Every hand had been turned out to clean and polish the Vigilant this day. Leave had been canceled, and those ashore called back. Ropes were being coiled, and recoiled and coiled again. The sails were tightly furled. Guns were polished, the brass-work gleamed, gear was stowed, even the bedding was being aired. But it was the deck and the woodwork of the Vigilant that the captain required the most attention to. Seamen and women scraped, washed, oiled, and polished the deck. They had been working since she had returned the day before from the castle, and still it did not match the captain's expectations.
"Again," Fitzwilliam roared. "This deck is not done. It needs to shine."
"Aye, aye, Captain," the crewmen replied.
"Shine!" she repeated as she headed aft to check how things were going there, not quite moving fast enough to escape the Duke's notice.
"Quite a bustle of activity," Duke Ledsham said as he looked around. Fitzwilliam was not being completely transparent about the meaning of the sudden spring cleaning of the warship. She had a feeling that telling the Duke that she had invited the royal sisters for a day out would be the wrong thing to do, and she had long ago learned to trust this feeling.
"Clean ship is a happy ship," Fitzwilliam muttered, trying to sidestep the man and continue on without him. Ledsham however made that impossible both with his size blocking most of the passage and his insistence in stepping in front of her no matter where she turned. Finally she relented and spoke again. "How was your meeting with the Queen of Arendelle?"
Ledsham threw his hands into the air and growled; this was the opportunity to vent he had been looking for, "Completely fruitless, annoying wretch that she is."
Fitzwilliam looked down at the Duke her face clearly showing disbelief. Not only was that not in anyway a description of the queen, but this man was supposed to be a diplomat.
Ledsham was too taken in by his rant to pay any attention to his audience, so he continued without noticing the captain's reaction."Half an hour she gave me. I represent the imperial power of the continent, and I get half an hour. And the whole time the only thing she will say is 'Arendelle is happy with our relationship with Avalon as it stands.'"
Fitzwilliam thought carefully,"But we don't ..."
"EXACTLY." He turned and thundered. "There is NO relationship. We have no formal treaty. We have NOTHING."
"I see your Grace," Fitzwilliam said, trying to keep her voice in the timbre of reason, even as she was deciding on whether to commiserate, be offended or just plain laugh. "Did you discuss the terms?"
"Half an hour is not enough time to discuss what to have for lunch, let alone an agreement uniting our kingdoms. I left her the King's proposal. I wouldn't have, she won't understand it, or the great honor we are offering, but she insisted. I intend to return tomorrow to discuss it with her. And this time I intend that we have a proper meeting."
"Ah," Fitzwilliam nodded neutrally, again completely unnoticed.
"Yes, I'll go mid-morning." The duke smiled as he began to appreciate his own decision, his own cleverness. "Mark my words, Captain, I'm not putting up with this nonsense any longer. She thinks she's a ruler, but she's a girl playing at a man's game.
Fitzwilliam gritted her teeth and then forced a smile. "Yes, then. If you will excuse me Your Grace. I have duties to attend to."
It was late, and Elsa and Anna were sitting around a small table in what they still called "Papa's study," although it had been Elsa's for over a year now. Elsa sipped from a tumbler of wine, the left overs from another dreadful dinner with a hall full of aristocrats she didn't know or care to know. Her sister intermittently snatched the glass whenever it was left unattended. Neither were overly tipsy but both were laughing and in high spirits as they read the treaty terms left by the Avalonian Ambassador.
"And the best part … the best part," Elsa snorted as she rifled through the stack of parchment until she found what she was looking for. "Is that after I choose a Prince, I am "permitted" then to make arrangements for you, in loco parentis."
"What?" Anna said, her brow wrinkling.
"As your guardian, I get … I get ... to give you my second choice." Elsa finally managed to choke the words out around a bubble of giggles.
"It says that. It actually says that," Anna said, shocked disbelief warring with breathless laughter.
"Read it," Elsa tossed the stack of papers over to her sister. As Anna began to read she continued with her rant. "It's nice to know that if I'm the brood mare for this little adventure I get my choice of three stallions. The Crown Prince has 'regretfully given his troth to another,'" again she quoted from the document, "but at least it's not just me being sold to the highest bidder. Apparently this time I could even get to be a bidder. And this is in a treaty! The nerve of those people. And the other terms are so …"
"The other terms seem generous." Anna interjected, confused.
