Note:
Chapter seven y'all! I wanted the next few chapters out before the long weekend (I am in Canada). Chapter eight is just going through the drying cycle right now (by drying I mean editing), so please be patient.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Frozen. Really wish I did though.
Happy reading!
- JQ
Chapter Seven: Pictures to the Rescue
It had been four days days since the accident. Anna was pleased that all of her visitors seemed to be getting along with one another (except for basically Ingrid, who Arnold said didn't get along with anyone). Because of all the excitement and newfound friendliness, Elsa hadn't had the opportunity to show Ryder and Honeymaren around the castle yet. Today, however, Elsa and Olaf finally had some time to give the Nattura siblings a full tour of the castle. They hadn't ever visited Arendelle before, so Elsa thought it would be nice to show her newest friends the home where she and Anna grew up. While Elsa was technically the one who was leading the tour, Olaf was stealing the show.
"...and over here is the library!" he said, pointing to the door. "Elsa loves the library – it's like she's a hermit in there. She can be in there for hours and hours and hours and hours –!"
"Olaf," Elsa warned with a blush, "I-I think they get it." he was a very thorough tour guide, which Elsa regretted as soon as he started showing off everyone's closets. She was just thankful he didn't have access to Anna's official study.
"Okay!" the little snowman said, taking a hold of Elsa's hand. "Well...I think that's it for the tour. I hope it was enlightening."
"Yes, thank you Olaf." Honeymaren said.
"Yeah," Ryder laughed, "I really appreciated the tour of Elsa's old closet. Her underwear drawer was quite intriguing." The former Queen just glared at her friend.
"You're very bold, for someone who knows I have ice powers." she warned. Ryder just held up his hands in defence.
"I'm just making sure our lovely tour guide knows he's appreciated."
Olaf squealed with delight. "Why thank you, Ryder! You are a very nice tourist!"
Ryder stuck his tongue out at the blonde and she reciprocated with the same momentum. Honeymaren just rolled her eyes and stepped in between them.
"Okay, children," she said, "I'm going to go find Gunn-Britt, Ingrid, and Arnold. Maybe they will be less childish." as she walked away, Elsa and Ryder immediately began pointing the finger at one another.
"You totally started it." the reindeer herder teased.
"I disagree, but I'll be happy to finish it." she then tugged the man's hat down over his eyes and shoved him just enough for him to back into a wall.
While the two of them bickered, Olaf heard a disturbance from behind him. It sounded like a bunch of leaves falling onto the ground. However, he was inside the castle – it would make no sense for leaves to be in here. He wanted to ask Elsa and Ryder if they heard it too, but they were too busy arguing.
"I think I'll explore this one on my own." Olaf said to no one in particular.
As he walked down the hallway, the noise got louder. It was coming from the next hallway over, where the infirmary was. As he rounded the corner, he saw Princess Stella in front of the infirmary door. She was struggling to pick up a bunch of papers that seemed to be strewn all over. She must have dropped them.
"Stella!" Olaf exclaimed with excitement. He waddled over to the princess, but she looked very worried.
"Oh no!" she cried, "Olaf, shh!"
"Okay. Why are we 'shushing'?"
The princess looked up and down the hallway before answering him. "I'm not supposed to be here. Mommy and Daddy said I can't visit Princess Tina, while she's sick."
Olaf nodded in understanding but then quickly placed his hands on his hips to mimic the 'authority' stance that Anna and Elsa used. "Well then why are you over here then?" the snowman asked, "I don't want you getting into trouble."
The little princess looked to the ground in shame. "Mommy said I could draw pictures to make Princess Tina feel better. So," the princess then pointed to all the papers on the ground around them. There were pictures of animals, food, butterflies, and trolls. "I made her all of these!" the princess huffed and threw more papers on the ground in frustration. "How can I make her feel better if I can't give her them?"
Olaf thought that was perfect reasoning. "You're right, Stella." he said. He then bent over to help her gather the drawings. "Maybe decorating the sick room will wake her up!"
"Yeah! That's what I wanna do!"
After they wrangled up all the drawings, Olaf told Stella that he would stand outside and knock on the door if he heard anyone coming in. Stella nodded as he opened the door for her and she went in with her stack of drawings. The little snowman then carefully closed the door behind her and stood outside, just as he had promised.
...
