A Snow Queen's Tale- a Frozen Fanfiction

Chapter 23: Lessons

🌨Elsa's Pov🌨
      Anna gave me a hug when she finished breakfast. "I won't play in the fort until until you can come, too," she promised. Her syrupy hands stuck to my hair when she pulled away.
I managed a small smile. "It's okay," I told my sister. "The lessons will fly by."
One of the first rules of being a ruler was never complain about ruling. But I was disappointed.
While papa and Anna walked to the village, me and mama settled down in two big chairs in front of the fireplace. It was sunny outside, but a chill hung over the room.
Mother cleared her throat. "Let's get started by reviewing some of the material your teacher gave me to go over with you," she said, consulting the large book in her lap. "Do you remember the first ten rulers of Arendelle?"
Just like my routine back home, the day's lessons started with a little history. Usually I did my lessons with my governess, Miss Larson, but my mom had explained that she would be taking over my teaching while we were away. After all, my mom had taken the same lessons before she had become queen many years before, and who better to teach me how to be a proper ruler than the current queen of Arendelle?
I kept my voice steady as I recited the past King's and queens. It was a long list of names, but I remembered every single one.
      "Very good!" Mother said when I was finished. "Shall we move on to the national treasures?"
      Dutifully, I described the national treasures of the kingdom. They were crowns and jeweled scepters, ceremonial robes, and special books that have been important to our family for centuries.
      "Well done!" mother said. "Soon you will be ready to visit the vault where they are kept."
      I did not want to visit the vault. I did not want to do anything except finish the lesson. None of this was how I had imagined my time at the Sommerhus. But I knew that complaining would only make the lessons longer.
      Mama seemed to sense my disinterest. After reviewing a few more  national treasures, she said, "Let's finish today's lessons with something new and review proper place settings and table manners."
      Mother stood up and led the way back to the table where we had eaten breakfast. Thanks to papa, the mess had disappeared and the plates were neatly stacked after washing.
      Mama took a clean plate off the top of the stack and laid it on the table in front of me. "A formal meal is different from a family meal," she began. "First, let me show you how a place setting should look."
      I nodded. "The plate is at the center,"mother said. Then she showed me the proper place for everything else that would surround it on a table, from the napkin to the dessert plate. I did not know there was supposed to be a special plate for dessert!
      Forks, knives, spoons, glasses—I knew what all those were used for. For a formal occasion, though, it turned out each place setting needed three forks, three spoons, and something called a finger bowl. "It will be filled with water," her mother explained. "And before dessert, your guests will dip their fingertips in to clean them."
      "Like a bath?" I asked. "Just for your fingers?"
      Mother smiled. "Exactly like a bath. But only for fingertips. First one hand and then the other, but never the whole hand." I bit my lip to keep from laughing. It all sounded so silly.
      "And of course," mother added, winking, "one must never drink the water. That is considered terribly rude."
       The idea of someone drinking the finger-bowl water made me crack up. "Like drinking from the bathtub?" I said, giggling.
      Mother ruffled my hair a little. "Just like that," she said. "See how much you have already learned today?"
      I frowned. I knew my mother was right, but there was so much more that I needed to know.
      Finally, I asked, "But why? Why do I need to know the names and the treasures and the rules? What makes the Crown Jewels so special, or the place settings so important? Who were all of theses kings and queens, anyway?"
      Mother replied, "Well, that is the best part of preparing to be queen. Learning the stories of our people."
"But I don't know any of the stories!" I insisted. "I only know the lists and the rules."
Mother gave me a patient smile. She unstacked some more plates and placed them on the table in front of her all in a row. "The stories are in everything we do, Elsa," she said. "Even on these plates. They hold memories my travels, yes. But also memories that are passed from one generation to the next."
Mama pointed to the plate my pancake had been on, now clean. "This crocus is the crest of our kingdom, the symbol of rebirth after a long winter." I had never really thought about the crest before, but I knew the joy of seeing spring's first blossoms.
The next plate showed bright lights in a dark sky, and mother said, "The day your papa's parents were married, the northern lights blazed overhead, just like this. It was a good omen for their reign. This picture shows that bit of history."
I had never heard that detail, but I liked it.
There was a giant white bunny on the next plate, bigger than any I had ever seen. "And here is the mythical snow hare, said to bring good luck to those who can catch him. But he is tricky," mother said, "so his good luck can be hard to find. Arendelle has many legends like this one."
     I studied history every day, but I had never thought of it this way before. It was about facts, yes, but also about stories and legends.
      Just then, I heard father and Anna coming up the path from the village. My father was walking slowly, scanning the sky for birds. Anna was doing a series of cartwheels. How long had they been gone? The morning had passed quickly after all.
      I had wanted to skip my lessons so I could play with my sister and experiment with my magic. But there was another reason, too, one I didn't like to admit.
      Sometimes I was nervous about becoming queen. With my power, I knew I'd be unlike any queen Arendelle had ever known, and learning how to use a finger bowl would not make a difference.
      But what if my mother's stories would help me understand my place in the kingdom? Those were lessons I could use—and they could last a lifetime.