"Of course they are. They are merely bait. They don't want anything we have. They don't need anything we have. We are tiny." Elsa indicated how small with her thumb and forefinger. "They are huge." Her hands shot apart the full width of her arms in a the sort of dramatic display that only her sister ever saw. "Avalon has its own trees and fish and probably ice if they look for it. The only thing they want …."
"Is you," Anna said suddenly very serious. "You're not going to agree, are you?"
"Of course not. " Elsa scowled, her good mood evaporating. "I'm not even considering the idea of a formal agreement. Arendelle and Avalon will not be enemies if I can help it, but they're not getting favored status, and they are certainly not taking me with them."
"What do you think they will do when you tell them that?"
"I don't know." Elsa sighed, that was the question. "I really don't know, and that bothers me because there is an enormous gunship sitting in my harbor, and it's capable of making a really nice hole in our kingdom before anything can be done about it." Elsa began to massage her temples. This headache wasn't from the wine, it was from Avalon. She felt a pang of self pity, too, which probably was the wine. Why did things have to be so complicated? She had been prepared to rule a small country that very few people had even heard of; no one had ever discussed the possibility with her of attracting the attention of the major military powers of the world. She felt, when she was completely honest with herself, well out of her league. And then there were the personalities – this Ledsham fellow, pompous ass – and then there was Capt …. Her attention was momentarily distracted by a cracking sound. She looked down at the glass in her hand, and it was frosted over, the alcohol a frozen pool of slush. She put the tumbler down, gently. "Do you think that we might have another Hans situation here, Anna?"
"What? Hans?" Anna said missing the unspoken segue to this thought. "Why Hans?"
"In Captain Fitzwilliam?" Elsa sighed again, her expression souring even more, "Is she just another person here to … I don't know … take advantage of us. Part of Avalon's" she waved her hand, "recruitment efforts."
"I don't know. She doesn't sound like Hans."
"Anna, Hans didn't sound like Hans in the beginning."
"Oh," Anna pulled a piece of loose hair from behind her ear and began to play with it. "But you knew something was up … with Hans. You weren't taken in."
"Actually, all I knew was that I needed to talk to you about the problems with bringing thirteen strange people into our home, and me not turning this castle into an ice palace. And … it was really sudden … I don't do sudden, you know."
"Yes, well now I know." Anna returned, putting her hand on her sister's. "And so, now we know. Nothing sudden. No sudden marriages. And no one moves in. Right away, sudden like. Did she propose when I wasn't looking?"
Elsa snorted, rolling her eyes at her sister.
"She just seems honest to me," Anna added.
Elsa wanted to respond, actually wanted that to be true, but she couldn't count on it.
"Your Majesty." Kai knocked and then entered. "I have a message for you from the Vigilant. The young man who brought it said you should read it as soon as possible."
Elsa waved him over, took the envelope and resignedly broke the seal, sure it was more bad news. The paper was expensive and heavy. The handwriting was nearly illegible. "Greetings to Her Majesty Elsa, Queen of Arendelle," Elsa read after her eyes adjusted to the script.
"Woah, that's formal." Anna got up from her chair and went behind Elsa to look at the note herself as the queen continued reading.
"It is my pleasure to inform you that the Avalonian Ambassador, Duke Ledsham, is desirous of a meeting with you tomorrow. He mentioned mid-morning, and he seemed most eager for a lengthy discussion. I wanted to reassure you, however, that despite His Grace's generous plans, the Vigilant is still available to you. We are prepared to leave as soon as you are ready. Very Respectfully, M.C. Fitzwilliam."
Elsa neatly refolded and then tucked the note back into its envelope. She tapped the edge against the table as she thought. This was a development. It was probably … clearly ... an alert of sorts … interesting if the captain had decided to warn her against the arrival of Avalon's own Ambassador.
"Anna, we will be getting up early tomorrow. I intend to be on that boat well before that Ambassador is anywhere around."
