Elena paced the throne room as she glanced at the letter. Just below her were her grandfather Francisco, grandmother Luisa, best friend and the only council member who wasn't family Naomi Turner, royal sorcerer Mateo de Alma and her royal guard Gabe Nunez. Also present was her little sister Isabel and her new friend Kara. Missing was her cousin Esteban, and the letter explained why.

"What you do think we should to Elena?" Naomi asked her best friend softly. She had an idea of what Elena would do already but knew it needed to be discussed. "Do we meet his demand?"

"We shouldn't give into the demands of kidnappers." Gabe reminded her simply. "We give an inch they might take a mile."

"But we can't abandon Esteban either." Mateo countered with a slight waving of his hands. "It wouldn't be right. Besides, I get what you're saying Gabe but the demand isn't even that…well, that demanding."

"Normally I would agree with you Gabe." Francisco assured the royal guard. "But in this instance it is such a small price to pay."

Elena glanced down at the letter and read it silently to herself again. Elena, it seems our paths may have to cross again. We have caught your team scouting around our property and we have responded the way we felt appropriate. As a result we have captured the leader of your little expedition, if memory serves from our last encounter it is your Chancellor Esteban. No need to fret, there is a simple way for you to get your cousin back. We will conduct a prisoner exchange for Claudia. Meet us at the ravine at noon. If you do not, then you should prepare to hold your vigil for your dear cousin. Sincerely, Juan. She had to resist the urge to crumble the note in her hands. She looked to the others in the room. "We don't have a choice." She said. "We have to go through with the hostage trade."

There was no argument from any of the three remaining members of the grand council, or even from Gabe who had initially come down on the idea being a bad one. Elena nodded in finality. "Alright. We don't know exactly how many people Juan will bring with him, but we don't want to be unprepared." She looked to Gabe. "Assemble at least two dozen men to come with us and have Claudia brought up. We're going to leave as soon as the sun rises."

"I'm not sure you should be going with them Elena." Luisa said to her granddaughter firmly. "They already abducted Esteban and there is no reason not to assume they might not do the same thing to you."

"You saw the note abuela." Elena responded. "It's not addressed to the ruling body of Avalor. It's specifically addressed to me. He expects me to be there. And I have to be."

"Elena, if he expects you to be there isn't that a reason not to be?" Isabel pointed out reasonably. "I mean isn't that falling for his trap as much as the hostage trade?"

Elena knew reasonably that her little sister right. But she still felt this was something she had to oversee herself and if there was one thing she learned when they had dealt with Charoca is was that she couldn't ignore her feelings. "Possibly Isa, but I feel like I have to do this."

"I will come along too." Francisco decided. "To help watch your back."

"I'm going too." Mateo said. "You might need some kind of magical help out there."

"Count me in." Naomi added. When they looked at her curiously she shrugged. "You might need me. After all, what was it he said? That at least I had some understanding of them."

"Do you really think you do?" Isabel asked the blonde curiously.

"Maybe a little." Naomi conceded with a small frown. "I mean I get where their origins were after all, growing up in Avalor during Shuriki's reign of terror. But I think they've lost sight of themselves since that point."

Luisa was not entirely thrilled that everyone insisted on going. If Juan had decided to betray them he would have every member of the grand council save herself, to say nothing about her granddaughter the crown princess. But she knew arguing with Elena or her husband would be virtually useless. "Everyone take care. Isa and I will be here waiting for you." She said instead.

Even though they tried no one could sleep that night and Elena was more than anxious to get going. It was of no surprise to her that morning to see that Gabe and the royal guards were there and ready to go as were Naomi, Francisco and Mateo. What she didn't expect was to see Migs and Skylar there as well. "What brings you guys here?" She asked them.

"We're going with you Princess Elena." Migs answered. "To rescue your cousin. Luna will stay here and help Kara watch Isabel and your grandmother. You know, in case this is a very well thought out diversion."

Something told Elena trying to argue with them would be pointless and she didn't mind the help anyway. "Sounds good to me you guys." She said with a small smile. "So let's go bring Esteban home."

"Please be careful mi corazon." Luisa said to Francisco as she embraced her husband. "And stay safe." It was still uncertain if he had fully recovered from the flu that had nearly killed him.

"I will be fine, I promise." He said to her.