After about five minutes, Elsa and Ryder went their separate ways with the latter promising to 'get her back' at dinner. Shaking her head, Elsa knew he was bluffing and that he'd probably forget about his threat in an hour or so. The blonde sighed thinking of what else she could do today. She knew that she hadn't been to the North mountain in a while to see Marshmallow and the snowgies. Perhaps she and Olaf could make it there and back in time for dinner. When she turned around to ask the little snowman if he'd enjoy seeing his siblings, she was surprised to not see him. He had been by her side all morning and she didn't remember him saying he had anything he had to leave for.
She walked up the hallway and passed the library, only seeing a few servants and some guards. She looked down an adjacent hall and didn't see anybody. She huffed in frustration. Where is that snowman? she asked herself. She returned to where she was originally and decided to check the other end, closer to the infirmary. When she rounded the corner at the end of the hall, she saw Olaf standing in front of the infirmary door.
"Olaf?" she asked. He looked at her and gasped, as if he was hiding something. He then knocked on the wall, beside the infirmary, a few times.
"Darn signal!" he said with frustration. "Wait...I don't think we went over a signal."
As Elsa continued to approach him, he tried knocking harder. Elsa was confused. "Olaf, what are you doing? Stop knocking on the wall – Princess Tina is in there." she reached out for his hand and held it in hers. "Can you tell me what's going on?"
"Uh..." the little snowman looked around nervously, "...no...?" Elsa raised her brow in confusion. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"No?"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"I m-mean, yes to the no." he clarified, looking up at her shyly. "I cannot tell you."
"Olaf please," Elsa said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I promise I won't be cross with you. Just tell me what you're doing."
Olaf sighed and rubbed his hands together as if he were getting scolded. "Um, I promised Stella that I'd keep watch while she decorates Tina's room so that she can wake up." Elsa's eyes widened and she pushed passed Olaf to get inside the infirmary. Olaf protested but Elsa needed to get Stella out of there. Anna would be pissed that she skipped her lessons and managed to sneak into the place where Tina was supposed to be recovering.
When she entered the room, she saw a loose pile of drawings all around the bed. Stella was seated beside Tina, on her right side, and was holding up a picture. The littlest princess looked shocked and then bashful at being caught. Elsa sighed and made a bee-line towards her niece.
"Stella..." Elsa chided, "you shouldn't be in here." the platinum blonde went to pick up the little girl but she snuggled into Tina a little more.
"No!" Stella protested. Elsa huffed and crossed her arms.
"Stella –!"
"No!" she cried, now clutching onto Tina. Elsa winced, not knowing if Stella was making anything worse for her condition.
"Stella, please," Elsa begged, "I'll give you some chocolate? Or I'll take you to the toy shop!" the little girl just sunk further into the princess. Elsa needed a better bargain. "Fine – just this once, I'll let Marshmallow juggle you and your brother okay? Just come here and I won't tell your mom. Just...also don't tell her I'm letting Marshmallow juggle you."
Stella paused to think about the bargain. Unfortunately, she had Anna's stubbornness. "No."
"Stella –!"
"Mommy said that I could draw her pictures so she could feel better!" Stella stated, gesturing to all of her drawings strewn across the bedding. "I made all of these pictures and I can't show them to her, so how is she supposed to feel better if I can't give them to her?" Elsa's heart broke at the little girl's reasoning and she desperately wished that she could make her feel better.
"Baby, that's not how this works –!"
"I have to show her the pictures I made so that she can wake up!"
The two blondes started arguing – Elsa, whisper-yelling while Stella was actually yelling. While in the throes of their verbal tussle, they didn't realize that Princess Tina was stirring.
Tina shifted a little, noticing the weight on her right shoulder. She could also hear some muffled conversation going on around her. Her eyes were still mostly shut, but she couldn't really focus on much with the pain on the left side of her temple. She groaned a little and adjusted her position, so that she was laying on her right side. The voices around her stopped, so she thought that this small movement helped. She carefully opened her eyes to see nothing but foggy and blurred figures in front of her.
"...cess Tina?" she heard a child's voice say. Tina just shook her head a little and used her left hand to wipe at her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Princess Stella's big brown eyes.
"...Stella?" she asked, voice still laced with fatigue. She then looked up to see another figure standing over her and the smaller girl. She had long platinum hair and piercing ice blue eyes. Tina was mesmerized by her ethereal presence. She had no idea who this woman was and she knew she wasn't dead, so an angel was also out of the question. "...Stella," Tina tried, her voice raspy and dry, "am I in Arendelle?" The little girl didn't reply. She just wrapped her little arms around the older Princess' neck and held her close.
