Elsa stayed silent throughout the entire drive back to the house. Glazed-over eyes peering at the passing streetlights of suburban Maryland. The driver drove at a snail's pace. Anna had watched them escort her from the NSA ward. Even in her dazed and confused state flanked on all sides by armed men, Elsa appeared to drift on a cloud. The royal poise evident in measured footsteps. Shoulders peeled back in a loose-fitting hospital gown. Eyes held aloft in a haughty manner. They had to pick someone taller than me. The height difference even more apparent when NSA handlers deposited them outside her (well, now "their") house in the middle of the night. Full moon's gleam off Elsa's loose-flowing ice-blonde hair. A breeze ruffled her thin gown, but the Queen barely shivered. Still standing tall as she surveyed her new dominion.
The handlers left Anna with keys to a parked Ford Focus and told her to call Hans if anything cropped up.
Just like that, Anna's left alone with her baby for the next year. She'd been told to avoid referring to her with honorifics because they were now equals in a world without absolute monarchs. Anna was determined to press home that fact, perhaps after she'd courteously held the door open for Elsa.
"I guess this is your new home for the time being," Anna chirped in Danish, watching Elsa swivel her head around. Lips slightly parted. A twitch of her nostrils. I don't smell anything, does this place smell off to you?
"If you want milk, or perhaps tea before your bedtime - I've stocked our refrigerator and pantry. I mean, it might take some getting used to - having a cold box right in your kitchen, but-"
Anna turned and flinched at Elsa glaring daggers at her with clenched fists. Scarlet streaked her cheekbones. For the first time, rank fear froze her spine. Anna had learned unarmed combat in the army. But was she a match for this rather tall, 19th century monarch with dubious, untested sorcery powers? She wasn't about to find out.
"A-are you alright? I-it's nothing to get upset about, I could show you around the house if you want, though it must be dreadfully small compared to your palace back-"
Elsa's booming voice filled the expanse of their living room, "Mit værelse, tak!"
"Your room? Yes, sure, right this way," Anna directed her to the single room she'd prepared for Elsa, "I'm right down the hall so just knock if you need-"
Her words fell on dead ears as Elsa entered and promptly shut the door in her face.
She'd expected staying up late. Eyes glued on the ceiling and ears transfixed on every small whimper that came from Elsa's room. They came as strangled sobs. Stifled groans that pinched into silence. Anna's fists bunched up the sheets as she recalled her damp pillows at Fort Bragg. Nightmares. Foreign voices and photographs of missing children thrust into her face. Have you seen my Katya? Please miss, she was last in Luhansk. Anna pressed a hand to her throbbing chest and focused on the quiet solitude of their house. Listening to each gasp and sigh that tore Elsa from her restless sleep. Before long, the cavernous darkness ate her up too. A full moon and starless sky echoed the vast desert of a dreamless sleep.
Anna jerked awake at the rose-tinted sunrise; glowing softly through pastel curtains. Silence wrapped her in a cocoon. A dank chill had invaded the room. Elsa. The Queen had risen early and stood motionless in the backyard. Half-empty glass of Merlot in hand. White vintage nightgown Anna had picked out from Saks. Blonde hair mirrored the sunrise's radiance. The wind put ripples in loose-flowing chiffon and she looked like one of those Elves from Lord of the Rings.
"Godmorgen," Anna greeted from afar, afraid of startling her.
"Good morning," the Queen scarcely budged, "we can converse in English if you prefer."
"Oh? T-that's great actually, I wasn't expecting you to-" Anna stepped through the balcony.
"No matter."
She'd rehearsed this moment a thousand times over in her head. Theoretical frameworks scaffolded with textbook knowledge and field experience dribbled out her jaw at the regal stature of Elsa silhouetted against the azure sky.
"...the same sky she must've gazed upon two centuries ago." Anna covered her mouth at the realization she'd said it out loud.
"Yes, actually," Elsa replied, "you read my mind."
"Probably more polluted than a calm Arendellian morning. I hope you like our 21st century sky."
"It's lovely indeed. As lovely as the people I've met so far," Elsa turned askew. It took a second to notice from her awkward angle that Elsa was looking directly at her. Like she'd stood alone in a far-off crowd of thousands only to be picked out by the Queen's gaze.
"I owe you an apology for the curt manner of my speech last night," Elsa's enunciation bore a clipped English accent, "it was not my intention to offend you. Time travel does wear one's nerves down."