"Elena, you be careful too." Isabel said as Elena knelt down in front of her and hugged her. "I've already lost mom and dad. I don't want to lose you too."

"I'll be super careful, I promise Isa. We'll all come back." Elena vowed as she hugged her sister back and then looked at the little Chamster. "You and Luna keep her safe for me, please Kara." She requested.

"You can count on us crown princess." Kara promised, using her right wing to salute her since she had to use all four of her paws to stand. Both sisters smiled softly.

"Alright then, let's get going." Elena declared as she released Isabel and stood up. She got on Skylar's back even as Mateo got on Mig's back. Naomi and Gabe had horses along with Francisco and the royal entourage. In between four of the guards was a caravan that held Claudia, whose wrists were still bound together. Two guards rode in the caravan with her for security's sake.

After only a few minutes journey Claudia said, "You know should be glad that I'm all Juan is asking for. He knows he could ask for more and in the end you would probably deliver on it. We all know you would do anything for your family."

"Too bad he can't say the same thing." Naomi replied rather icily for her friend. "You realize if he or your leader cared about you as much as you say they would have found a way to rescue you that would have guaranteed your freedom. What would they do if we had refused?"

Claudia snickered a bit. "I'm sure he had other plans. He simply chose the one that would spare the most lives." She replied.

"Four of our men are dead, another injured, because of their benevolent plan." Francisco reminded the young woman sharply.

Elena frowned as she understood the point. "But how many more could they have killed if they had attacked the castle to rescue her?" She wondered. Even if they were to take a more espionage approach it could have resulted in someone else being lost.

"Don't give them that princess." Skylar said to her. "She just wants it to look like he was the smarter leader here. But he's still the one who put us in this horrible position to start with, and you still had to have the wisdom to make that choice."

"Which you did." Migs added. Somehow that didn't make Elena feel as quite as better as she was sure they would have hoped.

"Do you, Juan, or your precious leader even know what you're doing?" Naomi couldn't help but question Claudia now as they continued along. "You all formed your little resistance because of Shuriki's rule. But she's gone now, Elena defeated her. You should all be grateful to her."

"No one denies that she defeated Shuriki, though even that was luck thanks to the unexpected intervention of that amulet that that princess Sofia has." Claudia replied simply. "But that doesn't entitle her to the throne."

"Um, oldest child of the last rightful king and queen." Gabe commented. "Pretty sure it does."

"The rightful queen and king lost that throne to Shuriki. If they were effective leaders that never would have happened." Claudia retorted.

"My parents were great rulers." Elena stated furiously. Being a good ruler like her father was the crown princesses highest desire. "What happened was not their fault. If that's what you and yours believe then you're way off base."

"They should have been prepared." Claudia replied smugly. "The world is not a safe and warm place. There are real dangers out there and instead of being complacent they should have been prepared. Like we were."

"Like you were?" Naomi questioned dubiously.

"Prepared?" Elena added with a raised eyebrow at their captive. "Your own people opened up a portal leading to heaven knows where, couldn't deal with or defeat the residents of that realm, and then resorted to several kidnapping attempts of a ten year old girl, my little sister I might add, in the last resort you had to shut it down before they invaded." She recited. "I think you're 'preparation' needs a lot of work."

"They never invaded, did they?" Claudia questioned.

"Thanks to Isabel." Naomi countered. "Yeah, one of your men did the dirty work," The blonde knew that sacrifice nagged at her best friend every day and even she had hated that option. "But it was still Isabel's plan."

"The point was that Juan was willing and able to do whatever it took to do what needed to be done." Claudia stated rather imperiously to Naomi's mind. "Regardless of what it meant, or who had to be used."

"Ambushes? Kidnapping?" Naomi questioned. "Has he or your leader ever stopped to wonder about that? Ever hold the adage about being too busy to worrying about rather it can be done that it should be considered rather it even should be done?"

Something occurred to Francisco. "Tell me, do you even know who your leader is?" He asked Claudia curiously. "Everyone in Avalor knows who Elena is. The same thing is true in basically every other kingdom from Enchancia to Satu to Cordoba. Even Shuriki made herself well known during her reign. But I can't say I've ever heard of whomever you are risking your very lives for."

Everyone couldn't help but notice Claudia's slight hesitation. Then she seemed to shake that off. "A great leader doesn't have to be seen to be heard. They can lead effectively through the commands they give to those they trust." It was the opposite of what Elena believed personally. The woman looked to the crown princess now. "The fact is if your parents had followed that then perhaps Shuriki would have never killed them."

