Elsa stood a few feet away from the bars that held the man who tried to kill her. Hans says on the shelf of a bench in his cell aboard the ship Orimo that was to deport to the Kingdom of Southern Isles later in the day. Her ice heels gleamed in the burning sun. Elsa had come down to the prisoner from her celebration of the summers return when one of the guards had informed her that Hans was begging to see her. She knew that he did not deserve the luxury that was providing him, but one thing that her winter storm fiasco taught her was communication is key. Against her better judgment she stood silently waiting for Prince Hans to speak.
He ignored her for a few moments. His head was bowed, he appeared to intently watching his hands wring around each other, the friction was the only sound to be heard outside of the tossing waves and the distant calls of men.
"Have you ever had to do something that you didn't want to? Like, it was either succeed or be killed?" Hans turned to look at Elsa. His green eyes were bright with fear, "By your own father?"
Elsa keep quiet. She glared into his eyes, deciding whether he was telling the truth or not. She did not want to be the cause of any death, even if it was deemed reasonable because of his actions towards her. And what was he talking about being forced to do something? She had been forced to wear her gloves as a child and stay away from outside contact, but that was for her own good—she was sure of it.
She made no hint responding to Hans, but pushed her lips together. Her shimmering cape danced behind her as she turned her back on Hans.
"Queen Elsa. Queen Elsa, please. Have mercy," Hans cried from behind the bars that he was now pressed against. Gone was the charismatic, charming prince, but instead man who was desperate for help.
Elsa whispered something into the guard's ear. The man nodded and headed towards the cell. Hans backed away from the bars, mystified that Elsa would actually halt his impending doom with his father in the Southern Isles. The rattle of rusty metal signified the door had been opened. Hans started to walk out, cautious as what was going to happen yet. The guard grabbed handcuffs from his satchel and placed them on Han's wrists.
Elsa turned back towards Hans. "You will be escorted to the dungeons. I shall retract my letter that I had written to the King and Queen of the Southern Isles, for now. Do not let anyone know of this current situation," she spoke to the guard more so than Hans.
"Your majesty, I would like to thank you. I know that," Hans started.
Elsa held up a hand to stop him. "I do not know whether to trust you are not. I will not knowingly take part in an execution that may or not be wrongly motivated. If I find that you are lying to me, I will not hesitate to send you to the Southern Isles along with a gift of a new sword to your kingdom."
Hans gulped, "And if I am right?"
The guard looked at Hans and then to the Queen, the woman seemed to be debating what to say. It looked as if she had only planned for the "if he's lying" part. It was not his place to budge in, but under Hans' rule the guards were well maintained and helped the kingdom out, he would have to inform the Queen of this for the "if he's telling the truth" outcome.
She continued, "If you happen to be telling the truth I shall release you. There will limitations of the release, but they will be conceived if, and only if, you appear to be telling the truth. And I will require you to be willing to go under interrogation."
"Of course my Queen."
"Guard Caulus, will you please escort this man to the dungeons, and make sure that no one sees him. Especially the Duke of Weselton."
"Of course, your majesty," the guard replied. He pushed Hans a bit forward. "Keep your head down."
"Thank you," Prince Hans whispered to Elsa before he left the shift with the guard.
Elsa watched as the two men made their way down the dock, passing by sailors that were busy at work and were ignoring the men. She let out a small breath that she was not aware that she was holding. Yet another thing for her to keep track of. She created a small snowball and threw it into the fjord, releasing some stress.
Before heading back to the castle, Elsa wrote a letter to the King and Queen of the Southern Isles:
Dear Kingdom of the Southern Isles,
I hope that you will not mind us keeping Prince Hans for the next fortnight, as he has brought much life into the castle in the short while that he has been here. Prince Hans reassures our kingdom that the bond between our two kingdoms must stay intact with one another, if not grow stronger. If Prince Hans will not be able to attend the rest of our celebration because of a previous engagement that he has not informed us of, please respond and we shall, sadly, give up his presence.
Sincerely,
Queen Elsa of Arendelle
Elsa read the letter through a few times until she was pleased with what she wrote, it sounded a bit informal for royalty but it filled all possible holes for Hans not returning. She gave the letter to the captain and explained that the prisoner would stay in Arendelle and there was to be no word mentioned about him.