"Man the yards, Mr. Braithwaite," Fitzwilliam ordered as she caught site of the queen's party entering the harbor. It looked like she had a small contingent of guards with her. That made sense. Fitzwilliam would have been loathe to send her own king aboard a foreign ship with only their word as protection. Still she was also fairly certain that the Queen of Arendelle, and her magic, didn't need much protecting.
"Man the yards!" went the call from the boatswain. Immediately every hand on deck scrambled up into the rigging and spread out until they all stood exactly evenly spaced across all the yards on all the masts. Fitzwilliam didn't have to look back to see what an impressive site it was, she could see that reflected in the queen's expression as she walked toward the gangplank. The boatswain's whistle blew and eight side boys, well seven side boys and one side girl, ran out to line the gangplank. Half the squad of the Queen's guards preceded the queen and princess the other half followed. And exactly as Elsa's shoe touched the well polished deck of the Vigilant the boatswain called out, "For Her Majesty Elsa, Queen of Arendelle."
Three choruses of "Hip, hip hooray!" rang out from the yards. Fitzwilliam had to suppress a chuckle when the queen stopped and stared in surprise. She only hoped that the noise hadn't carried to the inn where Duke Ledsham had made his residence.
She turned to the First Lieutenant, "Mr. Hanson, fly every scrap of sail that we have. Make way out to sea at our best speed." The wind was light; it would take a good deal of sail to get them out of here with any alacrity. And she wanted to be gone as quickly as possible.
"Aye, aye, Captain." Hanson began the task of actually getting the ship out of the harbor. He turned to his own subordinates and began the chant of orders that would make that happen. "Clear the lines, up anchor, fly mainsails, topsails, royals and gallants, if you please." Each of the subordinate Lieutenants, Midshipmen, and Petty Officers then ran off to repeat the orders to the crew under their direction. The men scrambled down from the rigging, and the din of flying orders increased five fold then ten fold.
Fitzwilliam wandered over to where the queen and her contingent were standing on deck amidships and looking around at the bustle. She couldn't help the swagger in her walk; this was a good ship and a good crew, and she was proud of them. She glanced down at the teak deck and smiled at the distorted reflection that smiled back. A clean ship made a happy captain.
"That's … something," Elsa said, pointing up to where the crew had been standing when they greeted her. The captain looked as pleased as a child showing off an art project, all smiles and proud confidence.
"It is what is required for heads of state, Your Majesty, we would have been remiss had we not greeted you properly." The captain realized at this distance that the queen was wearing yet another dress of ice. This one, with a high neckline and a full skirt, was far more modest than the one she had seen her in the day before. It glittered in the sunlight, and she found herself wondering if it was cold to the touch, and how it would feel under her fingers.
"Good to know. Perhaps you can give lessons to some of my advisers," the queen answered. She looked around as the crew ran about quickly and sometimes frantically preparing to make way. "So what now? I feel in the way."
"Now, Your Majesty, if you and Her Highness would like to join me on the quarterdeck, we'll be out of the line of fire there. After we clear the harbor, I'll give you that tour, I promised. Then … well, the wind's light, we won't be moving too quickly, and I imagine if I don't get Your Majesty back today there will be repercussions, so we will make an early return."
"Humph, what's the fun in that," Anna grumped."Can't you make it go fast?"
Fitzwilliam looked wounded. The Vigilant was not an "it." "Your Highness, we are dependent upon the wind. Even though I am indeed ranked slightly above God aboard this ship, I cannot change the weather. I cannot make her go any faster than the wind allows."
Elsa stifled a chuckle.
"Elsa?" Anna looked at her sister with softly batting puppy dog eyes.
"No," she said firmly.
"Please?" Anna managed to make the word into two syllables and drag the last syllable out into a whine.
"Go ahead, if you wish to do something about the wind," the captain said with a grin, curious to see the magic that was doubtless the princess' request. "As long as it's less than a gale force the ship will be fine, and the crew could use to do a little work."
"Very well," Elsa affected a long suffering tone. "But I did not come out here to be your northerly breeze."
"Only until we leave the harbor, Your Majesty. Once we're out there I'm sure the wind will be more lively, but I would like to clear the harbor as soon as possible." Fitzwilliam's eyes shot back to the dock, where the Duke might make an unfortunately appearance anytime now.
