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Chapter 6: Lord Stanford

Over the next few days, Anna didn't get to see much of her sister. Falling asleep at the meeting and retiring early had apparently set Elsa behind on her royal duties, and she was spending her time catching up with the things she had to do. There were new buildings that were awaiting her approval before construction could begin. There were discussions that needed to be had regarding the kingdom's complicated relationship with the Southern Isles following the betrayal of Prince Hans. And various preparations were required for Arendelle's upcoming ball to celebrate the summer solstice.

After dark, Elsa still came to Anna's room, but there was something...different about it now. She'd still talk with her sister if she was in the mood for it, and would quietly comfort and hug her even if she wasn't. Once Elsa was finally able to get to sleep, she'd just watch her softly snore (and God, how was Elsa able to make snoring seem ethereal?), wishing that she knew how to get her to forget about the nightmares that were haunting her so badly...

Except that...she wasn't mentioning the nightmares anymore. Nor was she asking Anna if she was still alive. She wasn't checking to make sure that Anna was still breathing, placing her head against her chest to feel her heartbeat, or any of the other things that she had been doing when her depression had first started. Had the dreams stopped? Anna had to assume that they had. So why was Elsa still so troubled?

In her heart, Anna was afraid she might already know the answer to that question. And yet, she never did the find the courage to ask Elsa about it. She tried to, of course. She even imagined how the conversation would go in her head...but never liked how she pictured the outcome.

"You know, you're going to keep feeling worse and worse until you talk with her about it," said Kristoff one afternoon as he loaded ice onto his sled. "And I still think you're driving yourself crazy over nothing."

"This has been going on for weeks, Kristoff," Anna said bitterly, feeling so down that not even Sven's licks on her face were enough to cheer her up (or gross her out, as they often did). "I know there's something she's not telling me. I can feel it."

"I'm sure she'll tell you if you ask her," said Kristoff, acting as though it was the simplest thing in the world to ask your sister if she was sick when you never remembered her being ill before. "And the sooner you do so, the sooner you'll feel better about everything."

"And what if she tells me something I don't want to hear?" asked Anna, folding her arms and starting to get slightly annoyed with her boyfriend.

"Anna, think about this from a realistic perspective," said Kristoff as he hooked his pet reindeer up to his sled. "Elsa's young. As far as you know, she's always been healthy. Maybe having and using ice powers just makes you exhausted from time to time."

"Maybe," Anna mumbled, not sure what else to say.

"Look, please, just promise me you'll discuss it with her tomorrow, okay?" Kristoff said as he gently yet firmly held her by the shoulders. "I hate seeing you on edge like this. You're normally so full of optimism."

Anna just looked down at her shoes. As great as Kristoff was to her, his patience could only go but so far. Elsa's condition was all she talked about with him anymore. She couldn't even remember the last time they had spoken about...well, each other.

"Fine," Anna said reluctantly. "I'll...I'll talk about it with her tomorrow."

She regretted making the promise almost as soon as she had made it, but there was no going back from it now.

Kristoff gently smiled at her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and then left with Sven, leaving poor Anna all alone to dread her conversation with her sister tomorrow.

It was early afternoon, and she figured it might be good if she forced herself to eat something. Normally, it was hard for Anna to control herself whenever good food was on a table in front of her, but recently she had been so troubled that she had actually been skipping meals. Whenever Anna was worried about something, she found that she just didn't have her usual appetite. But today, she knew she'd need a distraction of some sort, so she went to the kitchen and had the cooks make her a sandwich.

She sat down in the castle's large dining hall, surprised to see a member of Elsa's royal council seated there. Or, at least, she assumed he was from Elsa's council judging from the regal green outfit he was wearing. The truth of the matter was, Anna wasn't very good at remembering faces or names. Yet another thing that Elsa was much better at than she was, and yet another reason that Anna was thankful she wasn't queen.

"Pardon me, your highness," the man said when he noticed here. "I wasn't expecting you to be having your lunch here at this hour. If you prefer, I can leave and finish my food elsewhere."

"Oh, no, you're fine," said Anna, only a little uncomfortably. "Honestly, I thought you'd still be at my sister's meeting, Mr..."

The man got up from his chair and gave her a small bow.

"Stanford, your highness," he said. "Lord Stanford. Chief Adviser on the Queen's Royal Council."

Anna blushed a bit as he sat back down.

"I probably should've known that about you," said Anna with a bit of a nervous chuckle. "It sounds like a really important position. Are you like the Hand of the Queen then?"

"No, your highness," Stanford said, taking a sip from a glass of wine. "The Queen keeps informing me that she's saving that position for someone else. I'm just providing the help she needs until she fills it."