When Elsa arrived back at the castle the frozen ice rink that she had created was melted away and only a few servants remained to clean up the mess that the crowds had left behind. She thanked each one before she went into the castle.
"Elsa, that was so wonderful. Can we do that every day? Oh, and next time with chocolate, yum," an over sugared Anna yelled down the stair case. She picked up the skirt of her dress and ran down the stairs two at a time before landing on the ground. "Please Elsa?"
Elsa gave her sister a small smile, which she tried to cover with her tiny hands. "I'd love to Anna, but real life will have to start again soon and I don't think that everyone can take their days off."
Anna's smile morphed into a frown. "Well, since you'll be busy then, can Kristoff stay with us? Please? And Sven too?" Anna bounced in a circle around Elsa, bubbling at the thought of being with others for days on end. She was going to have to introduce Kristoff to every painting that she talked to growing up, and then he could walk her around the town that was so mysterious to her. And maybe in the afternoons they could build snowmen and drink hot chocolate with Elsa when she was done with meetings and the like.
"Doesn't Kristoff have Official Ice Master duties?" Elsa commented, walking further into the castle. Her heels clicked on the stone floor, making an echo through the hallway.
"You're right," Anna complained, skipping behind Elsa. "You're going to have to do Queen things, Kristoff and Sven are ice harvesting, I'll have no one left."
"Olaf."
"Of course! We'll go wandering through the kingdom then. We can experience summer together considering it's been a while since I have," Anna said.
Elsa's stomach dropped a bit, it's been a while, that was because of her. Anna never did get to enjoy the outside world except the courtyard that housed a few ducks and swans. "Splendid," she choked out, "Olaf would love that. And perhaps we could have a picnic together tomorrow. I am sure that I will not have too much to worry about on my first day."
"I bet not. You'll do great on your first day," Anna said.
Elsa just smiled, but kept looking ahead. The doors to the library were coming nearer. Anna's soft footsteps stayed with Elsa's fast pace. "Is Kristoff leaving tonight?"
"I don't know. I'll have to ask him. He's been down with Sven since lunch. They have a weird relationship, but I think that it's really cute. Did you know that they've been together since Kristoff lost his real family?"
Elsa, most of the time, thought that Anna's insistent rambling was endearing; however, with Hans in the dungeons and the possibility that the Kingdom of the Southern Isles was encouraging it's princes to commit murder or seduce surrounding kingdoms to create binding alliances was unnerving. As was it something that might need to be brought up to the Coalition of Kingdoms as Elsa was sure that it broke some sort of rule. She needed the library to get some basic information before she started her private interrogation of Hans.
"Why don't you go invite him to spend the night here? The guest wing is all his as there is no one here anymore," Elsa said.
"They're gone? Really?"
"Yes, the ships left today for the Southern Isles and Weselton. That's why I had to leave the festivities, to make sure that they set sail without a hitch."
"Good. It gave me the creeps that they were still in Arendelle."
Elsa's face contorted. She felt guilty for not telling Anna the truth, but if there were bigger issues they had to be found. And if it was Arendelle that unmasked them, then they would try their hardest because with the news of sorcery alliances were weak and trade was worrisome. There were trails of ice were Elsa had stepped, making the floor slippery. Anna noticed that her sister was tense and ran up.
"Don't worry about the council tomorrow you'll do great. I love you," she wrapped her arms around her sister and squeezed tight. She nuzzled into the crook of Elsa's neck, "Can you defrost the floor?"
Elsa fell into the hug. She put her hands on Anna's encircling arms and gave a squeeze back at her. "Do what to what?"
"You left a trail of ice. It's a good thing Han's isn't around now, it'd be super easy to find ya'," Anna said.
Ignoring the last comment, Elsa closed her eyes. Clear your mind, you are loved. Anna and Olaf love you. The ice melted away leaving puddles of water. She made it to the doors of the library, which were large pieces of old wood that were intricately designed with elaborate carvings of Arendelle history and mythology showcasing the importance of knowledge. She turned around to face Anna, "Anna, I need to read through a few books before I start tomorrow."
