Chapter 10 - Unexpected Invitation
Elsa had already eaten breakfast earlier and was now sitting up on the very back of the Boreas' quarterdeck. She was facing the wake that the ship left behind as she read one of the books she brought along on the voyage. Unlike the previous day where she had to keep an eye on Anna and Rapunzel, she was able to fully focus on reading and made significant progress.
She was not reading a novel. She was engrossed in a scientific journal by the British Royal Society that detailed the recent discovery of a new planet in the solar system, Uranus. Elsa was always fascinated by astronomy. During her years of isolation, she would gaze at the stars out her window with a small telescope her father had bought her. Quite often she would stay up all night watching the rotation of the night sky and recording the positions of planets.
She found herself drifting away from the text before her as she remembered the past, wondering of what other discoveries had yet to be made about the universe. An object she noticed on the horizon far behind the Boreas suddenly woke her from her daydreams. It was a ship. A small vessel that was at an extreme distance, but it was getting closer.
The queen turned to bring the sight to someone else's attention.
"Captain!"
Captain Halvard, who was at the wheel of the ship once again, turned to face Elsa when she called.
"There appears to be a vessel approaching us." She continued.
Halvard handed the wheel over to another crewman as he took out his spyglass and looked over the water towards the approaching ship. When he saw it, he could identify it immediately, without even needing to look at what colours it was flying.
"Don't worry Your Majesty," He told her. "It's one of ours. The Aksel."
The Aksel was a courier ship used by Arendelle. It was small and fast, excellent for use as a ship to transport mail and other information that required a speedy delivery.
"The Aksel?" Elsa repeated. "I wonder why they are out here?"
"I'm not sure... but if they are trying to catch up to us, it must be important." Halvard walked back over to the wheel to issue orders to the crew. "Trim the sails! Prepare to come to a full stop!"
Minutes later, the Aksel was alongside the Boreas. A gangplank was lowered between the two ships, and as soon as it was in place, the Akel's commander, Captain Anton, and Arendelle's minister of foreign relations, Oscar Thorstein came quickly aboard the Boreas.
Elsa walked up to greet them as the two bowed.
"Your Majesty," Anton began, "I'm glad we caught up with you as soon as we did. Mr. Thorstein here wanted to contact you as quickly as possible."
"What's the problem captain?" Elsa asked, curious as to why they both seemed so anxious.
"I think I'll let Mr. Thorstein explain that." He gestured to the minister who stepped forward to join the conversation.
"Queen Elsa, I came to see you as soon as I could in order to relay this important information." The minister began.
"About what, Oscar? I don't understand what's going on." She replied.
"About this letter which we had received a few hours after you left port." Oscar pulled an envelope from his jacket and handed it to Elsa who started to open it.
"It's from the southern Isles, Your Majesty."
The sound of the name made Elsa's blood run cold. Her hands halted the opening of the letter as she noticed the all too familiar seal stamped on the paper with red wax. Nine months ago, she had cut off all trade relations with the Southern Isles and she had hoped to never have to do business with them ever again. For a moment, Elsa considered tearing up the letter and sending Oscar and the Aksel off with instructions to tell the Southern Isles to leave her alone. However, her better judgment won out against her gut reaction when she thought about how the Minister said it was important.
Hesitantly she opened the letter and began to read as Oscar explained its contents aloud.
"To summarize the letter, it is an invitation."
"An invitation?" Asked Captain Halvard. "Inviting who to what?"
"Inviting us to the Southern Isles." Elsa answered before Oscar did.
"Correct." The minister continued. "It would seem there was some kind of political incident in the Southern Isles a few months ago. The new king, a King Rasmus, has invited Her Majesty, Queen Elsa, to visit his homeland in hopes that relations can be improved between our two kingdoms."
"I see." Halvard glanced over at Elsa who was still reading the letter as Oscar continued.
"King Rasmus claims that this meeting is of utmost importance, and explains that it would be greatly beneficial to both The Southern Isles and Arendelle if you were to meet with him as soon as possible." Oscar concluded his explanation and looked towards the Queen as she finished reading the message.
Elsa stood silent for a moment as she thought about what she had read. It was essentially exactly what Oscar had explained, but the tone of the letter made her uneasy. She wasn't sure why, but she knew something was up.
The Minister saw the hesitation in Elsa's eyes and felt it necessary to try and convince her. "Of course... you aren't required to attend, Your Majesty. But I think you understand that it would be a great help to our economy if we could re-establish trade with the Southern Isles."
As much as she didn't want to believe it, Elsa knew he was telling the truth. Arendelle was hurting, financially, after she had cut off ties with The Southern Isles and Weselton. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now that the economy was suffering, it would be helpful to open trade with at least one of those kingdoms again.
