Chapter Text
Chapter Four: Mind over Matter
There is an old saying: if the master wishes for you to die then to remain alive would be utmost treachery. The world belonged to the son of heaven, and the young masters and mistresses within the palace were parts of the royal dragon’s limbs, his hair, and his clothes. To serve the emperor and his family was to obey heaven’s divine laws itself, and as such slaves were never meant to question their master’s wishes.
Anna knew, with all of her being, that should Elsa ask her to set a knife onto Anna’s own skin, the correct reply would be to ask how deep the princess desired the blade to go. Should the princess wish for her to remain still and for her life to be taken away, then Anna had been taught to simply close her eyes and let everything go without protest.
Yet what the mind understood did not necessarily mean that the heart agreed.
Anna was merely nine. Much older women and men have been brought to their knees as death stared them in the eyes.
Thus as Elsa pressed the dagger onto her neck, the young slave felt nothing but all-consuming fear. She did not beg for her life as most were wont to do, though perhaps this was partially due to the fact that she was frozen in shock. Her brain refused to process beyond what her heart had insisted to be true- that kind Elsa, noble Princess Elsa who had saved her earlier the previous day without a word of reprimand would never try to hurt her intentionally.
Elsa was trying to kill her. It made no sense, but Anna was too shaken to voice out her distress.
Icy blue eyes hardened as they bore into her own and Anna’s mind swirled with questions.
Was it the poison? Was it controlling, affecting the princess somehow?
The idea did not seem all that unreasonable, and believing that it was not Elsa’s true wish to kill her encouraged Anna to take action.
Despite the taller girl’s ostensible return to strength, Anna knew that the princess could not have possibly recovered from the poison’s hold that easily. Now looking closely at the white fingers that grasped onto the dagger, Anna found that the other girl’s hands were slightly shaking.
Taking heart in this new discovery, the strawberry blonde took in a deep breath and pushed princess as hard as she could. A wave of dizziness seemed to overtake the lighter haired girl then, and she stumbled, trying to find support. However, with only smooth, ungraspable walls in front of her and the strength of Anna’s push taking Elsa towards the opposite direction, the princess found herself encountering nothing but air.
She fell; the force of the fall and the onslaught of the toxins inside of her was enough to temporarily stun the girl. Meanwhile, Anna looked down upon her master with trepidation as Elsa blinked dazedly in attempt to stay awake.
With hesitation, Anna turned, about to run back up the stairway.
As she lingered, however, Elsa’s quivering voice spoke up behind her.
“Leave, and don’t come back. Forget everything that’s happened if you want to stay alive. I’ve been alone all this time. I don’t need a servant like you to be with me.”
Anna wanted to run away. Wanted to close her eyes and never turn back. Yet something continued to draw her towards the princess.
The young royal’s voice rang out like an accusation. She wanted Anna to leave. No doubt, she had tried to scare Anna with the dagger so that the girl would run off herself.
And yet the voice held an unconscious bitterness beneath. Perhaps something similar had happened many times before and everyone had always left Elsa. No one had ever volunteered to stay.
The princess must have been very lonely, Anna thought. Unable to help herself, she stole a glance at the taller girl.
The fifth princess was breathing erratically, throwing herself against the wall as she struggled to stand back up. Her face was paler than Anna had ever seen it, and her entire form trembled.
A surge of protectiveness rose within Anna. She rushed to Elsa’s side once more, both hands clutching onto the young royal’s right arm in order to support her. Her suspicion solidified that perhaps Elsa was only bluffing. The princess did not seriously wish to hurt her.
“Why do you do this to yourself?”
Green-blue eyes shined with worry as Anna gazed upon the princess’s white complexion. Elsa grimaced, struggling to pull away as a fit of coughing overtook her. Yet the strawberry blonde would not let go.
“What worries you? I’m here, and I won’t abandon you like this. No one wants to be alone.”
At this the princess stopped moving. She allowed Anna to pull her closer until they were almost in an embrace, before closing her eyes.
Despite herself, it was the closest human contact Elsa had had in years. The presence of the other girl so close to her own calmed her much more than she could admit. The princess inhaled deeply, shakily, before surrendering to the other girl’s questions and opening her mouth to speak.
