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Arendelle Palace was normally quiet at night, with only the sound of the wind and waves in the distance. It was rare to hear people up and about in the dark when none were expected to be working until, at the earliest, shortly before dawn. At least, this was before the birth of a royal heir, when early mornings became a much more common occurrence much to the amused annoyance of the heir’s parents.
It was the third hour of morning when Elsa opened her eyes to a soft wail from the cradle. She had been trained to respond to such a sound for four months now. Luckily for her, she was not the only one. In the bed beside her she felt movement as a groan sounded underneath the pitiful wail. Turning, she saw a red head of messy hair pull itself under a pillow. It waited a second before peeking at her with weary eyes.
“Elsa, get Mary would you?”
She had already started to drag herself out of bed, she paused. “Why?”
“You’re the responsible parent, I’m the fun parent.” Elsa snorted at that reply, but seeing as Anna had been the one who had stayed up and tried to tire the babe out, she was feeling generous tonight.
Elsa slipped out of bed, noticing the other reason why Anna had been so reluctant to attend to their child. Little spots of ice and snow were everywhere in the chamber, making Elsa almost smile in glee. Almost. It was too early and having at least an hour of upset baby to look forward to, she couldn’t quite muster the effort.
Yawning she didn’t bother with a robe as she walked to the other side of the room, where a wooden cradle sat. The cradle had been a gift from Kristoff, hastily carved and his way of showing support for the royal couple. It had been well received and his meaning had been passed on. She ran her fingers along the polished wood before bending over to gently pull Mary from her pile of snow. She had a tendency to summon little flurries when she was upset, much to Anna’s amusement.
The first time the child had summoned snow Elsa had panicked. That had been nothing considering that their maid Gerda had been beside herself after the whole worry over the baby freezing. It made her wonder how her parents had dealt with her little bouts of magic at this age.
A question that would remain without answer, like a lot of other things. In particular, the mystery as to the babe’s ‘father’. It had been the first and foremost question in everyone’s minds since their little surprise had announced herself with morning sickness.
“Baby Mary, precious miracle. Why are you awake at this hour?” Elsa cooed, tucking the babe into her arms. After four months she had started to ignore the little messes of babies, not even flinching as she felt sticky fists grab onto her nightdress. A lullaby filled the room as the wails turned to soft cries before easing into gentle sniffles.
Elsa dispelled the snow and ice from the room, moving to the rocking chair. Baby Mary hiccuped a few times before settling more peacefully in her mother’s arms. The weight against her chest and shoulder felt right and warm. Any attempt to put the babe down now was like to set her to crying again. More so when Elsa felt her slip into sleep, her body relaxing to the sound of Elsa’s heartbeat.
Elsa took in the sight of her daughter, calm and peaceful in sleep. She was a little of both of them, looking more like a much younger sister then a daughter without a father to take half of her looks from.
Anna had been too pleased to see that Mary had gotten Elsa’s blues and Elsa had been amused to see that she had red hair with a tendency to curl at the ends. She was perfect from her toes to her hair and Elsa didn’t want anything different about the little babe.
“Do you want me to take her?” Elsa blinked at Anna, who was at the end of the bed, holding onto what had to be all of their blankets. The image was amusing, as Anna puffed; both of them watching her breath form visibly in the air.
“Go back to bed, dear. Baby Mary just seems to be in one of her moods.” Elsa realized that Anna had left the bed, finding both slippers, robes and all of their blankets as she slowly slid her way over to the chair.
“Baby Mary, how mean. Keeping her Royal Majesty from both wife and sleep!” The babe didn’t even move at the feel of her mom’s hand, still peacefully in dream land. “If I wasn’t so mature I’d be jealous.”
“Shh, you.”
Anna played with their daughter’s hair. Eventually Anna seemed to come to an agreement with herself since she nodded and gave a gentle tug to Elsa’s shoulder.
“Come to bed, she can sleep with us tonight.”
“Anna.” Elsa only gave a token resistance. They had talked about this before. Mary was supposed to sleep in her own bed, not only because it was safer but because Anna was like to get driven out of their marital bed herself if a snow flurry was summoned sometime in the night. Besides, she had a perfectly good cradle in their room all for herself.
“Elsa. You have a meeting tomorrow and so do I. We can reconsider letting Mary sleep in her own bed when she’s tall enough for one.”
“We have a cradle for a reason.” The Queen reminded, an eyebrow raising.
“And such a lovely cradle it is, but I like sleep more than I fear telling Kristoff that Mary prefers our bed to her own. Besides, I’m sure he would understand. He likes sleep too. Now get over here would you?”
Elsa cradled the babe in her arms. Anna held the blankets open, welcoming her love and child into the bed with only a small yip when cold toes touched her thighs. They were used to the arrangement and settled quickly into the most comfortable postitions. Their child carefully swaddled and placed in a bed of pillows between them.
"Night wife." Elsa spoke, looking at her wife as her finger was captured by the sleeping infant.
"Night dork."