บท 37: Chapter 32
Hi, hello.
Happy Christmas to those that celebrate it. And you know what? Happy Christmas to those that don't celebrate it either. Just be happy ya'll. Hope you liked all of the presents you received... If not, send them over to me, and I will keep them warm and toasty, hehe.
Three chapters today. Three chapters for Queen of Hogwarts tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow, Four chapters for Strong to Weak.
Bye!
~ Serious talk and confusing changes~
Elsa looks back and forth between the few dozen paper documents which were given to her by Rosa as 'evidence' that she writes different endings to all of her papers.
Her head starts getting dizzy when, one after another, she reads the, sometimes, small, other times, big changes.
"It truly is all different" The Queen finally mutters setting down the papers back on the table.
The big woman that is Rosa sees that the Queen is seemingly finally satisfied after checking her written documents for several minutes, so she opens her mouth to speak.
"Yes. That's how I know that the docking permit and the envoy letter the Queen eluded to are forged. Is the Queen satisfied with the knowledge that I didn't jeopardize her in any way?"
The Icy Queen of Arendelle takes a sip of her tea and then looks at Rosa, and finally, for what seems to have been hours, Elsa smiles.
She is truly satisfied in knowing that she won't have to do any dealings with both the foreign nobles and Rosa herself anymore.
If Rosa was the one that spoke for those nobles, she'd have to try and make something up or give something to Rosa so that she would go back on her business with those nobles.
It's a good day for the Queen, she has practically dodged all of the problems simultaneously. Now she only needs to set up a meeting with the envoys of Nawnegzistant Isles, lull them into confessing that they came here without proper permission, and send them away.
"Yes, Lady Rosa, thank you for this. You've truly helped me" States Elsa with a happy undertone.
"I haven't done anything to warrant your gratitude, Queen Elsa, but I won't refuse it. Now if I may ask the Queen for a favor, would she be gracious enough to at least hear me out?" Rosa asks.
"Yes, of course. The least I can do after your help is hear you out"
Rosa pulls out a huge smile with her teeth showing "Great"
The big woman stands up, walks a few steps, and then rings a bell. In a minute the door to the office opens and a woman enters with a bow.
"Vivi, please be a dear and bring us fresh tea and perhaps some dessert to go along with it"
"Yes, of course, I'd be glad to" The young woman tells her boss and leaves.
Rosa sits back down.
"We'll discuss business after Vivi brings us refreshments. For now, could you tell me how Diana is doing? Is she alright? Is she happy? Is she giving you any problems? D-does she mentioned anything about me?" Rosa throws question after question enthusiastically, her last question asked was quieter than the rest.
Elsa looks at Rosa helplessly without being able to stop herself from smiling at the same time.
"She's doing alright, don't worry. Happy... I'd say that she is, nothing seems to be able to keep her down. However, she is problematic as she's ever been, those problems aren't anything major, but just like with being happy, she just loves causing me to have a headache"
Rosa chuckles "Yeah, she has that quality"
"Mhm. And she does talk about you sometimes" Elsa answers truthfully.
Rosa's cheerfulness takes somewhat of a nosedive. Elsa seeing that adds some details to her answer.
"That is, whenever our conversation isn't about me. So if you don't count that, she speaks about you a lot"
And with that, Rosa's expression goes back to being happy.
"Right, because of the massive load of work, it completely slipped my mind that she's been trying to court you, Elsa"
Elsa's eye twitches a little bit, she didn't realize that this was apparently readily known information about Diana 'loving' her.
"Tell me, how is that going for her? Has my dear Diana charmed your heart already? When's the marriage happening? Or... Should I already be looking for another work opportunity for her?" Rosa laughs heartily at her last words.
Rosa's gossipy talk seems to have had a different outcome from what she expected. Usually, it works her way, she thought that Elsa would join on it, or at least just smile awkwardly... But she didn't expect the Queen's expression to turn somber and serious.
The expression of the Queen shut up Rosa almost immediately, and she can't help but feel that she may have said something that shouldn't have been said to start with.
Before Rosa could try to make amends and apologize for overstepping her line, Elsa speaks to her in a weak, but confident voice.