What resulted was a muffled whisper against Anna’s shoulders.
“People who stay with me…none of them will have a good ending.”
Anna took in a sharp, surprised breath.
As was her positive nature, Anna was not the slightest bothered with what the princess was implying. Instead, a feeling of warmth tingled throughout her veins from the realization that the princess did care for her after all.
Perhaps Elsa even cared too much for the servants who worked under her. As an orphan, a daughter of a convict no less…it was not often that Anna had experienced care from anyone at all. She wanted to hold onto the realization that someone cared, hold on to Elsa, as though the princess was someone she could claim as hers.
With a happy cry, the servant lunged towards her master and wrapped her arms around the shaking girl, class distinctions be damned.
“Elsa! It’s okay. We’re okay. Nothing will happen. I’ll call for the royal doctors and they’ll cure you-”
“You don’t understand!”
The princess’s eyes were wide as they bore into Anna’s. Clear ice-blue shimmered within her irises, chipped by streaks of deep and stormy blue. The princess did not share her servant’s sentiment. Enhanced by rush of nausea brought on by the poison, all Elsa could feel was utmost worry.
Self-sacrificing as her mentality had always secretly been beneath masks of cool indifference, the fear she felt was not for herself. Never for herself.
Elsa constantly worried for those closest around her.
“It has- it has happened before…it’ll happen again, and you-”
She broke off into a fit of coughing and gasps. Anna took the chance to interrupt while rubbing the other girl’s back in gentle circles.
“We can report it, can’t we? We know that it’s Cruella, so…So…we can…”
The shorter girl drifted off, unsure of what her next suggestion should be. After a moment, Elsa raised a hand to silence Anna’s ramblings. When finally spoke, her voice rang calmer than before, aided by the soothing motions Anna graced upon her back.
“It’s not that simple. What proof do we have?”
The princess sighed, motioning for the strawberry blonde to support her towards the center of the chamber once more. There, they sat upon the floor, where the air surrounding them seemed to be coldest.
“This icy chamber, this underground room was built by my mother, for me. This is where I purge myself of the toxins intended to kill me, and where I practice my ice magic.”
The servant girl gasped. “But magic is-”
“Strictly forbidden in the palace, I know. Which is why if anyone finds out about it, then I will probably be given the death penalty even if I am a princess. Don’t you see? This is why you are a danger to me…and I am a danger to you. People will always try to target you to find out my secrets, and your knowledge of my secrets is a threat to me.”
Anna bit her lips in deep thought. After a moment, she replied with determination echoed in her features.
“I will never hurt you, Princess Elsa.”
But Elsa shook her head.
“But I will hurt you.”
She folded her legs beneath her, back straightening as she extended her hands in front of her. A bright globe of ice formed upon each palm. Anna watched with her mouth open as the princess continued to speak while droplets of black, poisoned blood dripped from the tips of her fingers into the ball of winter magic.
With a sigh the princess continued. “I have a sister-”
“Princess Himeko?” Anna supplied.
“Yes. Himeko and I…we were always together. Until one day, a rare delivery of foreign chocolates arrived as a gift intended for me. I did not know. I could not have known that they were laced with red arsenic. I offered some to Himeko.”
A frown appeared upon the fair princess’s delicate eyebrows, more from the memory than from the pain of having her blood purified by the ice that was turning increasingly dark in her hands.
“We caught the servant who had poisoned the chocolates, but he committed suicide before we can find the mastermind behind it all. We never caught the criminal. And Himeko…Himeko almost did not survive. It was all my fault.”
“From then on, it was decided that I would move to a different part of the Eastern Palace. My mother would take care of my little sister where she is safe, away from me, while I would secretly train in magical arts to brace myself against attacks and poison. This basement was built while father and most of the concubines were away for a month during a blessing ceremony, and I was sent off to learn magic for a year under the pretence that I was merely visiting my mother’s ailing father and keeping him company in the northern borders.”
As she finished her story, Elsa also completed the cleansing ritual. The blackened ice crumbled between her fingers before dissolving, and closed her eyes, spent by the effort taken in healing herself.
