CH. 4 – King Albion

A very young Elsa was standing in front of her parents painting and her mother was talking to her. She remembered her voice, the way she smelled and even the color of her eyes. She laughed and traced her finger through Elsa's pale blonde hair while she braided Elsa's locks in that ponytail she was now used to wear. Then her father showed up and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek then looked at her, but when he opened his mouth a feminine voice came out of it.

- Elsa... – Wait, but... - ...are you alright? – That was not his voice at all, Elsa thought as her mind started to float back to reality. – Elsa, wake up. – A fragile hand shook her softly by the shoulders and the queen opened her eyes slowly.

- Mom? – Her eyes started to focus better and after a few seconds she saw Anna's image taking place before her.

- Mom?! – Anna asked smiling.

Elsa set on the bed and looked at her sister. She must have fallen asleep and was dreaming with her parents. It's been a while since she dreamt with them and Elsa was very much surprise to see how much she still remembered. The smell on her mother's hands, the way her eyes squeezed when she smiled, her father's face, the way they loved each other. She missed them so much. – I was dreaming with mom and dad. – She finally said and they stood quiet for a few more seconds, each one lost in their own memories.

- I miss them too. – Anna said. – All the time, actually. – They shared a melancholic smile, but more than that, Anna and Elsa also shared a feeling that only they could ever have or understand. – That brother of Hans', Athos, is outside. Are you going to meet the king? – The red haired began softly, trying to take them away from that sad moment.

And suddenly everything came rushing back at her. The meeting with the king! Elsa totally forgot about that! – Are we late? – She asked quickly.

- Not exactly, but you should get ready if you want to go. - Elsa got up very quickly. – There are some servants outside with water. Athos brought them. – She explained even before Elsa explained.

- Tell them to enter, please. - She needed to be quicker than she had ever been in her whole life. Anna opened the door letting the servants walk inside and closed it behind her facing Athos.

- She will be out in a minute.

Athos nodded and both of them leaned against the wall waiting for the queen to come out, but both of them knew this was not going to be quick. Meanwhile on the inside Elsa was washing the dust from the road of her body with the help of one servant, while the other two were separating her dresses for the night. The water was warm and smelled like everything in that land and if she could the queen would have spend much more time in that bath, just relaxing from the pressures from the job. But since she couldn't, as soon as she was clean, she got up and out the bathtub and rushed into the room to get properly dress. – The blue one, with the flowers. – She pointed to a dress and the servants started to help her with her hair and all the other acessories a queen needed.

- Nervous? – The queen stopped suddenly hearing his voice.

Anna shrinked her shoulders. – A little. – It was Anna.

- Why?

- Because he is a king.

- And you're a princess.

- It's different.

- Because of Hans? – Elsa stopped in the middle of the room, half naked, half still wet from the bath the moment she heard Athos mention his name. She held her breath, waiting for Anna's answer. As far as Elsa knew Anna never spoke of Hans to anyone except herself and Kristoff and everyone in Arendelle tried not to mention his name in her presence, after all she was fooled in front of her entire kingdom and this man was asking this in such a relaxed manner.

On the outside Anna faced the floor without looking at Athos. She thought deeply about what he asked and considered her options carefully. Everyone, even Anna herself, knew she had problems with that specific topic, but now that Athos mentioned it so directly, Anna suddenly felt okay. Maybe everyone was so afraid of talking about Hans in front of her, so afraid of hurting her feelings that she forgot that what happened, happened and nothing was ever going to change that. Maybe the problem was that this was named a problem, but in the end was just a past fact.

- Yeah, because of him...

Athos kept in silence thinking and Elsa pressed her fingers against the door waiting for the next thing he would say as much as Anna. She felt the cold tingling her fingers again.

- He is not here. – He looked at Anna.

- You said it already.

He smiled. – Isn 't that enough?

- I don't know. –And Athos nodded silently. – Sometimes I feel like an idiot.

Both kept quiet and Elsa became agitated to thinking about her little sister in a akward situation like that. The queen tried, but couldn't stay inside that room for long, something inside of her screamed and jumped, impeling her to her sister's aid. She suddenly opened the door, ready to just take Anna into her arms and fly back to Arendelle. She was her baby after all.

Athos attention turned to Elsa in the very same instant she opened her door. She looked strange, as if she was ready to attack them or something. They eyes met as Athos studied the queen. – Hi. - She said trying to look very casual with her cheeks flushed from all the running up and down inside her room.

- My queen. – Athos bowed softly and took that moment to take a pretty good look at how 'his queen' was looking tonight. His eyes slided through her slender figure. Her light blue silk dress wasn't exactly bold, but Elsa's natural curves molded the fabric on her body and the queen wasn't at all a skinny woman. Of course that didn't go unnoticed by Elsa nor Anna. – Shall we? – He said regaining control over the situation she closed the door behind her and approached them.

Athos started to walk first and left the sisters a few steps behind and when he was far enough so that he wouldn't hear, Anna whispered to Elsa. - He was checking you out...

Elsa blinked slowly, trying to ignore the mocking tone on Anna's voice. - Don't go there, Anna.

The red hair smiled having a lot of fun with this situation. She couldn't wait to tell this to Kristoff, but something dark also took hold of her. Of course she wanted Elsa to find somebody, like she had found Kristoff. Of course she wanted happiness for her sister, after all she had been alone all this time. But...She looked at Athos' back, moving as he walked in front of them. They were brothers, if this was really a family trait then Athos wouldn't be any different. What if he did something to Elsa? She looked at the queen and wondered what she was thinking and why was she looking at him like that?

