[Before you go and read this chapter. There are mentions, discussions, topics, and elements of religions such as Christianity. I did my research and wrote only what I found. I don't have any intention to offend anyone. If you find them offensive, you have my advance apologies.]
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"This is the second time he's gone…" Ariel murmured to herself, staring at the empty beach in front of her.
Although she received Henry's letter two days ago, in which he indicated that he's on a mission and might not be back for 2 to 3 days—she still couldn't help but miss him.
"I wonder what he's doing right now…Is he fighting monsters and beasts to save the Kingdom? Or maybe he's going on a great adventure to rescue some kind of princess like a knight in a shining armor!" The more Ariel fathoms about Henry's situation, the more excited she becomes.
On her side, Flounder deadpanned at her, "Ariel looks like she's gonna go crazy…" He murmured to himself—a little bit worried for his only friend.
In the end, he could only pray for Henry to hurry up in whatever he's doing and have night meetings with Ariel again lest she might go crazy.
———
"Princess Elsa!" As soon as they arrived at the castle, Kai came rushing out with a sigh of relief however, his eyes soon wandered to the person on the wagon, his eyes almost bulged out of his eye sockets, "And Princess Anna?!"
Anna could only awkwardly wave her hand with a sheepish smile at the steward, "Hey, Kai. Haha~"
If Kai were any older than he is now, no doubt the man would've passed out at the mere thought of letting Anna out of the castle and into the forest.
He can only thank the heavens that Elsa and Henry were about to encounter her first before the others.
Recovering from the shock, he called a few servants to help Elsa while a boy guided Snow back to her stables. While an adult stablehand grabbed the violent dark horse that was lent to Henry.
"And who are you supposed to be, young man?" Seeing Kristoff who just assisted Anna in stepping down from the wagon, Kai raised an eyebrow.
Kristoff suddenly felt his back filled with sweat as countless eyes fell on him. He gulped his saliva hard, got down from Sven's back before sauntering towards Kai with fake confidence.
Only for his voice to come out meek and stuttered, "H-Hi. My name is Kristoff, sir." His face scrunched in embarrassment.
"Pfft!"
And if there's someone who enjoyed seeing his suffering, it would be none other than Anna herself. Honestly, during the past few hours they've been together, their constant bickering, Anna's childish whims countered by Kristoff's maturity made their relationship form some sort of weird connection.
"Kristoff…" Kai murmured the name under his breath before nodding his head in approval, "I see you brought Anna with you, did she already pay for your services?"
Kristoff blinked in surprise before speaking, "Ah! Yes, she already did. Thanks. I guess."
Kai nodded his head and gestured for the castle gates, "There's the castle gate over there. Thanks for bringing the princess back home safe, coachman." Thinking of Kristoff as one of those professional drivers of horse-driven carriages, Kai remained professional in both courtesy and gratitude.
Before Kristoff could reply, Anna suddenly stepped forward, "Actually, Kristoff is a friend of mine." She tucked her hair behind her ear.
Seeing this made Henry sigh in both defeat and relief. The former because Anna is still the same as the one in the film, getting too attached to someone she just met, and the latter because it's Kristoff instead of Hans.
"A friend?" Kai gave her the look, "This is your first time being outside the castle princess, and you already consider someone you just met, a friend?"
Anna shyly looked away, whistling as if Kai's words didn't reach her ears. She even gave up inviting Kristoff over.
With a sigh, Kai reluctantly agreed. It's been a long time since the castle had guests and besides, seeing that Henry and Elsa bore happy expressions—he assumed that the future Queen of Arendelle is fine now.
"Alright. Let's all head inside. I'll have Gerda prepare a meal for you all."
———
Once inside, Kristoff couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the castle, especially the interior. This is his first time being in a castle and the history books that he read didn't do it justice.
In his eyes, Kristoff couldn't imagine the craftsmanship and manpower it takes to build a castle like Arendelle's.
Not to mention, Arendelle is not even part of the great Five Kingdoms—where each Kingdom situates on different parts of the continent. Mainly the West, East, North, and South sides. With the last Kingdom being in the center of it all.
Funny enough, the said Kingdom in the center is Lioncrest Kingdom, sometimes being a focal point especially during skirmishes or worse, wars between Kingdoms.
One can only imagine the sheer weight of being the Lioncrest Kingdom's King. Not every King can handle having four other Great Kingdoms flanking on each side of the territory.
As for Arendelle, the Kingdom is situated on top of the Lioncrest Kingdom, being in the middle of the North and West. And if that's not enough to shock someone, think about the Southern Isles—the place where the infamous Prince Hans is a prince, between the Lioncrest and Arendelle.
Arriving at the dining hall, Kristoff stopped in his tracks as his mouth was wide open. The sight of countless steaming hot foods atop their plates on the table along with several servants smoothly working around the place stunned him.
Truly the life of luxury is something that is far from his reach, no matter how hard he works in his Ice Harvesting job, even if he works in ten entire lifetimes.
They soon found their chairs. Elsa sat at the head of the table while Henry and Anna sat on each side, with Kristoff sitting near Anna instead of Henry.
'Ahh, Kristoff. How could you betray me? What happened to bros before hoes?'
Before Kristoff could take a bite out of the glistening sausage he stabbed with his fork, he suddenly felt a shiver in his spine and when he tried to find the source, he saw Henry's hurtful glare towards him.
He confusingly tilted his head, 'What'd I do?'
