Ah, the first of the children to wake them up that morning. Wrapping her arms around the small form of their ward, Idun pressed a sleepy kiss to his temple, and sat up. Agdar was still asleep beside her, she could still hear his quiet snores–no doubt the girls would get to him soon enough. But the Queen’s concentration was on Quasimodo.
"God Jul, darling,“ she murmured, giving him a squeeze. "My, I think you’re up even earlier than last year.”
"Wait there a moment, darling,“ the Queen said with a chuckle, hiding her smile behind a hand. Crouching down, she pulled out a handkerchief, dabbed it against her tongue and began to wipe at his cheek.
"Has someone been practising with pens again?” she asked, still working at the ink on his skin.
As he got scooped up into his mother’s arms, the tears came uninhibited. He buried his face in the front of her dress, getting it wet with his tears. It was hard to breathe, and he eagerly soaked up his mother’s affection.
“I-I-I j-just — ” he tried to get out between his sobs, cloth muffling his tears. “I s-shoulda — made them stop pl-laying. B-before it happened.” He was Anna’s older brother. He should have insisted they stay in bed, that they not play in the middle of the night.
Everything was different now, and he didn’t know where he fit in. Elsa wasn’t leaving his room, and he had to lie to Anna…his sisters were so sad, now. “I-I don’t know what to do,” he said miserably.
For a moment she just held him to her, rubbing circles into his back as he cried. It was something she’d already gone through with Elsa that morning, her little girl trembling in her arms.
"And if you’d tried, they wouldn’t have listened,“ Idun replied quietly. Anna was too headstrong, and Elsa was the eldest. Not the best combination. "Darling, blaming yourself for an accident isn’t going to help matters. None of us knew what Elsa’s powers could do until the accident, and there’s no way we could have. Come now, little one, don’t cry.”
And at those last heartbreaking words, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “You don’t have to know,” she murmured. “Why don’t you keep Anna company for a bit? Elsa just needs some time to think things through. She’ll come around soon enough, you’ll see.
So much had changed in just one night. Nothing bad was supposed to have happened, they were just having fun. And then, suddenly, Anna was hurt. Mama and Papa told him to stay in the castle when they rode away, and he sat by the window, fighting back tears all night. And then, they came back, and he was so happy Anna was okay — at first.
Mama and Papa told him that Anna couldn’t remember about Elsa’s powers, and that she couldn’t know, ever. He didn’t want to lie to Anna, but they told him it was to keep her safe, so he thought it might be okay. But Elsa wasn’t talking to him, and Anna was so sad because she never left her room anymore. He was sad, too.
He leaned his head into Mama’s lap, her hand on his head a familiar, soothing touch. Still, his eyes were wet, and after all these weeks of being a big boy, he wanted nothing more than to cry.
“T-this is all my fault, isn’t it?”
At those words, she gathered him up into her arms, pressing kisses to his head, as she settled him on her lap. Thankfully, he wouldn’t reach the age where he was too big for such things for some time.
"Oh, of course it’s not, my silly, darling boy, no,“ she said quietly. Honestly, he took blame upon himself as easily as Elsa did. But at least in his case, she could tell him it mostly definitely was not his fault. It was much harder with her daughter.
"It was just an accident, love,” she continued, holding him tightly. “No one can predict an accident like that. Not you, or Anna, or Elsa. Or even me or Papa.” After kissing the top of his head once more, she leant down to see his face. “What’s making you think that, hm?”
justtoliveoneday
"Darling, are you all right?“
One hand reached out to stroke red hair. The little boy in their care may not be related to them by blood, but to the Queen, he was just as much one of her children as Elsa and Anna were. And after the accident, the girls had been getting the most attention. So in a quiet moment, she had sought him out.