Elsa nodded and followed the captain up to the quarterdeck. The captain continued over to the First Lieutenant and told him quietly, "The wind will be picking up on soon, get the lads on it. Reef the royals."
"Aye, Captain," Hanson replied puzzled, but without a question he began issuing the orders. The anchor was up, the lines cleared, and now sail was being pulled in.
"Anytime, Your Majesty," Fitzwilliam said.
Elsa simply twisted her outstretched left hand, her fingers moving as if to snap. Immediately a cold breeze began to blow, and the remaining sails filled. The ship began move, increasing speed, and under the First Lieutenant's expert guidance quickly headed for the harbor entrance.
It was the captain's turn to be amazed. Suddenly she had a better appreciation for both the reason she and the Vigilant were here, and the reason it was good that the Duke was not."Do you have to concentrate to maintain the wind?" she asked.
Elsa arched an eyebrow. "That's a military secret, Captain. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you."
Fitzwilliam colored slightly, unsure if the queen was teasing, or if she was serious. "Of course, I'm sorry. But every time you do something like that, I'm amazed."
"Of course you are, Captain. It's magic," Elsa replied with a smile.
Elsa walked through the lower deck matching the captain's pace with the captain of her personal guard behind her, as they moved from cannon to cannon. She was trying to look as fascinated as possible during the discussion of pounds, range, and the difference between anti-ship and anti-personnel rounds. The latter actually made her rather nauseated when she realized what they meant.
"This the primary gun-deck. We've twenty-eight guns here, thirty-six pounders."
Elsa heard her man reply, "Thirty-six, that's unusual for Avalon. How did you come by those?"
The captain chuckled, "Sir, you clearly know your naval cannon." She turned on the nearest gun captain, a midshipman named Lee. Elsa thought he looked all of twelve, although perhaps that was old enough as he seemed to be in charge of all these cannons. "Mister Lee is the Vigilant the only name this ship has had?"
"No, Captain, it is not, but it is the right and proper name for her."
"And what was she called before?"
"The Courageux, a foul name for a ship if ever there was one, Captain"
"And why is she now the Vigilant?"
"Because two hundred sailors from Avalon in a frigate can make mincemeat of seven hundred and fifty Frogs in a ship of the line, Captain."
The rapid exchange between Captain and Midshipman continued on next to her, but Elsa was much more interested in how many people were down here. She did a quick count. Fourteen per cannon, with the few extra running around, that made nearly four hundred just on the gun deck. She thought there must be about that many on the main deck, not to mention she had seen several squads of Marines in their bright red coats. No wonder Arendelle didn't have a ship this big, her navy probably didn't have this many people in it. She was reminded of her conversation with Anna the night before. Hers was a very tiny kingdom when compared to a place that had more than one, probably many, ships this size, and that thought did nothing to make her less queasy. But she had to admit that same fact made her more impressed with the captain. She was commanding a decent sized village, and she did it well. The queen could see how easily she wore her rank. Everyone looked to her, coming immediately to attention as she walked into a room, all their mental focus on her even if their eyes were fixed straight ahead. But it wasn't fear; it was respect. And the confidence the captain radiated was not the confidence of someone who had merely had lessons in proper posture. This was the confidence of someone who felt secure in her place. Someone who knew what they were doing. Elsa was decidedly envious.
"And why does the Vigilant carry thirty-six pound guns?" The captain continued questioning the hapless midshipman.
"Because the Frogs need the extra firepower to make up for their tiny di ahhhh." Midshipman Lee grunted in pain when the Captain stomped down hard on his boot with hers.
"For God's sake, Lee," she moved to within inches of his face, her voice rising in volume. "I don't care what you're doing, you need to pay attention to who's around you."
"Aye, aye, ma'am!"
Elsa saw the painfully embarrassed midshipman, who was also just plain in pain, glance her way and pale even further. She felt genuinely sorry for him. Her sister, meanwhile, was trying very unsuccessfully not to laugh.
"Stop it, Anna" she hissed. But that only encouraged her more. And the captain was still yelling.
"I hope you've been paying attention to the men around you, for you will need them. We're going to be launching barrels later, and for every one that's missed by this deck you'll be standing watch and watch, am I understood."
