Elsa was surprised when not a month after she thought everyone was well rid of Prince Hans, she received an official letter from King Franz of the Southern Isles, requesting that the trial for said prince be conducted in Arendelle. The reasoning given was that as Hans was in fact a royal of the Isles, putting him on trial for offenses against another kingdom while in his own kingdom was not correct form. When Anna heard that, she was furious.
"So what he's royalty? Who cares? He tried to kill both of us! You're not going to agree to this right?"
But the queen was thinking, and looked pensive. "Anna, I don't like this any more than you do. But King Franz has a point; Prince Hans never broke any laws of his people. All that could be said is that Hans embarrassed the Isles, which could make all the kingdoms in the region be suspicious of them.
Anna was about to make a sarcastic comment about suspicious and Islanders going together, when a thought came to her.
"Wait a minute. Does he want to get a court together here, or somewhere else?"
"No, he asked for it to be here; where he committed his crimes. Why do you ask?"
A gleeful look came over the redhead's face."That means there is no way Hans can weasel out of it; everyone knows what happened. He can't use any "royal pull", so that means he will get what he deserves.
But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Anna frowned.
"That doesn't sound right though. I mean, King Franz has to know we won't go easy on Hans. No one would expect us to just forgive him as soon as he gets off the ship; there's no way that's happening. Maybe his idea is to talk to you after they all get here and put you into a "Forgiving Mood"."
Elsa gave it a thought, but was not able to come up with any other explanations except for Anna's and the official version of the Southern Isles.
IDoJ
The weeks leading up to the trial were one shock after another, as Arendelle discovered how many dignitaries, and who, were confirming their coming to judge Prince Hans' actions. Elsa groaned as she put down a letter at breakfast.
" I don't believe this. King Franz is "inviting" and "alerting" and "requesting the presence" of people and not telling me anything about it! It is almost as if this is his own court, and it is only coincidence that it is happening in Arendelle. Luckily for us everyone else is polite and is thanking us for the invitation! Apparently they all think this is my idea."
Anna thought for a moment as she bit into her toast. "Maybe all the royalty from the Southern Isles are like that; high handed and what-not. Do we have enough room for all the guests?"
Elsa sighed. "Yes, it may be close, but there should be enough space for the visitors. Thankfully we have enough time to have the staff get things ready, so that will not be so much of a problem. It just bothers me how impolite King Franz is being; I am not sure how many people he invited. Not to mention I can't help but wonder what he is up to. The Southern Isles wouldn't go to all this trouble just to have me forgive Prince Hans, but if he really wanted to, there is nothing keeping him from holding court where he is and merely asking for our input on the proceedings. Unless King Franz really is a stickler for the rules, in which case it would make sense, though it still is a lot of trouble to go to. And there still is the problem of the severe case of rudeness going on."
Anna shrugged. "Like I said, maybe that's how they all are."
Elsa looked dubious. "Was Hans like that? I was suspicious of him, but I had no problems with his actual manners."
The princess waved the question away with: "At this point it doesn't matter. They all are coming, they are going to have a trial here, Hans will get what he deserves. There's no reason to overthink anything else until they get here."
She paused. "Not that we won't keep our eyes open for any funny business."
IDoJ
The day of the scheduled arrival of the Southern Isles dawned bright and clear. Anna thought it was a bit warm for the time of year, but didn't worry too much about it. "Maybe it is just a sign that all is about to heat up for a certain person" she said at breakfast.
Elsa gave her sister a look. "I will just be glad when this is all over and we can have our home back to ourselves."
Seeing Anna look concerned, the queen finished with, "Not that we will be closing the castle back up when this is finished, but I am still not used to meeting so many people just by walking down the hall. Not to mention all the noise at night.
Anna grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, we might have gotten a little loud a couple times."
The blonde gave a stare that said "You don't say?"
IDoJ
"Bring in the accused" intoned Franz. Elsa was annoyed by now.
"Who is supposed to be running this show?" she thought to herself. But her irritation was forgotten when Prince Hans was brought in. He was dressed much how he had been at her coronation: white coat, gloves, riding boots. In fact to the queen it looked as though the prince was dressed exactly as he had been the last time he was in Arendelle. She was fairly certain it was not coincidence but it was not until later on in the trial that Elsa had suspicions of what the Southern Isles' game was.
A hush went over the crowd as the prince walked to the chair set for him. What Anna noticed first was his total lack of expression. The second that he had make-up on his face. And the last was his very faint limp. The princess felt grim satisfaction at the limp; apparently his brothers had not thought so well of what Hans did. What puzzled her was his make-up. It is unlikely that many would notice the difference but the princess remembered his face perfectly, and it had not looked so completely flawless. The emotionless eyes were just creepy. Hans' eyes and face had shown kindness, friendliness, understanding, concern, love, surprise, and even cruelty. But this nothingness was utterly wrong.