"Apology accepted," Anna whispered, "I'm here to assist you with this transition, as much as I can. So it'd help greatly if we didn't get on each other's nerves."
"I think I can deal with that, Ms Sullivan."
"Anna is fine," Anna took the glass of wine from her hand. Their fingertips brushed and the Queen drew back. She'd expected Elsa to feel ice cold from standing in the morning breeze. But all she felt was warmth. Fingers clasped to her bosom, Elsa looked at them like Anna had just burned her. All the way into the kitchen. Her gaze turned to Anna while she prepared breakfast. Open-faced sandwich with smoked salmon, avocado and pickled onions. The joy on Elsa's face brimmed over as she cut portions for herself primly with fork and knife.
"This tastes delicious, you cook very well," Elsa swallowed each mouthful before speaking, "have you worked in many households before this?"
The insinuation swam about in Anna's head before it caught hold.
"Oh no, no, no," Anna said over a mouthful of toast, "I'm not employed as your servant. Or housekeeper. Or maid or whatever you call them. I'm your escort and I'm here to help you acclimatise to our century."
"So-"
"So it'd help greatly if we cleaned up after ourselves and cooked for each other. This might take a little getting used to but-"
"Your request sounds perfectly reasonable. I've never quite gotten used to getting fussed over," Elsa rose and immediately started wiping down her plate with a dishrag. A sudden deluge of cold water from the faucet took her aback.
"Ah, running water. Marvel of the modern century," Anna shut the tap.
"You have to teach me how these wonderful machines work."
"In time. Though I did have other stuff planned for our morning. Like a walk through the neighbourhood just to get our feet wet."
"I've been confined underground for months, so I'd like that very much. Dear Anna."
Anna smiled. This was coming along nicely so far. Even when Elsa declined a coat and had to be persuaded to put on a pair of her own slippers. Pine trees swayed outside with the breeze and the Queen paused each time she caught birdsong in the brisk air. Despite being void of traffic, Anna stopped Elsa several times to keep her from stepping off the pavement onto the road. Her phone lit with a message from Hans. Stay off the forest trail.
Anna spotted a dark speck hovering overhead. NSA surveillance drone. She promptly veered left onto the forest trail. Deep into the dense scent of earth and rain-soaked pine. It lit her senses. Put a glimmer in Elsa's eyes too - held aloft to the canopy as she tried to spot where birds were waking from their roost. She seems to like nature. Or at least, things that never changed.
"If you weren't a servant before being assigned as my escort," Elsa's bright voice rang through the silence, "what did you do for a living?"
The question put a lump in Anna's throat that she'd forgotten existed in casual conversation with strangers and dates. The how of explaining her job without bringing out pitying eyes.
"I-I was in the military," Anna explained, searching for the right words that never fit in eight years of service, "a soldier. Kinda."
Elsa stopped dead in her tracks and whirled to face her, "A lady soldier? Remarkable! Have you been in many battles?"
"Here and there. You see - it's a little different from the 19th century where each time Kings and Queens wanted to settle their differences, they'd gather a whole bunch of men and horses and cannon in the empty countryside and have a go at it until one side's exhausted."
Anna paused when Elsa visibly tensed.
"Wars in the modern century are different. Nations have figured that the lifeblood of their enemies lie in their people. Thus, to break a country. One had to break their people. Each time a war broke out because of irreconcilable differences over land or wealth - civilians suffered for it. Women and children, the elderly."
"That sounds absolutely ghastly."
"It is. So my job, as a soldier. Was to enter these communities after the war and patch back all the hurts and brokenness and wounds they've endured. It may sound like I'm sweeping up a mess - and that's because I did."
"That sounds rather noble of you, frankly," Elsa looked away, "I was hoping that after centuries of warfare and the thorough knowledge of how much it hurts people. We would have the common sense to end it. All we've figured out are better and more efficient ways of doing the same."
Anna knew she'd teetered on the edge of the do not inform list. World War II. Weapons of Mass Destruction. Terrorism. She pondered the withdrawn hollowness in Elsa's eyes and decided they had enough darkness for one conversation.
"Well, I'm out now. And so are you," Anna stepped closer, "I hope we can find a measure of peace in the time we have together."
A smile creased Elsa's lips as they continued down the path. It spread wider amidst the easy silence. A grin. Just when Anna considered raising another subject, Elsa circled back again.
"If I'm allowed the luxury of a walk in the woods each day with you," Elsa whispered sheepishly, "I believe we shall."