think I've ever been in love." she told the blonde. Elsa tried not to hold on to the fact that Tina said she had never been in love. Elsa knew that she was supposed to be married, by the end of the year, but decided not to say anything for fear of ruining their evening. "My sisters – Gilly and Finn – they are so incredibly obsessed with that story. I've read it twice and...it's fantastic literature, but it isn't the best romance novel."

Shifting gears, Tina tried another story. "What about your favourite part of Romeo and Juliet?"

Elsa let out a snort, "You're mad. My favourite part of that story? After hearing my answer to Wuthering Heights?"

It was now Tina's turn to laugh. "Fair – but answer my question."

"What kind of experiment are you running here, Princess Tina?"

Tina batted her eyelashes innocently. "Answer? Please?"

The blonde rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile. "Well...my least hated part of Romeo and Juliet is the idea that their love was forbidden because of the deep set family feud." Elsa ran a hand through her hair, trying to recall the entire story from her memory. "I don't think we ever learned why the families hated one another so much, but I would have liked to know. The drama of it, so to speak, seemed entertaining enough."

"I mean," Tina said, "they were an aristocratic family. They could have had bad blood for a multitude of reasons. Property disputes...maybe something to do with how their feudal system setup was." Elsa was intrigued by the brunette's comments. She hadn't exactly had this much fun theorizing literature with anyone – even Kai and his takes on philosophy.

"Possibly," Elsa said, "Anna seems to think it was a friendship gone wrong, somewhere down the line. Someone I met – a duchess from Vesallvǫllr – has this idea that there was an earlier love issue between the heads of the houses, generations before."

Tina's face scrunched up in disgust at that. "Yeah...I'm lucky that I know my mother was from a completely different place in Europe."

Elsa laughed in agreement. "Me too – my mother is Indigenous to the enchanted forest and not of royal blood." the two laughed a little more at the expense of every royal family bloodline. After a while, Elsa asked Tina where her mother was from.

"She was from Scotland." Tina said reverently. "House of Tasgall, I believe. She was a noble but her family had a big enough piece of land which they used for farming. Father said she would tell stories of being 'put to work' in the stables, with her brothers." suddenly, Tina looked away from the blonde and gazed out the window. For a moment, no one said anything, but the brunette spoke up after the pause. "...I didn't get so much time with her. She died when I was two years old. She..."

Elsa reached out, over the desk, and placed a calming hand on the princess' own. Tina was surprised at the contact but it wasn't unwelcome. They both looked at one another with wordless expressions – amber and ice blue, simply watching and having a hidden conversation of their own.

"We don't have to delve into mothers right now." Elsa said, letting go of Tina's hand and sifting through the pages of the book she brought. "How about I tell you about Arendelle's first king – my great, great grandfather: Gudrik the Great."

Tina huffed in disbelief. "Your great, great grandfather: Gudrik the Great?"

Elsa shrugged. "Hey – that's just his name. I don't have to tell you why they called him that..." the blonde said, slowly closing the book. Tina instantly reached out and took a hold of the blonde's wrist.

"Nooo, I wanna hear it." she pleaded, mimicking a child asking for a bedtime story. Elsa just laughed and turned back to the page Gudrik's history was on.

The two of them just sat in the library, going over Arendelle's rich history of royal characters. The evening played out much better than Elsa had thought it would and she couldn't wait to spend more time with the princess, in the next few days of her recovery.

...

Meanwhile, upstairs, Kristoff and Anna were getting ready for bed. Anna was tugging back the heavy covers and Kristoff had come out of the adjoining bathroom in his sleepwear. He wore a simple blue set of pajamas with cozy slippers and his housecoat while Anna wore a yellow long-sleeved nightgown. Once she had properly undone all of bedding, she slipped underneath the warm covers and waited for Kristoff to join her. As he went to hang his housecoat at the end of their bed, she asked him how putting the kids to sleep was.