"Aye, aye, Ma'am!" The boy replied
"Very good, Mister Lee." And the captain moved off to the ladder at the rear of the deck.
"So," Anna trotted up to the captain as they finally returned to the quarterdeck at the end of their tour, "why does the Vigilant carry thirty-six pound guns?"
The captain spun on her heel and leaned forward with a stern, serious look, and said in a clear stage whisper, "Because the Gauls need the extra firepower to make up for their tiny dicks."
The captain of the queen's guard looked like his head would explode as he turned a bright crimson. Elsa patted him on the shoulder to let him know she wasn't dying of shock and horror, and Anna clutched her stomach doubled over with laughter.
"The real answer, of course," Fitzwilliam continued, "is that the ship is Gallic, and they build theirs with thirty-six pound guns. We do not because, and if you repeat this to anyone I will find you, and you will regret it, Avalonian ships are not generally as well made. This was a prize."
"A prize?" Anna asked, gasping. "Like you won it?"
"Well you could say that. You see a prize, Your Highness, is a ship that you take from the enemy. I was a wee captain with merely a frigate when I came across this beauty, and I had to have her."
"How ever did you manage that, captain," Elsa asked, suddenly more interested. A frigate versus a ship of the line, even Elsa knew that was hardly an even match.
Fitzwilliam shrugged, "She was undermanned, and I was very lucky. Very, very lucky."
"I beg to differ, Captain," Lieutenant Hanson said, having just overheard the last of the conversation. "It was not all luck. A squall, a good crew, and the fact that no sane captain would attempt to attack a ship of the line in those conditions is what did it. They were quite surprised when we flew up on 'em our guns run out with boarding parties on deck. It was some fine sailing."
"Fine sailing aside, Mister Hanson, it was costly, and as you said, probably insane." Fitzwilliam said, her tone turning pensive. "We lost some good men. More than we would have if I had just left her alone, or waited until I found another ship to assist us. But I was younger then, and not patient," At that point the captain turned and found herself face to face with Elsa, her blue eyes fixed on her, "and not as well versed in the price you pay in battle." They looked at each other for a long moment, before the captain continued, shaking off her contemplation, "I suppose that I should just remember that war is always costly."
The display of the cannon had been impressive, Elsa thought. Indeed as the captain had said, painted barrels with little flags on them had been released from either side of the boat, and the guns had worked to sink them. It seemed that the main gun-deck had performed well, hitting the barrels every time using the called for gun. Elsa was pleased about that, and she hoped it meant poor Midshipman Lee had made up for earlier.
Captain Fitzwilliam did seem to take her duty training the young officers, whom she called the "young gentlemen and ladies," quite seriously. During the practice firing she had put the only "young lady" in charge, handing over command of the giant ship as well as her gold pocket watch for timing the attacks to Midshipman Alice Wainwright. Midshipman, Midshipwoman being far too cumbersome a title Elsa decided, Wainwright had been visibly shaking when she took the watch. Lieutenant Hanson explained, as he had become her guide to the mysterious workings around her, that young Mistress Wainwright was almost old enough to take the Lieutenant's exam, and had spent her entire apprenticeship with Captain Fitzwilliam. "Already a sound officer at fifteen," he had called her. Elsa considered what she had been doing at fifteen, and she winced. Fifteen had not been a good year. Truthfully there were vanishingly few moments in her life between thirteen and sixteen that weren't cringe worthy, mix hormones with guilt and more than a touch of anger and you got something quite unpleasant in a young woman, all frozen doors, sullen retorts and pointy icicles. Wainwright, in comparison, looked like the soul of calm maturity even with her nerves.
Elsa learned several other things from Hanson as well. Fitzwilliam would foot the bill for the powder they expended for training, but apparently this wasn't too much of a consideration as she had Mistress Wainwright come about and fire broadsides until both her commands and the gun-deck's reactions were in good enough time to suit the captain. The source of Wainwright's nervousness turned out to be the pocket watch, which was a gift from Fitzwilliam's mother, a woman whose status on this ship placed her and the Virgin Mary at the same plane. Further, Fitzwilliam never loaned her watch to anyone; it was that prized to her. Better to wreck the ship than drop the watch, Hanson confided.
