Note:

Damn – this one finished up way faster than I had intended. No matter – don't be surprised if the next update isn't for another week or two. Things are about to get serious, so hang tight and thanks for sticking around!

Disclaimer:

I do not own anything from the Frozen Franchise. This fanfiction is my only asset, quite realistically.

Happy Reading!

-JQ

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Meeting of the Hearts

[Vennesvurg, Sweden]

Elsa tried her best to follow after Tina, when she stormed out of the king's study last night, but she lost her down a corridor and realized that she hadn't had a proper tour of Vennesvurg's castle. With a dejected sigh, Elsa walked back the way she came and decided to change her approach.

As expected, surprising no one, the Botarskalic princess did not show up for dinner. Most of the people at the table respected the princess enough to not ask where she was. Unfortunately, Lindahl did not learn from the last time Tina was feeling under the weather (or overwhelmed by her own emotions).

"Where is the princess?" Lindahl asked, judgment and slight annoyance lacing his tone. At his question, both Elsa and Ingrid narrowed their eyes at the assistant.

Arnold sighed as he cut into his dinner, not bothering to look up at Lindahl. "Not this again..."

"Ethan..." Karl warned. He thought that the use of Lindahl's first name would make the situation more grave. Unfortunately, Lindahl was never great at reading expressions – or the room, for that matter.

"I understand that the princess has her...episodes," Lindahl began, his words laced in condescension, "but we truly cannot keep entertaining her behaviour this way." he said, while his teeth gritted together. "If we want this plan to work –!" suddenly, Lindahl felt his hands get cold. He looked down, at the table, to see that his hands had frozen in place. His eyes followed the path of ice, down the table, all the way to where Elsa was seated. Her eyes were steeled and her expression was icy.

"I'd watch my tongue, if I were you." Elsa seethed, eyes narrowing at Lindahl. "If we want this plan to work, we have to trust one another. I've just met you, but I really – really – do not like you." she stood up and walked towards where he was sitting, watching as his eyes went wide with horror. Elsa usually hated to instill fear in others, as she knew what fear felt like. However, this man was acting terribly and showed very little respect for the woman she had grown affectionate towards.

Elsa leaned down over his shoulder, feeling the way his energy shifted from confident to fearful. "Anyone who has the audacity to criticize a woman, who is going through something incredibly stressful, while not being self aware enough to realize that they are perpetuating the same thing, is someone I do not respect." she growled, over his shoulder. With a snap of her fingers, the ice on the table disappeared and she straightened out her posture as she stood once more. "I'll retire for the evening now." she said, bowing to everyone in the room and turning on her heel, to leave the area immediately.

"Go off, queen." Ingrid praised as the ice queen started to leave the room.

Honeymaren smirked to herself, loving how her usually timid and modest friend had switched into a purposeful lioness in order to defend her girl. Across from her, she saw that Ryder also looked smug due to Elsa's display of fierceness. Truly, they were happy that she was establishing herself as someone who was even more sure of themselves. Arnold and Gunn-Britt smiled as well, very happy that Tina had someone so powerful and honourable at her side.

Karl shook his head, but couldn't hide his own smirk. While he loved Lindahl like a brother, he was very happy to have someone, other than himself, put him in his place as required. "I'm very glad we opted to have dinner in the private dining room, tonight." the King said to Anton, who was sitting to his left. The butler grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Anton replied, chuckling to himself, "Good choice, Your Majesty."

...

After everyone was finished with their dinner, Elsa went back down to the kitchens to collect some food to bring up to Tina. To her dismay, the kitchen staff was very sweet and talkative. They kept telling her how lovely her brown hair was and Elsa had to remind herself that she died it brown with some paints from Yelena's fabric dying kit (the ice wielder sincerely hoped that the elder wouldn't be too angry with her when she finds out she rummaged through it without her knowing). The kitchen staff also kept asking her about food from Iceland and how it differed from Sweden. Again, Elsa had to remind herself that she was pretending to be 'Tina's cousin'. She tried her best and used all of her knowledge of Botarskal to get through one of the most awkward interview-esque conversations she's ever had to sit through. She just hoped she didn't disrespect Iceland with her severe lack of knowledge.

