Their relationship wasn't much of a secret, not anymore. It was hard to keep it hidden when all she wanted to do with the other woman around was hold her hand, stroke her hair, gaze into her eyes. Only a sense of propriety ingrained in her since infancy stopped her from kissing her in public. Besides, she's had enough secrets to last her a lifetime, and Merida Dunbroch was certainly not one to care for discretion.

Thankfully though, for all that it was obvious how the two felt about each other, everyone seemed to treat it like an open secret: people knew, but the relationship was still treated as private. A blessing really, because Elsa felt so out of her depth that having her... whatever it was called with the Scottish princess under public scrutiny would just add to her stress levels.

Not that Merida ever knowingly allowed her to get stressed. She just had that effect on her.

When first they'd met, Elsa had expected someone poised and refined, like the woman she pictured from the letters her mother had written back to her when she'd asked for her advice on queening.

"My daughter will arrive within the month," Queen Eleanor had written. "She may not seem it at first, but she has learnt well from me, and taught me things in turn that I feel every woman in a position of leadership should know. Princess Merida is of a similar age to you, and as much as I hope that she will be of great help to you in the challenges you face, I also wish that she may benefit greatly from learning of your own experiences and learn the ways of international diplomacy that she has little opportunity to practice here."

The Post Scriptum should have been a big clue really.
"PS: You may wish to ensure your castle's Archery Range is all in order. Merida can be quite particular about such things."

Particular wasn't how Elsa would describe Merida's attitude to the bow and arrow. Impassioned, experienced, born to shoot... Seeing Merida in the archery range after a particularly difficult first week of butting heads over the differences between their two forms of government had been an eye opening for the then irate young Queen, in more ways than one.

Up until then she'd always thought of archery as a soldier's occupation, outdated, fading into irrelevancy as crossbows and guns started to take over, hopefully only ever to be used in firing ranges in order to keep the aim sharp and never used in the field. Watching the Scottish Princess made her realize that it was a skill, a craft, maybe even a sport if the way each hit of the bull's eye made the redhead smile was anything to go by. Seeing the princess without a corset on over her dress, the fabric allowed to flow freely down her back as she drew her arrow back, outlining the play of the muscles there, it was mesmerising in a way that had Elsa's throat go dry.

"Ah, ye're here..." Merida's accented statement could have been considered dry, but the slight sweat on her brow, the tilt of her head, the faint dimple in her cheek all softened the tone to one of simple acknowledgement. It looked like she'd been in the range a good ten minutes, certainly enough time to help the otherwise confrontational woman to let off some steam.

Elsa stepped up next to her, glancing towards the target alongside hers. She could do with letting off some steam herself. She'd spent the week awkwardly avoiding having to perform any magic in front of the foreign princess, unsure how she'd react, not wanting her abilities to intimidate the young woman who'd been sent to assist her in the wrangling of some particularly feisty ministers. Stood under the late summer sun, surrounded by the smell of hay and dirt and sea, Elsa found that she didn't care anymore. Princess Merida, in the short time she'd known her then, had made it quite clear that she wasn't one to back done from a challenge, to worry about what others might say or do.

With a flick of her wrist, Elsa summoned a dart of ice and sent it flying towards the target. It fell short, awkwardly impaling itself on the lower edge of it. Still, Elsa smiled at the princess beside her, the frustrations of the day leaving her shoulders, her mind. There'd be time for that later.
"Mind if I join you?"

The stress had surged then, a hammering of her heart in the short moment it took the Scottish Princess to process her words, the display of her powers that she'd heard of in rumour but not yet seen. For the briefest moment, Elsa thought she saw a flicker of emotion cross Merida's face, unreadable, intense, before the redhead relaxed and grinned.
"Please, do."

Since then, they had continued to butt heads on policy and the best approach to get doddering old men to stop being so darn opposed to everything. Kristoff and Anna had been courting for two years now. The doddering old men were the only thing preventing Elsa from being able to give Arendelle's Ice Master and Deliverer her blessing to ask for Anna's hand in marriage. Merida had been a firm advocate of ignoring them in favour of letting them deal with it after the fact, but Elsa wanted to make sure the "auld farts", as Merida called them, didn't have a legal leg to stand on should they try to oppose their union... Which meant getting them to approve to amendments to laws that were beyond outdated when they'd been "sucking at their mather's teats". For all their differences in opinion, Merida proved to be a surprisingly effective source of innovative ideas, allowing Elsa to consider new approaches that she wouldn't have considered otherwise... And in between debating how best to sway lord "haddock-breath" Ingersen or "wrinkles" Dahl, they began to speak about their lives, their hobbies, pet peeves and favourite foods.

It seemed to Elsa that everyone was aware of their apparently obvious courtship before she was. From Gerda's small but knowing comments to Kai's not so subtle choice of dining arrangements for the two when Anna and Kristoff decided to spend some time in the mountains, Elsa was surprised that it took her kissing Merida on an impulse for the realisation to dawn.

Her stress levels had skyrocketed after that, only for her nerves to settle immediately when Merida kissed her back, filling her with a delightful warmth that she couldn't describe.
"Ah like that." Princess Merida had chuckled. "Juist like ah like ye."

Notes: This has been sitting in my drafts a while and I... can't remember where I was wanting to take it, but liked what was there so far. Hope you enjoyed? :D