"I'm sorry for crushing the cordial mood we had... But on that particular topic, it's been hard for me"
Since Elsa is serious, Rosa decides to be too, anything other than that would be a poor choice of action.
"Is it because the two of you are women?"
"W-what?" Elsa blinks at the sudden question "No, no. That's not what plagues me. If I was against that, our first time would have not happened"
Rosa's eyes go wide in surprise "Wait, what? The two of you already had sex?"
Elsa's eye twitches again, she thought that because Rosa already knew that Diana is trying to court her, she would've heard about it from her... She didn't expect to be the one to break it to anybody, let alone to more or less a stranger.
Rosa of course misunderstood Elsa's 'disgusted' expression and so she says "My apologies for being so vulgar"
To Rosa, it didn't even occur that Elsa might be disappointed with herself about spilling the tea of Diana's and her first time, rather than her poor choice of words to a Queen.
"... It's okay, a month ago, I would probably mind it, but living with Diana around I've heard worse things" Elsa explains.
"I see" Rosa lets out "Then, if I may ask, what would be the problem? Perhaps I can give some advice?"
Elsa sighed, she doesn't want to talk about it, but at this point she might as well... Since she had already mentioned having made 'love' to Diana, even though it was anything but love, she herself doesn't understand what it was or how it all happened even to this day.
"That's the issue, everything, all of it is the problem"
"I... I don't understand" Rosa says confused.
"Our meeting, our first time, Diana's 'love' at first sight, her immense affection towards me, her working for me without any apparent conditions and/or reasons besides being near me, her help in everything without expecting back anything from me, her multiple promises, her unconditional trust in me, her constant tries to repeat what happened during our first time, her trying to even court me in the first place... All of that is the problem. I just don't understand any of it. Not one bit. This love-at-first-sight thing, it's not something I can comprehend or get behind. Not to mention since Annas and Hans 'love' nonsense that had almost turned into a tragedy, my stance on that subject is even worse than it was before it"
Elsa pauses for a few seconds to breathe in and out a few times, since she hasn't been interrupted yet by the one that's listening to her, she continues.
"All of it I see as a problem... But the biggest problem is the fact that I am on the receiving end of it. I... I just don't know what I should do. I know that I don't feel anything even close to what Diana seems to feel for me and I don't think that I ever could. To me, she's just a friend, a friend that I don't want to lose or hurt. Yet I just know in my heart, that whatever I do with her, it will have consequences... And I don't know if I like any of them. If I accept her 'advances', she will be so happy, I can already imagine how much, but me accepting it wouldn't be out of 'love' which she hopes from me and I just can't do that to her. If I reject her... I can't even imagine what that could entail, she might get dejected and leave, which would be heartwrenching for both of us for different reasons"
Elsa pauses again, she needs to breathe after all. However, she doesn't even notice that she's tapping her foot on the ground over and over subconsciously.
"If I keep being the same as I've been so far and just ignore all of it, Diana might start thinking that there's a problem with herself, be it her own methods of trying to be with me, her personality, appearances, ect. she would probably stop trying eventually due to self-inflicted thoughts... And I don't want to see her losing herself like that, she wouldn't be the same without all of her... Unique tendencies"
The Queen stares off to the side, seeing the clear sky outside the window in Rosa's office. Then eventually she stares back at Rosa, who's patiently waiting for her to continue speaking.
"I don't know what to do..." Elsa lets out weakly.
"I see... It seems that you have thought all of this through for a long time, Elsa" Rosa finally says something whence she realizes that the Queen had finished speaking.
"That's the thing. Thinking is all I ever do these days. Before I became a Queen, all of my thoughts were on the possible expectations of the Arendelle people and if I could fulfill those expectations, those were my worries. But because of Diana's arrival, those previous expectations that were supposed to be for my people have changed their mark to the sole existence of Diana's 'love' which I know I can't fulfill correctly. And with her, appreciated, help I have nothing to do but be stuck in my head with my own thoughts. Thoughts that have spiraled into every possible outcome at this point. Every witch way you can imagine, my thoughts have most likely already been there, no matter what they may be. Good, bad, in-between. All of it I have thought through. But even with all of that time to think, to try and come up with an answer to Diana's expectations which were thrust upon me unexpectedly... I just can't come up with the said answer"
Before Rosa could open her mouth and try to say anything to Elsa about her problems, there was a knock on the door.
