Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Parchments, Peril, & a Picnic

(In the visiting Royals' Chambers)

Nyasha seems to stop in the middle of talking as she lifts her head to see Amare enter the room. Amare's Uncle steps outside of the room, but throws Nyasha a glance before turning an eye onto the prince. Nyasha subtly nods and looks to her husband, who returns it earnestly before switching a feather quill, dipped in red ink, for a stick of charcoal. Amare greets his parents. It's nighttime and the prince is the only one still in day clothes. Nyasha gets up and hugs her son while Jaheem, who has been busy editing some maps, only nods to his son in acknowledgement before returning to his work, a scowl on his face. He rubs his head with frustration. Finally, he slaps down the skinny charcoal stick he has been using on the map, snapping it. "Blast! I can't track those dirty pirates!' Jaheem gets up, pacing around the room as he speeches about how tiresome it is to track thieves by water, and if only he were some years younger, and an expert hunter again, with wild dog packs and a guard, and other such resources, all the while gesturing wildly, the arms of his sleeping robe flapping like a mad bird's, until he finds himself out of breath and in a tizzy, threatening to storm to the tents, find a boat, and sail out into the ocean himself to bring the brigands in. Nyasha finishes her prayers before getting up and calming her husband down, rolling her eyes. Amare meanwhile, is only half listening, off in another world. Nyasha taps her husband on the shoulder and whispers into his ear. Jaheem suddenly gains color again, turning less red as he remembers why the queen had called her son back into the room in the first place.

"Amare…" Nyasha starts. Her son looks up, stopping mid-hum through some song he must have composed as he turns from a mirror in front of him. "You left dinner early." Was all she said, but the one sentence spoke volumes. "Yes," Amare looked at his mom. "Yes. It happened, again...But, it was different! My flames made ice! And there were stars and beautiful light!" He was rambling and musing at the same time, so fast that no one could understand him. Amare's parents looked at each other, but the word "ice" stuck out. Nyasha's eye brows shot up. "So the queen caused this!" Now Jaheem was paying attention. Nyasha continued, furthering her point. "Amare! You KNOW what we talked about. Your gift and her gift! IT would be a catastrophe!" Now it was Jaheem's turn to calm his wife down, placing his hands on her shoulders as she grew stiff with anxiety. Now Jaheem stepped in. "Amare, what your mother means to say is…If this is about finding a girl before your time comes as king, we can understand. But there are plenty of girls in the kingdom back home! Surly you can choose from any one of them?" Amare starts to talk, but Nyasha cuts him off. "We shouldn't have listened to those Jinns! Destiny my foot! Be-sides Amare, you fall in love with every girl you talk to for more than 10 minutes! What is this queen to you? Something exotic? What's wrong with a nice Arundunian girl?" Now Amare was both embarrassed and rallied. "Mom…!" the prince sounded shocked, and a bit smarted. "Elsa isn't just something new! I fall in love, I don't go for prizes, you know that! And I feel a different…a kind of connection with her!

"Tomorrow, I'm going to find out more about Elsa. When all is said and done, if it doesn't work out, I'll leave her alone. But I can't let this gift (or curse) ruin my chances to find happiness." Nyasha didn't look worried anymore, but she still wasn't all happy with Amare's decision. Jaheem on the other hand, decided it was a good idea.

By the next morning, the castle and village of Arendelle were mostly back to normal. Even so, the subtle tension and feeling of business was in the air as the King and Queen of Arundune, along with Amare's uncle, conversed with Elsa and the dignitaries over the specifics of the treaty within the council chamber. The door was locked for most of the morning as voices rose and fell and emotions, and the occasional quill or piece of balled up parchment, flew all over the place. The poor table took a pounding as points were accentuated by both dignitaries and Jaheem. Finally, exhausted, everyone exited the chamber. Elsa, the first one out, told everyone to meet back tomorrow in the same place, same time.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they left. Elsa turned a corner, separating from everyone else and let out an exasperated sigh. "My sentiments exactly." Elsa jumped at the sound of Kristoff's voice. "I'm no dignitary, and I know they're the enemy, but is it really so hard to just agree to not fire arrows at each other anymore." Elsa scowled. "I wish it were that easy! But we still have to decide what to do about the pirates, and figure where they're coming from and who they are. They're the only unknown that are keeping us in a stalemate. They could be ours, in which case reparations and apologizes would have to be made, or theirs, in which case they would owe us. But both sides insist that neither one of us has ever allowed piracy in many years. And if we don't settle this, neither land will ever fully trust each other and we'll be at war all over again if even one arrow falls out of a quiver! So no, it isn't so easy." Kristoff blinked. "Your eye is twitching." Elsa shut her eyes and started to snarl, her anger turning into a tiny storm of sleet above her head. Kristoff backed up a step. "You're sleeting now." Elsa opened her eyes and blushed. Then, breathing once in, then out, very deeply, the sleet disappeared as her back straightened and her face returned to a less growly demeanor. "Sorry" she said. Kristoff put a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok. You're stressed. And you look like you could use a break."