Before sitting in the chair, the prince acknowledged the room with "Your Majesty, your Highness, my lords and gentlemen of the court" bowing to Elsa and Anna, nodding to everyone else. A murmur went through the room at Hans' ignoring his brother's rank. Franz glared but said nothing as the prince took his seat. There was an expectant silence until Elsa realized everyone was waiting for her. "This court is now in session"
To Kristoff, the situation went from bad to worse. It seemed that everyone started acting like a pack of dogs who smelled blood. Witness after witness, lawyer after lawyer, they all spoke for some time on the evils of regicide, how it shook the people's faith in the kingdom at large, how wrong it is to repay a kingdom's hospitality with treachery, and usurping said kingdom's throne when the queen and princess are absent is worthy of eternal damnation. When the French Cardinal (was it Mazarin?) said that from the stand, a thought came to Kristoff, and by the look on her face, Anna had a similar idea.
"Wait a minute, he didn't try to take over Arendelle; Anna put him in charge" he thought to himself. Not that it made what he did to Anna any better, but it made the ice harvester pay attention a little more and try to puzzle through the complicated legal jargon. Kristoff brought his mind back to the room just in time to see the Duke of Weselton take the stand. Both queen and princess tensed on seeing him. Elsa did very well and didn't cause any snow. What did surprise Kristoff was the duke telling the court about Hans lying about Anna being dead. This was news to most everyone, including the sisters. The room buzzed angrily.
"Furthermore" Weselton continued, "after he left the princess for dead, telling the other ambassadors and myself the two exchanged their vows, without a priest or even a witness, the prince took it upon himself to assume the crown and condemned the rightful queen to death for treason!" The little man gave a contemptuous sniff as he stepped down from the stand, as if to show how little he thought of the man sitting quietly in the middle of the room.
As the trial went on, Elsa grew more uneasy, but could not put a finger on what the matter was until Graf von Langburg took the stand. She might have been a while longer in figuring out the problem had she not glanced at King Franz, and saw the gloating smirk on his face. The queen was stunned when she realized this was his plan the whole time. He wanted to trial to go badly for his brother! It occurred to Elsa that if the Isles had found Hans guilty on their own, some of their neighbors might have pushed for a lenient punishment, or have lodged protests if the sentence had been extremely severe, but there was no chance for a light sentence here. A look around the room showed the young woman what the major emotion on most of the faces was: loathing. Pure, unalloyed hate, all of which was being dumped on the head of one man, who did not seem to notice any other presence in the room. It also came to Elsa's mind that she knew exactly what would be called for on conviction. The queen's heart sank on realizing the trial was a foregone conclusion. Not that she wanted Prince Hans to get away with what he did, but this… this was sickening. King Franz was using Arendelle to get rid of his brother to everyone else's satisfaction. He never did truly care in the least about justice or the law. This was merely publicly convenient. Elsa turned to her sister and saw the shocked look on Anna's face; she understood.
Anna tried to wrap her mind around the hatred and abhorrence that was heaped on the unfortunate prince, but couldn't. She really didn't know that much dislike and anger could come from a person. But her biggest surprise was when Hans looked up and caught her eye, giving the the smallest of shrugs. Her horror as she first realized that he was doomed long before he was brought back to Arendelle, and secondly that he knew from the beginning there would be no mercy, no quarter given to the loser, was extreme. Hans' shrug was faint version of his gesture when he said "That's what brothers do". Anna felt ill; this was not right. But Elsa couldn't just stop the trial, could she? Judging by the look on her face, no. Elsa glanced at the side door they came through earlier, Anna nodded quickly. The assembly certainly didn't need them at the moment. The sisters left quietly. It is worth noting that few noticed the absence of their host. Kristoff felt like leaving too, and never coming back, but decided to stick it out to the end.
Elsa's hands shook as Anna shut the door behind them, blocking out most of the noise. "This" the blonde said, "is wrong."
"I know" her sister agreed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but can you just, I don't know, declare him guilty of being a jerk and banish him to Africa or somewhere and be done with it? Most everyone seems ready to tear him apart in there."
Elsa sighed miserably, "Not anymore. This is now an international event; if I don't go on with the trial, Arendelle will look weak. We can't afford that right now with what I did still fresh in everyone's mind."
Anna gesticulated wildly. "So what are we going to do? Watch Hans die?"
