Linnea: A tale of the Snow Queen

Chapter 2, First Impressions

I rushed to finish all the preparations for the rest of today and tomorrow. Having a mother back in my life would be strange, especially since I had never met her until now. I pushed Lucas and Astrid out the front door and in front of the fountain where the carriage would pull up to. We all waited anxiously, and then we saw it. Father's carriage being pulled up the way through the gate by white horses. The autumn breeze blowing through our hair made me slightly less worried about all of this. I had always liked the cold, it has always been of great comfort to me.

As the carriage pulled up I saw my father's face in the window. I saw two women's faces and the faces of two little boys. The carriage stopped right in front of us and our father stepped out. His red hair and kind blue eyes were a sight to see and made us all happy. Astrid ran to hug him, "Daddy!" she exclaimed
"Astrid! I missed you, my little one. I missed you all very much." He said
"Darling." Called a voice from the carriage
"Coming dear." Father replied. He held out his hand to help her out. My step-mother, Agnes. She had pale skin, hair black as a raven, and green eyes. She requested that we call her mother, but she wasn't our mother. I tried to like her, I did at first. The reasoning behind that will follow suit. She stepped out of the carriage and looked directly at the three of us, "Hello children. I'm Agnes, but if you would like you can call me mother." she said. We all looked at her, "Let's see if I have this right. You're Lucas, Linnea, and Astrid." She said pointing to all of us respectively. She then looked directly at me and came closer, "You're quite pretty Linnea. Your mother must have been quite the beauty."
"She was. She called Lucas and I her snowflakes."
"I heard you two are twins."
"Yes." I replied. That's when I saw her looking at me with a scowl. My father was helping her out of the carriage.

Ingrid, my step-sister. We never got along well, but we pretended for our parents sake. My hatred for Ingrid only grew as time went on. We almost formed a friendship but whatever was forming was quickly destroyed. Ingrid looked like Agnes, you could tell that Ingrid was her spawn. She came out scowling at me, "This is Ingrid, my daughter. She's seventeen." Agnes said
"I look forward to being your sister." Ingrid said to us
"We look forward to having you." Astrid replied
"I can't wait to present you two to the royal court. You both are of marrying age of course." Agnes stated
"You're sixteen? You look younger." Ingrid said to me
"You're seventeen? You look older." I snapped back
"Girls! Please not now, we want you all to get along." Father yelled
"Yes father." I said. Ingrid was always a bit full of herself. Eventually I'd put her in her place and teach her a lesson.

Next a twelve year old boy stepped out. Aksel was the quietest of the three kids that Agnes came with. I'd always find him curled up with a book in a room somewhere. He'd never talk to my father or Lucas. He'd only ever talk to Astrid and I. My father and my brother eventually gave up trying to talk to Aksel. Agnes always tried to get him to talk with them but she never succeeded. I did once but the conversation didn't last long. When she introduced us to him he only waved. I remember the long hours I spent reading with him and discussing the books we read together. He was my favorite of Agnes's kids.

The last one to show his face was a six year old boy. Markus was a tiny ball of energy. I remember reading him bedtime stories, singing him songs, and playing in the snow. Agnes trusted me to take care of him while she was overseeing things. We all had our moments together. Agnes taught Ingrid, Astrid, and I to be proper ladies. The boys were mostly left to their own devices and had multiple teachers for multiple subjects.

I had planned the wedding perfectly. Agnes loved every detail. It was a beautiful ceremony. I remember when I liked Agnes. She doted on Astrid and I like we were her real daughters. The first few weeks of the marriage went by and I had never seen my Father happier since my mother died. I now had to share a room with Ingrid, Lucas had to share a room with Aksel, Astrid had her own room, and Markus had his own room. Being my sister was one thing but sharing a room with Ingrid was another beast entirely. We didn't need to like each other, we just needed to put up with each other. We could barely stand each other. Then after three months of this, in December, something clicked.