Once she escaped (in the most polite way possible), she carefully walked up the vast main stairway to deliver a dinner tray to Tina's guest room. She took her time in arranging the food options with care, so as to not overwhelm the princess any further than she already was. She knew that when she was upset, she didn't eat much and she could only imagine that big plates would be wasteful. Instead, she gathered a tiny bit of everything and set them up in smaller plates for Tina to pick and choose from, without wasting heaps of food. She really hoped that Tina would eat something, even if it was the smallest bite of bread.

The ice wielder reached the door of Tina's guest quarters in a good amount of time. She inhaled sharply before wrapping her hand against the large wooden door a few times. As she waited to hear anything from the other side of the door, doubt slowly started to seep into her thoughts. Was Tina still going to be upset with her? Was Tina already asleep? Was Tina going to wish that someone else, like Arnold or Ingrid, came to comfort her? Before Elsa could get into anymore mental turmoil, the creak of the wooden door startled her back to reality.

The door opened to reveal Tina, standing in the threshold in a silk deep blue nightgown. Her dark chocolate brown hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, framing her features perfectly in the dim candlelight of the hallway. Elsa's eyes dared to travel further south, as she took in the silver and bronze detailing on the princess' sleep gown. The garment reached all the way down to the floor as subtle floral designs were sewn expertly into the hem and edges of it. The gown also happened to hug every single curve of the brunette's body perfectly. Even the long sleeves of the gown left little to the imagination as the silk clung intimately to her skin. Elsa tried to refocus her attention on Tina's face as best she could, her ice blue eyes searching for amber in the dim lighting.

Elsa could feel the princess searching for something on her face, but the ice wielder couldn't figure it out what it was. Before she had a chance to ask, Tina began to speak. "What are you doing? It's late, isn't it?"

Elsa swallowed the lump in her throat. She then offered a shy smile and lifted the tray up to make sure Tina could see it. "Uh, the kitchen staff said you never requested dinner. Decided to bring it to you myself...um, if that's okay?"

"It's fine." Tina said, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "T-Thank you." she murmured, barely audible but Elsa was so hyper-focused on her that it registered right away. That, and she was unconsciously (and unceremoniously) staring at the brunette's lips.

"You're welcome." Elsa said, still eyeing Tina's lips for longer than anyone should be able to look at someone else's lips. "Uh..." she shook herself out of her daze and desperately tried to regain her composure. "I'll um, I-I-I can just give this to you and be on my way –!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Tina said, abruptly cutting off her rambling, "Come in," the brunette insisted.

Elsa looked at her with an incredulous expression. She didn't think that Tina would want to actually spend time with her. Hope, yes – of course she hoped that – but she was ultimately expecting the worst. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yes." Tina answered, "Please," the princess stepped aside and gestured to the interior of the room for added emphasis.

Elsa continued to search the brunette's face for any signs of distress or hints of anger. However, all she could find was a sense of vulnerability intermingled with exhaustion. There were slight dark circles starting to form under the amber eyes she had grown entirely too attached to and she knew that Tina was serious. "Okay," Elsa nodded as she started to walk into the room.

The ice wielder walked gingerly into the room, almost like if she took one wrong step, she'd crash through the invisible barrier and ruin the moment. She knew that Tina was going through something very difficult and she didn't want to add anything unnecessary to it. She placed the tray of food down, carefully, onto the dresser.

When she turned around to face the princess, she carefully observed her demeanor. She stood with her arms in front of her, her fingers intertwined as if distracting her from doing something. Elsa supposed that she was fidgety and struggling to figure out how to operate in this situation. Little did the former queen register that she was desperately trying to control the urge to leap into her arms and wrap her fingers into the once platinum hair.

"How are you feeling?" Elsa asked quietly, taking a few cautious steps towards the princess.

"A little better now." Tina said, mirroring the steps that Elsa took. They were now standing about a foot away from one another – the distance was taunting them. After a moment of silence, Tina looked up into ice blue eyes, trying to convey every emotion she was feeling. "I'm sorry."