"Tina, Tina, Tina!" the little girl chanted, "I knew you'd wake up for pictures! I knew it!" the brunette just hugged the little girl back and smiled. She still had no idea what was happening but she could wait in favour of the small princess.
"Hey, Stella girl." Tina sighed into her hair giving her a small kiss, "You made me pictures?"
"Yes!" Stella said, quickly scurrying to the end of the bed to grab the pictures.
While Stella was away from her, Tina looked up at the woman again. The woman smiled shyly at her so she knew this was not a hallucination.
"I-I'm glad you're awake." said the beautiful stranger.
Tina didn't even think when she accidentally whispered, "You're stunning."
"What?"
"What?"
Both women blushed slightly and looked away. They were thankfully interrupted by Stella.
"I made you all these pictures!" Stella said proudly, "They were all of pictures of me and you and things we can do when you are better!" Stella then frowned and pointed at the tall blonde woman. "Auntie Elsa tried to take me away – she said pictures won't make you feel better." Tina looked up at the blonde and her eyes widened in realization:
Stella is a princess of Arendelle...Anna is the Queen...Aunt means the Queen's sister...OH MY GOD.
"...Queen Elsa?"
The tall woman shrugged and smiled. "Uh yes – former Queen, actually."
"Yeah," Stella said, crossing her arms. "She thought pictures wouldn't make you feel better." Tina smiled and leaned forward to tug the little girl into an embrace, despite the pain on her left side.
"I see," the brunette brushed a strand of hair away from her own ear before doing the same to the small princess, "well, we can't be naughty and disobey adults..." Stella looked down at her hands. "...but, thank you for making me all these drawings. I do feel a little better." the small blonde squealed in pure happiness and hugged Tina a little tighter.
"Auntie Elsa saved you from the crash." Stella said proudly. Blushing, Elsa looked away but Tina just smiled softly at the former queen.
"She did, eh?" Tina asked. The two blondes nodded – one obviously more enthusiastic than the other. Elsa was going to say something when both Gerda and Olaf entered the room.
"Your Highness," Gerda admonished the tall blonde, "you should know better than to sneak yourself and Miss Stella into the infirmary when we have a –!"
"Gerda!" Tina said excitedly, stealing away all of the attention and dissipating Gerda's anger.
"Tina! You're awake! Oh, I shall send for the Queen right away!" before the head servant exited the room, she eyeballed Elsa, "Don't think this is over, young lady."
Elsa sighed while Stella and Tina giggled at her being reprimanded. No matter how old she got, and despite moving out, she knew she'd never be able to escape Gerda's motherly lectures.
"Well," Olaf said proudly, "this all worked out way better than how I thought it would!"
...
"TINA!" cried Arnold and Ingrid in unison. Once Gerda had told everyone that the princess had woken up, the advisor and handmaiden could hardly control themselves. Despite the head servant's instructions, they bolted through the door and immediately wrapped their arms around the princess' shoulders. Gunn-Britt kept her composure, leisurely followed after her crew mates and stood at the threshold of the infirmary's door. Among the sobbing, it was difficult to hear who was saying what.
"W-W-We t-thought w-we had l-l-l-lost you!"
"I c-c-couldn't s-sleep!"
"You were out of it for three days! THREE DAYS!"
"I thought you were a goner. I really did."
"Me too. I was going to ask your dad to keep your shoe collection."
"Guys!" Tina gasped, tugging at Arnold and Ingrid's arms, "Please – loosen the reigns, will you?" at the princess' plea, Gunn-Britt stepped forward.
"If she stops breathing, so will you."
Immediately, Arnold and Ingrid released the princess and took a step back. After Tina took a second to catch her breath, she beckoned Gunn-Britt over. The large woman bowed before the princess. Tina just smiled and tugged Gunn-Britt closer by the horns of her helmet.
"Thanks, Gunnie." said the brunette, letting go of the horns and patting the guard on the top of her viking helmet. All the larger woman could do was nod. She then took her place, back at the threshold of the door.
Tina smiled, seeing her three closest friends all so excited to see her. She truly didn't remember what had happened to them, as she had just been napping in the carriage since they first left Arendelle. She decided to ask them what had happened. Arnold and Ingrid took turns telling the princess what had gone down and how she got injured. They recalled the forest and the large earth giants. They described how the soldiers had tried to retreat but it was too late – they had already been deemed as trespassers by the spirits. Gunn-Britt then told her about how the Northuldra had come to their rescue, alongside the former queen of Arendelle. At the mention of the platinum blonde, Tina smiled.
