Snow for the Dragon

The Last Hours

The royal family was sitting in one of the smaller rooms they normally retreated to after dinner. The Vikings had just left to retire for the night and they were all sitting in comfortable silence in front of the fire, Elsa looking through a book she had in her lap while the others watched the burning flames."It will be so quiet." Anna suddenly said quietly, everyone looking at her. "I mean not only are the Vikings traveling home tomorrow, but you are as well." She said, looking with sad eyes at Eugene and Rapunzel.
"We will just have to make sure that we don't wait so long to see each other next time, you are all welcome to Corona whenever you like, you know that." Rapunzel said, the two women smiling at each other. "You are free to go to Corona whenever you like Anna; I can always make sure someone can help you with your duties and dealings while you are gone, the same applies for Kristoff." Elsa said, looking up from the book in her lap with a smile, having been listening in on the conversation. Tey all gawked at her . It was the first time she had spoken up in the conversation so far. She had been so happy two days ago when they had all visited the cottage that the vikings had rented. But as they days wore on, they all saw her happiness gradually turning into sadness and an ever present grimace. Even during her lessons with Hiccup earlier that day seemed less than enjoyable for the others to watch. He had even showed her how to wield her sword, Inferno and yet, they could see that she only paid attention half heartedly. Anna folded her arms and glared at Elsa, trying to dissipate her moodiness. "And why can't you join us?". Elsa's head returned to the book of dragons that Hiccup had allowed her to borrow for the night. "I am perfectly content staying here. Besides, I have too much to do, just tonight I got a letter from Lord Sidius, who wanted to show me some of his ideas for old windmill, thankfully I could make room for him in the morning.".Rapunzel sighed with a sympathetic look at her older cousin.
Anna is actually right Elsa, you always work, we all need time to relax." Rapunzel said, a slightly worried look on her face. She knew the huge amount of pressure Elsa been under, not only having to conceal her power but having to take over after her parents from such a young age, for even though she hadn't been Queen Elsa had been sure to be a part of ruling the country despite how controversial it had been. "If you can count the work with Hiccup work." Eugene added , trying to lighten the mood, Elsa sending him a small glare.
"I don't think doing what you love, even if it has to do with numbers, can be counted as work actually." Kristoff said, Elsa glaring at him instead. Elsa slapped her palm to her face and shook her head. "Is this never going to get old?" She said drily, the others chuckling. "We are just teasing, it's just you two go into this world where no one else can follow you, it's actually a little intriguing to watch." Anna answered."As intriguing as it might be, it's still starting to get a little annoying how everyone keeps pointing it out." Elsa muttered, the subject having come up more and more often lately.Eugene chuckled with a mischievous glint in his eyes."Come on Elsa, don't be so serious all the time. The way you act sometimes one might think you are worried we will think you have started to develop feelings for a certain tall, dark haired, green eyed...". Eugene yelped as a pile of snow suddenly appeared in the air above him and fell on top of his head, the others laughing when he flew up from his place next to Rapunzel and began brushing it off, stammering how cold it was."You were saying, Mr smoulder? ". Anna and Rapunzel giggled , as Olaf snored away on Anna's lap. "We decided no magic, it's not fair on any level!" Eugene exclaimed,through chattering teeth. Elsa chuckled as she closed her book and rose from her seat.She brushed off his plea." The teasing is starting to get old, even Astrid told you so today morning .... and that's saying something. Now I have to retire if I am to get any sleep at all, goodnight." Elsa said, giving them all a warm smile and Anna a kiss on her forehead before walking out of the room. "She is so in denial." Eugene said as a joke and while they all chuckled, Rapunzel could not help to think that there might be more truth to her husband's words than he let on, after all the same thought had hit her as well and she knew Eugene was extremely good at reading people. The reason for her to think there might have started to grow something more than just friendship between Elsa and Hiccup was that too many times over the last weeks she had noticed how their eyes would linger on the other, or how their eyes would travel to eachother when someone else was talking to them. There had also been instances when a hand had lingered just a second too long or they had smiled at each other a bit too warmly.
Sure they argued, but they also listened to each other, both having learned that they were not going to get anywhere if they simply wanted to go in their own direction. When they were working, they were always completely professional, the easy way they interacted never shining through once they were acting in their positions of Queen and Chief. Rapunzel blushed in embarrassment slightly as she found herself hoping silently that she and Eugene could become as good rulers in the future as her cousin sister and he are.There was only yesterday night when she had caught them acting their age when they were supposed to be in their riles. She had seen how Hiccup had whispered to Elsa, nodding towards Astrid as they sat across the dining table from her. Elsa stifled a giggle and her eyes seemed to be full of mirth for the rest of the night. He had probably made some cheeky comment about Astrid in her dress gown that she had to wear for the formal dinner that night upon losing a bet to Eugene. When the dinner later was done though, Hiccup and Elsa had not sought each other up to talk about whatever they had "talked" about during dinner, instead they had both kept on acting fully professional all night, only speaking to each other once when Councillor Sergei had brought them together to discuss some diplomatic matter with him. Considering everything, Rapunzel knew she could be imagining and reading to much into things when it came to Elsa and Hiccup, but her gut told her that she wasn't and if the couple had developed some kind of feelings towards each other, Rapunzel didn't even know if Hiccup and Elsa had noticed it themselves. Still, thinking back to the last few days, there had been a sadness that had entered Elsa's eyes the when she had looked at the Chief, while Hiccup's eyes had lingered on Elsa more often than before as if he was trying to remember her. They had sought each others company as much as they could and even though they had interacted with everyone else, there had been a sad aura present around them.