Elsa was a little taken aback by her sudden apology. "What on earth could you be sorry for?"

"Being so harsh on you." Tina said bashfully. She shrugged, "I could have reacted a little better."

"No, it's not all on you. I did show up unannounced..." Elsa said, looking into her eyes as sincerely as she could, "...which would have been less of a problem if we kept in touch, as you suggested."

"Hang on," Tina said, shaking her head. The hint of a smile creeping onto her face. Elsa thought it was the same as seeing the clouds peel back and reveal the sun after a rainy day. "How did you turn this into you admitting wrongdoing?"

"I don't know." Elsa said, mirroring the princess' smile. "It takes two, I guess?"

"So...we're both sorry?" Tina asked, closing the distance between them. They weren't touching yet, but the atmosphere was certainly charged as if they were.

"Seems like it." Elsa responded, her eyes filled with anticipation and adoration for the woman standing before her. "Are we both forgiven?" she asked, not wanting to assume anything.

Tina looked up into the ice wielder's eyes. She was searching for something but Elsa really didn't know what she could be looking for. Eventually, Tina shrugged and said, "It depends."

Elsa's head cocked to the side, confused as to where this was going. "On what?" she asked.

Suddenly, Tina looked away for a second. When her gaze returned to Elsa's, the blonde could see a blush gently covering the expanse of the brunette's cheeks and neck. "Can you kiss me?" Tina asked quietly, desperately looking into Elsa's eyes.

Without another word, Elsa's arms wrapped around the brunette's waist while Tina's hands found their way into Elsa's hair. Their lips met in a glorious and familiar rhythm, as if it hadn't been weeks since they had last been in one another's arms. Elsa wanted to remain this way forever and she internally scolded herself for ever denying herself this luxury. Had she not denied herself this feeling, she and Tina could have shared way more than the three times they had been together, this way. No matter now, she thought to herself, I've got a job to do.

Elsa let her hands roam over the expanse of the brunette's back, careful not to bring her hands too low. She felt the silk of Tina's nightgown and how it was the perfect vehicle to project the heat emanating off of the brunette's frame. Elsa dared herself to think of how thin the fabric under her touch was and relished in the power she seemed to get from being this close to such a beautiful creature.

"Gods...that feels incredible..." Elsa gasped as they finally parted. She didn't even know exactly what she was referring to, to be quite honest. The feeling of Tina's lips on hers? The feeling of her hands freely roaming over the brunette's body? The feeling of Tina's expertly nimble fingers tangled in her hair? All of it? She couldn't decide and she found that she didn't really want to.

"I'm glad we can agree on that." Tina said, a whisper against the ice wielder's lips. "I missed you." she said, eyes lidded and filled with bliss.

"I missed you too." Elsa sighed, closing the distance between them again. This kiss was more tame than their last, but it had the exact same effect. Elsa had never been drunk before, but she had seen some of her friends (and Anna) in such a state. Just going off of pure observation, she could definitely draw some connections between this euphoric experience and intoxication by alcohol.

"Really?" Tina asked rather shyly, despite their most recent activity. "I didn't have the impression that you would, last time I saw you."

At her admission, Elsa felt her heart sink. She knew that her actions had caused some issues for them, throughout their entire relationship (friendly and otherwise). It hurt her to think that the princess carried doubts about her feelings, even after their last evening together. That was surely a testament to the phrase 'actions speak louder than words' which was something that Elsa vowed to always respect when it came to Tina.

"I..." Elsa struggled to put it into words, but just settled on tightening the grip she had on the brunette's waist. "I'm sorry for that too. I-I don't really know how to explain that, truthfully." Elsa then looked away from the princess in shame.

Noticing the shift in her mood, the princess untangled her hands from the taller woman's hair. One hand settled on her shoulder while the other snaked its' way to Elsa's jaw, carefully returning her gaze back to her. "You don't have to explain anything," Tina explained gently, "I know now that we feel similarly."

"I want to though." Elsa told her with a new sense of urgency, "I think you deserve that."