"You mean that tall glass of water?" the princess asked, interrupting Gunn-Britt's part of the story. "Yeah...real shame I wasn't awake for my rescue." she then looked over at Ingrid and wiggled her brows at her. "Tell me – did she carry me like a bride? Or did she throw me over her shoulder?"
"Tina!" Arnold chastised her.
The princess groaned in annoyance. "What?" she asked, "I need some more information for my fanta – I mean – for...science." Ingrid just giggled to herself while Arnold grew increasingly angry.
"Y-You can't –!"
"Can't what, Arnold?" Tina asked, crossing her arms over her chest. To her three staff members, it was no secret that the fourth princess of Botarskal had some...had a colourful history with the women back at home. Tina had always believed that she'd never make it to a throne. So, she indulged in many of the...festivities that women had to offer. While Ingrid, Gunn-Britt, and Arnold adored Tina, they knew her tendencies could not be known – especially now.
"It's inappropriate." he said. "You're supposed to get married by the end of the winter season!"
Tina just looked past Arnold and out to the window. There were yellow, red, and green leaves all over the trees. She then looked back at her advisor in contest. "It is clearly not the end of the winter season." she then held up her left hand. "I also do not see a ring that signifies engagement, nor do I see a ring that signifies marriage." she then dutifully turned back to Ingrid while Arnold just groaned. "So...bridal or cave man? What was it?"
Ingrid just shrugged. "It was bridal. She's not the caveman type I'm afraid."
Tina just sighed and thought back to when the former queen was in the infirmary with her. "God, she's so much hotter than the textbook drawings."
"Right?" Ingrid said, "Like I'm not interested, but I can see why you're interested."
"She can lift larger things than I expected her to, with her small arms." Gunn-Britt added with approval, "She also can make magic snow with her hands – like what the books said."
Tina raised and eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, I bet her hands are magic, alright."
"ENOUGH!" Arnold declared, making his way out of the room. "Just make sure none of this gets out. We can't risk any trouble with Vennesvurg and this deal. I will not have my head on a chopping block just because Tina can't control her damn self!" he huffed and made his exit, leaving the three women behind. It was silent – but only for a moment.
"Her eyes are, like, the colour of the ocean or something." Ingrid added and Tina groaned in agony (or delight? Not sure).
"Stop – UGH – I know!"
"And her hair? Un. Real."
"God – this marriage couldn't be happening at a worse time." Tina whined, "I'm face-to-face with a literal ice goddess, and I have to marry a – ugh – a man."
"Yeah..." Ingrid sighed, "...it's a bummer. But hey – you can have a little bit of fun before then, right?"
"Hmm, yeah..." Tina said dreamily, staring out the window again, "...a little bit of fun."
Gunn-Britt shrugged and decided to add one more thing to this gush-fest. "She smells better than yak."
...
About an hour later, Anna, Elsa, and Honeymaren joined Ingrid and Gunn-Britt in the infirmary while Dr. Halvorson was examining Tina's condition. He checked her vitals, reflexes and re-bandaged her sprained ankle. Right now, he was double checking her vision to make sure her cognition was not impaired drastically by her coma or her injury.
"And your headaches," Dr. Halvorson began, carefully unwrapping the dressing for the injury on Tina's left temple, "they are 'mild', as you put it?"
Tina nodded slowly, but then remembered he was checking her wound. "Sorry, doc. But yeah – the headaches are uncomfortable, but not more uncomfortable than when I'm on my cycle." the doctor just nodded at the comparison and continued observing her wound.
The gash on her temple was about three inches long, running diagonally from her hairline to just behind her ear. It was still fresh and only started scabbing along the edges but the clotting had already stopped the bleeding and Halvorson seemed pleased at its' progress. Surely, doing nothing for almost three and a half days was doing wonders for the healing process. He started to redress the wound with fresh bandages.
"Well," he said after finishing the bandages, "it looks like your healing is off to a great start. Just make sure you stay off of your foot for now. Perhaps I can have a wheel-chair made for you by the end of the week." Tina cringed at the thought but she knew it was going to help her. The doctor then turned to face the Queen. "I recommend that she continue to stay in Arendelle. She should be under my supervision for about two weeks. I am still not entirely confident about her head injury. While she appears to be fine and I don't note any significant issues, other than her headache, I anticipate that you would rather play it safe." the Queen of Arendelle nodded in agreement with the doctor.
"Yes, you know me well Dr. Halvorson." Anna said, smiling. As he approached her, she hugged him. "Thank you so much for your help."
