i'm sinning in the rain~

“You wanted us to bathe here? Where everyone in camp could see?” Madness.

He turned to look at the stream and then back to her, incredulous.

“Of course not here. Further in, with more privacy.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not looking to share. If you are going to bare yourself to me then I am going to be the only one enjoying the show.”

Anna thought steam might be coming out of her ears. Show? Did he think her some harlot?

“You seem under the impression that you’ve taken some courtesan, and not a princess. There isn’t going to be any show.”

“Don’t worry princess, I wasn’t going to give you coin for it. Though I’m amazed that is where your mind went, I wouldn’t have thought it proper for you to know of such things. Have you indulged yourself, perchance?”

“Absolutely not!” She spluttered. “Just what are you suggesting?”

“I simply thought the Northern people might have more novel ways of staying warm, with how cold it gets.”

“Maybe you savages like to use that excuse, but we have cloaks and blankets and fire!”

“Of course,” He looked unconvinced. “Though right now I think the stream calls for you. You’re looking very… rosy.”

It felt like his acknowledgement of her red cheeks only made her blush harder. She glared at him and pushed past to the stream, untucking some cloth from her belt as she went. It was really more of a handkerchief than a washcloth, but it would have to do.

She picked her way over the edge of the stream, selecting a spot that would allow her to get close to the water without getting her dress even dirtier. She didn’t want to be covered in mud on top of everything else. Kneeling down, she had the sudden urge to plunge her whole head into the rushing water, hoping it would bring some relief. She instead settled for scooping some up with her hands and splashing her face. Despite the cool water, it still felt like her face was burning. Her hands shook as she wrung out the cloth and buried her face in it, trying to take deep, calming breaths. It didn’t work.

How she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face, bite him, scratch him, pay him back for all this humiliation. He wasn’t even really that big without all his stupid furs. She could probably punch him into the stream if she tried. He wouldn’t be laughing then!

But he was now. She could hear him talking to another one of those barbarians, too low and slightly too far away to make out what they were saying, but she could hear when they laughed, and somehow she knew he was laughing about her.

Damp cloth still pressed against her face, Anna screamed in frustration. The fabric muffled her voice somewhat, but damn that felt good. She’d been wanting to do that for months, ever since Elsa had fled. But of course, it wasn’t something a princess - a leader - was ever supposed to do.

The murmuring voices had suddenly stopped, and Anna felt rather than heard the approach of the Fox. There were a few beats of silence before he spoke.

“Princess? Are you… well?”

She wanted to scream again. And again… and again and never stop.

She looked up at him, eyes blazing.

“You… You sacked my home, killed who knows how many of my people, conspired with my council, kidnapped me, and you’re wondering if I’m well?” Her fists closed around the cloth in her hands and she allowed herself to imagine it was the Fox’s neck. “I haven’t been well since you set foot in Arendelle!”

He sighed. “You’re going to have to let go of this anger eventually, Princess. Dwelling on things isn’t going to do you any good.”

“I can stay angry as long as I want!”

“Well now you’re just being childish.”

She lowered her face back into her hands and screamed again. It sounded a lot more guttural this time, and Anna liked to believe she felt the Fox take a step backwards. After a few moments she lowered her hands and glared back up at him.

“You can’t keep insulting me and then wondering why I’m angry!”

He scoffed. “If you think me telling it like it is is insulting you then -” 

He stopped suddenly, and her eyes narrowed in response, wondering what scheme he was cooking up now.

“You know, princess, I think maybe I can help with your little… affliction…”

She snorted. As if.

“No, really. You’re obviously very angry, and princesses are never really taught about things like that, are they? I know you think us brutes, but we know all about anger, and what to do with it.”

“I couldn’t care less about your thuggish customs, Fox.”

“Oh, but I think you’ll like this one. And probably a lot better than impotently shrieking in the forest.”

She knew he was up to something, and that the wisest choice was to ignore him. But she couldn’t help it, something inside her needed to know what he was scheming.

