To my reader UsualGuest: Yes, that the Council refuses Hans' courtship, is VERY strange isn't it? Don't worry, the reason why, as well as Anna's sudden collapse will be explained!
Thank you all for your kind reviews! I keep them in mind, and will try to do better!
"Your majesty, what are your orders for the traitor?" asked Lord Gunnar as he quickly walked to the queen's side.
Hans wanted to open his mouth to retort to the man when he saw Franz slightly shake his head. Don't make it worse, little brother... I don't want you involved in this as well...
Hans' green eyes flashed up. But...
No, Hans! Don't! spoke Franz' eyes silently.
I'll pass judgement on him later on. For now, throw him in the dungeons." Her sister's well being was now most important to her. The other guards meanwhile, were ushering the nobility outside the room. When the guards dragged Franz away, the doctor came by to examine the princess.
"I need to examine her, but... In a more private place" spoke the old man. "If someone could please pick her-"
"Hans" asked the queen immediately.
"I'm on it" said Hans who had just returned. When he wanted to cradle the princess in his arms however, the Admiral was stopped by Lord Gunnar. Slowly the prince turned his eyes to the prime minister. "Keep your hands of me." growled the man.
"You expect me to thrust you, after your brother's sheme?" scoffed the prime minister. "Who's to say you are not going to smother her with a cushion later on? Not to mention that you actually wanted to carry out these vile-" The man stumbled back when Hans pulled himself back on full height.
"The suspect is innocent untill prove says otherwise. I believe that law is still functioning." said the man with smoldering eyes. "I answer to the queen, not you. "
"I was merely suggesting-"
"And I suggest you get to know your place, lord Gunnar." growled the Admiral.
"As do you, Admiral Westerguard" spoke Elsa's cold voice before Hans could continue and start a word fight with her minister. "I can speak and think for myself. Do not talk about me as if I'm not here."
Hans swallowed and looked downwards to avoid Elsa's eyes. "Yes, Your majesty. Forgive me to speak so out of turn." Lord Gunnar muttered the same, but it was not with the same regret as Hans did.
After carrying Anna to her quarters, Hans wanted to leave, when the Ice Harvester Kristoff came barging in. As he had been at the end of the ball room, it had taken him a long time to get through the crowd to his beloved. "Anna, O God.." The blonde man wanted to get to her, but was prevented by the prince. "Let me go!"
"The doctor needs to examine her first" whispered the prince so he would not disturb the doctor. "Let him do his work. If you are going to sit there, all nerves, he won't be able to concentrate. We wouldn't want that right?"
Hans' words helped to calm the concerned man down and Elsa nodded in gratitude to the prince. The least she wanted was the doctor to make a crucial mistake in taking her sister's blood. There had already been accounts of several patients who had bled to death because of picking a wrong artery. "Doctor... what is the matter with her?" The queen couldn't stop herself after several minutes. At first she thought that the suspect, being Franz or not, had failed in his attempt on Anna... but why was she unconcious?
"What did she drink and eat, Your majesty?"
Elsa frowned upon the strange question. "Uhm, fish, salad.."
"I do not mean what she ate for dinner, your majesty..." interrupted the doctor her. "I wanted to know what she consumed at the ball..."
At the ball... Elsa took a deep breath. "Wine, and chocolate." the queen chuckled when thinking of the sweet candy, before nearly breaking down in tears. "But we all drank the same wine, and the chocolate wasn't spoiled either! So how come she-" Elsa stopped mid-sentence. How could her sister collapse, while nobody else got sick? "She was poisoned." realized the queen as she looked to the pale sickly face of her sister. "Someone put it in her wine..." How could she be so stupid! Elsa rubbed her head in frustration. Lately, she hadn't slept well... and it began to wear on her quick thinking.
"Which means it still has to be in her wine cup!" realized Kristoff. "If we can find it, we can find the antidote!" The ice harvester stormed off to the ball room to search for it.
"Kristoff-" Elsa wanted to tell the man that it was no use in searching; The servants were already washing them. But when she saw the man's worried broken face, she let him go. She knew that look all too well; she saw her own in it. He wanted to simply DO something to ease the pain inside. There was no poison left... which mean that There was nothing left to cure her sister... Tears began to fall down. She had nearly lost her twice because of her powers, and now that she controlled them, she thought there was nothing left to be afraid... she had been so blind. She failed in protecting her little sister. Again.
Elsa began to weep for worry about her little sister, and Hans nearly put his arms arround her, when he refrained last minute. After all, she wasn't his to comfort anymore..
"Your majesty... There is nothing lost" assured the doctor as he noticed the hopelessness on the queen's face. "The thing about poison... is that it always stays in the mouth and saliva, however small..." The man carefully wiped a small handkerchief in and arround Anna's mouth, revealing a purple color as a strong contrast on the white handkerchief. The man's eyes widened for a bit when he saw the color, but quickly regained his normal face.
It was too late though; The queen saw the man's face crack. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure..."
"Then what do you think, sir?" She didn't mean to be rude to him; but her worries became unbearable at this point. She needed answers.
