His lips thinned. Of course he questioned his actions. But a King didn’t falter, didn’t question his own decisions; not out loud.
”We aren’t separating them, love. Elsa is simply being given more space—just a room, where she can practice and learn control. And we’ll be there every step of the way. I’ll think of things to help, exercises perhaps, or aids of sorts.”
He knew of course, that to say they weren’t separating them was a bit of a deception. One he told himself. That surely Elsa would come out of her room and play with her sister, on better days.
He didn’t listen to the part of him that had already seen and acknowledged how Elsa was reacting to everything. How she was already closing herself inward.
"Ah, so forcing her to move out of the room she’s had for her entire life and away from her sister is not separating them?“ she fired back, his stubbornness putting her on the defensive. But not for herself, for her children. They needed someone to be their advocate in this world, and it might as well be their mother.
"She’s terrified, constantly,” she continued, finally putting the hoop aside. “Her nightmares aren’t letting up, no matter what I do. I’ve tried to get her to practise, but she’s too scared to do so. That troll has petrified her, and you, darling, have not helped matters.” A short puff of air left her nose. “She thinks you’re afraid of her. She’s told me so."
And those were just Elsa’s issues, Anna had been clingy, upset. She was lonely without her only playmate, and would hover outside of Elsa’s door until someone came along to lead her away. But he wouldn’t know of all that, sat away as he was in his office day after day.