“What are you proposing?”

“A duel, between you and I. Princess or not I know you’ve been itching to attack me since we met. I’m very familiar with that look in your eyes.”

She gaped at him, not sure she had heard him correctly.

“Are you crazy?”

“No, but you would have to be to refuse. If you want, I could sweeten the deal and promise you your freedom should you win.”

She froze. Of course he was dangling that in front of her. But why? If he’d wanted to cut her to ribbons with his sword he could have done so many times by now.

“You don’t like to fight fair do you? How would a princess know how to fight with a sword?”

“Oh, I don’t know… you seem very resourceful. I think I’d be more surprised if you told me you’d never held a sword before.”

It was true she had been a tearaway as a child, and had pestered some of her family’s personal guards to teach her how to fight, but that had been years ago, and those lessons were hardly extensive. They’d taught her enough to keep her entertained, and even that had abruptly stopped once she’d grown a little too old. Not proper for a young lady, supposedly.

“I could make it a bit fairer…” He continued, sensing her hesitation. “I could give you my sword.”

“You would be unarmed?” She asked, not daring to believe her ears. Surely she could use this to her advantage.

“No, I’m not that foolish. I’m sure I could find a branch that could serve as a replacement, though.”

Perhaps he had lost his mind. No, he was clearly just showing off how little he saw her as a threat, that he thought he could beat her while she wielded a sword and he a damned twig. Considering how much training and experience he had compared to her, he was right. But still, it was humiliating all the same.

“I think I’ll have to decline. I’m not in the mood for your games, Fox.”

“Hmm, how odd. Could it be that you actually don’t want to leave? I’m glad you feel so at home already, I was sure it would take you longer to adjust.”

Anna grit her teeth, knowing that he was goading her.

“After all, if you’re not willing to fight for your freedom, you must not really want it that much. I expect you to be a lot more cooperative in future if that’s the case.”

“Fine!” She exploded, throwing her hands in the air. “ If you really wish for me to stab you so badly, then I will oblige.”

He gave a wolfish grin, and Anna immediately wondered if she’d made a mistake. What was he getting out of this? 

“Wait here.”

She watched as he walked among the trees, eyeing them intently. Eventually, he stopped by one and pulled out his sword. Anna couldn’t see anything special about this one in particular, but the Fox swiftly cut a branch free from the trunk, turning it over in his hand and testing the weight of it. Once satisfied, he made his way back to her with it tucked under his arm.

“As promised.” He said, holding his hands out and presenting his sword to her.

The hilt was surprisingly ornate, inset with green jewels reminiscent of the Fox’s own eyes. Probably pillaged from somewhere like Arendelle, she thought bitterly as she took it, the Red Fox giving her a mock bow as she did so.

It wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be, but the weight still felt foreign in her hands, and, as a result, a little awkward. She wondered if she were quick enough, could she plunge it into his stomach? But surely he would be expecting her to try something like that.

“Are you ready?” Her eyes snapped up at the sound of his voice. He had moved a few paces back and was clearly eager to begin. Anna was quickly regretting her decision to play along, but it was too late to back down now; he already clearly saw her as weak, and she was going to do everything in her power to shatter that illusion.

“Shouldn’t we have some kind of judge?”

“I think we have no need for that. Unless there are certain rules you’d like to play by?” He seemed amused by the idea.

“Never mind. Let’s get this over with.”

“As you wish. Ready your weapon.”

She raised her sword and he his branch. It would have been comical if she wasn’t suddenly so nervous.

He caught her eye and nodded. She gulped, expecting an immediate attack, but nothing came. Instead, he moved, carefully measured steps to the side. She mirrored him, determined not to let him circle her like he had before, like she was some helpless prey. There had to be something she could do; she needed to win, to earn her freedom… and to make him pay for underestimating her.

“Come on, my sweet. Don’t you want to get the first hit in?”