Inside the queen's mind she played and replayed that moment over and over again. The way he looked at her, their eyes meeting, the way her heart rushed with something. What was that? Was she...curious? Why was she curious? 'And why was he looking so good that evening?' she thought when they reached a big dark double door with a giant bear crafted in it. He turned at them and once again looked at the queen. This time Elsa shot darts. She needed to let him know who was the queen here and that she wasn't just another naive girl, but something caught her off guard.

- My father awaits. – He opened the door and stood aside. Was he not coming with them? Where was he going? And why the hell did she wanted to know? Elsa nodded to him and walked inside the room not even looking past him. Anna, that came after her, looked at Athos and smiled softly at him, he blinked one eye and offered a light crooked smiled.

- Athos... – Elsa heard just when he was about to close the door. She looked back to see whose feline female voice was that, but the only thing she could see was Athos face turning to meet that person, that woman, before closing the door.

- You ok?

- What? – Elsa answered distracted, but quickly she remembered Anna was with her and that those questions were pointless. Why did she even care? Then, again she looked at Anna and repeated, but this time sounding like her again. - What?

- Are you ok? – She repeated slowly.

- Yeah. I am.

Anna wanted to really find out if her sister was telling the truth, she's been acting all weird since they left the room, but Elsa wouldn't tell her how she was thinking about Athos' glance and how much that made her think about Stephan. - My ladies? – A heavy voice called from behind her and when they turned, they saw Albion standing in the other side of the room, holding another door open and looking as big as the bear crafted in the door. – Please. – He pointed with his head to the other room and both Anna and Elsa entered.

Elsa took a protective stance and came close to Anna, if he wanted to harm Anna, he would have to face the Cold first. She took a deep breath and felt the Cold boiling her insides, leaving that tangling sensation she was already so accustomed to. The room smelled like everything in that place, like…freedom. The queen wanted to enjoy that sensation a little more, but now wasn't the time. Albion was taking his place in his big wooden chair. He looked at them with kind eyes and smiled.

- I met your father, you know? – He started suddenly. – He was a kind and just man.

-Yes, we know. – Elsa answered quickly but politely and aware of everything happening in that room. God, her shoulder were starting to burn up, so tense she was.

- And your mother! The prettiest woman I had ever seen. But let's not allow the queen of The Islands to hear that, ok? – He lower his tone and his face glowed with a sincere concern that made Elsa and Anna smile a little bit. That man was indeed different than everyone they had met before. He laughed a little bit and looked down at his table looking so out of place and nervous. The king cleaned a microscopic stain in the red wood searching for the words to start. – Well…you're probably wondering why you're here… - He started slowly, still not knowing what to say.

Anna opened her mouth to say something but Elsa stopped her. This was the king's moment, let him have his time because this was the moment of truth and they had to respect that. If that was really being as hard as Albion was making them believe it was, the words about to came out of his mouth should be very interesting.

- I love my boys. All of them thirteen of them! I am proud of each one of them. – He looked up with his brows raised. Both sisters nodded a 'yes'. – And my youngest, Hans… - He looked at a picture that none of them had noticed before. Right there, in one of the walls of that giant room, was a painting of Hans fully dressed in the Southern Islands guard uniform looking as handsome as he looked the night Anna met him. Albion took a deep breath. – …he was very spoiled, my wife, the queen, used to think he was rejected by his older brothers and tried to compensate that. I´m not saying that this is her fault, she is an amazing mother. She raised thirteen boys almost by herself!

Elsa watched as the gigantic king of the Southern Islands stumbled with his words. Yeah, he was nervous and had no idea what to say. She bit her lip, trying not to smile or laugh, even if that was very cute and funny. She behaved like a queen and listen closely to every attempt the king made to apologize for his reckless son.

He lifted his head and looked straight at Anna. – My princess, I would have loved to have you as my daughter. – Anna started to blush. – I'm making a hell of a mess with my words… - He smiled and Elsa saw Athos in him. - …my ladies, what I´m trying to say is that I am truly sorry for my son. I don't know what gotten into him, that was surely not how we raised him, but sometimes people do strange things. My queen and I are very ashamed for Hans's behavior and we called you here because I desperately wanted to show Arendelle that the Islands still have honor.

- We have no doubts about this, your majesty. – Elsa finally spoke.

- I am sorry. – He looked at Elsa first and then at Anna and repeated. – I am very sorry. – They kept in silence looking at each other, studying each other until Anna felt her heart melt to see that bear like man, apologize like that. He seemed so embarrassed to be in that situation that the princess also desperately wanted this to be over.

- It's okay. – She said timidly.

Then he turned at Elsa. – I really hope we can unite our kingdoms in peace, queen Elsa. We are fighters, strong men from the sea. It would be an honor to form an Alliance with you right here and right now and to bring our people in friendship and brotherhood. We can learn a lot from each other…and my wife says that the Islands need a feminine touch that she can't bring by herself alone. – He smiled again.

- Maybe after this visit is over, you can give us the honor of visiting our land so we can seal this Alliance. – She wasn't closing a deal right there and right now, that wasn't her way, but yeah, that could work. Albion seemed like a nice man, concerned about his people and just to his soul, but there was still a lot Elsa wanted to see about that place and the people living in it.

The king's smile broadened and he seemed very pleased with his answer; after all he was not a boy and knew how this negotiations worked. An invitation was a very good sign that this was going to end up well and maybe the Islands would make up for Hans' mistake.