It seems that enough time has passed since Rosa sent one of her employees for refreshments and they have arrived.
Rosa looks between Elsa and the door to her office, lost on what to do.
But eventually, Rosa receives a simple nod from the Queen. So with some reluctance, she loudly says "Come in"
With that, the door opens and Vivi reels a cart that carries a teapot with two cups and a plate of cookies of sorts.
Vivi bows "May I pour tea for you, Lady Rosa and Queen Elsa, or should I excuse myself?"
Before Rosa could answer and tell Vivi to excuse herself, the Disney Queen answers "Pour for us, if you don't mind"
Vivi smiles and bows her head, and with that, she starts pouring tea for both of them. She serves them the tea and the cookies with it.
After a minute or two, everything had been served and the room had returned to silence as the young woman had left the office.
Elsa takes the cup and sips some of the tea. Rosa can't do that yet, of course, she doesn't really like scalding hot tea, she likes it when it has cooled down a little which allows her to drink it comfortably.
The Queen puts down the cup with a smile. Just as the name of 'refreshments' may imply, drinking some tea has truly refreshed her mindset and she feels relaxed again.
Because of the moment that has already passed, Rosa feels awkward bringing up the previous topic. Everything that she wanted to say, had more or less dwindled down and now she was stuck on what to do.
But to her help arrives the Queen's decisive tone.
"Well, what is this 'business' that Lady Rosa wanted help with?"
Rosa's hands which were interlocked on top of one another, clench harshly. But after a few seconds, they relax. And the big woman sighs. Since the Queen has already asked her about it, it tells Rosa that she doesn't want to continue with the previous topic.
So what can a simple subject of the Queen do, but answer what was asked of her even if she regrets that they got interrupted when it counted the most.
"It's regarding the one that forged my writing, I want help in finding them and not for the reason of them to be punished. I want to indoctrinate them into being one of my people"
Elsa thinks for a bit "You did mention something about them being able to help you. What would that help be?"
Rosa doesn't even think of withholding the truth from the Queen, it'd be best to be truthful with this.
"The Queen should know that it takes a lot of time to go through documents, write them, meet with people and all sorts of similar things when it comes with being in a position of power"
Well, she would know, perhaps, if it weren't for Diana, at this point she's just the owner of a big castle that houses the real power.
"With all of my new business ventures, I don't have as much time to breathe as I used to. I mean, I haven't left this office for four days now with how much paperwork needs to be done. If it weren't for my lovely workers helping me I would most certainly drown in the papers" Rosa chuckles lightly.
"Is there nobody you trust enough to help you with your documents?" Elsa asks after some thinking.
"Hardly, there are several people I trust with my life. No, the problem lies in with the old foundations when everything I owned wasn't as big. I was the one to go to all the meetings myself, well I still am but that's not the point, I wrote everything myself and so on. And I continued to do this the whole time not knowing how important it truly was"
"What happened?" The Queen asks interested.
"One day, my birthday, I took the day off to be with Diana" Rosa paused for a split second when her mind jumped to how... Not perfect that day turned out to be.
Afterward, she continues "So I couldn't personally write some documents, nor could I deliver them myself either. My fourth in command did that job for me... Who would've known that the business partner that the documents were for, wouldn't accept both the person delivering it nor their written 'drivel' as he called it? Apparently my business partners, most of them at the least, only trust me. the particular partner that opened my eyes to this fact had treated my fourth in command less than favorably, so you can be sure that I upped my demands in the business deal"
"Huh... So because you did everything yourself, they simply don't trust others even if they were sent by you" Elsa muses out loud.
"Well, relationships are built on mutual trust, so if I had to put their actions into words, it'd be because they felt betrayed by me when they saw it wasn't me who arrived since I spent all this time building it since they expected me to show up... Well, that's my best guess at least"
"I suppose that's a reasonable thought" Elsa taps the already empty cup several times in thought.