"Yes, I understand Minister. Given the current situation, I will take King Rasmus up on his offer and meet with him in the Southern Isles." Elsa sighed, realizing she had to put aside her personal feelings for the welfare of her kingdom.
"Very good Your Majesty." He replied, taking a step back as Captain Anton stepped forward with a folder of papers in his hands.
"This is all of our recent intelligence on the Southern Isles, Your Majesty." Anton explained as he handed the folder to Elsa. "I know it's not much, but hopefully it will prepare you somewhat for the encounter."
"Thank you, Captain."
"Very well. We shall be off then. Best of luck Queen Elsa." Wished Anton. Him and Minister Thorstein walked back across the gangplank and returned to the Aksel.
Just as the two ships were beginning to move away from each other, Anna, Kristoff, Rapunzel, and Eugene all came up on deck from having finished their breakfast. Anna walked up to Elsa as she watched the Aksel moving off.
"We met up with another ship?" She asked. "What did they want?" She recognized the flag of Arendelle flying on the Aksel and assumed that the meeting was not of a hostile nature.
Elsa felt pained to have to do this to Anna, but unfortunately this meeting had to take priority over her sister's honeymoon.
"There's been a slight change in plans Anna." Elsa told her. She then directed her attention at Halvard. "Captain, alter our course. Take us to the Southern Isles."
"Right away Your Majesty." Replied Halvard as he walked up to re-take his position at the ship's wheel.
"The Southern Isles? Elsa? What's going on?"
Looking at her sister again, Elsa had a sympathetic expression on her face. It was genuine but it was also hiding the fear she felt on the inside. "I'm afraid Corona will have to wait Anna."
The sails of the Boreas were all raised once again and the ship began to speed through the water with all do haste towards their new destination.
Soon after the Aksel had left, Elsa called a meeting. She sat in the Boreas' situation room along with Anna, Kristoff, Eugene, Rapunzel, and Halvard. She apologized to all of them for having to postpone their trip to Corona, and especially to Anna and Kristoff for having to delay their honeymoon. No one was angry with her. Everyone understood the urgency of the situation and was perfectly willing to extend their voyage by a few more days. However, this didn't stop them from being concerned.
"I don't know Elsa, I'm still worried about you meeting with this guy." Anna asked. "What if he ends up being a lunatic like his brother was." She shuddered at the thought of the man who had tried to kill her and her sister. Hopefully Hans was serving a very long and very isolated prison sentence at the moment.
"We can't make that assumption Anna." She told her sister, understanding where she was coming from and sharing the same concerns to an extent. "If anything, the fact that he is willing to try and make reparations is a good sign."
Halvard felt the need to add his opinion as well. "Yes. Also, he is a brand new king with a brand new way to run his kingdom than the previous ruler. For all we know he was disgusted by the way the old king dealt with the events of nine months ago and has decided to try and patch things up between his kingdom and ours."
"Speaking of which, do we know how King Rasmus came to power? What happened to the old king?" Asked Rapunzel.
"Unfortunately, we don't know specifics." Elsa replied as she flipped through the pages of intelligence she had been given by Captain Anton. "All we do know is that the previous king, the eldest of the Southern Isles brothers, a man named Andor, passed away some months ago. How it happened is not known to us. The second eldest brother, Rasmus, assumed the throne afterwards."
Everyone was lost in their own thoughts for a moment, but Eugene spoke up to voice what they were all thinking.
"Do you think it might have been a coup d'état?" He asked. "Do you think Andor might have been murdered?"
Elsa wore a grim expression, showing that she had considered this as well.
"I don't know... It's possible, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions." Elsa paused to look around the table where everyone sat. "All we do know at the moment is that we have been invited under a flag of peace, and that Rasmus intends to smooth relations with us. Therefore, that's the information we should base our preconceptions on."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"However, that doesn't mean we won't keep our eyes and ears open to everything. There's an old saying: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Elsa's words spoke to all of them. They knew that had to keep an open mind, but also that things were not always the way they seemed when they are hidden in the darkness.
"I suppose that's it then." The queen said. "Thank you all for coming."
With those words, everyone began to get up and head out of the room. They were all quiet, but still felt that they were doing something that was necessary.
Before he exited the door of the room, Halvard turned to face Elsa again who was still sitting at the table, staring off into space.
"Your Majesty?" He asked.
She gave no response, lost in her own thoughts.
"Elsa?"
At this, she looked up to see the captain, still standing in the room.
"Yes Halvard? ...I'm sorry."
"It's alright." He told her, knowing that she must have been incredibly preoccupied at the moment. "I just wanted to tell you... that I know what you're doing is difficult for you. And although we all are hoping for a happy ending to this endeavor... I recommend extreme caution."
Elsa took comfort in the fact that she was not the only one to smell something fishy about the situation. She always trusted Halvard's instincts and was happy to know that he was never afraid to give her his advice.
"Thank you captain. And I promise you... I will."