Now, everyone sufficiently impressed and deafened by the broadsides, the Vigilant was making her way back to the harbor. It was late afternoon, coming on evening. The activity of sailing never stopped, there was far much more raising and lowering of sails to catch just the right amount of wind than Elsa would have predicted.
"How ever do they manage up there?" The queen pointed to the sailors at the very top of the rigging.
Fitzwilliam looked back from where she stood near the rail and returned,"It's not such a difficult thing, once you get over being afraid."
"Easy for you to say," Elsa thought and then realized she also said it aloud.
"Excuse me, do you think I can't climb the rigging?" The captain walked to her side, a peculiar expression coloring her face. Elsa heard some muttering behind her. Lieutenant Hanson had been joined by another officer, Lieutenant Smythe, and it sounded like they were in conversation. She looked the captain up and down trying to decide if she was baiting her. Not once had she seen an officer in the rigging today.
"So, have you? I mean really? "
Fitzwilliam drew herself up even taller,"Your Majesty, is that a challenge?"
The muttering behind her began again, Elsa took that as a cue. "No, no. I didn't mean that."
"Of course you did Your Majesty, and I never back away from a challenge."
Fitzwilliam went to the ladder to the main deck and yelled. "O'Day!"
A crewman snapped upright and ran over to the ladder. "Yes, Captain?"
"Who's the best topman?"
"Well, Captain, not to boast, but I would say that'd be me."
"Thought so, O'Day." Fitzwilliam hopped down from the quarterdeck. "Race, you up the mainmast and back?"
"Captain?" The seaman took a step back in surprise.
Elsa walked over to the ladder. The seaman tugged his forelock and dipped his head. Elsa returned a nod. "That's not fair. You're his captain. He's not going to try his hardest."
"O'Day wouldn't shirk, would you O'Day?"
"Captain ..."
The boatswain, who had come by to see what the fuss was about, protested. "Captain, you're putting the lad in a difficult position."
"Just hear me out." Fitzwilliam turned to O'Day. "Now O'Day, this lady here," she waved vaguely in Elsa's direction, "has implied at I am not adept at climbing the rigging."
"That's not what I said!" Elsa protested.
"Pay her no mind." She leaned forward to O'Day, "I need you to do your best. If you beat me, you beat me. There's no shame in it for me. And I'll give you a crown ….no twenty crowns for your trouble."
"Captain, that's a poor idea. It's more than his wages for … for years," the boatswain yelped imagining the damage the young man might do with that much money.
"Alright, a crown for you, the other nineteen sent back to your family, and you know I'll do it."
O'Day nodded. He allowed himself just a moment to imagine what his family might do with that bounty. He nodded again this time with confidence. "You're on. Captain, ma'am. And I won't take it easy on ya."
"Good man," Fitzwilliam said as she sat down at the rail to pull off her boots.
"What are you doing?" Elsa hissed as she came to where the captain was stripping off her clothing.
"I can't climb dressed like this," Fitzwilliam replied, ignoring the larger question as she stood back up in bare feet. Then she yelled out "Mistress Wainwright!"
The young midshipman sprinted across the quarterdeck and stood at rigid attention. "Aye, aye Captain."
"Here take these," the Captain tossed her boots to the waiting Midshipman followed by her jacket, her waistcoat and her sword, "Careful of the sword, now. Don't stick our guests with it."
"Aye, Aye, Captain."
"Oh and this," Fitzwilliam threw her hat up to the young woman who had to scramble madly to catch it with both arms full of clothing.
Then the Captain cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders.
Elsa wagged her finger. "If you kill yourself, I will never forgive you."
Fitzwilliam ignored her. "Ready, O'Day?" she asked with a wink to the queen.
"Aye, Captain," came the reply. Fitzwilliam and O'Day walked to the mainmast.
She turned to her boatswain who was holding his head in his hands. "On your call, Mr. Braithewait."
"On your mark," came the less than enthusiastic call. "Set. Go!"
The captain moved quickly up the ratlines, but it wasn't long before she was half a yard behind O'Day and then several yards. There was a brief moment where she almost caught up, just as they both clambered over the royal yard, but O'Day was clearly back in the lead as they reached the top of the mast. O'Day immediately started climbing back down but the captain didn't. She reached over and grabbed an unused line and started working at a knot.
