Chapter Text
There once lived a grumpy, ancient king that ruled over his land living high up on a hill. It was a very cold land, and to any of his people, they would simply state that so was his heart. It wasn't always frozen, cold, and deeply tucked away. His wife was swept away in a terrible storm that no one could control and so he cursed the land and cursed the heavens and cursed hell until it froze over. It almost seemed as if time froze. But it ticked along just as life does and ought to. The only joy the king found was in the croaking of frogs in the bogs when it was just barely warm enough in the summer. That summer a widowed Prince, distraught with the grief of his own love arrives, they are set to business but the prince marvels at the cool, ice landscape. "Did your people build it for you?" It was a simple conversation, a kind man not coaxed by the court. Softer in some unrefined common way. Common. It was always spoken of like tar. Not with this man. It reminded him of the way his Queen spoke of their people, of something long ago, and gone neglected.
"No," the king admits, "I am without my luminous queen, for years I have been unable to find myself to face the sun that paled in her light so I shunned it away from my land." The prince was in awe of his power yet understood his grief.
"My late Queen, too, has fallen, Your Majesty, and I fear a foreign fellow isn't fond of their choice in leadership. I do stride with confidence in my love's land and honor her well, but I must...learn to command and earn my people's faith." Perhaps the king was wrong, few diplomatic, nay kings took to heart their own given land's needs. Not the way he felt this man did.
"Remarkable fellow..." The King bemused mostly to himself. The prince flushes and the king realizes he has uttered his thoughts aloud.
"Let our two regions come in a union. We are neighboring close by and my wife, my dear queen sought you well for an ally." Again the prince humbled, for the first time in years, the king smiled and the prince bestows him with a colorful flower plucked from the meadows. His lips whispered something soft before kissing the petals.
"So that our kingdoms and our courts flourish kindly and vibrantly." The king nods his appreciation.
"To civilization anew." The prince laughs, confused by the toast with the lack of glasses to toast.
"Ah, yes. Won't you join me inside for a drink, you must be chilled to the bone." But the land was starting to warm up.
"Actually, something with a bit of ice." And they drank and listened to the frog's croon all night in the courtyard and the open balcony.