Jack and Ana stacked plates from the dinning hall and set them aside for the royal staff to collect. The hall was mostly empty now, save for a few servants tidying up; the guests leaving satisfied, stomachs full of cake and garlic tagliatelle carbonara, heading home to prepare for the work week.
Snowballs melted outside where the children played jocularly until their fingertips and noses were bright pink from the cold, wet footprints scattered on the hall floor.
"That was a great party." Jack stated, scraping leftover pasta into a compost bin,
"Yeah it was. Thanks for helping out Jack!" Ana smiled as she handed plates to one of the maids. "I'm sure Merida and Punz appreciated it as well."
"I hope so, I haven't seen Meri in forever. I've got some catching up to do with her before I head out."
"Oh, when are you leaving?" She wiped down a champagne flute as she questioned.
"Hm, aiming for tomorrow, at least the morning after at the latest."
"No!" The glass slipped from Ana's grasp; Jack caught it, elbowing one of the extinguished candles adorning the table and knocking it over as he set the flute down.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I just mean, it's so soon? The wedding just happened, you can't stay any longer?" She questioned, running her finger along the gold rim of the wine glass.
"Unfortunately I've got snow to make, children to entertain." He half smiled. "I've gotta go talk to the love birds."
"Oh. Of course. Well, it was nice to meet you Jack."
"Yeah, you too." Jack starting turning to leave, "Uh, and tell Elsa it was nice to meet her too. Maybe I'll see you two around sometime."
Ana leaned against the table, "Absolutely." She smiled.
As Jack stepped into the corridor to look for Merida, Ana rushed through the courtyard and down the stairs searching for her sister.
Elsa stood at the docks, speaking with a man in uniform.
Ana hopped down the shipyard steps towards Elsa. "Pssst. Elsie!" She rasped, trying to get her sister's attention covertly.
Elsa turned to see her sister waving her over as she stood a few feet away, "Excuse me Captain. We'll finish the departure plans later." She made her way over to Ana.
"Jacks leaving this weekend."
"So?" Elsa dismissed.
The strawberry-blonde furrowed her brows. "So, he's not gonna be here long and you've barely even spoken to him. You haven't even given him a chance!"
"No. He's incredibly immature. I have Queen duties I have to take care of, I can't be babysitting him. Besides, we're leaving soon too, we have to get back to Arendelle."
"Fine, you wanna keep lying to yourself then go ahead, but I'm not leaving till you get to know him."
"Ana, we can't stay much longer-"
"I'm going to see if the staff need anymore help."
As Ana stomped away, Elsa crossed her arms and sighed. "I am not lying to myself." She mumbled, staring wistfully at the castle courtyard just barely able to make out the peak of the ice sculpture Jack created. "Right?" She thought aloud.
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Garlic tagliatelle carbonara = a flat noodle pasta dish with cheesy egg sauce and garlic
Jocularly = playfully/jokingly
Champagne flute/flute = a skinny wine glass
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A brave and tangled love (Meripunzel)
Fanfiction*this is the original story, I am the sole owner and writer for this fanfic and no one has the right to sell it or pass it off as their own* I wrote this because there seemed to be a lack of meripunzel fanfiction. The story of Brave still happened...
