Fools accept false hopes over harsh realities.
—Arendelle proverb
Chapter 2: A Harsh Reality
The snow fell in clumps, the wind picking up, Elsa having nothing to do with it though she appreciated the heavy fall. Anything to prevent those bastards from gaining so much as a Creator-damned inch of ground, she thought. The sun pierced the gray clouds at moments, dawn well over two hours ago. The remnants of her breakfast laid half-eaten next to a stack of papers—request for supplies at the war front, status of the remaining funds in the Royal Treasury, reports of banditry in the northern parts of the kingdom, and reports from her spies from across the continent. None of it was good news, little of it she could weigh as neutral news, but most of it bore the unmistakable stench of dire news. At least she heard no new reports of assassination plots, no reports of insurrection.
As she suspected, the two guards who manned the doors outside the war room were in on the former captain's plot. The newly promoted commander sergeant left a report this morning of their confessions along with several other names of accomplices.
Elsa entertained a thought of asking her subordinate to personally relay that report to her. Perhaps in her bedchambers where they should speak in private, away from prying eyes. She would not have to bother with donning a royal dress, instead wearing her silken nightgown, the one made mostly of sheer white lace. Her sergeant wouldn't need to come in uniform either as she would like to see if he challenged himself physically given his broad shoulders and thick arms, and those hands—those strong hands capable of firmly running up her legs, his hungry lips violating her loins, making their way up her own, pulling at her nightgown to expose her supple breasts ...
"What am I doing?" asked Elsa to herself aloud, almost as if ready to lose her breath. Her cheeks turned red as if already caught seducing that handsome soldier. She felt doubly embarrassed when she learned that man this morning also had a young wife and daughter as well. Could she be so crass as to use her station and authority to usurp that man's marriage oaths?
A disturbing thought struck her. The founding Snow Queen, Snedronningen, also possessed lustful appetites. She even had a dungeon stocked with all manor of men, women, and creatures to satisfy whatever desire overtook her. Was Elsa doomed to walk in Snedronnigen's shadow?
Elsa grimaced, her fingernails digging into her palms as she balled them into fists. She occupied her mind, purging carnal thoughts by reading the rest of the report regarding the assassins.
Right now, soldiers conducted a door-to-door search for the men named. They'll be found … and hanged. Elsa sighed to herself, scanning the other papers, signing off on the requests for materials to build more catapults. As if that will be utilized in time. Still, Elsa had to give the appearance that action was taken, decisions were made.
Anna stormed into the study, glancing around until her eyes fell on her target—her sister.
She bowed, but only to offer the perfunctory salutations. "Your Majesty," she said through gritted teeth, her gaze to the floor.
Elsa set her quill in the ink bottle before her, steepling her hands on the desk. She knew exactly what this argument would be about—the queen anticipated it.
"Rise, my beloved sister. Kristoff not joining us—"
"Elsa, stay your hand. Please, I beg of you, don't go through this!" cried Anna.
The princess and the queen faced off in Elsa's royal study. Already, Anna was flustered after having to deal with her own contingent of bodyguards who matched step with her everywhere this morning, and then had to deal with the queen's own guards, doubled in numbers outside her door.
"Calm yourself, sister. Don't put your child at risk from your emotions. I've already signed their warrants. What's done is done. We are at war and what I do will be for the safety of Arendelle, and most of all, you," said the queen, her tone flat and regal, the same tone she typically takes to her subjects.
"Is there any other way? Must you condemn Friar Barthem and Sister Kella?"
"Yes, damn you!" Elsa hissed. "Do you think I enjoyed signing those last night? I even cried myself when I reached Barthem and Kella's names. I too remembered the wonderful memories, Friar Barthem playing with us in the courtyard, throwing snowballs, and building our own miniature castle. I remember Sister Kella letting us sleep in her bed to provide us that desperately needed solace upon the dire news of mother and father.
Elsa's face hardened. "But I also remembered their sermons, how I am a whore, a carnal snake, slurping up the seed from the cocks of the Dark Powers in order to carry on the legacy of our ancestor, the founding Snow Queen herself. I tolerated it at first, shocked that our beloved clergy … our beloved friends would say this about me. Then the church began to organize, this no longer shocked words from the beliefs of holy edicts." She paused, nearly out of breath. With a softer tone, she said, "I cannot let this pass, Anna."
"Then exile them, Elsa! If you kill them, don't you think that will embolden the others to the Church's cause against you? The Secottian Elder is looking for more excuses to continue his firebrand on your so-called 'alliance with the Dark Powers.' Word will reach his ears and he will use it as opportunity to preach that only great evil … evil that cannot stand the purity of the light, would slay the devout of the Holy Sovereign Authority." Anna closed the distance between her and her sister, kneeling down at her chair. "Don't give him the opportunity. Like you, I know what the stakes are. I too saw that map last night. I too know we cannot win this war. Yes, you could throw this land back into an eternal winter, but then your own people will rise up against you before they surely starve to death."