———
After dinner, Kristoff was personally sent off by Anna. On the other hand, Henry stayed. There are still a few things he advised Elsa.
"Listen, Elsa. No longer concealing your powers, okay? Feel it and control it. The more you hold it back and let it bottle up, the harder it is to control them—though I doubt it since you have already achieved inner peace." With crossed arms, Henry continued, "One last thing. I suggest you think of a way whether to reveal the truth of your powers to the castle servants, and eventually your people, or not."
His last words earned a frown from Elsa, "Can't I just keep them to myself and a few others? I don't think it's a good idea to reveal them to the public."
Henry simply nodded his head, understanding her point, "That's right. Witch hunts, sorcery, and things like that are seen as something bad and vile to the normal people, especially to those who pray to their gods. That's why I want you to think twice before you reveal the truth. If you do plan for it, just make sure to tell me first so I can help."
Seeing the confusion on her face, Henry explained, "In Lioncrest Kingdom, we only have one religion. We believe in a single God and his son the messiah, we trust him with all our heart, we love one another as he loved us, and all the things like that." Henry found a chair to sit on and continued, "In other words, compared to others, we make sure the people don't go unhinged and twist the religious scriptures."
Imagine his surprise when he discovered that Christianity religion exists and almost all Lioncrest citizens are Christians.
Remembering the heresy and the infamous witch hunts back in his previous world, especially how some fanatics would twist the word of God and do all sorts of things under his name, Henry knew he couldn't have that kind of thing in his Kingdom.
Thankfully, he didn't have to do much to the religion. Turns out, Master Elias has long taken care of it. With his efforts, magic was no longer seen as heretic and satanic. Instead, the old wizard preached that magic is a gift of God to the people—to help them fight monsters and beasts that plagued the world.
He didn't even know it was Master Elias who preached about those things. When he was fifteen, he simply thought that Christianity was different from his previous world, the possibilities are just endless.
Thanks to him, Henry is assured that witch hunts will no longer happen. At least, inside the territory of Lioncrest Kingdom. There are still other places where Jesus Christ and his almighty Father are worshipped.
As for the religious fanatics who might go borderline insane with the scriptures. Henry made a note to himself to change them. Perhaps, he should consider cooperating with the church's Pope to ensure that God's words wouldn't be misunderstood by the masses.
"How about Arendelle? You guys worship a god or something?" Henry asked, all that explanation left him thirsty.
Elsa fiddled with her fingers as she answered, "We also have Christianity here, but my mother once told me that she worships no god. Instead, her belief is centered around the Elemental Spirits and some sort of figure named Ahtohallan." Elsa sighed in defeat, "Honestly, I'm not that religious. I can't even remember most of my mother's teachings about her beliefs. Only my father is Christian."
"I see." Henry nodded his head in understanding, "Alright, just don't forget what I told you. You have no idea how far humanity goes when it comes to their beliefs. One moment, you're loved by everyone as their Princess and future Queen but as soon as you reveal something unknown to them, they'll twist your identity until you turn into the devil himself."
Even though Elsa had no problem revealing her powers in the original film, this is the real world and Henry can't risk destroying Elsa's reputation and mentality by letting everyone know about her capabilities.
As much as possible, Elsa should observe, assess, and contemplate before making her decision.
Henry turned around while he spoke, "I'll be going now, Elsa. Take care of yourself, okay?" Before he could leave her room, Elsa's words stopped him in his tracks.
"I know I've already said this countless times but thank you, for everything you did for me. I don't know what would've happened in the future if I hadn't met you but I'm glad I did."
Henry didn't bother turning around, he simply waved his hand and walked out the door. What he failed to notice however, was that Elsa still had her mouth open, as if she wanted to say something else but was hesitant.
In the end, she could only sigh in defeat at her cowardice and clench her fists, 'Next time, I'll tell him.'
———
"Guess who's back!" Blasting through the door, Henry grinned as his loud voice reverberated across the clinic.
The first one to greet him was as expected, Polynesia since she's always perched on the wooden shelf beside the entrance door.
"Welcome back, Henry dear." The parrot flapped her wings and greeted him with motherly care.
Soon, the rest followed. Jip, Gub-Gub, Dab-Dab, Chee-Chee, and the rest of the animal friends. Henry noticed that Too-Too was nowhere to be found. Though knowing the Owl's personality, he's probably somewhere around the capital, brooding about his perfect plan to dominate the Kingdom's economy and market.
Henry crouched and started patting everyone with wild abandon, playing and interacting with them as if he were a father who just gotten back to his family after fighting on the frontlines.
Just then, the door to the patient's room opened, Dr. John Dolittle himself walking out with an exhausted look on his face.
He stared at Henry and took note of his chemistry with the animals, with a brief flash in his eyes, he called out to him, "Henry. Mind talking with me for a while." Everyone's eyes fell on him as he continued, "In private."
Henry nodded his head and stood back up. Curious as to what the doctor wanted talk about. Perhaps, it could be because of the magic shows that they've been performing in the plaza. Or maybe something else.
A single look over Polynesia and seeing her shrug made him slightly anxious. No way, this is going to be a cliche scene where the doctor would ask him to go away and ban him from interacting with the animals because he's disturbing the peace and balance, right?
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[Man I can't believe Avatar TLAB: Tai Lung is finished already. What a rare great read, definitely deserved that top spot in the rankings lol.]