Back to normal?
"Elsa!" Anna burst into her sisters study. It was empty. Where the hell was she? She was not in her room, not in her study and not with her, so Anna had looked for her everywhere. She went out of the room. "Olaf?" she asked the snowman, whom she met in the corridor. "Have you seen Elsa?" He seemed to think about it. "Nope, not since breakfast" he answered. Who else could she ask? "You could ask Greta or Roland where she is, they went away together after you had left with Kristoff" Olaf told her. Kristoff had taken her out on a sleigh ride this morning and it had been great fun. No wolves, sunlight and it was even supposed to be winter, so it had been pretty amazing. "Sure, I´m going to ask them" she replied and he continued bouncing down the hall way. Should she ask Greta or Roland first? She didn´t even know where Roland could be, so Greta was the better choice. The princess had her own room not far away from Anna and Elsa´s rooms, basically just around the corner. Anna knocked. "Greta?" she shouted. "Yes" the other princess shouted back at her and opened the door. "What do you want?" At least she had the manners to let Anna inside, where it looked like some kind of gathering was going on. Roland and Elsa were sitting on a sofa, reading trough something, while Greta sat at a desk, drawing. "Elsa, I was looking for you!" Anna fussed. "Now you found me" her sister replied, still staring at that piece of paper. "Hello, could you at least look at me? I have been searching for you since I came back!" Her sisters indifference was really upsetting Anna. "What exactly are you trying to tell me? You are the one who left this morning and I am not obliged to tell you where I am going, not that I have been going anywhere, I didn´t even leave the palace. I do not see the problem you have, it must have been quite easy to find me" her sister stated and this time, she did look at her. "Okay, sorry" Anna said. "What are you doing?" "We are just going through some papers for the council meeting this afternoon" Elsa explained. "This afternoon?" her sister requested. "Yes, it is the last one this year" her sister responded. "But I wanted to-" "I am sure there will be enough time for that after the meeting, or tomorrow." Tomorrow? Really? Wow, rude. "Why are you all here, by the way?" Anna asked because Elsa usually prepared for meetings in her study. Alone. "Because Greta wanted to show us some sketches that she drew with the new pencils we gave her" the older sister said. Anna moved closer to the desk. Although she disliked Greta a lot, she had to admit that she was a good artist. Most of the sketches were of them at the Yule Ball, Elsa and Roland dancing, her kissing Kristoff, Robin and Lotta talking, Henrik listening to his Uncle, who was portrait just as ridiculous as he was, and so on, but also Roland in that stupid Elf dress up he wore for the children at Christmas and even one of Sven. "They look...nice" she said. "Thank you" Greta replied. "The meeting" Roland reminded them. "Yes, you are right. We will see you later" her sister excused not only herself, but also her friend. "Something is going on there, don´t you think?" Greta voiced just what Anna had thought.
"Gentlemen, I am glad to reassure you that we have indeed prevented a wast food crisis with the help of our 'friends' from Weaseltown. Is there anything else we have to talk about?" Elsa sat in her chair at the bed-head of the table in the council room. "Well, your majesty, there is one thing, it is not of much importance, but-" "What is it?" she demanded to know. "There is, it is really a joke, your majesty, there is a group, just a few youngsters, who call themselves democrats. You see, these people-" "These people want a democratic state, elections and maybe also, or even foremost, my head on a plate. I am very well able to understand that, Lord Halvorsen, thank you. Actually, I wanted to remind all of you that I am not any less competent or anything into that direction because I, unlike you, am a woman, a young woman, to be exact. That does not prevent me from being a good queen and a capable head of state and I wont let anyone treat me like I was a stupid child that needs to be controlled. I make my own decisions, you are here to give advise, nothing more, just like you did for my father. Am I understood?" "Yes, your majesty" came their replies. Alright, so this was done. She had had a feeling that some of these men were not taking her serious enough, which should have now been changed, at least she hoped so. "We would also like to know who this young man is, your majesty" another man expressed and the others nodded. "This is Roland Johanson, Court Scientist and loyal friend of mine. What else?" They were really nosey for men their age. "What are you planning to do next?" someone asked. "Arendelle needs drastic reforms both socially and economically, many things are not meeting modern standards, and I am determined to change that. It will include opening more schools, founding a university and cuts in the military budget" she declared. "But, your majesty, the military-" "Is absorbing abnormal sums of money when one takes the actual number of soldiers into account. I want to know where this money is going, why it is going there and then spend it on something more important, like healthcare or education." They all looked slightly baffled, only Roland was smiling. "You are now dismissed" she said and left, her friend right behind her.
"Who does she think she is?!" Lord Halvorsen asked furiously. "The queen, I guess" one of the other council members replied. "Which is correct." "Well it is also correct that her majesty is an arrogant little brat! What does she think she can do without our help? She has no clue how politics work, no experience, and she thinks she can just tell us off?!" "In fact she can tell us off, as you just saw" Lord Hagen stated. "We will see about that. We will see what she does when the revolution comes. Maybe she will ask her precious boy toy what to do. Or her friend the traitor princess. Or her stupid sister. Maybe one of them will have a splendid idea. And how dare she criticise how much money we spent, and what we spent it on. What has she been spending money on? New dresses for her sister, a fully equipped laboratory and a made-to-measure suit for her lover, pencils, paint, brushes and canvas for her girlfriend. Maybe someone should tell the peasant´s she is so fond of how much their queen spent on the food from Weselton and how much on Christmas celebrations and presents. They would stand in front of the gates swinging their pitchforks the very next day and then her majesty can face some harsh realities" Halvorsen ended his torrent of hatred. "If you really think that way, maybe you should leave the council, Lord Halvorsen" Lord Berg told him. "Because I think that you are wrong. The queen might be young, the queen might have no experience and the queen might be a bit bossy, a justifiable flaw for a person so young and in such an important position, but she will be a good queen someday, if she is not already." Berg was the oldest of the advisors, he had already been in the council when the girl´s grandfather had been king, he had seen her father become king, and he saw the parallels, he knew what young rulers were like, he knew they needed some time to get used to their new responsibilities.