"Your sister... has been poisoned by "Aconitum napellus", the blue monk's hood, your grace. But from what I can see, the symptoms haven't come arround yet."
"What do you mean?" asked Hans this time.
"The Monk's hood works instantly. In the time I was examining her, she would have been dead already in those two hours due to the toxic numbing her limbs... and her organs. Seeing how quickly she collapsed..." mumbled the man.
Elsa frowned. That her sister was able to survive that long... She didn't know if she should be happy for her endurance, or frightened by it. How long was she in pain already? "But there is a cure to it right?"
"There is yes. Antropine."
"Good, then work on it immediately Doctor." Elsa wanted to stand up, when the man stopped her in her tracks. "Your majesty... This plant is very rare. I only encounter a few times while I'm travelling north to attend a few Saami."
"Where?"
The man walked to the land map, and patted the area where the antidote grew. Elsa swallowed. In that area, Winter truly took hold of the country. It was already snowing there, at the beginning of October. "Thank you doctor." Elsa looked back to her little unconcious sister. "Please take care of her, while I'm going north myself."
"Elsa!" Hans took hold of her arm before she could walk out of the room. "No, it is too dangerous there!"
Elsa forcefully jerked her arm away from the prince. "The cold never bothered me, remember? Besides, I can't risk anothers life in this harsh environment."
"You still need an escort." pressed Hans on. "What if you fall off a cliff and break your leg? Then there is no-one to help you. Immune to cold or not, you'll die from starvation or from the wolves."
Wolves! Elsa's eyes widened. That was something she hadn't calculated in.
Hans saw that he was getting through her. "If something happens to you while you are searching for the cure, and if Anna-" The man swallowed. "-dies, your country has no leader anymore."
"He's right, your majesty" spoke Kai as he had just walked in on the conversation. "Which is another matter we sadly have to discuss. The people, nor the nobility must know from Anna's collapse, nor that you have gone away to find a cure. They'll need to be kept calm untill you return."
"Very well, Kai. Then I appoint you Regent untill my sister is healed."
Kai's eyes went wide and his mouth went open, and closed again like a fish. Never had the man expected the queen to chose HIM! "I... I'd be honored to take your place, your highness." The man knelt before his queen, and she spelted him a snowflake-pin on his chest.
Just then, Kristoff came in and Elsa pinched his hand to comfort her, all while explaining him what he had missed. "Anna seems to be holding out far longer then normal victims of the plant... I don't know if its a good or bad thing..."
Kristoff's head snapped up and he suddenly walked towards the princess. "You say she has her symptoms delayed yes?" To everyone's surprise, Kristoff went near Anna's corset. Lover or not, Elsa stepped forward to intervene the man from touching somewhere inappropiate. Just before Elsa could react, Kristoff stood up again, with a necklace dangling in his hand.
"What is it?" asked Hans amazed before Elsa could ask the same.
"Its... a gift from me, that in return was given to me from my family." Answered Kristoff. When he saw Anna's face turn sweaty and her breathing became irregular, he quickly returned it. From the moment it touched her skin, the Princess' condition improved.
"Amazing..." whispered Elsa. That crystal saved Anna from death!
"It is however not permanent. the Crystal won't be able to stop the Monk's hood forever, so there is a time-limit." Kristoff looked back to the queen. "Have you found a cure?"
"I need to go North to retrieve it, and I need someone I can fully trust. Could y-"
"No!" Kristoff knew what he was going to ask him and stopped her. "Ask me any other moment... but not now. I'm not leaving Anna's side. I just can't." The man's eyes stood wide; utter fear was itched on his face, like he was already dying inside.
"Very well... Admiral Westerguard you are coming with me."
Hans' head snapped up when Elsa mentioned him. "What-" The prince then turned his attention back to his queen. "Your majesty, I can't go with you! Certainly there are other men who are more fit for this! Surely Prince Frederick-"
"I asked for someone I could trust." spoke Elsa softly this time. "Prince Frederick is my fiancé yes, but he does not know yet this environment. Besides Kristoff and my sister, there is no-one who I trust more then you."
"I won't-" began Hans.
"You refuse into obeying my order, Admiral?" Elsa's eyes flared up like a snowstorm.
"I would never." spoke Hans with an emotionless face. Yet, his voice wasn't so easily masked this time, which was full of anger. After that, he quickly ran out of the room, so he could pack his things.
According to the Doctor, a lethal poisoning from Monk's hood could take 6 hours before the patient's death. With the Crystal, the man and Kristoff estimated by Anna's stage that it would take two à three days. Kristoff had seen where the plant grew, and helped along with the doctor to narrow down Elsa's and Hans' search area. Meanwhile, Hans and Elsa had both changed into warm, comfortable clothing; nothing too expensive, so they wouldn't attract robbers on the way.
Elsa didn't know what Kai exactly told the people, but she just kept smiling to them, as did Hans, so they wouldn't rise questions about her sudden depressed mood.
"Your majesty!" Elsa turned arround to find Prince Frederick running to her.
Hans meanwhile pretended not to look and went on controlling his sadle, so the Queen and the prince would have some sort of privacy together.
