Frozen: The Start of a Blizzard

CHAPTER 3: LIFE IN THE CASTLE

Vinder slowly opened his eyes; the early morning's sun was shining through the window, onto the young prince. Sitting up, he wiped the crust from his eyes and looked around his room. Some neatly folded clothes had been put on the chair next to his bed. They didn't look anything like the other clothes, which the Royal Tailor had made him recently. These almost looked like the clothes that the servants wore, yet more regal.

Vinder got out of bed and picked up the shirt. Before he could examine the shirt, there was a knock at the door. Putting it down, he went over to the door of his room, and opened it to reveal his new father, king Agnarr, and behind him, the chief of staff, Kai.

"G'mornin," Chimed the young Prince. "How'ya papa?"

King Agnarr chuckled, as he brought himself down to Vinder's level. For a child who spent the first four years of his life, living on the streets, he certainly did have good manners.

"Good morning, Vinder. I am well, thank you for asking," Agnarr responded, shuffling Vinder's bedhead, making the child smile. "I hope that you are feeling well too, because today you start your training," He continued, "You will spend the mornings doing some chores with Kai here, to help you learn discipline and the value of a good job done. You will the afternoon to do what you wish, and then family time in the evening. Now, hurry up and get dressed, you don't want your breakfast to get cold."

"Okay!" Vinder said, quite happily. Closing the door, Vinder rushed over to the chair, and got dressed in his new clothes. Once he was done buttoning up the last of his shirt, Vinder walked over to the door, opening and closing it gently, as to not make too much noise. Elsa was still sleeping in the next room over, and it was too early in the morning for her to be up. Vinder didn't want to wake her up prematurely. Agnarr and Kai had waited patiently while he had gotten dressed. Then they went to the dining room where Agnarr and Vinder ate their porridge with cinnamon together. Once Vinder was done, he excused himself from the table with the approval of Agnarr.

"Shall we get going, your Highness?" Kai asked rhetorically as Vinder left the dining room. Kai led him to the top of the winding staircase, where some cleaning supplies were already set up. "Today, we are going to dust," Kai informed Vinder, handing him a duster, and a cloth.

"Why do I need a cloth for dusting?" asked a confused Vinder. He took the items anyway but was still expecting an answer.

Picking up his own duster and cloth, Kai replied, "You will need the cloth, because once you have finished dusting a section, you wipe it down to make it clean." Kai proceeded to demonstrate, dusting a part of the railing, then wetting the cloth and wiping down the same part of the railing. When he showed Vinder the difference, the child was shocked to see how shiny the clean section of the railing was.

The two of them spent the next few hours dusting. Around lunchtime, Queen Iduna and Gerda, the head maid, brought Vinder and Kai some sandwiches and drinks.

"Thank you, Mama," said Vinder, as his mother handed him a plate of PB&J, with the crusts cut off, and a small glass of milk. Kai nodded appreciatively to Gerda, as she handed over his sandwich, and a glass of water. Iduna gently kissed her son on the forehead and smiled at him warmheartedly.

"You're welcome sweetie. You've been working so hard, that I thought you could use a break," Iduna said sweetly, sitting down next to him. She patted her legs, gesturing for Vinder to sit in her lap. He smiled and crawled onto his mother's legs and positioned himself, so he was sitting cross-legged on her lap. They sat like this while the ate, and Iduna played with his hair.

"Your Majesty forgive me for speaking out of place, but if I didn't know any better, I would think that the young Prince here is your blood son," Kai pointed out to the Queen, who looked at Kai with those gentle eyes of hers. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, while she pondered what the head servant had just said and turned her attention back to Vinder.

"Thank you, Kai." Iduna responded, without looking up at him. They sat there in the calming silence, while lunch was finished. Soon Vinder had finished his food and was draining his milk. "Sweetie, slow down, you'll get a stomach ache if you drink too fast," she chuckled, as she tipped the glass down gently, which forced the young Prince to drink slowly.

"Ahh," Vinder sighed, after he finished his milk. He then leaned back against Iduna with his eyes closed and was soon fast asleep in her arms.

"I think that'll be enough for today Kai, thank you. I don't want to have him do too much for the first little while," the Queen told him, "We'll just ease him into it,"

"As you wish, your Majesty. I'll clean up the dishes, then finish up here," Kai bowed, and helped the Queen to her feet, as her arms were full. Kai then set back to work, as Iduna took the sleeping Vinder to his room.

"Sleep tight, my little gust of wind," Iduna whispered, as she placed her son on his bed. She then put some clean clothes on Vinder's bedside chair. The Queen smiled on the Prince as she silently closed the door.

The door squeaked open slowly and was followed by a quick pitter-patter of feet. A moment later, Vinder woke up to his little sister, who was jumping up and down on the four-year-old. "Wake up! Wake up!" Elsa kept saying, whilst continuing to bounce on her brother, "It's time for fun!"

"Elsa? What are you doing?" Vinder asked, wiping his eyes and playfully pushing Elsa off him. The three-year-old landed on her back by her brother's feet, giggling.

Elsa responded in a cheery voice," Mama said dat you're done for da day. So now you can pway wid me!" Elsa sat up quickly and grabbed Vinder's hands to pull him up to a sitting position. The Princess succeeded but ended up falling on her back again. Lifting her head to look at Vinder, Elsa noticed the clothes on the bedside chair. "So hurry up and get changed, so we can go pwaaay," Elsa urged, as she got up off the bed and left the room.

As Vinder got changed into his normal clothes, Elsa waited impatiently against the doorframe. It didn't take long for the Prince to get changed, and the two of them were soon racing down the corridors toward the castle's garden area. They spent hours running around outside on the grassy fields. When they got tired, they sat in the shade of the trees and drank lemonade, brought to them by their nannies. After they finished their drinks, they went inside for some quiet time. Elsa and her nanny went to the library to read, and Vinder and his nanny wandered the castle. Near the barracks, Vinder stopped and listened, when he heard shouting.

"HYA! HYA!"

"Clara? What is going on over there?" Vinder asked his nanny, excitement in his voice.

The sixteen-year-old brushed her midnight-black hair behind her ear, as she knelt down next to the young Prince. "Well Vinder, these young men are being trained to be part of the Royal Guard, who's very purpose is to protect the Royal Family from any harm." Clara explained.

"Woah, neat. Can we get closer?"

"I'm sure we can try, but I don't think we should get too close ok? We don't want you getting hurt, now do we?"

"Nope!" Vinder said, putting his hands on his hips and raising his chin. Suddenly, however, the four-year-old's hands dropped, and he lowered his head, looking at the marble floor. "I don't like getting hurt," he told Clara, in almost a whisper.

Clara looked at the child with forlorn eyes, "Oh, Vinder it's alright," she said in her soothing voice, after Vinder's eyes started to water, "Come here, everything is okay," wrapping him in her arms, giving him a big hug. A moment later, Clara ended the hug, but held Vinder's shoulders gently and looked him in the eyes, wiping them with her handkerchief, "Do you still want to go and watch?" She asked him, in hopes that it would cheer him up.

Taking a calmed down sniffle, Vinder nodded, "Yes please. Thank you, Clara."

"Alright then, let's go." Clara said. She stood up and took Vinder's hand, the headed for the training grounds.