The irony of their conversation was completely lost on the sisters. It is likely they would have stayed behind the door until the time came for sentencing, had not the Duke of Weselton raised his voice over the din and called out "My lords of the court, haven't we heard enough? Do we really need any more evidence or witnesses? Why don't we let justice be done and finish this trial?" A murmur of assent could be heard through the door. Anna felt the ice from her sister forming before she saw it. She was about to mention it to Elsa when she, and the court, were silenced by a derisive laugh. The queen went still, all her being focused in her hearing, somehow knowing the next few minutes would change many lives for good or ill.
"Justice? How dare you bring that word into this room. If I thought you had never heard the word or idea before, you might be excused, but you are at least semi-educated, so you can't claim ignorance." Kristoff was suddenly glad he had kept his place instead of leaving. As he finished his opening statement, Prince Hans stood, his body quivering with suppressed anger. "Let us clear this up shall we. This is not about justice, truth, or the right; this is to clean up loose ends, gain prestige and the confidence of your people, and finally to give yourselves a self-righteous pat on the back. After all, won't the common people be in awe of your sense of justice and fairness if even one of royal blood is not above the law?" The young man looked around the room, as if to fix in his mind every face there. There was a flash of puzzled interest when he came to Kristoff, but Hans did not stop for long and finished his scan of the room. "Oh, and did I mention revenge?" he asked offhandedly.
"Revenge?" mocked Weselton "How so?"
Hans smiled pleasantly "Because I succeeded where some of you failed, miserably I might add." The duke spluttered but was ignored. "People of Arendelle, my lords of the court, Your Graces, please allow me to tell you the full extent of my sins and evil crimes." By now Hans was fairly calm and began his narration pleasantly.
"I arrived in Arendelle for the first time in my life the day of Queen Elsa's coronation. My first deed of note on landing was nearly running down a young woman with my horse. On finding she was not hurt I was surprised to find out she was the younger princess. We parted in a friendly way. At this point I had no design on her beyond curiosity. The next time I say either royal was at the ceremony, where many of you saw just how hard I tried to get into their good graces." The sarcasm was obvious in his voice and manner.
Elsa gave her sister a puzzled look: she didn't actually remember seeing Hans until the party. Anna shrugged and whispered "He waved to me just before you were crowned." Hans continued.
"It was only at the celebration ball that the idea of trying for the crown came to mind. After saving the princess from falling to the floor, I, like any good prince, swept her off into the dance. In talking with her afterwards it became obvious that Her Highness was both starved for attention and fairly ignorant of the world outside the castle." Hans turned to the wing that held mostly Arendellians. Kristoff couldn't see his face, but his voice was sad. "I didn't know why at the time, but she was a prisoner in her own home." Hans resumed his narration in a more conversational tone. "It didn't take me long to figure out that her concept of the world was based on what she read, notably fairy tales. Which explained why she would freely give so much information about her and her life to an almost complete stranger. As we talked, the idea came to me that with only a little encouragement from a man, likely any man, Princess Anna would cheerfully marry him."
At this point Cardinal Mazarin interrupted. "Young man, wasting the court's time by insulting the Princess's intelligence will not help your case in the slightest."
"But your Grace must admit, there is little that can harm it" the prince countered. "And it was never the intent to make Princess Anna look the fool, but rather to explain the actions leading up to this court."
Hans looked around the room before speaking again. "To put it bluntly, I saw an opportunity and seized it. It was unlikely that I would find another woman who cared so little for me being thirteenth in line to my throne and was actually pleasant to be around." He shrugged. "At least I was able to see the girl before my marriage was arranged for me. That is not to say there was no real attraction for her, it just wasn't love at first sight as we read in the stories. That was already more than I expected for my life. Some of you were there when the two of us went to ask the queen's blessing. Considering the princess's view's on romance, I didn't expect any serious objections on the sister's part."
The prince made a wry smile. "Queen Elsa was less sanguine about our request, as is well known and still gaining fame. It seemed that my new life was destroyed before it began. I prepared to move on when the queen's unique abilities manifested themselves. In all this one can hardly accuse me of sinister intent; asking a lively, beautiful and kind woman to marry you does not rate very high in the Devil's book of evil deeds. When Princess Anna chose to go after her sister by herself" he glared at the Arendelle wing, "and put me in charge, I was more shocked than pleased. My concern increased when neither the council, nor nobility, or even one prominent citizen came forward to either assist the princess in the search for their queen, or to suggest that a native of Arendelle should be named as temporary leader. But no, other than the butler trying to help keep the princess warm with a cloak, not one of you stood up for yourselves, your people, not even the queen whom you swore fealty to a few hours before!"
Both Elsa and Anna had come out from behind the door by now and were standing in the doorway. Thought they kept quiet, neither wanted to merely hear Hans' defense. To Elsa this made the prince's actions actually make sense without making him out to be a scoundrel from the very beginning. In Anna's mind she replayed her memories of that evening and knew he was saying the truth. Hans had not asked about her past other than some general polite questions. Not to mention he never even once tried to take advantage of the two of them being very much alone. A chill came over her as she wondered how far she might have let him go if he had merely asked.