"Oh," said Anna, not sure what to say after that. Why didn't she take the time to ask Elsa what her days were like? She'd be a lot better at making conversation in situations like this if she did.

"To answer your inquiry," Stanford continued. "I'm afraid I had to take a break from your sister's royal meeting. A man of my age is of no use when it comes to planning out a royal ball."

"Oh, that might be the only thing I'd be good at helping Queen Elsa out with," Anna said, glad that she could at least find something to say on this subject. "I love balls, and I'm a...fairly decent dancer, if I do say so myself. I keep wanting to teach my sister, but she's always so busy, being in charge of the kingdom and everything."

She was worried about how silly and inexperienced about these things that she must sound to him, but Stanford just gave her a smile.

"Perhaps you should take my place on the council on days like today," he said. "As I said, I am too old to concern myself with such things."

Anna studied Stanford for a moment. He really didn't appear to be that old to her at all, and to her eyes looked like he was anywhere between 30 and 40. He was a bit stout, with a hint of facial hair that perhaps could stand to be shaved off. But what man didn't have things like a slightly big belly and an unneeded beard at...whatever his age was?

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked her as he placed some baked potato into his mouth.

"Ummmm," went Anna, now feeling embarrassed that she didn't. "Should I?"

"Perhaps not," said Stanford. "You were younger at the time, and you probably didn't see me very much. I was a member of your father's council back in the day."

"Oh, you were?" said Anna, who still honestly had no memory of him. "When was this?"

"Longer ago than it probably seems," said Stanford, looking towards the window as though he were trying to remember. "I think that Queen Elsa was in her early teens at the time."

Anna just nodded her head. She wanted to ask him questions about her father, about how much he saw Elsa during that time, and whether or not he was aware of her powers. But she worried those questions might seem too personal. Instead, she just settled on asking him about a topic that she didn't care about.

"How come you didn't stay on my father's council?"

Lord Stanford cleared his throat and swallowed another sip of wine before responding.

"I had...a personal tragedy in my family," he said, acting as though he was choosing his words very carefully. "The King was kind enough to grant me early retirement after that, and I was able to live comfortably. Of course, I didn't know at the time what would happen to the King and his beloved Queen. If I had, I would've insisted on staying."

"I'm...sorry," said Anna, realizing that she hadn't chosen a "safe" question after all. "I...I didn't know..."

"Nothing to apologize for, your highness," he answered with a small shrug.

"So, when did you become involved with my sister?"

"Well, after certain members of her council proved...less than loyal to the monarchy during the frozen summer, the Queen decided that she needed some fresh blood," said Stanford, sounding a lot more casual now. "I was always kind to your sister back when I was on your father's council, so I guess she must've remembered that."

So he had seen Elsa back then! Her mind once again filled itself with questions, the ones that Elsa wasn't comfortable answering about their parents. She wanted to know if she seemed happy, if he noticed anything "special" about her, if he ever remembered her being sick...

Sick.

The word struck her like a brick to the head. For her entire conversation with Stanford, she had forgotten about her promise to Kristoff.

"Are you alright, your highness?" Stanford asked her. "You've barely touched your sandwich."

"Oh, I guess I just...got involved in our conversation," said Anna, picking up her sandwich and stuffing it in her mouth, not caring about how ridiculous she must've looked doing so.

"Well, I'm afraid I must be on my way," said Stanford, slowly getting to his feet and giving her another bow. "It was a pleasure talking with you, your highness. I'm sure you would be a great ruler of this kingdom if you ever had the chance."

"Thans, but I weally wouldn't be," Anna was barely able to say as her mouth was still extremely full. She chewed for a long time and made an effort to swallow before continuing, certain that her face must be turning a bit red. "And besides, no one could be a greater leader than Elsa."

"I can't argue with you there, your highness," said Stanford, although it was hard for Anna to tell if he was being sincere when he said that (but maybe she was only suspicious about that because she had trouble trusting anyone she didn't know after what had happened with Hans). With yet another bow, he turned and made his way out of the dining hall. She wondered why she had no memory of him from her childhood, but even as a girl, being queen was never of great interest to her. Perhaps she had seen him many times, but wasn't paying attention because she was too busy talking to paintings or riding her bike all by herself.

But as she finished her sandwich at a glacier pace (she wasn't even sure what kind of cold meat was in it), her attention went elsewhere, taken over once again by images of her sister coughing horribly. She felt her entire body shake when she thought about what would happen the next day. Tomorrow, she would finally talk with her sister about this. Tomorrow, she would finally know the truth.