Elena was so glad that Isabel was not there to hear that, she was sure it would have upset her little sister. Truth be told it upset her. "That's enough." Elena said quietly.

Claudia looked ready to press her again and Gabe moved his horse to be in front of her. "She said that's enough." He said.

"You wouldn't hit a woman, would you?" Claudia asked mockingly. "Wouldn't that be against your code of chivalry."

"You're thinking of a knight, not a guard." Naomi interrupted her. "But I don't think Gabe would hit a woman, no matter how annoying she's being. That just wouldn't be right. But that doesn't apply to other girls and if you don't zip it I will make you." Gabe, Mateo, and Elena all seemed just a bit surprised at the blonde's vehemence.

Claudia apparently decided not to call her on it and fell silent. Francisco repressed a sigh as he figured that the proverbial damage may have been done. As much as he had tried to talk her out of it he had noticed that Claudia and her ilk seemed to find ways to get under Elena's skin.

They arrived at the ravine about ten minutes early and there was no sign of Juan, Esteban or anyone else. Elena had the irrational thought that this was a diversion and that for some reason they were going after Isabel again. That also raised the fear that maybe Esteban was really gone as well. Even from the air on the Jaquins she and Mateo weren't seeing anything.

"I don't suppose they could be using magic?" Elena now asked their royal sorcerer.

"Anything is possible." Mateo answered as he Migs began another small circle of the area with his tamborita out. They already knew they didn't want to be splitting up too much in case it was more than a simple hostage trade. "But for what it's worth I'm not feeling anything."

"They need to get here already." Skylar noted. "I'm getting hungry and want to be home by dinner time."

"You could always eat one of them." Naomi suggested jokingly.

"Who knows where they've been or what they have?" Skylar retorted with some disgust.

"This coming from the Jaquin that will pull fish from a river and eat them raw." Migs said. "I mean you don't even know what's in the water." Elena knew that was a valid point, one of Isabel's bigger projects was a purification system for the indoor places of Avalor.

It seemed from out of nowhere they saw Juan appear with several guards, though not nearly as many as had accompanied Elena. Unlike Claudia, who seemed relatively comfortable in the caravan, they had Esteban walking in between two guards. His wrists too were bound and the one in back had his sword out and pointed at the chancellor's back. Also among them was Carlito, another now former royal guard.

"I'm glad to see you came yourself Elena." Juan called out with a chuckle. "Care to come down yourself and talk?"

With slight pack on the back from the crown princess Skylar landed on the ground and Elena hopped off his back. She moved a little closer to talk but not close enough to be struck at or grabbed. "You're developing a really bad habit of abducting my family." She said coldly. "I can't say I appreciate that."

"Isabel was necessary. She would have been returned to you even if you had not come to us yourself." Juan said dismissively. "As for Esteban and his entourage it was a simple misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" Esteban questioned. "It might as well have been an ambush. We never even got a chance to explain ourselves."

"We may have been a bit hasty." Juan relented somewhat reluctantly. "But considering what transpired at our last encounter we had every reason to believe your party was a threat."

"How do you expect us or anyone else to take you seriously when you ambush parties and kidnap people?" Elena questioned as she placed her hands on her hips angrily. "That wasn't how Avalor started out."

"I'm sure Claudia has already told you what we're trying to accomplish." He said. "It will do us no good to discuss this. I don't expect to change your mind and you don't have what it takes to change mine."

"He's probably right Elena." Naomi said. "They don't want peace. They just want what they want and they'll get it by whatever means they think is necessary."

Elena looked to her friend and figured she was probably right. "Let's just make this trade." She said to Juan.

"Agreed." Juan said and gestured to Carlito. He and the two guards that had been on either side of Esteban started forward. Gabe gestured the two guards on the caravan with Claudia.

Elena couldn't help but noticed the contrast as one of her guards and Gabe helped Claudia down and even made sure she kept her balance while conversely when Esteban almost lost his balance he was shoved hard to keep him moving forward. "Hey." Elena protested. Her protest was ignored and Naomi had to stop her friend from going over into the middle of the hostage trade.