Hans resumed. "That is how, my lords, I became de facto ruler of Arendelle. You must admit it is a very devious plot of mine so far. Be that as it may, I did what I could for the people now under my protection: the royal kitchens made as much hot food as was possible, rooms in the castle were opened up for those who were not able to keep warm where they were, blankets and cloaks given to any who needed one. Given that I was trying to keep the town alive for either queen or princess to come back to, it would be hard to say I overstepped my authority."
He paused, giving anyone the chance to comment, as he drank from a glass set out for him. It was then that Kristoff noticed something odd about Hans; he never moved from his position behind his chair. Though he turned this way and that, looking at the group he was speaking particularly to, he always had at least one hand on the chair, and often both. As the harvester watched the prince more closely, he saw this was not merely Hans trying to appear casual; the prince was holding himself upright and attempting to be casual about that. Kristoff found his thoughts going to the possible explanations for that behaviour and came up with nothing good. His mind came back to the present with the prince speaking again.
"As part of the duties of ruler, I reassured the people, convincing them that all would be well. Though it reeked of deceit, my confidence prevented a general panic." He looked at the many foreign visitors. "Are we not taught to lie to the common folk to protect them at times?"
The Bishop of Scone leaned forward in his chair. "You say that you lied to Arendelle? That you knew they were doomed and told them otherwise?" He shook his head gravely. "You are of your father the Devil, when he speaks a lie he speaks of himself." Turning to King Franz "Though I must compliment your brother on his speaking, I don't believe he has yet to offer anything to this court that we did not already know." Franz was about to reply when Hans cut in with "I wouldn't have brought it up at all except for justice being mentioned. I am sure many here won't mind me convicting myself out of my own mouth."
Franz shrugged and motioned his brother to continue.
"The state of things continued until the horse the princess was riding returned without her. Immediately a search party was organized. I led it, as once again none of Arendelle's so called leaders stepped forward to offer anything of use that was not directly requested of them. I will bring to the court's attention that the only help offered was from Weselton, and from the Duke's personal guard. We set out with the goal of finding both Princess Anna and the queen." He gave Weselton a hard look. "If there was any other motive it was not discussed with me or in the council."
The Duke squirmed but did not reply.
"Other than their understandable concern about the unseasonable weather we were having, I did not detect any hatred for the queen or intent to mutiny from the troops in the search party" Hans stated. "It is likely they were too happy to be doing something to worry about the future very much. As to the searching itself, there is little to tell: scouts were used, particularly local hunters, the woods scoured, locals questioned. Although we didn't find the royals, the storm appeared to come from the north. Since the queen was last seen going the same way, it seemed logical that finding the origin of the storm meant finding her. I could only hope to find Princess Anna somewhere in between. Our first news of her was at a small trading post, when the owner told me he sold some winter clothing and climbing gear to a woman of her description. He also said she arranged for an ice harvester to take her on his sled to the North Mountain."
Weselton scoffed, his courage apparently having returned. "An ice harvester? In the summer, with a sled? What will you tell us next, he had a talking reindeer?"
Hans shrugged "Your guards were there, as well as three of Arendelle's, if you like they might be brought in to give testimony. I can make it easier by telling you their names."
"He's right" It took a moment for Kristoff to realize he said that out loud, and only another moment to see every face in the room looking straight at him. "I mean, um, there was an ice harvester at Oaken's and I did take, uh, Princess Anna to the North Mountain. And Sven doesn't talk." Having said his piece, Kristoff wished he could disappear into his chair. He had no such luck.
Weselton turned on him. "And I suppose next you will tell us you do have a reindeer?" The duke didn't wait for a response, having already drawn breath to go back to work on Hans, but Kristoff beat him to it.
"Yes I do; that's Sven but he can't actually talk, he's just really smart."
A titter could be heard as the court watched the duke's face screw up in confused irritation. "Never mind! It doesn't matter!"
"Actually it does" offered Hans, "You now have a witness to something I did. It may not be much, but there is one piece of this defense that does not rest solely on my word, suspect as it is. But to resume this story. Following the advice of the man Oaken, our party ceased the general area search and focused on the north road. Other than the wolves that attacked us, there is not much to tell. Although they worried me concerning both royals' safety, we did not assume the wolves had harmed either. Certainly if the princess had fallen to them, so had her guide, which should mean there would be a sleigh about somewhere.
Our first surprise of the expedition was the queen's ice palace" Hans shook his head in amazement. "It was beautiful, I assume it melted with the thaw; if it didn't, Arendelle could do much worse than visiting that mountain. The second surprise was more dangerous; a snow monster. I assume the queen made it as a guard. It certainly was effective in that role."