Elsa decided he was right and decided to go for a carriage ride in the country. Elsa was lost in her head, reviewing where she had gone wrong, who had said what, and how she could do better the next meeting. It was hard to notice the pretty, sunny day. She groaned as she put a hand to her chin, ruminating more as the carriage pulled out of the gates. As she was on her way through the village, a wheel jiggled and the carriage fell over onto the cobblestones. The coachmen and Elsa both tumbled out onto the ground. Upon hearing the scene, lots of villagers rushed towards the fallen coach, fussing over the mess of wood and their queen. The coachman scrambled to his feet and helped the queen up. "My lady, are you alright?" Elsa groaned, but smiled. "Yes, I'm-ow-fine." One man dug through the wrecked carriage. "Seems it was a rock, mi'lady!" he called, bringing it straight to her. Elsa looked at the rock in her hands, and then at the carriage, which didn't look like it would be used again for a while. "I guess I needed to talk a walk anyway." she said half to herself. Suddenly, there was the sound of peoples oohing and screaming as the pounding of animal feet on stone rushed up towards Elsa. "Elsa!" Amare rushed over to her. Elsa turned around...and her eyes bugged out of her head. Trotting towards her with a high stepping gait was a creature she'd never seen before. It looks like a horse, but with a longer neck, a tufted tail, and long, floppy rose ears. As it rushed towards her, Elsa heard it's hooves beneath its mop like feet clip on the street. Then, lowering its front legs, then its back ones, it settled onto the ground. Amare jumped off as ran the rest of the few feet towards Elsa. "Are you alright?!" he asked, looking her up and down and spinning her around. Elsa woke up and reacted. "WHAT! What! W-(Then her voice was calm and full of puzzlement)-...what is that?" she asked. The worry left Amare's eyes and turned into confusion, then realization as he followed Elsa's eyes. "Oh. That's Sugar Cane. He's my mulligatawny. Sort of a like a horse. More like what they'd call a Llama. They're native to Arundune." Sugar Cane raised his head and looked at Elsa with a stare that reminded her of Sven a little, if Sven wasn't such a goof ball. This steed looked sharper, but just as cheery. "So, where we're you going?" Elsa frowned now and explained how she was taking a break from her meetings when a rock or something ruined her plans. Amare put a hand to his chin. "Well that does seem to ruin your plans. Of course, it doesn't have to. Sugar Cane, Come up boy." Sugar Cane rose up on tall legs, causing children who had started to pet him and climb him, to slide off and scatter as he trotted over to Amare. "Elsa," Amare inquired, "would you like to go for a ride?"

Speechless at first, Elsa stuttered out, "On that...?" Amare nodded. Sugar Cane snorted. "Oh hush; you've been called worse." Sugar Cane craned his neck and spat in Amare's face. Elsa made a disgusted face, and laughed now, but nervously. Amare wiped the spit off, a playful scowl on his face. "See, harmless. And only smells half as bad as a reindeer." Sugar Cane seemed to perk up at this. "Plus," Amare coaxed, "I made a picnic." Now Elsa was intrigued. And scared too. Surly he wouldn't sabotage her carriage like that, and almost kill her... But to have a picnic...and a picnic outside, away from papers and ink and people, did sound rather nice. Elsa sighed. "If I ride this...him, you have to do something scary too." Elsa stated. Amare waited for her suggestion. Elsa's eyes flashed. "Ice skating! You have to ice skate." Amare looked surprised, then nervous, but finally broke into a smile. "It's a deal!" And so Elsa agreed to the bumpiest ride in her life. Sugar Cane kneeled over and extended his neck. "You'll have to get on first. Wouldn't want you to fall again." Amare remarked. Elsa stuck out her tongue as she gracefully lifted a foot over the mulligatawny's neck...and whooped loudly, startled as she was swiftly lifted off the ground into the air. Amare stepped back, then took a skipping leap and clambered onto Sugar Cane's short, broad back like an acrobat. "All right prince 'good at everything', show off much?" Elsa chided playfully. Amare winked as he grabbed the reins and looped them over Elsa's head. "Only for pretty ladies, children, and the occasional party. Hold on to his neck by the way...yea, like that." To Sugar Cane he said, 'Hut,Hut!" and turned his steed's head towards the forest outside of the village. Sugar Cane took off in a high stepping sprint, right front and left leg, followed by its right and left back legs swinging back and forth, quickly leaving the village behind. Elsa screamed at first, blushing as she did, but her screams of fear quickly turned to laughter and excited cries of "faster!" then "Slower!" as the two rode off to enjoy a midday picnic.

As they left, the man who had handed Elsa the rock was walking away. Watching him and the departing royals were three sets of eyes of three figures, all of them hooded and hiding in the shadows.