And while she thinks, Rosa bends forward and refills the Queen's cup. But at least now Rosa herself can start drinking her cup.
Elsa throws out a quick 'Thank you' when Rosa refilled it and then she expressed her thoughts.
"So you want the one that wrote in your writing... To help you write the documents for you so that some of the workloads would be off your shoulders, am I understanding that correctly?"
Rosa grins "The Queen is smart, that is indeed what I intend to do. And going forward, whenever I find new possible business partners, I will try to bring people with me so that I wouldn't be burdened to repeat the same mistakes with them too"
"Hmm... I suppose I can help Lady Rosa with this issue since she has already helped me. But are you sure you can get this person to be on your side? More importantly, could you actually trust them with such important actions?"
"Trust would come over time. And I am positive in my..." Rosa taps her cheek wondering what would be the best expression here, then she continues "Abilities in persuasion to get them to be one of my subordinates"
"I understand. Well, then Lady Rosa would have to come with me to the meeting between me and the foreign nobles to... Discuss this person. How does the day after tomorrow sound?"
Rosa claps her hands once "It sounds perfect!" She lets out excitedly.
"It will be a good excuse to finally leave this room" She comments jokingly.
"Great. Then, I will leave, I need to set up the meeting" Elsa states, then quickly finishes the second cup, also finally trying out one of the cookies that have just been sitting there untouched and sad.
"Mhm" Comes out of her pleasantly.
"These are great! Mind if I take some to my sister?" Elsa asks cheerfully.
"Of course, of course, how about I bring a whole bag in two days as a gift?"
"If it's not too much trouble, that would be appreciated"
"it isn't" Rosa waves her hand nonchalantly.
The Arendelleian Queen nods and then stands up, she also takes one more cookie for the road. There's no need to take more since Rosa had promised to bring a whole bag to the castle with her.
As she is closing in on the door, Rosa calls out to her.
"Elsa" With her name no less, whenever it's 'business-related' she calls her 'the Queen', her name comes out of Rosa's mouth only when it's something between their new budding friendship.
And so, Elsa turns around to face the sitting woman, the woman that isn't looking at her as her back is turned at her.
"Concerning Diana and your problems... I don't have the answers you seek and most likely nobody in existence does, but you alone. So I can't really help you and for that I am sorry. But..." Rosa finally turns her head to meet her eyes with Elsas.
"Whatever your decision may be, my advice would be to just continue going. Never stop moving forward. Be it you rejecting Diana, or accepting her, doesn't matter. Just keep going with that decision, only time will tell if that decision is the right one. And don't worry about making mistakes, you're still young. Take it from an old cat, mistakes aren't the end of the world, everybody makes them. The only bad thing about mistakes is if you let them control your life. So, please, just keep going, don't choose to abstain and be inactive about it all. Don't continue ignoring Diana's feelings no matter how you feel about them, that would be a disservice to both of your wellbeings and it may put a ridge in your relationship going forward"
Rosa stated this calmly, but inside she was almost tearing up, as one of her hands softly touch the wooden bracelet which Diana had given her on her birthday.
She could barely say all of that without choking up as she remembers how she chose to be inactive and not listen to Diana's pleas about stopping her surveillance on her.
Mistakes and inactivity... She knows all too well how badly some things can influence a person and everybody involved in them.
Who knows where she would be or how she'd be if the next day after her birthday Diana didn't visit her office and told her that she still wants to see her... If Diana had told her that she doesn't want to see her ever again, she has no idea how she would've handled that.
Elsa squeezes the cookie she had in her hand, feeling it break. She takes a few deep breaths and then smiles gratefully.
"Thank you, Rosa. I will have to think about this some more, but... I will make a decision soon. Just like you said if I continue abstaining from doing anything, my mind would probably just eat itself from how many thoughts I am feeding it"
"Good" Rosa smiles back, but then not wanting to leave it all on such a 'depressing' tone, because she might actually start crying once the Queen leaves, pulls one last jokey sentence.
"One day we will sit down again and you will have to tell me all about how it was that the two of you had some fun times happen, without me even suspecting it" The big woman finishes it with an awkward wink.