The Bishop of Scone broke in angrily. "Prince Hans! Do not waste the time of this court with foolish tales of "Snow Monsters", we are not here for children's stories!"
Hans gave a thoughtful look at the ceiling. "We were tracking down a newly crowned queen, who had rarely been seen by her people for over six years, who holds great power over ice and snow, who, by the way created a blizzard in July… I am sure you get the idea. And a walking roaring monster made of snow gives you problems?" He gave the churchman an innocent look and continued.
"After defeating the snowman we did a head count to see how many were injured. It was then we noted the two guards from Weselton were missing and the two sets of footprints leading to the palace. I had already given orders that the queen was not to be harmed. My concern was more on the lines of the soldiery would, in their excitement of the moment, frighten the queen. I had no desire to face a nervous ice wielding woman inside a building. On gaining the door, we could hear the sounds of a struggle on the floor above. Only then did I begin to be uneasy that Weselton might have given his men different orders than my own. We rushed up the stairs to find my fears realized as we saw the queen fighting with the two."
Hans snickered as he glanced at Arendelle's wing. "She certainly gave them a run for their money."
Arendelle's side of the room gave an uneasy laugh; not being quite sure how to take the comment. For her part Elsa wondered how the prince could find humor in that memory or in his current predicament, but a little thought brought her the answers. Both those men were trained fighters, they probably had trained together for years. And she had almost killed both of them in a straight up fight. That still did not give it any humor to Elsa, but for Hans it made a little more sense. The second question was answered when he began his speech; "He expects to die, and so can laugh at what he will" she thought with a chill. "I am watching a man look his own death in the face and not show fear". She made the decision then that she would do all she could do to save him, international prestige be hanged. But Elsa would wait until the prince finished; he might change everyone's mind without her needing to take drastic action.
Hans' voice brought the queen's mind back with "I called to the queen to stop, as she was about to kill them both. Granted it was in self-defense, but she would have enough regrets without having blood on her hands, justified or not."
"You call the near death of both my men justified?" Weselton shouted.
Hans' voice went deadly cold. "As the designated authority of Arendelle, I stood in the queen's stead. Since the army was utilized in an operation to secure the safety of the kingdom, military law was in effect. Your men disobeyed a direct order from their commander in time of war. They were told explicitly not to harm the queen, yet I found multiple crossbow bolts imbedded around the room. I should have had them executed as soon as the queen was secured. Your two pieces of shit are lucky, and should give thanks to God every day for all of their lives."
Even though he had no reason to be there, Kai had been standing behind the servants' door listening to the proceedings. Ever since the Southern Isles had taken up residence in the castle, the butler had tried to reconcile the man he had seen take care of Arendelle and her people, with the devil that most everyone said he was. He remembered when the searchers came back with Queen Elsa. After she had been put in the dungeon and manacled (Kai remembered the horror and disgust on Hans' face when shown the chains), all left the cell. Hans let the group move down the hall a ways then called to the Weselton men. Kai didn't think much of it, and was going to leave, but out of the corner of his eye saw the prince grab both men and throw them bodily against the wall. The butler didn't hear what was said, but the prince was enraged, and the two seemed very frightened. At the time, Kai had fallen back on his training and years of habit of non-interference, and had not questioned it himself, until the prince took him to task for what he did later.
"To get on with the story" Hans said in a much friendlier tone, "It was only on the return trip that I began to overhear some of the soldiers voice concern about the queen and her abilities. I imagine her powers were largely theoretical for them until then. While it was troubling for me, as long as it was no more than the men talking out their worries, there was no reason to say anything to them yet.
We got back to Arendelle in good time. My decision to place the queen in the castle dungeons was more for her own safety, though the wish to make sure she did not try to run away was present in my mind. Having heard the soldiers talking, and knowing that some had called Queen Elsa a monster, I feared someone would take matters into their own hands and try to save Arendelle by killing the queen."
Cardinal Mazarin frowned. "Which is what you tried to do anyway."
Hans nodded. "Yes your Grace. It was a last ditch effort by a desperate man to save those in his care. My only defense for what I did there is the decision to kill Queen Elsa was made after she told me she could not end the winter on her own. But that was later. Once the queen was situated, there was the work of calming the town again. Apparently…" he glared at Weselton and von Langburg, "those that were left did not make any effort to keep the people feeling safe and secure. Having finished that I went back down to speak with the queen. In doing so, I found out she truly had no control over her power, and that she didn't know where her sister was. She asked to be let go, and I promised to do what I could. I left her and immediately began to prepare another search party for the princess. We were stopped when Princess Anna was brought in, severely chilled, with her hair turned white. While I was happy to see not only her, but that no one would be put in danger looking for her, I was very much concerned that she greeted me with "Hans you have to kiss me".