"I... wanted to give you something... as a token of our union." The man took out a beautiful bracelet, and placed it on Elsa's arm. After that, Frederick helped the queen to mount her horse.
Just when he wanted to ride behind Elsa, Prince Frederick stopped him. "Admiral? Please take her safely back home" asked the Swedish prince.
"I will." nodded Hans. After that, he clicked his tongue and rode as quickly as he could outside the gates.
The doctor stayed another hour, to explain to Kristoff what he could do to slow the Monk's Hood in Anna's system down. As much as he wanted to stay, the man knew other patients awaited him, who also were in great need.
This left a very alone Kristoff, with only the slow breathing of princess Anna as company. And when you are alone, your mind is allowed to run free and ponder.
The blonde man took hold of Anna's cold sweaty hand. True, he did talk to Sven all the time... but that was different. With him, he was sure he would answer back. But Anna... she was unconcious. It didn't feel right. All of this, didn't feel right. She was supposed to be laughing and joking with him, and ask him about all sort of things. She would even know how to cheer him up in situations like this. That was what she did to him, to let him see the world from a positive side. This so he wouldn't worry too much, so he wouldn't shut himself away from other people... and now, that bright feisty princess was gone. That fact made him sunk even more deeper into his isolation then before, and he didn't know how to get out by himself.
Heck, he even wanted to dance with her, and do all the other things he didn't like, to see her alive and well again. Kristoff felt tears prick in his eyes and he shook as his breath came in short gasps from crying. "Please Anna... come back for me. I need you to dance with me..." The man's lips quivered and he began to sob.
They rode for many hours on the path towards Oaken's Trading post. Sometimes they galloped with their horses, sometimes in draf, sometimes they even walked at their side, so the animals could rest a little bit. Their horses and their fates were now interwindled; One can not survive without the other in such environment. If they exhausted them already during the first hours, they wouldn't make it far.
"I heard your horse's name is Sitron." tried Elsa to start a conversation. The uncomfortable silence between them had lasted for hours, and it drove her mad.
"Yes." came the short reply.
"Did you know that 'Sitron' means Lemon in Norwegian?"
"Yes."
"Do you know any other word then just 'yes'?" bit Elsa irritated by the prince's lack of conversation.
"Yes."
Elsa moved her hand, and Hans' feet froze to the ground. "Stop being so childish and TALK to me, Hans!" snapped the queen.
"What is there to talk about?" barked the prince suddenly, causing the queen to stumble back in surprise. The horses became restless under their master's hands, feeling the tension in the air. "uhm? You tell me! Go ahead we sure have a lot of time!" said the man sarcastically as he waved his hand arround. "Go ahead and waste your sister's life with you trying to get me back as your beau!"
"I wasn't trying to get you back as my,... my beau!" stuttered Elsa shocked and angry by the prince's choice of words. "We need to get along, we need to communicate about where we are going and we can't do that when you are being so damn silent!" Her last words caused several birds to fly away in fear.
"I didn't have any problem with it." shrugged Hans as he took out his knife and began to cut the ice away from his feet. "When the last bit of ice was away, the man began to walk on. "I need you to bring you to the cure, then I'll shall do as my queen commands."
"That's why you are angry" realized the queen. "Because I forced you to come with me."
"Well, gee, gongratulations, your majesty!" Hans bowed mockingly. "You finally won the prize! Guess what that is? I have to look upon you day after day with that man! But oh, no that isn't enough for you isn't it? Bring Hans along on a lonely little trip and then dump him again so you can fladder to Prince Charming over there!"
"Its not like that!" yelled Elsa back."You said you didn't care about the arranged marriage!"
"Indeed!" said Hans as he walked on. "But you just keep dragging me arround like a trophy! How do you think i feel about that?!"
"If I had known, I-"
"You what? Would have opposed the council? threatened them? I couldn't do anything against them, only you could as queen... and you did NOTHING, Elsa! When they refused my courtship, when you danced with Prince Frederick, you just swallowed and kept your mouth shut! If I mean so little for you, why you keep me arround as your ambassador?"
"Hans! Don't say that! I care about you... I really do...Its just..." whispered Elsa with tears in her eyes. "Hans, I can't say goodbye to you just yet!"
"And when will you say goodbye to me, your majesty? In a week, a month, a year? You'll keep me as a pet to cuddle when your husband doesn't please you! You can't have both of us and you'll need to make your decision. And if you don't, I'll make mine." Hans turned arround to indicate that their conversation was over. "We need to go Northwest."
Next time, the focus will be once more on Kristoff/Anna and Franz' interrogation! Keep guessing who tried to kill Anna (its so much fun to read your guesses!)
An explanation for the sudden outburst from Hans:
Hans is infuriated because Elsa doesn't make her decision, namely going for him, or for Frederick. She is keeping them both at a short leash and is playing with both men's affection for her. That isn't Elsa's intent off course, but it does feel for Hans that way. He wants Elsa to be clear to him on who she truly choses. Now, he feels like a third wheel, a trophy for Elsa to use when she pleases. Again, that are just Hans' thoughts on the matter.
