"Your majesty! There's been a murder! Here in the castle!"
Right away any color that Elsa had in her face had quickly depleted as she stood from her seat. "Anna, stay here," Elsa commanded her sister.
Anna was about to say something, but she kept quiet. "Alright."
Elsa followed the guard, bombarding him with questions. "What happened?"
"We're not quite sure, your majesty."
"Who was the victim?"
"Erik."
"One of the guards," Elsa breathed, "Did you catch the killer?"
"Yes, and you're not going to be happy," he hesitated.
Elsa looked him in the eyes, and said, "Who was it?"
The guard hesitated again, "The guard that you assigned to keep watch over Prince Andreas, he was the one who performed the act."
Elsa glared in an attempt to squelch any panic that might have been building up inside of her. She wanted to know why one of the guards would kill another guard unprovoked, but right now she was more concerned about the other people in the castle. The killer might have been in custody, but that did nothing to ease Elsa's fears.
"What of Prince Andreas, and his bird?"
"Gone, both of them. It was like they vanished in thin air."
"What do you mean gone?!"
"Right after the killing, the Prince disappeared. There are no signs of him having even been here." The guard explained.
Elsa cursed under her breath. "Throw him in the dungeons. His trial will be in a couple of days."
"As you wish, your majesty."
In the forests of Westleton a lone elk grazed on the shoots that had sprung from the ground. A snap of a twig alerted the elk to potential danger, and it quickly bounded off.
"God fucking damnit!" a loud voice cried out, which caused any other animals in the vicinity to scamper off in all directions.
All except one.
"It's not the animals fault that you're terrible at hunting," a bell like voice sounded, "Did they not teach you how to shoot a bow and arrow, Prince Hans?"
Hans looked at the direction of the voice, and groaned in disgust, "Great, a cat is talking to me!"
The gray striped Norweigan forest cat jumped off the branch it had been roosting on, and sauntered over to Hans. "Am I? Or am I merely a hallucination brought about by eating those berries a mile back?"
The former prince sighed, "If they were poisonous, I'd have been dead. Do you have a reason to be wasting my time?" he sneered.
The cat looked up at Hans, used one of it's paws to claw at his tattered pants, and meowed loudly. Hans looked down, and glared.
"Pick me up! I wish to be held!" the cat yelled.
"Answer my question first!" Hans snapped back.
The cat let out a huff, "I'm trying to help you, you moron. I've been watching you since you were banished from the Southern Isles, and let me tell you, you'd have been better off being sent to the gallows."
Hans stormed away, stepping on the cat's tail as he did so. The cat hissed, and followed after Hans. "Hey! Don't walk away from me!"
Hans ignored the cat, believing it to now be the result of a tired mind.
"I said stop! Are you fucking stupid, or something?!"
This time Hans stopped, and turned towards the cat. "Listen, I've had a long day, I am tired, and hungry. All I want is to eat something, and sleep. Now please, kindly get lost!"
Surprisingly, the cat stopped, "Alright, well, if you die it'll be your own damn fault."
Hans said glared at the cat, then in a sarcastic tone said, "Fine, help me find food! I am so helpless, and must rely on a cat!"
The cat who had been grooming his face during Hans's short little tirade, looked at Hans with a smug look on his face. "The name is Prince Sitri. Now, follow me!"
Perhaps believing, even if foolishly, that this Sitri would help him, Hans followed after.
Back in Arendelle, Queen Elsa had hidden herself in the secret library. The trial had been held, and though she wanted to be merciful, she knew that she had to send a message to the people. Murder, especially within the castle walls, and especially one performed by a guard would not go unpunished. In the end, the killer had been sentenced to death by hanging. This fact did nothing to ease Elsa's sorrow and anger. Tired, Elsa headed to her room, but on the way there she bumped into Anna.
"Woah, easy there, sis. How are you doing? You know, all things considered," Anna started to ramble.
Elsa simply gave her a tired look, but Anna could see the tears forming in her eyes. "Hey, hey, it'll be alright! Come on, let's get you to bed, it's been a long day!"
Elsa nodded her head, and allowed Anna to lead her into her room. "I still can't believe it. One of our own guards, a killer," she said rather fretfully, then a horrifying thought occurred to her, "And Prince Andreas was gone as soon as word had been brought to me. Did he have a hand in it?"
Anna shrugged her shoulders, "I think you're just tired. Come on, we're here, time for you to get some sleep."
Elsa looked at Anna, and asked, "Anna? I umm, I don't know how to ask this, but would you, I mean," her hands started to tremble as ice formed over them. The ice quickly melted as Anna placed her hands over Elsa's.
"Sleep with you tonight? Of course!"
Elsa smiled, and hugged her sister. "Thank you."