It was not long, however, before Anna’s voice broke the princess out of her reverie.
“But what happened to Princess Himeko…that wasn’t your fault!”
Elsa turned to stare at the servant girl incredulously.
“If you think that then you’re more of a fool than I thought. Even if I did not mean for harm to come to Himeko, she was hurt because of me. Awful things will happen to you too, if you stay with me. I am the Empress’s eldest. As such, to those who wish for throne, I pose the most threat. Everyone around me is in danger. That’s why mother separated my sister and I, and why I shall remain here alone and train until I am old enough to contend for the throne as is expected of me.”
She understood what the princess was trying to say. Yet understanding and agreeing to it were two entirely separate matters. Anna pursed her lips, thinking deeply before voicing out her reply.
“It wouldn’t be because of you if I was the one who chose to stay. And I do not dare to say that I can understand what her majesty the Queen is thinking, but I’m pretty sure your sister would want to remain with you, too.”
For a long moment the princess remained silent, as though contemplating Anna’s words. Yet when she spoke again there was a regretful downward turn upon her lips that made Anna realize that Elsa’s views had not changed, despite perhaps wishing to believe in Anna’s words herself.
“Do you know how they catch birds for us royals to keep as pets, Anna?”
The servant girl shook her head, not understanding what the young royal was trying to point out. Yet the princess seemed unhurried in her explanation, her voice taking on a sorrowful tone as she continued to speak.
“I have two of them myself: Lago and Waddlesworth. But the two were not caught together. Lago was captured first. His wings were clipped off. Jafar, the general who had captured him, had placed the cage near an open clearing, where his tweets could easily be heard by other birds passing by. Not long after, Waddlesworth flew by and befriended him. It was a simple matter then, to set the trap and capture Waddlesworth as well.”
While she spoke, the princess took in a sharp intake of breath, as though she bore the sins of capturing the birds herself.
“Perhaps what is most cruel about this, however, is not the fact that they were both captured. Love, and loyalty…they are what cause the most pain. There was this one occasion, when a servant had accidentally left the door open to the bird cage. Waddlesworth could have flown away, could have escaped. And he did, too…He flew away, until he realized that Lago could not follow. He flew back to his friend and was captured again.”
Elsa’s voice grew louder to emphasize the severity of the point she was trying to make, hands reaching for Anna’s shoulders and shaking her slightly.
“Don’t you see? I was born with this destiny. I’ve already been captured, my wings have been clipped. But you and Himeko are currently free to go. If you stay with me, then your future will hold nothing but despair. You will die!”
To the princess’s surprise, Anna merely tilted her head slightly and smiled in response.
“I’m…not sure I get what you’re trying to say.”
She scratched her right cheek slightly and looked down in embarrassment for a moment, but when Anna looked back into the princess’s eyes, her blue-green irises were brimming with determination.
“But aren’t you telling me all of this because you love and care too? Ah! Not that I’m implying that you love me or anything. I mean, I’m just a servant…Not that I’m saying that I love you either. We’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks. Though then again you’re my master so it’s not like I have a choice or that I’m supposed to ever love or be more loyal to anyone than you…”
She caught herself rambling and drifted off, blushing slightly.
“Umm. I’ve always been better with actions then words? Here, I have an idea!”
She pulled the princess along with her, and together they traveled back up the stairs and into the chambers above.
Yet the young slave did not stop when she reached the room above. Instead, she continued out the princess’s room, dashing beyond the gates to where the two parrots were held. Upon reaching the destination, she released the royal’s hands and reached for the birds, opening the door to their cage.
They flew off in a flurry of feathers, ushered away by the servant.
Anna giggled as the princess looked on, mouth open slightly in surprise as they watched the birds fly away.
“I figured that even if Lago’s wings had been clipped back then…chances are his feathers might be able to grow back. You felt that they were trapped like you, and you wanted them to be happy, right? But why mourn about it, and do nothing? If you want freedom so much, set them free. Set yourself free. Do you know the saying…if you love someone set them free? If they come back-”
As Anna spoke, the parrots had turned back, circling in the air above them.
