Frozen Past

Chapter 2 - Part 17

#FrozenPastff

Current song playing: https://youtu.be/fn_m9FDPuuw

------------------------------------------------------------

Narrator's P.O.V.

     Some weeks have passed since Iduna's arrival in the castle.
     The Queen kept her promise and trained Iduna as a princess. Although Iduna had no idea why the Queen did that – because she also didn't know that Agnarr wanted to marry her – but she thought it was fun so she played along.
      The Queen of course was always very angry when Iduna kept making fun of the lessons, so she sometimes tighten the sling – which means that she was stricter and didn't let her doing any mistakes. If Iduna made a mistake though, she got more homework from school or wasn't allowed to go outside.
     Iduna didn't understand that. She thought this was supposed to be some kind of vacation so why did she need to learn all that stuff?
      The Queen once even went so far that she made Iduna cry.
      Iduna never cried. Not even when she was eight years old and fell from a tree. Her grandma was surprised that Iduna said that she wasn't hurt and could walk normally, although she bled.
      But when the Queen made her cry that day, it was as if everything that happened in Iduna's life before came just above her skin and she couldn't stop crying. Since then she almost cried herself to sleep everyday, because she missed her family.
     She cuddled herself into the scarf that her grandma gave her and slept in sometime. It still smelled like her mother and her grandma.

     In school though Iduna felt well. The teacher was very lovely and she always laughed with Agnarr about different things.
     On the first day, Agnarr said that Iduna shouldn't be doing that because otherwise his mother would get angry. But Iduna didn't care. It was her wild soul and she wouldn't want it to be silent.
     But after some time, Agnarr got used to it pretty much and also started making some jokes. Even the teacher himself said sometimes something funny between his boring speeches.
      When the teacher reported about the lesson to the Queen, he always said how amazed he is by Iduna. She was a quick learner and listened carefully. Although she had her own way to learn and it wasn't the one that the teacher taught, it was fine.
     At least for the teacher, the Queen didn't like that Iduna still had her "own way" of doing things. The Queen wanted to break her.

     The Queen taught her how to behave in front of the King or the Prince. A woman was below the Man and needed to respect him. There was no room for wild souls because that's not how a kingdom is ruled.
     Iduna always said she would understand and gave the Queen what she wanted when she was near. But in reality, Iduna was totally against the way of how the Queen thought. It didn't feel right for Iduna and she also didn't want to loose her true self just because someone told her too.
     In fact, it wasn't even the kingdom Iduna listened to. She belonged to the Northuldras. That was her home.
     So one day, when Iduna missed her family like hell, she decided to ask the Queen if she could arrange a ship so that Iduna could go home.
     But the Queen responded something totally different that Iduna could ever expect.

     "You want to become Queen, don't you? It takes way more lessons than that. You can't just leave your exams. They have to be work through until you mastered them completely."
     "What? No, I never said that... I thought... I thought it was supposed to be a vacation, and-", she got interrupted by the Queen.
    "A princess doesn't think! She only does what the King or Prince tells her to do!"

     Agnarr watched in the background. He wanted to help Iduna, but he knew he would only make it worse. His mother was the Queen; he needed to have respect in front of her, otherwise he would get punished.
     "Now go to your room and study for your exam next week!" The Queen said in a loud tone.
     Iduna turned around and wanted to leave, but the Queen stopped her – again. "Haven't you forgot something?"
     Iduna turned around again and made a short plié, until the Queen waved her hand as a sign, allowing Iduna to leave.
     Iduna ran to her room — not seeing Agnarr who was hiding behind the door — and jumped on her bed where she cried because of the Queen again.
     She wasn't allowed to go home? When was that decided? Agnarr would have told her if he knew, right?
     Iduna was sad but also outrageous. She didn't want to take the fact that the Queen could control her that easily.
     Iduna wanted to fight and to say her opinion about royalty, but then she remembered her family and that this was not who they were. Fighting was not an option – there have always been other ways. Iduna knew that, yet the Queen made her so angry.

— Some days later –

     Agnarr and Iduna were studying for the next exam for school tomorrow in Iduna's room.

     Iduna cried a lot after finding out that she wasn't allowed to go back home. So long, until she almost broke. Almost. She knew she was a fighter so she didn't want to give up. No matter how long it will take for her to win that fight, but she had faith that it would.

     After some hours of studying, Agnarr and Iduna played a card game. It was Agnarr's favourite and they both played it almost everyday if they had time after school.
     "Iduna, do you want to marry me?" Asked the 13 years old Agnarr surprisingly.
     "Aren't we too young?" she asked confused and didn't know why Agnarr would ask something like this so suddenly.
     "I love you." He said very quickly. He didn't need to think about it because it came directly from his heart.
     Iduna didn't know what to say. She really liked him, yes, but she couldn't tell if it was love. Wasn't she a bit too young to say that? She was only 13 years old. Her life has just begun.
    Back then, in Canada, her home, she never thought about that kind of stuff and never had to. Everything changed so drastic in her life, which is why she hadn't much time to concentrate on other stuff, except school.

     "I heard my mother talking about something before. She said she wanted me to marry soon." He explained to her.
     "Oh." Iduna could only say.
     "I don't want to marry anyone else, Iduna. I love you and I want you. Only you."
     Iduna began to cry.
     There has never been a person who told her something like this.
     She also felt really sorry that she didn't feel the same about him.
     Of course, she wouldn't want to marry anyone else than him either, but not at this age. It would break her heart seeing Agnarr marrying someone else, though, but that wasn't her decision. She remembered the Queen's words: "a princess only does what the King or Prince tells her to do!"
    She learned how she will never be in a position to tell what's good for her and what's not. She'll have to do what the higher rank tells her.

     "Why are you crying?" Agnarr asked, surprised by that but also hurt. He didn't want to see his love being sad.
     "I'm not in the position to tell you that, my King." Iduna answered.
     "Why are you talking like this? You know you can call me Agnarr, don't you?" he asked, still very confused.
    "I'm sorry, I didn't want to disrespect you, my King." Iduna put down her head as a sign of respect and waited for Agnarr to punish her.
     "Stop that!" Agnarr said and Iduna immediately reacted as if she was a robot.
     "Why are you acting like this so suddenly?" Agnarr asked, slowly getting to feel uncomfortable.
     Iduna didn't answer. She kept her head down and focused on how to not get any more emotional as she already were.

     Suddenly, out of nowhere, she had to think of her parents, of their smile and humour and how they're brightened up the day of each person in the village.
    What would she give for one last hug...?

     "Did my mother tell you to act like this?" he asked after a while of complete silence.
     Iduna really wanted to nod but she couldn't. It would cause only more trouble and she didn't want to be the reason anymore.
     "My Father always told me: 'no answer is also an answer'. I guess I'll have to talk to my Mother then, to finally treat you like a real Princess!" Agnarr promised her.
     "No! Please don't do that." Iduna sighed and finally looked up to him.
     "I don't want to be the reason for everything anymore. Please don't treat me like a Princess because I'm not. I'm just a simple girl with an ordinary life." Iduna said, then jumped off the chair and ran out of her room. She ran fast, just in case Agnarr would follow her.
     But Agnarr stood still like a tree; he could barely move. He felt like his heart got just broken.

————————————————————

If you have a question, you can ask in the comments.

I would appreciate any kind of feedback, especially if you have criticism, I'm very open! ⛄️

Because I'm not a native speaker, my English may come off bad and I'm sorry for that. If you noticed any mistakes, please tell me right away so that I can correct them!!