The prince took another sip from his glass, as the Comte d'Enghien raised an eyebrow. "And this worried you?".
Hans looked thoughtful as he answered. "She said it with an air of desperation very much unlike what I knew of her. Everyone else left the room to give us some privacy. To me it was plain that no one was going to even give lip service to the queen's decision against the princess marrying me. Princess Anna explained that her sister had struck her with the queen's power and that Anna's heart was freezing. She wanted me to give her a "true love's kiss", to thaw it."
Hans' shoulders slumped. "It was then I knew Anna was lost to me; I did not love her like that. That is not to say it couldn't have become "true love" if there had been more time, but I have already told this court the reasoning behind my marriage proposal. Although I knew of the existence of magic, even before my visit to Arendelle, it was not a subject my father, and therefore my tutors, thought a prince should be schooled in. Therefore the extent of my knowledge of magic and its' theory comes from fairytales and folklore. I knew full well the powers claimed by true love's kiss, but as mentioned, this was not it. I do not know if I had kissed her then, and hoped for the best, if it would have "counted" for love or not."
The prince readjusted his hands on the chair when he paused. Only then was Anna's attention drawn down from Hans' face and the young woman could see his knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping the back. Confused, the princess looked back up to the princes' eyes, and knew Hans was not seeing the courtroom or the people in it anymore. His voice was soft, as though he did not really care if any heard what he said or not.
"I knew if nothing was done, Anna would die. I figured a "true love's kiss" would fail, and she would despair, believe she was all alone, and die. She had been through so much, and lost many things, but still held on to fairy tales. I couldn't take that from her. Which is what gave me the idea that I used. Anyone who has been around Anna for any length of time at all can see she is the embodiment of life, liveliness, happiness, and metaphorically speaking, fire. Saying it out loud makes the idea sound childlike and foolish, but it seemed to be the only plan that offered any chance of Anna living. And so, I made the choice to make her very angry. At first I was merely insulting; after not kissing her, I suggested there was no one who loved her. It was a fairly stupid thing to say, and easily refuted, but it was all that came to mind at first. After that I concocted a story of me planning to take over the kingdom before even my ship docked in Arendelle. The scheme was elegantly simple and quite believable; marry the gullible princess, stage an accident for the queen, and voil , Hans of the Southern Isles becomes Hans, King of Arendelle. To add insult to injury, while I was monologuing all the candles were snuffed out, the fire was doused with the water pitcher, and the curtains were drawn.
Cardinal Mazarin leaned forward, a curious look in his eye. "You say it was your intent to either enrage and cure, or end her quickly?"
The prince smiled humorlessly. "Precisely, though it was a cruel method regardless of my objective. Over the past few weeks I have thought through several scenarios and plans, but any speculation on my part is hampered by not knowing how Princess Anna was healed. Certainly it had little to do with me. As it was I left her in a darkened room and deliberately locked the door. My insults had failed to rouse Anna as hoped, so perhaps imprisoning her her would. If not, she would soon make true the lie I would tell the wolves in the Great Hall. But before that I went to find the one who assisted the princess back to Arendelle. The assumption being she couldn't have made it back on her own in that state. I was shocked to find he had been sent away with the gates all but shut in his face. Now I had no way to thank him for what he had done or get any information about what happened on the mountain. I berated the butler Kai for not showing even the slightest bit of hospitality or gratitude to the one who brought the princess back, sending him back out into the cold like a delivery boy.
With that done I made my way to where Weselton, von Langburg, d'Enghien, and the others were waiting for me. It was, and still is, my belief that there were some of that company who were only waiting for the winter to end to begin taking as much control of Arendelle as they could. They certainly were willing to make decisions without even informing the city council. I had no reason to expect they would go home and leave Arendelle in peace just because she would soon be mourning a princess and her queen. As I walked I knew that as things stood, the queen was destroying her own kingdom and couldn't stop herself. As long as she lived, Arendelle was doomed, with her sister being the second victim. It was a long shot, but if I took the actual role and place of king, the kingdom might be saved. I couldn't turn my back on the people who I said I would protect.
On arriving at the meeting room, I assumed the air of the broken hearted lover. The assembled group, still missing any native of Arendelle by the way, inquired after the princess. I lied. They were told the princess was dead, killed by her sister. It seemed best to let them think that she was no longer a player. To test how far these men would allow me to go, I recounted how the princess and I had said our wedding vows, before she died in my arms."
Anna mouthed "wedding vows" to Elsa, but before either could betray their presence, the Bishop of Scone half rose from his seat, almost bellowing "Wedding vows? You lied about one of the sacraments? With one of royal blood? Without the blessing of the Church it would be no true marriage. What could you hope to gain from such conduct wretch?"