Description
Chapter 6: Lord Stanford

Over the next few days, Anna didn't get to see much of her sister. Falling asleep at the meeting and retiring early had apparently set Elsa behind on her royal duties, and she was spending her time catching up with the things she had to do. There were new buildings that were awaiting her approval before construction could begin. There were discussions that needed to be had regarding the kingdom's complicated relationship with the Southern Isles following the betrayal of Prince Hans. And various preparations were required for Arendelle's upcoming ball to celebrate the summer solstice.

After dark, Elsa still came to Anna's room, but there was something...different about it now. She'd still talk with her sister if she was in the mood for it, and would quietly comfort and hug her even if she wasn't. Once Elsa was finally able to get to sleep, she'd just watch her softly snore (and God, how was Elsa able to make snoring seem ethereal?), wishing that she knew how to get her to forget about the nightmares that were haunting her so badly...

Except that...she wasn't mentioning the nightmares anymore. Nor was she asking Anna if she was still alive. She wasn't checking to make sure that Anna was still breathing, placing her head against her chest to feel her heartbeat, or any of the other things that she had been doing when her depression had first started. Had the dreams stopped? Anna had to assume that they had. So why was Elsa still so troubled?

In her heart, Anna was afraid she might already know the answer to that question. And yet, she never did the find the courage to ask Elsa about it. She tried to, of course. She even imagined how the conversation would go in her head...but never liked how she pictured the outcome.

"You know, you're going to keep feeling worse and worse until you talk with her about it," said Kristoff one afternoon as he loaded ice onto his sled. "And I still think you're driving yourself crazy over nothing."

"This has been going on for weeks, Kristoff," Anna said bitterly, feeling so down that not even Sven's licks on her face were enough to cheer her up (or gross her out, as they often did). "I know there's something she's not telling me. I can feel it."

"I'm sure she'll tell you if you ask her," said Kristoff, acting as though it was the simplest thing in the world to ask your sister if she was sick when you never remembered her being ill before. "And the sooner you do so, the sooner you'll feel better about everything."

"And what if she tells me something I don't want to hear?" asked Anna, folding her arms and starting to get slightly annoyed with her boyfriend.

"Anna, think about this from a realistic perspective," said Kristoff as he hooked his pet reindeer up to his sled. "Elsa's young. As far as you know, she's always been healthy. Maybe having and using ice powers just makes you exhausted from time to time."

"Maybe," Anna mumbled, not sure what else to say.

"Look, please, just promise me you'll discuss it with her tomorrow, okay?" Kristoff said as he gently yet firmly held her by the shoulders. "I hate seeing you on edge like this. You're normally so full of optimism."

Anna just looked down at her shoes. As great as Kristoff was to her, his patience could only go but so far. Elsa's condition was all she talked about with him anymore. She couldn't even remember the last time they had spoken about...well, each other.

"Fine," Anna said reluctantly. "I'll...I'll talk about it with her tomorrow."

She regretted making the promise almost as soon as she had made it, but there was no going back from it now.

Kristoff gently smiled at her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and then left with Sven, leaving poor Anna all alone to dread her conversation with her sister tomorrow.

It was early afternoon, and she figured it might be good if she forced herself to eat something. Normally, it was hard for Anna to control herself whenever good food was on a table in front of her, but recently she had been so troubled that she had actually been skipping meals. Whenever Anna was worried about something, she found that she just didn't have her usual appetite. But today, she knew she'd need a distraction of some sort, so she went to the kitchen and had the cooks make her a sandwich.

She sat down in the castle's large dining hall, surprised to see a member of Elsa's royal council seated there. Or, at least, she assumed he was from Elsa's council judging from the regal green outfit he was wearing. The truth of the matter was, Anna wasn't very good at remembering faces or names. Yet another thing that Elsa was much better at than she was, and yet another reason that Anna was thankful she wasn't queen.

"Pardon me, your highness," the man said when he noticed here. "I wasn't expecting you to be having your lunch here at this hour. If you prefer, I can leave and finish my food elsewhere."

"Oh, no, you're fine," said Anna, only a little uncomfortably. "Honestly, I thought you'd still be at my sister's meeting, Mr..."

The man got up from his chair and gave her a small bow.

"Stanford, your highness," he said. "Lord Stanford. Chief Adviser on the Queen's Royal Council."

Anna blushed a bit as he sat back down.

"I probably should've known that about you," said Anna with a bit of a nervous chuckle. "It sounds like a really important position. Are you like the Hand of the Queen then?"

"No, your highness," Stanford said, taking a sip from a glass of wine. "The Queen keeps informing me that she's saving that position for someone else. I'm just providing the help she needs until she fills it."

