Frozen Past

Chapter 2 - Part 19

#FrozenPastff

Narrator's P.O.V.

     – 2 years and some weeks later in Arendelle –

     Agnarr was 16 years old now and for his birthday his mother arranged a ball.
     At that ball, he should meet his wife to marry but also to finally come over with Iduna.
     Agnarr never stopped loving this girl, which made the Queen desperate.
     She tried everything for him to forget her.
     She even contacted the earth trolls – which lived in the mountains near the castle – but they said they couldn't erase love from a heart. They could only change memories and they did; but even though they changed Agnarr's love into friendship feelings, he always felt something more when he was thinking of her.
     Even the most powerful magic can't get through one's heart, because love is more powerful than everything in this strange world.

     "Mother. Could I talk to you for a second?" Agnarr entered his mother's room. Today was Agnarr's birthday but, unfortunately, his mother was sick. Though, she wouldn't want to cancel the ball and instead the King will open up the ceremony.
     "Come in." The Queen said and Agnarr did what so.
     He sat on her bed beside her and looked at her with a worried face.
     "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.
     "Yes, of course I will, my little Prince. But promise me you will choose your wife today. It is important for you to marry very soon so that we won't break any more traditions. Me, your grandparents and all your other ancestors married by the age of 14 to 15, and you are already 16!" She explained with a faked smile, pretending to feel fine, although she felt like if she was dying.

     Actually he wanted to ask his mother if she could cancel the ball, because A: he wasn't ready to marry yet – it always reminded him how Iduna said they're just kids who should play with other children and enjoy it –; and B: because he wanted to stay with his mother, supporting her in getting better.
     But he didn't do so because she asked him for that promise.
     Even though she was most of the time very cruel, he still loved her and it was actually one of the first times where she asked him something in a nicely way. He wouldn't want to disappoint her this time.
     "I will give my best today." He promised, although it was hard for him to say something like that. But he had to.
     The Queen smiled and then turned her head to the other side to sleep a bit. That was a sign for Agnarr to leave her room and he did so.

– Later in the evening at the ball –

     "Father, may I ask you something?" Agnarr and his father, the King, sat both on a throne, the king on a higher and bigger one of course.
     They were watching the people dance synchronously in the rhythm of the music. At the end of each song, all people clapped with their hands to thank for the dance. Then there was a short break before a new song was played.
     "Of course." He said, looked at him for a second but then concentrated at the dance again. He actually just eyed all the women, which could be considered as becoming the future Queen, good enough for his son.
     Although that was mostly what the current Queen wanted, and he did want so too, he kind of also enjoyed this evening, alone on the ruling throne.

     "How did you and mother meet?" Agnarr asked then.
     The King was surprised by that question and also needed to think of it a bit.
     "It was at a ball. Your grandmother arranged it so that your mother could finally choose a husband to rule the kingdom with. I was one of these men to show up to ask for the hand of your mother. I asked her for a dance, flirted a bit and we went out for a walk under the stars. It was a beautiful, warm and clear night. Also, the full moon was shining. We talked about all kind of stuff and then finally shared our first kiss. She introduced me to your grandmother and grandfather. They've liked me from the beginning on and was pleasured to announce us husband and wife, two days later." He told the story.

      But actually, the story was totally different. There were some things Agnarr should never know, that's why he changed very much of it.
     Like, for example: the current king (that is known to be also Agnarr's father) wasn't actually his real father. He's the second husband of Agnarr's mother because the first one died short after Agnarr's birth.
     The Queen has always adored balls with lots of dancing, so she arranged lots of ones after the death of her first husband, to distract her from her grief.
     That's when she met her second husband, the current King. But at that time, Agnarr's grandparents were already dead. Which was kind of a good thing, because they would have never allowed her daughter to marry again.
     Actually, every single soul, who knew about the second husband – him not being Agnarr's birth father –, was either killed or sent into the dungeon.
     All of this killing turned Agnarr's mother into a different person.
     No, it's more like something has awakened that lied deep inside of her.  

     "So that's basically the same story that I will be telling my children." Agnarr said to himself, but the King still heard it.
     "Look, son, I get that you are having worries about marriage and choosing the right girl. I wasn't so sure either, at first, but when I met your mother, everything changed, for the better. Love will change you. You just need to be open to it." The King said and he meant it.
     Well, considering that he didn't know much about love, as he had nothing but an obsession over the Queen's body and money. You couldn't call that love.
     Agnarr smiled, thankfully for the speech, and stood up.

     He walked through the crowd and was looking for girls that looked cute.
     There were actually a lot, who were pretty, but none of them looked like Iduna – beautiful, wavy, dark brown hair, which were always open because she wasn't a fan of hairstyles. And dark blue ocean eyes, in which he could loose himself...
     Because of his daydream, he didn't notice how he almost crashed into a girl. He apologised and smiled.
     "No problem." She said.
     After realizing it was the future King who apparently apologised to her, her cheeks went all red and she quickly made a plié.
     "It's okay." Agnarr said and the girl straightened up again. Her cheeks were still red.
     "Can I ask you out for a dance?" Agnarr asked and reached out with his hand so that the girl could put her hand into his. She did so and they both started to move lightly around.
     It was already the middle of the song, but they didn't care. They just followed the rhythm, while looking into each other's eyes.

     "Can I know your name?" Agnarr asked after a little while.
     "Oh, sure! My name is Patricia." The blonde girl answered.
     "What a beautiful name." Agnarr said, although it was a lie. He never liked names that began with P – and he didn't even know why; it has always been like that. But Patricia was looking pretty so he decided to give her a chance.

     Right after the song ended, they all clapped their hands.
     Agnarr took Patricia out for a walk.
     They talked a lot and surprisingly even the whole time, without any pause.
     Agnarr watched her, didn't stopped looking at her. He really began to like Patricia, actually. She was cute, pretty and had a bit of humour.
     But as much as Agnarr tried, he couldn't fall in love with her.
     His mind was replacing Patricia with Iduna, every time he thought about the future. He felt bad for that and Patricia didn't deserve something like this.
     "It was a beautiful night, Patricia. I hope to see you again soon." Agnarr said at the end of their walk and kissed her on the back of her hand. Her cheeks went red again and she thanked him too.
    She went back to the ball, but Agnarr couldn't yet. He needed a break, before meeting another girl. So he instead went to the other side of the castle.

     Usually not many people are here – well, rather no one except for the guards – because this is the dungeon building.
     There are some other 'normal' rooms here too, but because no one used them, they got dusty.
     I mean, who wants to have their room above or next to a criminal anyway?
     It was rather a creepy part of the castle, especially at night and Agnarr rather feared it.
     But today it was different; it was almost like he needed to go there, something pulled him inside. He didn't know why though but just followed his gut.

     After a while of walking, he stopped and sat down on an old, rusty chair, which was once a throne.

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