Gabe glared at Carlito. They had actually grown up together during Shuriki's reign. They hadn't really been the best of friends but they could certainly understand what life had been like. They had gone through school together. Carlito had definitely proven more intelligent that Gabe but the royal guard proven kinder and more reliable. Those were traits that had carried on throughout their education.

When Elena had defeated Shuriki it had been a question of who between the two of them would end up being the head of the guard. Gabe had been all too happy to finally serve the rightful heir of Avalor. Comments Carlito had made at the time, some of them being down right rude in Gabe's mind, had made it seem like he was less than thrilled about it especially after Gabe had become the head of the royal guard.

Now that slightly smug look on Carlito's face that would sometimes just annoy Gabe now just downright made him angry. And that smug look was on his face right now as they were standing within feet of each other. "Let the chancellor go." Gabe said.

"You let her go first." Carlito retorted.

Tense looks were exchanged for a moment and then they heard Elena call out, "Oh for…come on, just release them both at the same time." Gabe couldn't argue that one and after a glance at Juan who nodded in agreement Carlito nodded as well. They both released their hostages.

Esteban did his best to maintain his dignity despite the fact he clearly had not been as well taken care of as Claudia had. She moved right up to Carlito and stood next to him as she looked back at Elena and Naomi with amusement.

The instant it was clear Elena broke ranks and ran to Esteban. "Are you okay?" She asked him with concern.

"Do not worry about me princess. I will live." Esteban promised her. The crown princess threw her arms around him just as she had that day on the island after he had rescued her from falling off the edge. After only a moment's hesitation he hugged his young cousin back.

Juan laughed just a little. "How touching." He remarked.

With a whirl Elena turned on him, Gabe had to stop her from moving any closer to their adversary. "Don't you ever kidnap any family member of mine again." She warned him. "I respect the fact that you and yours may not approve of me and you're entitled to that opinion. But the next time you threaten me or mine…"

"Elena." It was Esteban who spoke up now. "It is not worth your time to try to talk any sense into him princesa."

"Let's just get him home Princess Elena." Gabe said to her softly.

Elena sighed but then looked up to glare at Juan again. "I sure hope we're never in a situation like this again." She said to him. "Or next time it might not end so amicably."

"We shall see Elena." Juan said with a smirk. "We shall see."

"Are you alright?" Francisco asked Esteban as they made their way back.

"I will be fine." Esteban promised.

Now Esteban, Francisco and two of the guards ended up in the caravan as they started toward Avalor again. Naomi watched her friend in the skies with worry. It was clear to her that Juan's mannerisms affected Elena and it pained her to see anyone have that kind of subtle control over her. Yet she understood it too because she too was starting to dislike him.

"Did you learn anything during your time that would be helpful?" Gabe asked Esteban as they were on their journey home.

He shook his head. "Not too much. I think we actually stayed within a small area in the ravine. There were always two guards around and…" He started and then flinched a bit. At the concerned looks he got he added, "And no bed to sleep on. My shoulders are aching."

"You can rest up all you need to when we get back to the castle Esteban." Elena assured him.

Gabe and the royal guards took the caravan back to its place upon returning to the castle so they could all call it for the night.

They were greeted happily by Luisa and Isabel upon their return to the castle. Luisa welcomed Esteban home happily before greeting her husband and like Elena, Isabel gave her older cousin a big hug. "I'm glad you made it home okay Esteban." She said.

"Everything is alright now Princess Isabel." The chancellor tried to assure his youngest cousin as gently as he could.

"Are you hungry?" Elena asked him. "We could have something made for you, whatever you want."

"Thank you Elena." Esteban said. "But I think I should clean up first." He gently ushered Isabel over to her older sister and started up the stairs. As Elena knelt down to tell her little sister what she had missed, Naomi and Mateo quietly excused themselves for the night.

"I'm glad you got home okay, for what that's worth." Kara said from her position on the banister. She had not wanted to interfere directly in the family moment. Esteban didn't really say anything directly but did give a wave of acknowledgement to the little Chamster. She simply shrugged, it was really for Isabel and to an extent Elena that she stayed in the castle for after all.

She absently lifted her right paw up to her face to get rid of a suddenly annoying itch when she noticed a mark on Esteban's shoulder. It was small and five sided, coated all in black. Kara stopped and stared for just a second before she commented, "No way, there's no way that could be…" She looked toward the two princesses of Avalor. "But if it is…oh, what do I do?"