It had been so long since she’d been taught anything about swords. Should she swing or thrust? She couldn’t - 

The Fox lunged. She dodged, gasping in surprise. Anna could swear she felt the woosh of air as the branch passed right by her. He flourished the makeshift weapon, and continued to prowl around her, much like his namesake.

“Your turn.”

She wouldn’t let him dictate the pace of her attacks. She’d swing when she decided. He raised an eyebrow at her inertia, but didn’t say anything more. She followed his movements with the sword, trying to hold it closer to her body so her arms wouldn’t tire too quickly.

He attacked again, and this time she brought up the sword to intercept it. A few splinters flew off the wood and she screwed her eyes shut out of instinct.

She felt a poke in her ribs, and opened her eyes to find that the Fox had appeared at her side, and was resting the branch against her. It would have been a fatal hit in a real fight. She shivered, as her mind conjured unbidden images of a blade sliding between her ribs.

“Never take your eyes off your opponent.” He said, arm still raised.

Her shoulders sagged. Just like that, it was over.

But instead of gloating and taking the sword back like she expected, he retreated a few steps back to his starting position. “What do you say to best of three?”

Anna said nothing, simply darted forwards and slashed at him. He gave a shout of laughter and parried the attack. She stumbled back, unbalanced.

“Yes!” He sounded positively gleeful. “Just like that!”

“Ugh!” She growled and rushed at him again. “Stop - being - so - smug!” Each word was punctuated with a strike, the Red Fox blocking, parrying, and evading each one. He was barely even breaking a sweat, while she was panting. Swinging the sword that many times in a row was more draining than she’d anticipated.

“Maybe I will… but only if you manage to humble me first.” He laughed again, as if the idea was ridiculous. He suddenly thrust forwards, barely missing her.

After what she had seen him do in Arendelle - if only at a distance - she knew he was going easy on her, and it was infuriating. He could have easily bested her by now, but he was toying with her, making her think she had a chance and could actually win. She hated it. She hated him.

With a yell, she gripped the hilt with both hands and swung at him wildly, but he smoothly stepped out of the way. The sword hit the ground with a thud, and pain jolted up to her elbows.

“You’re going to dull the blade at this rate, Princess.”

Maybe giving her the sword hadn’t even been a mercy, as he’d tried to present it. The branch he held was blunt, true, but lighter than the sword. It might have even been in her favour for her to be the one with the branch, so that she might swing it more easily. Had even that been a trick? This duel, already so much in his favour, and he still had to rig it, all behind the lie that he was doing her a kindness.

She heaved the blade again, but he merely leapt backwards out of reach. How was he so light on his feet? Sweat was beading her brow, and she could feel wisps of hair starting to escape from her pins. What could she do? Letting him attack was risky, but she was just wearing herself out throwing herself at him like this… and when she was sufficiently tired, she was sure he would strike, and it would be over.

There had to be some way to outsmart him, use his arrogance against him. But how? His stalling was tiring her faster than him, and she was already fighting against a mere piece of wood, though she was sure the blade he had given her was dulled. They’d clashed weapons a few times, but the sword had failed to cut through the branch…

“Well?” He sounded terse. Anna blinked, realising that she’d been lost in her thoughts and he’d still not attacked. “Are you going to make a move this year, princess?”

That’s it!

He seemed incredibly focused on letting her act first… but why? He’d initially parried and blocked her attacks, but was now mainly dodging. She must have damaged the branch more than she realised, and he was trying to prevent it breaking. Even now, she should have been punished for hesitating so long, but he seemed reluctant to swing.

She took a few steps to the side, looking more carefully at the branch now, trying to spot a weak point. There was the part that had splintered when she had blocked before, could that be it? She swung at him, and as he evaded she could see a flash of the white flesh of the branch, which he had kept turned towards the ground. There.

