White Queen

A Promise for a Promise

I kept rewriting the first part over and over again since I'm not satisfied with it, until I basically patch them up together and adjust it to my liking. That's why the update was slow, also assignments.

They arrived before the fleet did.

The two royal sisters had been standing at the docks, eyes narrowed and hands held up to block the morning sunlight as they watched the royal ship approaching, coming closer as it broke through the fjord's calm waters, surrounded by guards at ready should anything was to happen that could be a threat for them. Someone had even offered a seat for the Queen as she waited but she had declined of it, for even sore feet and aching back could not make her sit down when her heart raced against her chest. She couldn't sit still.

And it seemed that neither could Anna.

The Princess fidgeted in her place, swaying on the balls of her feet as her skirt billowed with each movement that she made, fingers constantly tucking her hair behind her ear. She was far more outspoken when it came to expressing her nervousness, unlike the older who still able to maintain a calm demeanor to mask how fast her thoughts ran through her mind, though the younger had been able to not ramble on and on.

See you in two weeks.

That had been Anna's parting words to their parents before they had left for their travels –while hers had been of a question if they were really needed to go, but neither of them had seen them after two weeks, had instead received news of their passing, and it had been the cause of their bubbling nerves. Yet, here they were, watching as the ship came back, so there was nothing to be afraid of, right? It was not like what happened with their parents would happen again.

The closer the ship was, the easier it was for her to see the damage that it had gone through. There were scratches of what appeared happened as two ships clashed together, there were even some parts that were missing of the woods it was made of, leaving gaping holes that was thankfully not big enough to sink it. The sail had not been as white and as flawless it had been when they left, had been slashed and partly burned, but still able to catch wind for their return.

"Careful, Your Majesty." A guard had motioned for her to take a step back, perhaps fearing that some debris may fall from the ship as soon as it was docked, and she had grabbed Anna's wrist then, tugging her along as she backed away.

The wooden plank was lowered as soon as the ship had docked perfectly, and the first man had walked down. It was one of the crew, carrying a crate all by himself, and she noticed the exhaustion that lingered in his expression.

A stream of men continued on coming down, unloading the ship of crates and their belongings as they did, bowing their heads the best they could when they passed her and Anna, though there was a hint of surprise when they had seen the royals, as none had expected to see them outside, especially not the Queen, and instead had expected them to be waiting at the comfort of the castle, but none had spoken of their surprise out loud.

The moment her eyes caught the sight of auburn hair, striking under the sun, she felt weight lifting off her shoulders.

"Hans!"

Her voice startled him, as his head perked up and his eyes widened, but he soon has a smile on his face as he picked up his pace –though she could see that he was struggling as he did, while she come approaching him too, half of the guards moving along with her while the rest stayed with Anna.

The smaller the distance between them was, the easier for her to understand why he had struggled. He was limping as he walked, making him slower than he used to, thick winter coat over him to keep him away from the nipping cold could not fully hide the fact that his left arm was held close to his stomach with a bandage to support it.