The doctor smiled as he put on his hat and tipped it towards her. "Just my job, Your Majesty." he then turned to look at Ingrid. "Please ensure that she gets as much rest as possible – I don't want to stint her progress and a surplus of activity and stress will definitely affect her healing." Ingrid fought the initial reaction to roll her eyes and nodded instead – she figured that she should appear grateful as the doctor was here to look after her friend.
"Sure thing, Doctor."
After the doctor made his exit, the women gather closer around Tina's bed. Anna was the first to speak up and break the silence.
"How are you feeling?"
Tina shrugged and laid back. "I honestly feel fine. I usually only have headaches when I sit up too fast or when I wake up from sleep. Other than that, I feel okay." she looked down at her bandaged foot and wiggled it around slowly. "My ankle is okay too. I just wish I could walk on it."
"Yeah, you heard the doctor though Tee," Ingrid added, "you have to be off of your foot for a bit." Ingrid stared pointedly at her friend. "Don't make me use Gunn-Britt as enforcement."
Gunn-Britt grunted and cracked her knuckles. "If you even try to get up, I will break your other leg."
Tina laughed and put her hands up. "Okay, okay – I get it. Bedridden it is, damn."
Anna laughed and leaned down to hug Tina. "Oh, I'm just so glad you're okay."
"Yeah," Honeymaren stated, "back at the crash site, you looked pretty banged up."
"So I've been told." Tina said, looking at her friends. She then turned to look at Elsa with mild adoration. "And I've also been told that I was rescued from under the crashed carriage."
The platinum blonde blushed slightly, knowing that everyone's eyes were now focused on her. Well, it wasn't so much that everyone was looking at her – it was probably just the fact that Tina was looking up at her like that. Before an hour ago, Elsa was so used to just seeing Tina unconscious. She was wholly unprepared for seeing Tina's eyes for the first time. She had these light brown eyes – almost amber in colour. Elsa couldn't help but think about how mesmerizing they were; she hadn't seen someone with such a unique eye colour before. It was warm and inviting, and the way the princess looked at her felt different.
Needless to say, Elsa was very uncomfortable.
"Ha-uh-well..." she swallowed the lump in her throat while rubbing the back of her neck, trying to not look awkward (and failing), "...I-we w-weren't just going to leave you behind." the blonde accidentally made eye contact with Anna, who was a little perplexed at her sister's sudden bashfulness.
This is weird, the queen thought, even for Elsa.
Elsa quickly averted her eyes but then made the exact same eye contact with Honeymaren. The raven-haired girl squinted her eyes at her friend, wondering what she was thinking.
This is strange, Honeymaren said to herself, even for Blondie.
For fear of making things worse, Elsa decided to make a quick exit. She turned back to the Princess and said, "Well, it was nice to officially meet you. I-uh, have to go now. Right now." just as Elsa was about to turn around, Honeymaren stood in her way.
"Why?"
Anna then appeared beside the Northuldra member. "Yeah," she echoed, "where are you off to?"
"Uh," Elsa looked at her hands and wiggled her fingers, "I-uh-I have a feeling...in my hands – yeah – my hands! My, um, my ice powers are acting up." Anna's eyebrow was raised in suspicion but decided to continue letting her sister look like a fool. The redhead would get an answer from her later. "Usually means Olaf is about to do something. So-uh-um, I'm going to go. Yeah. Later." Elsa then made a hasty bee-line to the door and was gone in less than twenty seconds.
"Dang," Tina said, "she's fast."
"Mhm." Anna and Honeymaren hummed in unison sporting identical suspicious looks. They both knew just how avoidant and awkward Elsa could be. The two of them eyed one another, silently promising to get as much information as possible.
...
At dinner, Tina was lifted to the dining room by Gunn-Britt. The large woman had no trouble acting as Tina's carrier – at least until Halvorson brought the wheelchair. Gunn-Britt sat the princess down in between Elsa and Stella. The tiny princess was sitting beside her aunt but opted to give Tina her seat so that she could sit next to her 'rescuer'.
Elsa blushed "O-Oh, are you sure Stella?"
"Yeah, Stella," Tina said, as Gunn-Britt pushed the brunette's chair in, "I don't want to take your spot."
"Yeah! You should sit beside Auntie Elsie!" said the small blonde, already getting comfortable in her new seat beside Ingrid. "She saved you so you have to sit there!" Tina and Elsa just looked at one another and the former shrugged – they couldn't argue with her reasoning. On the other side of Stella, Ingrid was annoyed but Tina looked overjoyed at her new seat. Ingrid then looked to her right, at Arnold, who just looked disappointed.