"Since when do you have a dog?" Greta asked Roland with regards to the pup in his lap. "It is not really my dog, it´s just that most people could not feed their pets anymore so they ended up in the streets. I gave this little guy water and something to eat and now he is following me around. The orphans love him" he explained. Gosh, what a story. "Are you aspiring to become a saint or something? Is there anything charitable that you don´t do? You help poor people when they are ill for free, you spend your weekends with miserable orphans and you adopt homeless puppies, like, how can you even be real?" "Don´t be mean to him Greta" Elsa told her. "I am not mean, I just think he is too perfect to be true. Come on, tell us what your weakness is, your flaw" the princess teased. She would really like to know more about the young scientist. 'You have to know the people around you, who they are and what they want' her mother had once told her. 'That is the only way to be on top of the game.' "You don´t have to answer to that" the queen assured her friend. "Although I would be interested in the answer as well." If that would not make him tell then she didn´t now what would, as Greta was sure that he had certain feelings toward the blonde. Elsa, on the other hand, was not showing any signs of any sort. Maybe she liked girls, maybe she didn´t like romantic relationships in general, she would get that information sometime. "I am going to tell you, but don´t laugh, this is really embarrassing. Okay, so first of all I am afraid of lizards-" "Really? I´m sure there aren´t even any lizards in Arendelle" Greta threw in. "Greta!" Elsa silenced her. "And I am a really not into this fighting stuff, I can neither swing a sword nor handle a cross bow, which are considered things that men should be able to do. I am also not a good swimmer and I can´t sing" he admitted. "You can´t sing?" "Elsa!" Greta now said in the very same dispraising tone the queen had used. "I´m sorry, it´s just, never mind." "What? Is it a thing here that couples have to sing romantic duets or something? Because then at least one of you is screwed" the princess said. "Are you suggesting something when you say 'at least one of you'?" the queen inquired. "Just that I don´t know whether you can sing or not" she countered. "She can sing" Roland insisted. "And how would you know?" "Right, how do you know?" Elsa seemed to be curious about this as well, Roland blushed. "I heard you sing when I walked past your room and I- you know, you are very good, so I stopped and listened but then Karlsson came and shooed me away." Greta was very sure that only puppies should be allowed to be that sweet, certainly not young men. "Thank you, Roland" the blonde said. "I guess that answers your question, Greta. Now tell us about your flaws, if you don´t mind." "I don´t, actually. First of all I am terribly bold and audacious, of course, I am not too good at maths, lazy, impatient and slightly egocentric" she told them straight forward. "Did I forget something?" "Greta, that was impressive. Not many people accept their flaws just like that" Elsa voiced her thoughts. "Thanks for the admiration, but you are next, so- Just start talking" Greta told her to go ahead. "Really? Okay so there is the thing with the ice-" "That doesn´t count!" "Alright. So, I may be a bit bossy-" "May? A bit?" "Stop interrupting her, Greta. Go on" Roland said. "And maybe I am too strict with Anna. I am fluent in French but really bad in Latin, that language just doesn´t make any sense, in addition to that I am not quickly picking up on things, I am socially awkward, whatever that exactly means, and I hate horses." Greta burst out laughing due to the tone in which she said that last part. "Why?" she managed to ask. "Because I fell off of one when I was little" the queen admitted and looked at her sternly. "Sorry, I don´t mean to offend you, but you talk about this serious stuff and then the very last thing is 'I hate horses', it´s just-" So her best friends each had a strong dislike for a perfectly normal animal, nice. Not to forget the other issues. Not that Greta herself didn´t have any, but she learned to accept and deal with them. "I guess we are all going to swear that we are never going to tell this to anybody?" she closed the conversation. The two others nodded.
On the Southern Isles, a young boy woke from his slumber at night. Someone was pressing a hand onto his mouth. When he opened his eyes he saw his mother, who looked concerned. "You have to get dressed, quickly and quietly" she told him. "Mother, what-? Why are we leaving in the middle of the night? Where are we going?" He pulled a shirt over his head. "Mother, you have to tell me!" he insisted. "Your brothers, they-" she looked around as if she was afraid someone could hear her speak. "They were fighting again, about the succession." "But father told them to calm down, didn´t he?" the boy asked worriedly while his mother stuffed some clothes into a bag and then handed him a cloak. "I am sorry, my darling, but your father is dead." He could see the tears roll down her cheeks until his eyes were filled with those as well. "Your brothers are preparing for war. Franz has already left to rally his allies, and so did Gerald, Nils and Fritz will support Johann, and god knows what the others will do." She took the boy´s hand and guided him trough the empty hallways. He understood that they were leaving because she wanted to protect him, but she didn´t answer his question about their destination. Finally, they reached a side door and stepped out of the palace. A stable boy was standing there, holding two horses. "Mother, where are we going?" Eduard whispered. "I sent your sister a letter immediately after-" She didn´t continue. "We are going to Arendelle." "Where the Snow Queen lives?" He didn´t know whether he was excited or afraid.
AN: So, I finally managed to finish this chapter, it took me ages. I hope you enjoy it and if you do, or even if you don´t, tell me.