“-then they belong to you.”
With a melodic squawk, Lago settled upon the fifth princess’s shoulders. Waddlesworth followed soon after, establishing himself upon the opposite side.
“We have a choice, Princess Elsa. You were kind in trying to protect us. You’ve offered us freedom, and we’re thankful for it. But don’t reject us if we choose to come back to you. Whether we’re trapped, or even if we die…it is our choice. My choice. Let me stay and protect you. And you know, you have a choice to fly off too. I’ll help you, no matter what it takes.”
At this, tears came to Elsa’s eyes unbidden. She stumbled blindly forward, wrapping her arms around Anna.
The shorter girl laughed and returned the gesture.
“Ne…after all this, let’s go find your sister.”
Smiling through her tears, the princess nodded.
“Okay.”
They held on to each other for a long time.
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Despite the princess’s newfound acceptance in letting Anna enter her life, Elsa was in no hurry to reconcile with her sister just yet. If anything, she was completely terrified of the prospect of seeing the sister she had sworn to protect.
How would Himeko react? What would Himeko say to the twin who had so thoroughly rejected her ever since the poisoning incident?
Each time she closed her eyes, Elsa could see the numerous times in which her sister had stood outside closed doors, begging for her to open them. The dangers were still present. The rift she had purposefully created still remained.
In reality nothing had changed even if her mentality had shifted. So no, Elsa was not willing to simply barge into Himeko’s life once more.
Anna believed differently.
If the princess had any weakness, then Anna thought it to lie in the fact that Elsa thought too much. Young as she was, the fifth princess read too deeply into everything. She complicated everything more than it should be and lacked the optimistic, straightforward way of thinking that most girls her age would have.
The strawberry blonde reasoned that princess Himeko was probably missing her sister just as much as Elsa was. If left to Elsa’s own devices, the two would probably never meet. However, there was no reason for the servant to not go to the sixth princess herself and bring her to her elder sister.
Were she any other servant, Anna would have thought that setting off to find the sixth princess herself would be too meddlesome. She had no business in such matters. To take part in affairs between the royals is to sign her own death wish.
Were she any other servant, however…Anna would not have remained with Elsa in the first place. So as she swore to never speak of the basement below the princess’s chambers, Anna continued to plan out ways to reconcile the two sisters. By the end of the week she decided to go ahead and speak to Princess Himeko.
She did not expect it to be an easy ordeal, as slaves do not so simply approach the royal masters whenever they wish for it. Yet her title as Princess Elsa’s personal servant helped reduce the amount of questioning she might have experienced otherwise.
The person Anna ended up encountering, however, was not the princess she had intended to see.
An evening on the following week found the loyal servant standing outside the princess’s gates.
Anna was about to knock for entry when gentle fingers wove around her wrist and all Anna could see as she turned was a familiar deep blue.
Princess Chikane.
If Elsa was like ice fallen from the heavens, then Chikane was water deep beneath the ocean. Both of them were comparable to beautiful, raw forces of nature…yet Elsa was cool, pure, and powerful while Chikane was mysterious, gentle, and passionate.
“We meet again, Anna. I was not wrong about you.” Even her voice was soft, trickling like a smooth rivulet.
The princess chuckled as Anna struggled out of her grasp to bow in respect.
“No need for formal gestures.”
The younger girl stared, confusion evident upon her face, as the dark haired teenager nodded towards the direction of the closed door.
“Himeko has always been upset by the separation. I can’t even count the number of times in which I’ve seen her try to get Elsa to move on from what had happened in the past. Yet the Empress insisted that they remain apart, and Elsa continued to lock herself in her room. I know what you want and I wish for the same, but unfortunately now is not the right time.”
There was a slight frown upon the princess’s delicate lips, and Anna could tell that Chikane was sincere from the sadness that lit within the depths of her eyes.
Her previous suspicion had long worn off and Anna decided to trust the placid girl. Chikane had shown her nothing but kindness, after all. Thus when the royal’s face was replaced with a hardened expression, Anna immediately believed that what the princess had to say would be something of great importance.