And finally, her intended result was achieved as the Queen chuckled softly. No more serious tone just all smiles.
"Never going to happen, Rosa"
And with that, the two women separate, one of them left inside the spacious room with papers surrounding them, while the other one is walking towards the exit of the building.
However, Elsa didn't expect to see Diana just as soon as she left the building.
Without being able to stop herself from saying "Why are you here?"
Diana only stares at Elsa, before she had seen her, she saw how happy Elsa looked. She felt wrong like she should've been there to witness it all.
A similar question formed in the maid's mind 'why were you here, without me?' but she doesn't voice it out loud.
Because she had already steeled herself to let go of whatever happened in the early past and continue as if it were the beginning.
So instead she just simply answers her Queen.
"I came here to find you, to see if you need some help with the fake letters sent by the foreign envoys"
With that sentence, Elsa's good mood almost instantly vanished. She did all of this baseless secrecy for this exact reason. She wanted to do this without any of Diana's help. Yet here she is again. But at least she had most of it done without her interference, there's just one more meeting left.
"Where... Where is Kai?" Elsa asks with difficulty.
"When I showed up, he was outside muttering to himself angrily. Apparently, establishments like these aren't to his liking. So I helped him out and relieved him of his waiting duty. He thanked me and ran off somewhere" Diana answers honestly.
"I see. well I have finished my business with Lady Rosa, so I was going back to the castle and rest"
Diana nods but stays silent.
Elsa however doesn't trust this silence, she knows Diana, and due to her 'feelings' and how she is, she will ask her why she came here with Kai instead of her. And she really doesn't want to have to answer that now, or any time soon. She needs to think things through for the last time before she can speak with her as normally as before.
But to her shock, even as the two walked for a few dozen minutes and interacted with Arendelle's people and as they even were getting close to the castle, Diana just stayed silent, besides some small talk, and didn't say anything about anything Rosa related.
So Elsa stops walking, Diana takes a few extra steps before she stops herself when she doesn't hear any steps from her side.
Diana turns around to face her Queen and she sees her confused expression.
Before the maid could ask, she hears the same question she was thinking of thrown at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"Why is the Queen asking me this?" Diana asks, not knowing how to answer such an out-of-nowhere question.
"Did something happen in the castle while I was out?" Elsa asks again.
But, even after another question, Diana has no idea how to answer.
"I don't understand"
And she truly doesn't, the two were just walking in a peaceful, albeit a little bit awkward, silence. She doesn't know where these questions came from.
So Elsa stops beating around the bush and just bluntly asks.
"Why have you not asked me about any of this yet? Rosa? Envoy documents? Why I brought Kai and not you? Normally you'd ask this before anything... Yet... You've been strangely quiet... It's unnerving"
So that's what it was, goes through Diana's mind.
Indeed, she would've asked this... If she still thought that her previous actions and affections had brought her closer to Elsa, but since that isn't the truth and she hasn't moved at all in terms of rising Elsa's love levels. She decided to do some things differently from now on. A change of tactics, per se.
"There's no need to. I trust the Queen wholeheartedly. If it's something that needs to be said and/or known by me, the Queen will simply tell me. Otherwise, it's most likely not for me to know about"
Elsa blinks rapidly, who is this in front of her right now? This is not Diana. Something must have happened in the castle while she was out. She is sure of it.
"I do have one question though if the Queen wishes to hear it"
There it is, finally, her old Diana is back. What question will it be? Perhaps why Kai was here with her and not her? Or why she never asked her for help? Or perhaps what her results were? Or why she tried to keep it hidden from her?
Bring it!
This is what the maid understands from the Queen's strange expression.
An expression that borderlines excitement and smugness. It's quite strange to see such a sight from Elsa, but it's nevertheless perfect in beauty.
Hot!
This is the thing that Diana wants to honestly say in this situation, but she holds it in.
"Does the Queen want hot chocolate when we return?"
Elsa's head goes blank when she hears the question as all of her expectations get shattered, her mouth stays open without being able to produce a single sound.
Seriously, what happened while she was gone?
~ End of Chapter ~
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