"Okay, let's get to work. I know that you've probably read them all by now," Anna said, walking beside Elsa and pushing the door in.
"I need to do this alone."
Anna stopped pushing. She looked at Elsa. Her eyes were closed, and her hands rested on the handles of the doors. Anna knew that her sister was still having trouble adjusting to the realm of people, but she wanted to be there for her. It was hard for Anna to watch Elsa struggle and not be there to comfort her. She put on a smile. "That's alright. I bet that you'll get done in no time. I'll go find Kristoff and go tell him about his room. Then we can go get some chocolate from the kitchen. I don't think Kristoff has ever had chocolate. Isn't that strange? I think that everyone should have chocolate, don't you? Oh! We should make a national chocolate day and give chocolate to everyone then they will have had that experience. I don't think chocolate costs that much so I don't think that it would be a problem," Anna rambled down the hallway towards the stalls. Her voice echoed down the halls.
Elsa giggle as she watched her sister bounce down the hallway talking to herself. When she could no longer see nor hear Anna she pulled open the doors. The scent of old tomes was heavy in the air. Elsa quickly brought herself into the room, and went to the far corner where there were volumes about the histories of the neighboring kingdoms.
"Corona, Weselton," Elsa listed to herself gazing over the titles of the books. "Ah, Southern Isles."
She placed the large tome on the table that stretched the length of the room. She creaked open the leather bounded pages, a small cloud of dust emerged from the pages making Elsa sneeze. She flipped through the pages of history about the isles and the family that ruled it, that was until she got to the current King.
King Mitus was originally the third in line for the throne; however, his elder brothers, Arcan and Giles, suffered tragic endings before they could reach the throne. He married the Princess of Silivia and has thirteen sons. King Mitus is known for his strict ruling, buildup of military, ability to make strong family alliances, and abundance of sons.
The rest of the three pages described the economic status of the Southern Isles for the rule of Mitus, which statistics of the prices of items over the years and detailed descriptions of the advances in technology.
She skimmed through the Corona and Weselton books as well, searching or any mention of King Mitus or his twelve sons. There was nothing. Elsa ran through the pamphlets that belonged to the Coalition of Kingdoms, with nothing but mention on their excellent military to keep peace. Elsa let out a sigh of disbelief. Not a single mention of any alliances through marriage.
Not wanting to rely entirely on the information from books written over a decade ago, she needed more information. Elsa rang for her closest servant, Kai. While she waited for him to arrive she put the books back into place arranging them so that they were perfectly in line with one another and in alphabetical order unlike they were before she got them out. Looking at the other books Elsa realized that there was little organization to their placement, something was going to have to be done about that, but not for a longer time as there were more pressing issues at hand.
There was a quiet knock at the door.
"Come in, Kai," Elsa said backing away from the shelves and stepping into the center of the room.
Kai slowly opened the door and slid in, "Your majesty?"
"Would you be able to supply me with more books about the Kingdom of the Southern Isles? And perhaps the laws of the Coalition of Kingdoms?"
"Yes, your majesty," Kai replied. He was curious as to what Elsa was needing the books for, but knew that there was little reason for him to snoop. Kai's chestnut hair was highlighted with streaks of grey, the only indication that he was starting to age. He had served Elsa's father and had watched the sisters grow up separated. He tried to comfort the new Queen when she was young, but she had always shut him out as she did everyone but her father. Kai was thrilled that Elsa was starting to take initiative towards the kingdom's alliances and looking into the workings of it all. Her father had been looking into similar ideas before his death. "Is there anything else that you need?"
"Only that you do not inform anyone else in the castle, especially Anna. She has dealt with enough lately and I would rather not frighten her with large books," Elsa tried to joke.
Kai cracked a smile and nodded.
"Thank you, Kai. I have a feeling that I'll be calling for you more frequently in the near future."
"It would be my honor Queen Elsa."
Elsa smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. She folded her hands together, standing quietly looking at Kai.
"Oh, I shall leave you, your majesty. Please ring if you need anything else," Kai remarked before leaving the room.
There were icicles hanging from the curtains that surrounded the large window. Elsa saw them. "This is going to be harder than I thought."