Arendelle and how it had lasted several decades. His family was relatively new to the throne in his kingdom, so he constantly wanted to hear her opinions on trade and foreign affairs. They’d become so close, yet there was still so much she couldn’t tell him.
There was another knock on the dressing room door. “Elsa? Are you ready?”
“Coming!” Elsa called. She looked back at Olaf.
“I know what to do,” he told her. “Stay here, be quiet, and if anyone appears, hide. Maybe I’ll even do some cleaning. This room is rather dusty.”
He wasn’t wrong. Since she never let anyone in to clean, it had gotten a bit musty. “Good idea. If you get bored, maybe you can see if there is anything in my hope chest I don’t need anymore,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve looked in there for years.”
Olaf nodded. “Ooh! I love hope chests.” He headed off to the chest and opened it wide. “Wow! There’s lots crammed in here.”
Elsa left him with his project. She came through the doorway between her dressing area and her bedroom and found Gerda patiently waiting. She stood next to a dress form, holding the gown Elsa would wear for her coronation. Every detail had been carefully planned for her big day.
Gerda smiled. “This is a gown fit for a queen, is it not?”
Elsa returned the smile. She didn’t have the heart to tell Gerda she found the dress a bit heavy when she walked, and the high neckline was restricting. Every time she put the gown on, she felt claustrophobic. “Everything you bring in is beautiful, Gerda.” This small room was one of her favorites. She loved the soothing blue hues of the wallpaper and the white wood accents, hand-painted with gold and purple rosemaling that picked up the colors of the rug on the floor. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe that she had a whole room just for dressing, but it helped to know she could walk into the adjacent room and not have to hide Olaf away.
“Shall we do one last fitting?” Gerda asked.
Elsa obliged, slipping behind the screen to put on the gown. When she emerged, Gerda had her stand on a wooden box in front of the large trifold mirror so that they could make final alterations.
There was a knock at the dressing room door. “May I enter?”
“Yes,” Gerda and Elsa said at the same time.
Lord Peterssen looked as if he might cry when he saw her. “Elsa, you are lovely. If your parents could see you today…”
She touched his hand. “I know. They’d be proud.”
He pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of his blue jacket. “They truly would be. As am I,” he said with a smile.
The past three years had aged him. His thick black hair had thinned, and the gray was seeping through. He looked tired all the time. She could relate. Her parents’ absence had weighed on them both. But now the day had come when he would step aside from handling the royal affairs, while she would be entering a lifetime of duty. How was she going to keep her secret safe from the kingdom?
She felt her fingertips beginning to tingle inside her gloves. She pulled her hand away from Gerda, who was fixing a stitch on the gown’s midsection.
“This gown is ready and so are you,” Gerda said reassuringly.
A crash came from the other side of her bedroom wall. Then she heard a loud shriek.
Lord Peterssen appeared baffled. “Is there someone inside your chamber?”
Elsa stepped off the box and began backing out of the room. “Please excuse me for one moment. I left my windows open. A bird must have flown in,” she said. What is Olaf doing? “I’ll take care of it.”
“Do you want help?” Gerda asked.
“No!” Elsa said, a bit more forcefully than she intended. “I’ll be right back.”
Elsa hurried through the door to her bedroom and closed it. When she turned around, she saw Olaf had emptied her entire trunk. Papers, gowns, trinkets, and mementos were scattered around the floor. Olaf was bent over an object she couldn’t see, and he groaned loudly as he tried to lift it.
“Olaf!” she whispered. “What are you—oh!”
Olaf stood over a green wooden box she had long forgotten about. It was the lockbox her father had given her right before his final journey. Seeing it again brought tears to her eyes. “I forgot about this,” she said.