"You're overreacting, Arnie." Ingrid told him.
"I wouldn't be overreacting if you both just grew up for once." the advisor hissed back.
Ingrid leaned in to whisper: "Let her enjoy being single. We both know this wedding is a sham."
Arnold rolled his eyes. "It's not that – I just don't want to be on Botarskal's or Vennesvurg's bad side."
Ryder was sitting directly across from the Botarskal travellers and could hear their banter. He didn't think it was suspicious but he decided to note it down as an 'important tidbit'.
Meanwhile, at the head of the table, Anna was eyeing Elsa and Tina's new seating arrangement with intrigue. She looked to her left to see Honeymaren also watching with intent. When they made eye contact with one another, they simply nodded – signalling to the other that nothing would be unnoticed today.
After Gunn-Britt was seated opposite Queen Anna, at the other end of the table between Arnold and Ryder, Kai came out of the kitchen to announce the dinner menu. Once dinner started being brought out by footmen, the atmosphere lightened a little and small conversations could be heard around the table. Kristoff and Anna talked about their days to one another; Nolan and the Natturas talked about animals; and Arnold and Ingrid were in a conversation with Princess Stella.
Princess Tina was always looking over at Elsa, hoping that she'd say something. Of course, Elsa just offered awkward smiles but didn't say anything. She sighed realizing that she was dealing with a very standoffish person. Oh well, she decided to put her best foot forward. She shimmied her shoulders and brushed the hair over her left shoulder behind her, giving the blonde a better angle to her shoulder and neck.
"So..." Tina started, leaning to the left toward Elsa, "was Olaf okay?"
Elsa appeared startled but quickly shook herself back into reality. "Sorry?" Elsa asked, hoping she didn't make Tina feel weird.
The brunette just smiled softly at her and clarified her question. "Olaf? From earlier? You left in a hurry to check on him."
"Oh, right." Elsa said, swishing her spoon through her soup. "Um – he was fine. Yup." she felt the princess' eyes still on her, so she tried to add more information. "He-uh-he needed to reach a book on a shelf that was too high – yeah – that's it – he was trying to use a chair and I was worried he was going to hurt himself."
Tina hummed in appreciation. "That's neat – you just end up saving the day for everyone, don't you?"
Elsa laughed nervously, "Yeah, I-I guess it's a weird habit." she thought that sounded a little conceited so she cleared her throat and tried again, "I-I mean, not a habit. Just – uh – I just like to help, is all."
"Well," Tina said carefully, placing her hand on Elsa's right forearm, "I am very glad you have this 'weird habit'." for the first time since she woke up, Tina blushed and appeared rather bashful before the ice wielder. "I just hope you know how grateful I am for you saving me. I don't know how I'd ever repay you – or your sister for that matter." The blonde dared to look at the princess directly, against her better judgment. Ice blue eyes met amber for a moment that seemed to last for hours, though it was only a few seconds.
Elsa shook her head. "It's no trouble. I would have hated if we left you there without looking for you." The ice wielder may have been imagining it, but she could have sworn that the princess bit her lip slightly for less than a second.
Why did I notice that? Elsa asked herself, suddenly very puzzled.
From their seats, both Honeymaren and Anna eyed one another after observing the former queen and the Botarskalic princess. They nodded towards one another as if to validate what they were both seeing.
...
"I don't know what it could be." Anna told Honeymaren after dinner had ended. The both of them had been keeping a watchful eye on Elsa all evening.
"Neither do I," the raven-haired woman replied, "her behaviour is off."
The Queen just nodded. "Elsa's usually standoffish and awkward, but this is weirder. She's like...afraid of Tina or something."
Kristoff, who had just been listening to his wife and friend discuss this decided to chime in. "Maybe she's just shy?" he reasoned. "I don't know about you, but Elsa acting awkward when Tina talks to her might just be a 'new person in the picture' thing." Both women just looked at Kristoff as if his mansplaining was the bane of their existences.
"I know my sister," Anna told him, "she's totally normal until Tina starts talking to her. It's as if she's...running all the time."
"But Tina's so nice." Honeymaren added, "Maybe it's a magic thing."
Anna hummed in contemplation. "Perhaps. We should still try to get to the bottom of this tomorrow."
"Absolutely." Honeymaren agreed. The Queen and the Northuldra woman shook hands while Kristoff just shook his head.
"This isn't going to go wrong at all." the ice harvester said, leaving to go and find Ryder. He needed to balance out his contact with people (other than these two) as soon as possible.