"What is she doing?" Elsa asked Lieutenant Hanson.
"I really don't want to look," he mumbled but he shaded his eyes from the sun and glanced up. "She's gonna kill herself, that's what she's doing."
Just at that moment Fitzwilliam cast herself off from the top of the mainmast, her foot in a loop of the halyard, using a series of knots like a block and tackle. She shot down toward the deck, her fall barely controlled, slowing only slightly as she descended.
Elsa watched in perplexed horror, and then with a thought and a gesture of her hands she placed a large mound of powdered snow right at the spot she expected to see the captain's skull crack open.
Fitzwilliam plunged into the snow, and then after a long moment, came sputtering back up to the surface.
"Cold!" she exclaimed. "Bloody hell, that's cold! And then she started to laugh, a joyous booming laugh."Well done, O'Day. You beat me."
"Thank ya, Captain," the seaman wheezed, having exerted himself full out.
Fitzwilliam started to swim her way out of the snow. "See Mr. Braithwaite for your winnings once we get back to shore." Stamping her feet on the deck to shake the last of the snow off, she looked to the boatswain. "Dole it out as you see appropriate Braithwaite, but let the lad have some fun."
"Aye, Captain."
Elsa came down the ladder from the quarterdeck, just behind Midshipman Wainwright who was running to the captain carrying her clothing. "So," Fitzwilliam asked once Elsa reached her, "are you convinced?"
"I'm convinced you're a lunatic," the queen replied. But then the captain dropped to the deck and started struggling with her boots. When Fitzwilliam looked up and gave her the most idiotic smile, and she had to start laughing too.
"I didn't need that snow, you know."
"No, you need some good sense."
"Maybe, but not the snow." The captain left Wainwright still holding her hat, jacket and sword, and wandered back to the snow mound. With a quickness that surprised Elsa, Fitzwilliam scooped up a double handful of snow, patted it into a ball, and tossed the ball from one hand to the other.
"You're going to lose," said Elsa in warning.
"But, I'll go down fighting." And Fitzwilliam threw a low sidearm toss that rotated up and hit the queen right on the shoulder, splashing her face with wet snow.
"You are so out gunned," Elsa replied as she started generating, and throwing, a steady stream of snow balls. Her aim was not quite as good and her arm was certainly not as strong as the captain's but she had the advantage of not needing to stop to actually make a snow ball, and she could throw with her left while she held a very handy ice shield in her right. The snowball fight quickly turned in her favor.
It wasn't long before the captain was entirely drenched, her white shirt and waistcoat plastered to her fit body, rivulets of icy water streaming from her hair. She pulled off her white neckcloth and waved it over her head. "Surrender," she chuckled, "I surrender."
"Very well." Elsa brought her hands together with another thought and the snow all rose up and then dispersed. It wasn't until she had done that, that she realized everyone on deck, most of the crew of the Vigilant, was staring at them ... staring at her. What had she done? Was this a mistake? Had the crew not known? Even if they did was it wise to remind them? She found herself waiting for the first cry of "Monster!"
"Mistress Wainwright!" the captain called again, shaking the queen from her nervous reverie. The young lady trotted to her and offered up what she still held. Fitzwilliam only took her sword. Then with a quick four long steps the captain crossed to Elsa and kneeled down on one knee. Then Fitzwilliam presented the hilt of her sword to her. "Avalon concedes," the captain said with mock humility, bowing her head.
"Arendelle accepts your surrender," Elsa replied after a moment to find her voice, and then took the offered sword.
From behind her she heard Lieutenant Hanson's voice. "Arendelle accepts the concession of Captain Fitzwilliam of the Vigilant," he called in a loud voice. "Three cheers for Arendelle."
As the crew shouted, "Hip, hip hooray," their faces all in varying stages of mirth, Elsa felt something warm inside of her. They weren't afraid of her. She felt accomplished. She felt fully, truly confident, all of her anxiety draining away from her. And then there was Captain Fitzwilliam, still kneeling before her, her sodden clothing outlining her form, her smile shining up at her, fuel to this glow of self-confidence. Elsa realized she was staring in what was probably an unseemly manner, and she had no idea why.