Tina smiled and lifted herself up slightly to place a lingering kiss on the former queen's face, just left of her mouth. "Then do your best," Tina whispered softly against her surprisingly warm porcelain skin, "I'm happy to listen."

Elsa inhaled sharply, trying to focus on what she wanted to convey. "Well...I think I've been struggling with...things about myself." she explained, "You see I-I-I have never really ever felt...this way about anyone before."

"'This way'?" Tina asked, searching for clarification.

Elsa shrugged feeling a little embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed with heat, "As in...romantically speaking."

"Ah." Tina giggled, kissing Elsa's chin, "Continue, darling." she encouraged as fondly as she could.

Feeling empowered by the brunette's kisses, the ice wielder continued. "And...I guess I just thought that – judging by what was happening – I thought it would have been easier for me to just continue living the way I was used to." she paused, trying to remember just how awful these last few weeks without contact had been. "But after a few weeks of not having you around I felt...grief? Like I lost something."

At Elsa's words, Tina found herself swooning all over again. This woman was going to be her death. But oh, Tina thought, what a sweet death it would be.

"Jeez," Tina said, rolling her eyes playfully, "you're making it really hard for a girl to not like you."

"Good." Elsa said, trying to tug the princess in by her waist. They were already touching but she desired an impossible kind of proximity to this woman. She then kissed along Tina's jawline until she could whisper into her ear. "Because I really want this one girl to like me." Tina felt the characteristic shiver down her spine, signalling something more than just attraction within her. She tried her best to hold herself together and hoped that Elsa wouldn't think any less of her for being so desperate.

Once she regained her composure, she looked back into Elsa's fond gaze. "In all seriousness though," she began sincerely, "thank you for sharing that with me. Now that that's out of the way, it makes sense. Feeling things like that, all at once, must have been overwhelming." Elsa nodded, closing the distance between them once more. She found herself so addicted to this woman's lips. She wondered if she'd ever want anything else this much ever again.

"Speaking of overwhelming," Elsa said, pulling away gently, "Are you okay?"

Tina sighed, pulling herself into Elsa's embrace. "I could be better." she murmured against the skin of Elsa's neck, "I just can't believe that this is all just some scheme to reduce Botarskal's international influence."

"I know." Elsa sighed into the shorter woman's hair, "It's insane."

"Which, I guess, makes all this even worse." Tina said, grasping the front of Elsa's dress.

"What?" Elsa asked, slightly confused.

"This." Tina said, right before kissing Elsa on the neck.

The ice wielder groaned in pleasure, feeling slightly embarrassed at how this woman was making her feel. "...right...mmm...yeah, that makes it harder for sure."

Tina sighed again, sinking further into Elsa's embrace. "I just hope we can stop it in time."

Elsa held on to her tight. "We will." she said with the utmost conviction possible.

Tina pulled back to search Elsa's face for a hint of hesitation. Finding none, she asked, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because we have to trust in our friends and our efforts." Elsa told her, "They're working very hard to get you and Karl out of this."

"I know it's just so hard to think that we can succeed," Tina admitted dejectedly, "...after everything that has happened already."

"I know. But let's just focus on the present for now." Elsa said.

"Thank you, Elsa." Tina sighed against her once more, snuggling in closer to her and finding solace in her arms.

Elsa smiled against Tina's hair, inhaling her scent and relishing in the feeling of their bodies so closely intertwined. "Anytime, beautiful." she said, kissing her hair and keeping her close.

After a few more minutes, Elsa told her to eat some food and to get some rest. She then said that she'd see her in the morning and battled her own inner self to pull away from the princess and make her way out of the room. But before she could make it even a foot away from the princess, Tina grabbed her by the wrist.

"Can you...can you just lay with me for a little longer?" Tina pleaded.

Elsa quickly realized that this woman had her wrapped around her fingers and she was never going to deny her anything again. "Of course." Elsa promised, closing the distance between them once more. After all, they had a few weeks of separation to make up for and the former queen was not one to leave a task incomplete.

...