Elsa thought for a moment, turning away from her sister. "No, my mind is made up. They face the Creator come dawn."
Anna scowled, pacing away from the desk.
"Don't leave just yet. We are not done here," said Elsa.
Red in the face, the princess shouted, "To do what? You said you made up your mind! You doom us all!"
Elsa narrowed her eyes, but blew out a breath. "There is one way to save our people."
"That being?"
"You will stage a coup and seize the throne."
Anna choked on her next words, disbelief in her voice. "I shall do what? I will not lead troops against you!"
Elsa bolted out of her chair, slamming her fists on her desk. Thick layers of ice erupted from her palms, draping the furniture and part of the lush carpeted floor. "Listen to me. It will be a bloodless coup, but our people as well as the other crowns must believe it to be the case. After the deaths of the clergy, you will take General Holdenbrook and his best men. You will state publicly I've gone too far, and renounce me."
"I will not!"
"You must if you wish for your child to be brought into this world alive, or you will burn at the stake along with me!"
Anna gasped, her bottom jaw quivering.
Elsa didn't relent. "Answer me this. When the Finijnward storm into these castle walls, do you think they will grant you quarter on the basis you're with child? No. Expect the first contingent of soldiers to come in, throw you to the floor, and ravage you right in the throne room, forcing Kristoff to watch before they run him through with a sword."
"Don't say such things!"
"I say this because this is what will happen if you do not follow my plan. Everything, and I mean, everything, Anna, rests on my hold on Arendelle's throne and its crown upon my head." She pointed downstairs in the direction of the Royal Seat. "If I am no longer sitting there, then you, along with everyone in this kingdom, have a chance to retain the sovereignty of our great nation." Elsa paused. "Don't be a fool. This is our only hope. You're our only hope."
The two sisters stared at one another, Elsa's glare loomed hard, cold, while the bottom of Anna's eyes prickled with tears. Anna turned her head, no longer willing, or able to meet the queen's eyes.
With a broken whisper, the younger sister asked, "What must I do?" A thick tear rolled down her cheek.
"As I said, you will be outraged from the death of the clergy. You will then march in my bedchambers, place me under house arrest, and force me to sign a Writ of Abdication, naming you the rightful ruler. Because you're my sister, all witnesses will think I wouldn't dare use my powers against my own flesh-and-blood, a gamble you will vocally state aloud, but one that will play right into your hands. I will be tried, found guilty of sorcery and defiance of the Holy Sovereign Authority, and beg for your mercy. If you do have the heart, you shall exile me to the North Mountain. However, if you wish to take my life, it is yours. Anything to end this war before all of us are thrown in chains."
Anna said nothing, her eyes widening in shock, perhaps terror of the plan, and the dawning realization that she would be queen, when only six months ago, she was a young girl, barely reaching the age of womanhood, and desiring nothing other than finding true love. She found it, Kristoff having proved himself a wonderful and dutiful husband, tackling his new duties as brother-in-law to the throne with a devout heart. Despite him coming from simple iceman roots, he exhibited no fear of Elsa's powers and shouted down any man who dared uttered a voice against the crown.
Elsa surmised all this. Now, Anna has to rule, and she had married a commoner, not expecting at the possibility she would sit upon Arendelle's throne.
"Elsa … I cannot. My marriage to Kristoff … You were always the strong one …"
"Anna, we've had precedent regarding your marriage, so do not worry about having to end your vows. You do not. As for me, I am to be exiled to the North Mountain where my ice palace still remains. I am not leaving our motherland. If you need my advice on ruling, you are more than welcome to visit me, but you shall have capable advisors whom I've come to rely upon the affairs of state. Listen to them and work on forming alliances, for this will not be the last you hear of the Duke of Weselton once he's been ordered to return to his homeland after my exile."
Elsa moved around her large, desk, crafted from the rarest timbers far to the arctic north. She joined her sister, lifting Anna's chin to hers. Elsa kissed her with a gentle caress of her lips, always a sign of their close bond of devoted sisters. "I love you, Anna, with all my heart. I too wished this power never came upon me, but it has. There will always be those who fear what they don't understand, what I can do, or they consider me a threat to their own power." She moved her hand to her sister's bulging stomach. "I would gladly sacrifice my life in exchange that you and your firstborn shall live. It is why this must be done."
Anna threw her arms around her sister, her queen. Elsa felt the shoulder where her sister buried her head moistened from hot tears. For a while, she sobbed, her body shaking. The queen kept her own arms wrapped around her.
After the sobs died down, Elsa said, "It must be done."
"I pray to the Creator you're right, sister. I would never forgive myself if I took part in a plan that destroyed our only hope to keep our enemies away."