Elsa had an idea what Hans was going to say even before he opened his mouth.
Hans gave an oddly cheerful smile to the court. "And yet there was not a single objection made at the time. Indeed I think it was von Langburg who said something along the lines of "Arendelle now looks to you". Strange don't you think; five visitors choosing the next king based on his word that the late princess spoke her vows to him without a member of the clergy overseeing, all while the rightfully crowned queen is locked and chained in her own dungeon. Very odd, if I may say so. On seeing my story accepted, my first royal decree was Queen Elsa's execution."
Most of the room could see the look of rage in the prince's eyes, and all heard it in his voice as he snarled "No one objected, not one. When the order was given, there was no resistance; no one asked if there was a mistake, or another way to save the kingdom. There was not even a single person to protest against my right to make such a decision. Some of her own guards looked relieved."
He swept a look of contempt over Arendelle's nobility. "If that is all the loyalty you can muster for your liege lord, the queen you swore to obey not a week prior, then I had a very fortunate escape from becoming your king. I do not envy Queen Elsa on her throne these days.
But I digress." the thirteenth prince reverted once again to his friendly narrative voice. Kristoff was impressed Hans lasted as long as he did. But the ice harvester could see the man would not make it much longer. The blonde man slowly began easing himself to the edge of his seat. There was no telling how the court would rule, but in a strange way,Kristoff felt a kinship with the prince; he had valued Anna, and in his way, had tried to protect her. And he would be damned if he let Hans fall down in a heap in front of everyone without at least trying to help the man back up and out of the room. Kristoff just hoped it wouldn't make Elsa look bad.
"When the soldiers and I came to her cell, we found the prison empty and the queen gone; she broke through the outer wall and escaped onto the fjord. I followed alone, as it was never my intent for any of Arendelle's people to draw weapon against their queen. A quick search through her magical blizzard found her wandering around, apparently lost. I am not proud of the words I used to halt her steps. I told her of Princess Anna's death, and blamed her for it. But it succeeded; she sank to her knees, despairing. It also had the effect of ending the immediate storm. I thought about merely bringing her back to the castle and locking her up again. Yet I chose to finish my plan, as i knew of no other way to save the town. Drawing my sword, I hoped to give her a clean death; at least the queen would get that much. Somehow the fact that Princess Anna was still alive, and almost on top of us, escaped my notice entirely. She put herself between the queen and I just as the sword came down. I do not know how, but the princess appeared to freeze solid as my sword struck her palm, and shattered the weapon, while at the same time I was thrown back maybe twenty feet by what felt like an explosion without the heat of one. My head hit the ice and I blacked out. When I came to I was on one of the ships in the harbor, the skies were clear, the princess very much alive, and it now felt greatly like the summer we all knew it to be. The most confusing to me was Princess Anna being alive. I mentioned something to that effect. Her answer was "The only frozen heart around here is yours" and enthusiastically punched me off the ship, removing any doubts in my mind as to her health. I expect the court knows well enough what happened afterwards; swimming to shore I was immediately arrested and placed in a cell on d'Enghien's ship, and transported back to my country.
And that my lords, is the truth." He shrugged. "Do as you like with it."
The room was rather quiet for a while. Anna took a look around the room and saw the expressions on several faces. The Duke of Weselton looked angry and defensive, both d'Enghien and von Langburg were giving wary glances at everyone, and O'Toole wore shame like a cloak. Cardinal Mazarin's face was inscrutable, though the Bishop of Scone still seemed quite ready to throw Hans into the first lake of fire that was available. The princess thought Kristoff looked tense, like he was ready to spring into action, thought Anna wasn't too sure why. Elsa was holding her breath, waiting to see what would happen next. King Franz broke the silence with a derisive sigh.
"I must congratulate you brother on your little speech; very well done. But it changes nothing, and I can't help but wonder how you think explaining your thinking will save you from the rope." The man ignored the surprised murmur in the room as he finished with "How do you plead?"
Even Weselton looked startled for a moment at the mention of hanging, and Mazarin raised an eyebrow at that, only to do it for the other one when the prince answered.
"I don't plead at all. You may do whatever you wish. My "little speech" was only to make certain the facts were known to this court, since apparently the object of this mob is justice. Well then, since all the players have given their lines, let justice be done." And with that, Hans walked back around his chair, nearly losing his grip and falling on his face, and sat in the seat, looking expectantly around at the room.
Elsa locked eyes with him, and from the look on his face, Hans had not realized she or Anna had returned to the room, and therefore had spoken his mind. If the situation hadn't been so serious, his expression would have been comical. As is was he heavily resembled an owl.
