Chess Piece

Past Promise

He was required to wear a coat as he stepped out of the carriage.

It was quite the giving, if he was to be honest with himself, as the coat had protected him from the crisp air of early autumn, a reminder of the many months that he had made Arendelle into his permanent home as he was the husband of it's Queen. Though he had taken the notice of how differently Elsa had dressed compared to the rest of them. She maintained her dress and had worn nothing but a shawl to fight against the cold, the piece of clothing had only partially covered her otherwise exposed shoulders, and he could not help but raise his brow as he had not seen her shivered even once.

"I'm not that cold." She had answered his question with a huff of her breath, and to prove her point she had not even budged when a chilly breeze passed, did not even tightened the shawl around her as she made her way toward the building.

It was a summer house belonging to the royal family of Arendelle, as he was informed when he had asked Kai of the details of the destination in which he and Elsa would spend their time together, a place for royals to come and rest themselves should they need a break from their constant life at the palace. A perfect location, really, as it was hidden in the woods with no prying eyes of the common folks to see, with a separated cabin for the servants in the main building that would assure their privacy.

The house's caretakers had prepared for the arrival of the Queen as soon as they received the letter of it, and he had breathed a sigh of relief once he had stepped in and find the warmth of the lit fireplace welcoming him as he discarded his coat.

The night had started to befallen them when they had arrived, and while the servants had moved to prepare their dinner, he had caught the sight of her, out of the corner of his eye, ascending the stairs up to the second floor where he supposed their bedroom would be, with Gerda following close behind, as she was to be solely the one to assist the Queen during their stay in Ánslo.

"Do tell me," he had regarded to one of the male servant that had passed him, prompting the young lad to stop at his track. "Is there any interesting place that could entertain the Queen and me out here?" With Elsa's clear reluctance with the whole idea of honeymoon and the purpose of it, he had to start working on the plan to make her opened up to him even more, and perhaps this trip would not be as pointless as she had feared.

"There is a hot spring nearby, sire." He lad nodded as he ran his fingers through his ash-brown hair with a clear of his throat. "You can reach it on foot with no trouble."

A hot spring was not what he had in mind, for it was far too intimate for the two of them, yet he could not blame the lad for suggesting it to a married couple, in their honeymoon no less, and had only nodded his thanks as the young man left to continue with his task at hand.

It would be wise for him to explore the area himself then, to find a more suitable activity that could be used to pass the time with no duties at hand.

--

There was nowhere else that they could possibly go to but the bedroom after dinner.

The room had been smaller than the one back in Arendelle castle, of course, yet dared he said it was cozier, with the combination of wood and stone for the walls and the floor, the hearth across the bed lit to keep them from being cold and the brown-colored fur carpet draped in between.

The Queen had taken a seat on one side of the bed, and he noticed how she had always preferred the one nearest to the window, delicate fingers combing through her long platinum blonde hair after her bun had been undone. Away from the castle and her duties as Queen, to be sitting in such modest room if compared to their bedchamber, she had appeared so humble that he could perhaps mistake her for a mere simple town girl if he did not know her.

"Have you come here before, Elsa?" He imagined her younger self with Anna, journeying to this place with their parents for a small holiday as a family, to forget of their lives as royals even if only for a moment; a thought he could never imagine himself in with his own family. "This place is truly magnificent."

"No, I haven't." Her answer had surprised him; he had to admit, as she shook her head slowly, yet had refrained from looking away from the window to the darkened sky. "At least Anna and I, that is. Our parents had been here before, long before I was born." There was sadness in her voice; a longing feeling for something that she had lost, perhaps of spending time with her family, though he could not understand why.

He had taken the notice that whenever the discussion about her family had come up, Elsa would have displayed clear discomfort, almost as if even her own family felt like a stranger for her, something that she was unfamiliar with, and strangely enough he realized that he too had displayed similar manner upon discussing his family, although he must admitted that his family was truly not something that he would say he held dear to his heart nor life.

The mattress had sunk under his weight as he joined her, the wooden creaking as he shifted to lean against the headboard, opening one of the few books that they had brought with them for their trip, turning it until he had reached the page where he had left off once their carriage had rolled into the dirt road leading to the summer house earlier.

"Would you really do it?" He had barely finished two pages when she had spoken, after he had put but a little mind to the shift of the bed when she had finished with her hair and had went under the cover with him, and he was quite surprised to see that she did not have her back turned toward him the way it usually did, her eyes watching his face behind the red leather-bound book. "What you've said to me during our chess game; that you would 'play' with me instead of for me?"

Ah yes, he would never forget about their game, of how they have properly exchanged their minds for the very first time since her coronation, and had not forget about their certain discussion over her feelings as the new Queen of Arendelle; although it did serve as a small shock that she had not forgotten either. "Certainly." He had tried his best to fulfill that promise of his, yet could only do so much as it had to be her still who gave him the orders, and as long as she would not let him near the paperwork that often exhausted her, he could not play.

There was silence that passed between them as Elsa considered his answer, his read had been lowered onto his lap when he had answered, before there was a slight dip of her head, a nod of confirmation though he could not know of what. "I hope, for your own sake and mine, that you would not disappoint, Hans."