And indeed, whatever Chikane had to say next was uttered in a lowered voice, forcing Anna to lean forward in order to listen to what was being said.
“This is what I’ve come here to address today. I heard that you and Elsa had encountered a problem with Consort Cruella and my eldest brother the other day. Do not be fooled. No matter what trouble she had given you, I have reasons to believe that she was merely a puppet at the face of it all. There is someone who is planning something bigger behind all this. Consort Cruella does not even know it herself.”
Anna frowned, her mind racing from incredulity.
“What deeper plan can there be? And why are you telling me this?”
The third princess smiled and ruffled the young girl’s hair fondly.
“Because I believe you to be loyal to your master. And because not all of us wish for the death of our siblings, Anna. Even if most of us do have our sights on the throne, not many would go to such lengths to destroy our own flesh and blood.”
Still, Anna did not understand.
“But what can a servant like me do? Why don’t you tell Elsa this yourself?”
Chikane shook her head.
“Elsa has a great mind. But she is still emotionally compromised. She has been for a long time now. Besides, can you imagine what kind of response would result if word lets out that two amongst those with potential to be crowned have teamed up together? That alone would force action from those who had initially intended to keep things less drastic. I have a plan to find the mastermind behind it all, but I need someone with enough influence to help me carry it out. I know that person has always taken great interest in the Empress’s eldest. As Elsa’s servant, you can most easily contact her.”
“Who might that be?”
There was a mysterious glint within the princess’s eyes when she replied.
“Let’s just say, it is also someone who wishes for a fair fight between us all.”
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Never one to hesitate once there is work to carry out, the following day Anna set off in the direction Chikane had guided her, which coincidentally happened to be in the gardens where they had first met.
The servant recognized how suspicious it was for Chikane to have found out about their encounter with Consort Cruella. While it was hard to determine whether the third princess was friend or foe, if there was a chance to get rid of a potential threat to Elsa, what choice did Anna have?
She was a firm believer in the idea that trust should be absolute. Were she to doubt the princess, then she would not have done anything at all. Now that she had decided to heed the older girl’s words, she would put faith in her actions, and pray that the outcome would be a positive one.
It was not until she reached the familiar rock formations where Princess Chikane stood before that Anna finally slumped against one of the man-made mountains, chest heaving in nervousness.
At a loss of what to do and unsure how to contact whoever it was the elder princess had mentioned, she buried her head in her arms and remained that way for an indeterminate amount of time. After what seemed like hours, the sound of footsteps echoing behind the stone jiashan reached her ears and Anna looked up, neck craning back and forth to search for the source.
“Who’s there!?”
The stranger did not bother to appear, choosing instead to stand behind the rock wall.
“Please, don’t be alarmed. I’m merely an inquisitive passerby, curious as to why a young girl like yourself would be standing here.”
The servant girl frowned, reluctant to say anything. Yet the stranger would not be deterred.
“Don’t worry.” The girl’s voice, despite being muffled by the wall between them, was mellow and soft. “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
Despite her hesitation, Anna could not detect any hint of malice coming from the girl behind the rocky jiashan. She settled with cautious silence, neither leaving nor revealing her intentions.
“Ara. Still, if you are waiting here…then you wish to speak to me, do you not?”
Instinctively reflecting the stranger’s mannerisms, Anna replied with a question of her own.
“If you chose to appear, then you must already know who I am, don’t you?”
The chuckle that resonated behind the man-made mountain was a lot warmer than Anna would have suspected.
“Hmm. I suppose that is true. I not only know who you are, but I know who had sent you. But whether I should help you or not…”
The young slave found herself trying to resist the urge to tap her feet as the voice teasingly drifted off. “Well?”
“It depends. How much are you willing to sacrifice for your master?”
At this, Anna did not falter in her reply.
“My life is hers. I just don’t want it to be a wasteful one. How do I know I can trust you? Who are you?”
The other girl did not move from behind the rocks.
“Just think of me as an idealist. I will eradicate this palace of the corruption that lies within. If you are truly loyal as you say, then you need not know more than trust that I will be a friend. Now, what did Chikane tell you to inform me?”
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