"Very well, this court will now deliberate over a verdict." The Bishop of Scone did not mind apparently that Prince Hans wouldn't play along. Anna was unpleasantly surprised when the bishop, King Franz, and (Weselton lawyer) began discussing a sentence without even looking to see if Elsa was there or not.
Anna was about to open her mouth to say something when Mazarin commented with "Aren't you forgetting someone my lords?", nodding to Elsa as he did.
Franz looked peeved when he saw the queen was standing in the doorway. "I am sure Her Majesty would prefer the proceedings to be done quickly so that we may all get on with our lives."
"Get on with our lives?" asked Elsa, finally letting some of her irritation show. "If Prince Hans is such a burden to the Southern Isles perhaps you would rather he be handed over to Arendelle for us to deal with ourselves, instead of you having to manage the irritation." The queen turned to the room and asked "Is there anyone here who denies the statements of Prince Hans? Has he said anything untrue?"
Weselton stood, bristling. "I do. I greatly object to the insinuations that I had any evil intent against you or your kingdom. None of the slanderous charges made by the accused can be taken seriously, after all, he is a would-be murderer accusing others of attempted murder. His testimony can't be trusted."
Cardinal Mazarin interrupted the little man's diatribe. "My lord Duke, you are here today as a witness and as a guest of the Southern Isles, you are not sitting as a judge. Please remember that before you decide what we will or will not accept as evidence."
The duke looked ready to explode at the rebuke, but sat down anyway. Once again the room was quiet, as no one else seemed ready to speak up. Elsa was about to take that as confirmation when one of the townsfolk stood up. He looked to be no more than seventeen or eighteen and was dressed like a farmer.
"Begging your pardon Your Majesty, I don't know whether everything the prince said is true or not, but he did leave a few things out. Maybe it's not what you meant, but…"
"Yes, go on" Elsa said encouragingly.
"Well, you know, when it first got cold, not that we're blaming Your Majesty or anything, Prince Hans didn't just open the castle up to everyone like he said. He brought folks in; all the common folk who came to town to see you crowned and all, he told them all to come in. Wouldn't take no for an answer. He organized a bunch of girls and boys to go 'round town and find anyone who didn't have a warm place to stay and tell them to come to the castle. My pa didn't want to move my ma, her being sick, but the prince found out and brought half-a-dozen or so guards and a covered stretcher to my aunt's house and moved her without her getting chilled at all. That might not help him now, but he was doing things like that the whole time it was cold."
The young man sat, relieved that he didn't have to talk anymore. Kristoff saw many heads nodding in Arendelle's ranks, nearly all of them middle and lower class people. A women stood, unshed tears in her eyes.
"My husband succumbed to his fever three days into the Freeze. I thought we would have to wait to bury him, the ground being so cold and hard. I don't know how Prince Hans found out, but the guards were sent to chop a grave wherever I wanted it to be. It may sound foolish to you, but it meant a lot to me then. Even with everything else going on, he made time to do that."
One by one, people told of clothing and blankets given, food distributed, disputes settled fairly, children entertained and calmed, one boy rescued (no one knew where that break in the ice came from), and many other acts of kindness that were forgotten at the time, but remembered now. Mayor Knudsen told of how Hans had personally dragged their leading doctor by the collar back into the room where he had been called to assist with a delivery.
"Dr. Nordraak objected to helping a Sami woman deliver her baby, and was going to leave. The prince didn't say anything at first, but when the doctor left the room, Prince Hans walked after him and took him by the coat, nearly jerking him off his feet. As the doctor was "assisted" back, he was told very calmly that if he didn't help the woman, the prince would have him "thrown into the dungeons until the doctor remembered that his duty as a physician ranked higher than any prejudice man could think up."
Mayor Knudsen finished with "We didn't know it at the time, but one of the Sami chiefs was standing right there, and that was his wife."
Elsa remembered one of the council remarking how pleasant it was that the tribes had not been around Arendelle for some time now. "Maybe it was more than just coincidence" she thought.
The Bishop of Scone raised his hand to silence the people. "Enough! He still is guilty of attempting to murder the Lord's anointed. He is accursed and worthy of hellfire and damnation. How shall he be judged?"
Anna felt like screaming at the man, and thought about launching into a tirade, but Elsa put a hand on her arm. The queen straightened and spoke to Hans.
"Prince Hans, for your attempt on my life, now that I understand, I forgive you. For the care and protection you gave to the throne, kingdom, and my people, you have my undying thanks and gratitude. As much as it angered and hurt me at the time, what you did to my sister is not a crime under Arendelle law, therefore it is not something I as queen can absolve you of." Turning to the rest of the judges, "I declare Prince Hans innocent. He is no criminal in Arendelle".