"Oh, it went fine." Kristoff answered, settling down next to her. She settled against him as he continued to tell her about his evening. "Stella was – well – Stella." Anna nodded at that – their daughter was so hard to get down for sleep. "Nolan went down quick tonight though – I think he was exhausted after all his excitement with showing Elsa he could read on his own." Anna hummed proudly.

"Mostly on his own." she corrected and Kristoff chuckled softly before yawning.

"Yeah," he agreed, "mostly."

"Did she help him much?" asked Anna. Her eyes were closed but she felt her husband shrug.

"I'm not sure." he told her. "I just remember I was pushing Tina towards the library, to meet with Elsa, and when we got to the library, he was sitting on her lap and they had just finished reading." immediately, Anna's eyes shot open and she sat up to look at her husband.

She looked crazed. "Tina was meeting with Elsa?"

"T-That's what you're focusing on?" he looked at her with confusion. He thought she'd be focused on her son's new skill.

"Not now Kristoff." she ordered, "I know that Nolan's getting better at reading. But I want to know more about Tina and Elsa's meeting. Why were they meeting?"

Kristoff groaned and threw his arm over his face. "Anna – didn't you tell me last night that you wanted Elsa to try and get to know her? Don't you think that's what's going on?"

Anna huffed. "Well duh! But I want to know more about it!"

Kristoff rolled his eyes and tugged his wife back down to the bed. "You can find out tomorrow."

Anna tried to pull away from him. "But I –!"

"Can wait until tomorrow." Kristoff said, cutting her off. He felt her relax and mumble something against his chest. "I'm going to assume you said 'goodnight my beloved Kristoff'." She mumbled a protest but he just snuggled her tighter. "Awe, how sweet. Goodnight Feisty Pants – I love you so much!"

...

Three days later, Anna waited for Honeymaren out in the courtyard. There was barely anyone around, so it was the perfect meeting place to discuss their new favourite topic: Elsa and Tina acting strangely. While this had only started with Elsa acting strange around the brunette, Honeymaren couldn't help but notice that Tina also acted differently around the blonde. Sure, it could be argued that Tina was naturally more friendly, but she would always be standing closer to Elsa or even just staring at her too long. Ever since Anna and Honeymaren learned of the 'library meetup' between the two, they had noticed that Elsa was more welcoming with Tina.

For instance, at dinner last night, Tina and Elsa arrived together and then left together. The whole time, they had been laughing and staring at one another – almost as if no one else was around. This would not have been alarming but for Anna? This new behaviour out of her sister was bizarre. She decided to explain to Honeymaren the events from a few days prior; when she tasked Elsa with delivering the package from Botarskal to Tina. Anna explained that Elsa felt nervous around Tina and that she had no idea why. Before Anna could say anything else, Honeymaren interrupted her with a smirk.

"Don't you see what's happening?" Honeymaren asked the queen. Anna paused and mulled it over. Nervousness...increased attention to one another...light touches on one another's arms...suddenly, the weight of her suspicions had cut through her like lightning at a tall tree.

"ELSA HAS A CRUSH ON TINA!" the queen exclaimed (rather loudly). Honeymaren reached out to slap a hand over the queen and pulled her toward the fountain.

The Northuldra woman just laughed and reminded the queen to whisper her revelations about things of this nature. "I wasn't going to say 'crush', but yeah. Maybe Tina has the crush and Elsa might just find her attractive."

Anna nodded along excitedly. "Oh – one hundred percent! I agree. This makes sooo much more sense."

"Well..." the Northuldra woman sighed, "what do we do now? Isn't Tina supposed to get married?"

Anna smirked at her friend. She liked how willing Honeymaren was to start meddling, but the redhead knew they couldn't meddle too much – not with the relations of kingdoms at stake. "Well...we can't do anything about that but we must confirm our suspicions. I suggest we start with the one who is most likely to not run away from us..."

Honeymaren just laughed and shook her head. "Was that a joke about Tina's sprained foot?"

The queen shook her head. "No, no, no – but if it was funny to you, I will not withhold credit where credit is due."