Something like triumph igniting in her chest, she unleashed another flurry of blows on him. The Fox twisted and dodged, and Anna imagined his namesake darting and weaving through the trees, red against green. But her attacks were so relentless that he couldn’t evade them all - her final blow struck true, and he thrust the wood forward with both hands to intercept the blade. With a sharp crack the branch was cleaved in two as the sword once again inexorably swung down to hit the earth.

Anna blinked, amazed that it had worked, not even feeling the pain jarring her elbows from the blade’s sudden stop. Her glory was short lived, however, as she felt something at her neck. The Red Fox had recovered much quicker than she had, and was holding the splintered remains of the branch to her throat.

“Two points to me. Looks like I won,” He withdrew the ruined piece of wood and tossed it next to its twin. “Though I think there is potential. We can make a shield-maiden of you yet.”

Anna gaped at him. “You cheated!”

“I did?”

“Yes! Everything about this fight was rigged! You have more training! I’m wearing a dress! You gave me a blunt sword!”

He laughed and grabbed the sword still hanging loosely from her hands, wiping the blade on the edge of his cloak before sheathing it. 

“The only unfair fight is the one you lose, princess.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that fairness doesn’t matter, only winning. You’d do well to remember that, especially when to me losing usually means death.”

“So you admit it?”

“I don’t admit anything. It sounds more like you’re making excuses. I’m so terribly sorry to have gotten your hopes up, my dove, but it looks like you still belong to me.”

She straightened her back and narrowed her eyes, challenging him again despite the loss of a weapon. “I belong to no one.”

“You can repeat something as much as you want, but that doesn’t make it true.”

“I could say the same to you!”

“Well then, why don’t you try and leave this camp, princess? Of course you want to, oh how desperately you want to… but you know you can’t, because you are mine.”

“I’m a prisoner, that doesn’t make me yours. I will never be yours."

“You are mine as much as my horse is, though he is at least sensible enough to recognise a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

Comparing her to a horse, now? He clearly had no clue how to speak to women. She almost snorted.

“And what benefit would I be getting?” She queried.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He gave another of his vulpine grins and she recoiled. 

“You think far too highly of yourself, Fox.”

“Curious. I’m here to offer you safety, which is something you clearly did not have in your homeland, or we wouldn’t have been able to crush your little army in a single afternoon and get your people to relinquish you in exchange for their miserable lives. What did you think I meant, princess?”

She scoffed. “We both know what you were suggesting. You’ve not exactly been subtle about it.”

“I don’t have the faintest idea what you mean,”

Well if he was going to feign innocence then she wasn’t going to waste time trying to address it.

“You speak of safety when all you do is threaten me,” She widened her stance, deepened her voice and planted her hands on her hips. “Do this, princess, or I’ll tie you up! Stay in the tent or you’ll get no privacy! Come quietly, princess, or I’ll burn your home to the ground!” 

He looked stunned for a moment, then tipped back his head and guffawed at her impression of him.

“I fail to see what’s so funny,” she said coolly, arms crossed as he continued to laugh.

Finally he recovered, wiping imaginary tears from his eyes. “I had no idea you were a performer. Maybe I’ll let you loose on my men one of these days."

“I wasn’t joking.”

“Oh, I know, but you still don’t understand. I’m not threatening you; I’m merely offering you an incentive. After all, how can I keep you safe if you keep getting yourself into trouble? Running a tight ship is part of that - if I let you delay us, travelling at the wrong times can be dangerous.”

“So you want to give me a choice, but will punish me if I make the wrong one. How is that fair?”

“It’s how the world works. You have laws in Arendelle, don’t you? Surely you want people to behave properly, but will punish them if they don’t. That’s all I’m doing.”

“That’s completely different!”

“Is it?”

“Of course it is!” She grabbed fistfuls of her hair in frustration, loosening some of the pins she had put there in the process. “Stop being difficult!”

"The only one being difficult here is you."

She lowered her head into her hands and groaned, trying to ignore the pins she could feel falling from her hair to the ground as she did so.

"Princess, I really think you need to learn to relax,"

The voice came from her side, and Anna looked up, startled to see the Fox no longer in front of her. How did he do that?

