Disclaimer: Do I really need one of these in every chapter? Fine, I don't own Frozen, just my characters.
Gulls squawked as more and more ships sailed into the harbor. "Welcome to Arendelle! Watch your step, please!" A greeter stood at the base of the dock giving a warm welcome to the passing dignitaries. "The gates will be opening soon!"
"Merci, monsieur," a lanky Frenchman said as he passed. Nels tipped his hat as he, Alex, Gates, Eugene, and Rapunzel walked up into the city.
" 'The gates will be opening soon?'" Nels shot a glance back to his cousin and the Coronans. "I thought you people normally kept your gates open."
"I guess they don't," Alex replied, looking distractedly around the square the group had walked into. The two officers and Alex stopped, while Rapunzel and Eugene kept walking.
"Punzie and I are heading straight to the castle, we're going to try to get in as soon as possible," Eugene called over his shoulder, leading Rapunzel to the bridge that connected the castle with the city. The walkway was already being flooded by nobles eager to win the new queen's favor.
The trio looked around the bustling square. A group of men raised a cross garlanded with flowers and colorful streamers flowed down to the ground. A small boy raced past, pushing through the three, his mother hot on his heels. "Why do I have to wear this?" He complained as he struggled to pull his coat off.
"Because the queen has come of age! It's coronation day!" The mother said excitedly, no anger in her voice whatsoever.
"That's not my fault!" the boy whined.
Nels couldn't help but laugh at the exchange. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other two chuckling at the boy and his mother. He heard a voice to his left call out "What do you want, Sven?" against the noise of the square. He looked and saw a burly blonde man with a cart filled with ice teasing a reindeer with a carrot. The reindeer took the entire carrot from the man. "Uh-uh-uh-uh! Share!" the man scolded playfully. The reindeer, who Nels assumed was Sven, spat the carrot back out to the man, who took a bite of the saliva-coated root. Both Alex and Gates grimaced, but Nels just smiled. He led the other two over to the man. "Good morning gentlemen! Could I interest you in some of Arendelle's finest ice, harvested fresh from the mountains just the other day!" The man asked as the three definitely-not-commoners approached him.
"You're selling ice?" Alex almost scoffed at the idea. "What in the world do people buy ice for?"
"Mostly preserving food during the summers, milord," the ice man started. "Our winters are brutally cold, but the summers are just the opposite, and people will use blocks of ice to keep it from spoiling."
Keep it from spoiling in the heat… Nels's eyes shot open. "We'll take it all."
Gates turned to him. "What?"
"Do I have to remind you two of the state of the food on the ship?" both men shook their heads. "It fucking sucks. This man's a genius. Just think of how much longer we'd be able to keep our food fresh if we'd just ice it down a little. Understand, lieutenant?"
"Aye, sir."
"Good. Go grab a handful of sailors and marines and have them transport-" Nels turned to the ice man. "How much do you have?"
"Three dozen blocks of Arendelle's finest ice here on my sleigh, milord."
The admiral turned back to Gates. "Buy us all three dozen and have it hauled back to the Boreas. We'll continue on up here. And make sure you tell the guys that our ice came from none other than the honorable mister-" back to the ice man, "What's your name?"
"Bjorgman, sir. Kristoff Bjorgman."
"Tell them to give mister Bjorgman thanks when they bite into a chunk of meat that isn't crawling with maggots."
"Aye sir," Gates sighed and hurried off.
The prince and the admiral thanked Kristoff and began towards the castle. A couple ran ahead of them, a man and a woman, the man saying "I can't believe they're finally opening up the gates!"
"And for a whole day! Faster, Percy!" The woman squealed as she dragged him to the bridge.
"For a whole day? They're opening the gates for just one day?" Nels asked Alex bewildered. "How long have the gates been closed for the people to get this excited?"
"Dunno, Nels. You know just as much as I-"
"Thirteen years," A man cut the prince off. "They've been closed thirteen years." The admiral and prince cast a gaze in the direction the voice came from. They saw two hulking walls of meat with mean faces, but the speaker wasn't anywhere to be seen. They heard him sigh. "Down here!" the voice exasperatedly said. They looked down.
The speaker was tiny, not even five feet tall with heels on. An obvious toupee adorned his head, and he wore round eyeglasses and a bushy white moustache. The two thugs flanked him. Someone has a case of little man syndrome, Nels thought as he looked back up at the thugs, both of whom were almost seven feet tall.
"And you are…?" Alex asked the tiny man, shooting a wary glance at the towering thugs.
"The Duke of Weselton, milord."
Nels began lunging forward at the man, his fists clenched and raising, only to be caught by Alex and pulled away through the crowd. "Let me at 'im! Let me go, I can take him!"
Weselton and Sitnalta weren't exactly on good terms with each other, with Weselton being focused on draining the vaults and resources of every other nation on the continent, and the Sitnaltans focusing on diplomacy and science, despite being the most powerful naval force at the time.
"Fuck, Alex, let me go!" The prince let go of Nels. "I could've taken his thugs!"
Alex reached back and smacked Nels across the face, drawing stares from some of the surrounding dignitaries. "What the fuck was that? You're the one who said we were here to be promoting peace! So how are we going to do that if you're brawling with the Duke of Weselton and his walking walls of meat?"
Nels's gaze dropped. "I'm sorry, Alex, it's just that – "
"Trust me, Nels, I hate him just as much as you do."
The admiral scoffed. "I doubt that."
The two joined the rest of the crowd in waiting for the gates to open. For the first time in thirteen years, Nels thought. There may be more to this place than I thought.
I'm sorry for the delay in updates, thanks for staying vigilant until I got it out. I'll try to have the next one out tomorrow to make up for it. As usual, please review, I could use the help. I hate to try to beg you guys to review, but PLEASE DO IT! Also, do you guys think I should bring the rating down from M to T because of the lack of violence and smut? I don't plan on putting any smut in it, but there will be some violence later on as the shit starts to hit the fan.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the flip side.
-Coat-Rack96