"Oh," said Anna, not sure what to say after that. Why didn't she take the time to ask Elsa what her days were like? She'd be a lot better at making conversation in situations like this if she did.

"To answer your inquiry," Stanford continued. "I'm afraid I had to take a break from your sister's royal meeting. A man of my age is of no use when it comes to planning out a royal ball."

"Oh, that might be the only thing I'd be good at helping Queen Elsa out with," Anna said, glad that she could at least find something to say on this subject. "I love balls, and I'm a...fairly decent dancer, if I do say so myself. I keep wanting to teach my sister, but she's always so busy, being in charge of the kingdom and everything."

She was worried about how silly and inexperienced about these things that she must sound to him, but Stanford just gave her a smile.

"Perhaps you should take my place on the council on days like today," he said. "As I said, I am too old to concern myself with such things."

Anna studied Stanford for a moment. He really didn't appear to be that old to her at all, and to her eyes looked like he was anywhere between 30 and 40. He was a bit stout, with a hint of facial hair that perhaps could stand to be shaved off. But what man didn't have things like a slightly big belly and an unneeded beard at...whatever his age was?

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked her as he placed some baked potato into his mouth.

"Ummmm," went Anna, now feeling embarrassed that she didn't. "Should I?"

"Perhaps not," said Stanford. "You were younger at the time, and you probably didn't see me very much. I was a member of your father's council back in the day."

"Oh, you were?" said Anna, who still honestly had no memory of him. "When was this?"

"Longer ago than it probably seems," said Stanford, looking towards the window as though he were trying to remember. "I think that Queen Elsa was in her early teens at the time."

Anna just nodded her head. She wanted to ask him questions about her father, about how much he saw Elsa during that time, and whether or not he was aware of her powers. But she worried those questions might seem too personal. Instead, she just settled on asking him about a topic that she didn't care about.

"How come you didn't stay on my father's council?"

Lord Stanford cleared his throat and swallowed another sip of wine before responding.

"I had...a personal tragedy in my family," he said, acting as though he was choosing his words very carefully. "The King was kind enough to grant me early retirement after that, and I was able to live comfortably. Of course, I didn't know at the time what would happen to the King and his beloved Queen. If I had, I would've insisted on staying."

"I'm...sorry," said Anna, realizing that she hadn't chosen a "safe" question after all. "I...I didn't know..."

"Nothing to apologize for, your highness," he answered with a small shrug.

"So, when did you become involved with my sister?"

"Well, after certain members of her council proved...less than loyal to the monarchy during the frozen summer, the Queen decided that she needed some fresh blood," said Stanford, sounding a lot more casual now. "I was always kind to your sister back when I was on your father's council, so I guess she must've remembered that."

So he had seen Elsa back then! Her mind once again filled itself with questions, the ones that Elsa wasn't comfortable answering about their parents. She wanted to know if she seemed happy, if he noticed anything "special" about her, if he ever remembered her being sick...

Sick.

The word struck her like a brick to the head. For her entire conversation with Stanford, she had forgotten about her promise to Kristoff.

"Are you alright, your highness?" Stanford asked her. "You've barely touched your sandwich."

"Oh, I guess I just...got involved in our conversation," said Anna, picking up her sandwich and stuffing it in her mouth, not caring about how ridiculous she must've looked doing so.

"Well, I'm afraid I must be on my way," said Stanford, slowly getting to his feet and giving her another bow. "It was a pleasure talking with you, your highness. I'm sure you would be a great ruler of this kingdom if you ever had the chance."

"Thans, but I weally wouldn't be," Anna was barely able to say as her mouth was still extremely full. She chewed for a long time and made an effort to swallow before continuing, certain that her face must be turning a bit red. "And besides, no one could be a greater leader than Elsa."

"I can't argue with you there, your highness," said Stanford, although it was hard for Anna to tell if he was being sincere when he said that (but maybe she was only suspicious about that because she had trouble trusting anyone she didn't know after what had happened with Hans). With yet another bow, he turned and made his way out of the dining hall. She wondered why she had no memory of him from her childhood, but even as a girl, being queen was never of great interest to her. Perhaps she had seen him many times, but wasn't paying attention because she was too busy talking to paintings or riding her bike all by herself.

But as she finished her sandwich at a glacier pace (she wasn't even sure what kind of cold meat was in it), her attention went elsewhere, taken over once again by images of her sister coughing horribly. She felt her entire body shake when she thought about what would happen the next day. Tomorrow, she would finally talk with her sister about this. Tomorrow, she would finally know the truth.