He caught one of her loose strands of hair between two of his fingers, and Anna could see from the corner of her eye that it was her white streak.

"After all, you're already going grey. If you keep on like this you'll be fully white in no time."

She flushed. "I'm not going grey! I was born with that!"

"You were?" He frowned, studying her for a few more seconds. "Interesting,"

His fingertips brushed her cheek as he withdrew his hand and she shivered, bringing her arms up to fold against her chest. The hairs at her nape prickled as he circled behind her and she craned her neck, trying to keep him in her sight.

"What are you -?"

Before she could finish her question, he pulled the final pin from her hair, sending it tumbling around her shoulders. She huffed, blowing some of the errant copper strands away from her face.

"You made such a point of laughing at my messy hair, and then you pull it loose?"

"It was coming undone anyway, I thought you'd want to fix it." He shrugged, coming to stand in front of her again. "Here,"

He held out his hand and Anna wondered why he was named for the fox instead of the wolf, when he smiled at her like that. A ray of light broke through the trees, flashing off of his too-sharp teeth, and she suddenly had the feeling that he was more than simply returning her hairpin. Before her outstretched hand could reach his, she paused.

"What's the matter? Would you like me to fix it for you instead?"

"Of course not!"

The idea of the Fox's hands combing through her hair was not something Anna wanted to dwell on, and she quickly reached forwards to snatch her pin back. But before she could grab it, the trinket slipped through his fingers, tinkling as it landed on top of the others that had already fallen to the ground.

"Oops…How clumsy of me," He said, far too flippantly. He had dropped it on purpose, of course.

Anna quickly dropped to the ground, not waiting to see what kind of oddly charged situation the Fox was trying to create between them. Grateful to have an excuse to look away from those eyes and that smile, she collected her errant hairpins from among the grass, thankful that they all seemed to be accounted for. Doing her best to ignore the Red Fox looming above her, she wiped the various pins off on her hem before tucking them away in her pouch. Really, he was lucky she hadn't stabbed him with them.

"Princess?"

She looked up to see an outstretched hand, and an uncharacteristically dazzling smile, nothing like his usual twisted smirks and feral grins. Anna's breath caught in her throat. Something about this smile made her feel… almost safe, like she could trust him. She allowed herself a moment to fantasise about how things could have been different. Perhaps she was back in Arendelle, and had bumped into him because she wasn't looking where she was going. I'm so sorry, are you hurt? he'd ask, dressed in royal finery and extending a pristine white gloved hand, just waiting for her to take it.

But no, that wasn't what had happened.

She smacked his hand away, delighting at the shock that painted his features as their hands connected in a very different way than he'd been anticpating. He really had the nerve to deliberately drop her pin and then act like he was doing a favour by helping her up?

“Stop pretending to be polite and civilised when you're anything but! It doesn't count if you don't mean it!"

She got to her feet, intending to jab an irate finger into his chest, but her foot caught on her hem, sending her lurching forwards. Quick as a flash, the Fox darted forwards and caught her before she could fall.

Dazed, she looked up at him expecting to see his signature smirk, but was met with a surprisingly gentle smile.

“Glad I caught you.”

Something in her broke. Had he even listened? Did everything need some kind of quip? He was insufferable. With a cry of frustration she pushed herself backwards and that rare smile of his died just as quickly as it had appeared.

“Not even a thank you?” He arched a brow. "Here I am saving you from yourself yet again and you still lash out,"

There it was again, that roaring in her ears, and that feeling like she wasn’t fully in control. Through her hazy vision, and before she even realised what she was doing, she took a step back towards the Red Fox, wound back her arm, and punched him square in the face.

Her hand lit up with pain and it was enough to pull Anna back to her senses. She gripped her knuckles with her free hand, staring at them in a daze as she tried to process what she’d just done. She’d never hit anyone in her life, let alone - 

She gulped, the reality of what she’d done sinking in.