To test her powers, she froze the flame of a candle they passed in the hall way. She was able to do it but it took a little concentration. “See, everything’s working fine,” Elsie lied.
“Glad to hear that Ma’am.” said Kai. Then he turned to Anna. “There is a man here,” reported Kai, “he says he was invited for dinner. Shall I send him to the kitchens for some soup and bread and then have the guards send him on his way?”
Anna looked at one of the umpteen clocks in the hall way. It was ten minutes to six. Anna turned to Elsie, “and you were worried that he wasn’t coming.” She then turned back to Kai. “I am so sorry I forgot to tell you earlier Kai. We will be one more for dinner.”
“Very good Madam.” He responded, bowed and headed back down the hall.
Anna launched into another round of “Elsie’s in love,” as they walked into the dining room.
Elsie would have normally stopped her sister by saying through gritted teeth, “Shut up, Anna.” But she didn’t feel like she wanted Anna to stop. It was nice to have someone to share her joy with.
In any case Anna fell silent moments later not because of Elsie but because of the sight of the newcomer. “Wow. Is that him?” Anna asked.
“I’m not sure,” Elsie admitted.
Elsie looked at the man standing at the other end of the table talking to her brother-in-law. Gone was the beard. Gone was the dirt. His hair was still long but clean and professionally cut in the current style. The simple leather thong replaced by a brand-new black hair tie. His clothes were new and very flattering to his large strong frame.
“If you ever don’t want him. I’ll take him,” said Anna. Elsie squeezed her sister hand. “You know, if you two break-up and Kris is killed in a strange ice hauling accident.”
Upon see Elsie and Anna Josef bowed. “Your Majesties.”
Elsie puffed up her chest and with as much pomp as she could manage introduced the love of her life to her sister. “Queen Anna. This is Josef of Corona. The man who saved my life.”
“And stole your heart,” Anna said under her breath.
With perfect manners Josef took Anna’s hand in his and kissed it graciously. It was then that Anna noticed his ring and turned his hand to get a better look at it.
“My, what an interesting ring.” Anna started to say, when Elsie gave her sister a quick kick to the ankle. “Ow.”
“I’m sorry. I must have tripped, Anna. And everyone says you’re the clumsy one.” Elsie tried to cover her action by patting her sister’s hand and chuckling. “Here let me get you some ice for that.” Elsie created a small ice bracelet around Anna ankle. Then helped her to the head of the table where Kris pulled out Anna’s chair and then sat himself. Once again, her powers were working but simply required more concentration.
Josef, seeing through Elsie’s ruse explained. “I am afraid it is entirely my fault Your Majesty. The ring was my late wife’s and Elsie was trying to prevent me pain.”
“Oh,” responded Anna trying to remember the last time Elsie had tried to look out for anyone else’s feelings. “Then it is I who am sorry. Forgive me for drudging up old pain. I will forgive her later when my ankle feels better,” joked Anna, thinking, I like this guy already.
Josef pulled out Elsie’s chair and she commented in a low tone, “You clean up nice.”
“Why thank you Elsie.” He planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “You are also looking very lovely tonight.”
The meal was delightful. Over dinner Josef told the story of what he had done after Elsie left to get back to the castle. Kris and he traded stories about saving the royal sisters from wolves. Elsie seemed very calm and very upbeat almost to the point of giddiness. Anna, normally very talkative, kept staring at the mysterious man that had thawed her sister’s heart and his simple ring.
After dinner Elsie invited Josef on a short tour of the royal residents. He accepted saying. “Where thou goest I will follow.”
The foursome walked down the hall. Elsie and Josef were in front followed not so closely by Anna and Kris. The younger couple wanted to give the newer couple a little privacy. “I never thought I would see the day Josef would come out of the forest. He must really like Elsie,” said Kris.
“He seems nice. What do you know of him?” Anna asked her husband.
“I know I am going to be jealous of him if you don’t stop staring at him,” Kris said slowing his pace even more.
They stopped all together and faced each other in the hall as Elsie and Josef went into one of the ball rooms. “I just want to make sure this is not another case of Hans-itis.”
Kris gave Anna a big hug and then started rubbing her back. “Hey, you have got to stop blaming yourself for falling for that jerk. He fooled us all.”
“I love you and it is kind that you say that Dear, but the fact is he never fooled you and so that is why your opinion means so much to me,” Anna admitted.
Kris was normally positive to the point of being slightly goofy but now he put on his serious face. “They didn’t just meet. He was here for your birthday party a year ago. Josef is a good man. I have never met anyone that says any different. Even most of the other trappers respect him and will tell you that he has helped them in the past at one time or another. He was married before and his wife died. I was a bit surprised to see him leave the forest because he has always been a recluse. But so was I until I met this feisty, fearless, ginger-sweet woman. In short, he’s a bit of a fixer upper.”
Anna couldn’t help but to snort and chuckle at the reference to there almost troll wedding. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
The next thing they heard was music coming from the ballroom. Kris and Anna both rushed in to find Elsie and Josef dancing to a simple waltz. Anna had been presented with the gift of a large music box several months ago but the instructions on how to put it together had been lost in shipping and they could never get it to play at the right tempo or for more than a minute before it stopped. Now it was playing perfectly and Anna could not believe how nice it sounded.
“How? When?” Anna shouted over the music as the couple moved passed.
“Josef fixed it. Isn’t it wonderful?” Elsie shouted back.
“It was nothing Your Majesty. Just a couple of parts in backwards and a loose belt,” Josef explained humbly.
“He is perfect,” Anna said to no one in particular.
Kris coughed. “I could debate that with you but if I did it would prevent me from dancing with you.” Kris bowed to his wife and offered his hand. “May I have this dance my Queen?”
“Of course, my love.” Anna looked over at her sister as Kristoff took her in his arms. “Do you think we were that love struck when we first met?”
He smiled. “Oh, we were ten times worse.”
Chapter 3
The four danced for a while taking breaks in between songs. At one point Elsie shot a snow burst into the air and twinkling snowflakes fell till the end of the song. Normally they would have fallen for the rest of the night but once Elsie stopped thinking about them, they stopped. Finally, after a while Anna said she was getting tired and that her foot hurt again. Elsie apologized again. “If Josef would like to stay the night, we could put him in the green, guest room.”