Meanwhile, below in the subterranean caverns of Vennesvurg's castle, Arnold was on a mission to find Lindahl. As a member of Botarskal's royal staff – and good friend to Princess Hrafntinna – he felt it was is duty to talk to Lindahl about his recent remarks about the princess' mood swings. Sure, Arnold could admit that the princess had a flair for the dramatics, but she was well within her right to be feeling however she was feeling. He wasn't going to let some stuck-up, privileged, and butt-hurt blonde guy hold anything negative over his princess.

As he stormed into the hidden meeting room, he found Lindahl seated at the small table, studying some scrolls, no doubt trying to locate some evidence of the initial draft notes or any codicils that could related to the former king's will.

Arnold's arms crossed over his chest. "I thought your king told us all that tonight would be a night of rest?"

Lindahl turned around to see the Botarskalic Advisor. He was shocked to have someone else down here, at this time of night, but he was also not really all that surprised for some reason. He just turned back to the scroll he was analyzing and chuckled. "Doesn't that order go for you as well?"

"I'm not the one with a scroll in my hands." Arnold pointed out. After a beat of silence between them, he continued. "I'd like a word with you."

Lindahl rolled his eyes and stood up. Frankly, he had had enough of everyone trying to pin him as the bad guy, but he decided that he should at least hear what Arnold was going to say. He stood up and began to make his way over to Arnold, towering over him at just over six feet. Arnold was substantially smaller, at just about five feet and five inches. Despite this physical difference, the advisor remained undeterred and stood his ground.

"I know that a lot of other people had already spoken to you about your behaviour," Arnold began, "but I needed to get something through that thick skull of yours."

Lindahl groaned in frustration, "Why?!" He asked incredulously, "Why on earth does everyone give a shit about how I'm acting?" His voice has reached an ungodly level, but Arnold continued to stand there. "I know that you all care for her, and her well-being, but why do you all have to paint me as the bad guy?! Huh?!"

Arnold just stared into Lindahl's eyes, unwavering. "Because we know you aren't." after the words left his mouth, he watched as the emotions changed in Lindahl's face.

"What?" the assistant asked, still reeling from what Arnold just said.

"We care about your reactions because we know you're not the bad guy." Arnold repeated. "We know you care about putting an end to all of this and we know that you are dedicated. What we don't know is why you keep saying all those things when you damn well understand that Karl and Tina are the main pawns in whatever scheme Malkvist has been concocting."

Lindahl searched Arnold's firm gaze, not sensing anything but sincerity. With a sigh, Lindahl just shook his head. "I just want everything to go smoothly and I fear that her outbursts are going to draw unwanted attention."

Arnold scoffed while folding his arms over his chest. "You are so unequipped to deal with feelings." the advisor laughed, "It's sad, honestly. Vennesvurg seems so sterile and masculine – how do any of you process emotions?"

Lindahl shrugged, not knowing exactly how to answer the question. "I don't know." he admitted in a smaller voice, "I guess we just kind of...move on."

"But you haven't." Arnold pointed out, "This is the second time you've reacted this way when Tina didn't show up for dinner." Arnold took a steadfast step towards Lindahl and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This isn't the way to deal with your emotions. This is definitely going to be news to you, but 'moving on' actually means tackling underlying issues and fears." he explained, "Tina, Ingrid, Myself...Gunn-Britt even – we all talk to one another about our fears and worries."

"I told Karl about how I just want Malkvist out!" Lindahl said, ignoring the advisor's overall message and trying to assert himself once more. "What am I supposed to do? Repeat myself over and over, like a broken record?"

Still un-phased by the taller man's displays of aggression, Arnold just shook his head. "You are allowed to feel things, and express those feelings, as much as you need to in order to process it." Arnold told him as best as he could. He then turned to leave the room, but before he did, he said "If you ever need to process something, talk to me instead of taking it out on Tina. She has enough on her shoulders, at the moment."

Without another word, Arnold had disappeared into the night, leaving Lindahl dazed and confused about their encounter. Sighing, Lindahl plopped down into his chair, placing his face into his hands. New knew that Arnold had a point. He needed to do better if he wanted this plan to work out. He just hoped that the advisor was sincere in his offer.