The next morning the sister's departed for the Highlands, along with King Philip and Queen Emily. They had sent word ahead with a lone rider of their impending visit, and were now travelling via horseback to move quickly.
"What makes you think Queen Violet may be sympathetic to our cause?" Elsa asked her Uncle when they stopped at the end of the first day.
"Queen Violet is the only lone female monarch in this part of the world. She abhors violence and stays neutral in most conflicts, but I am hopeful that your plight will speak to her."
"If she refuses to fight, how has she not been attacked yet?"
"Well, I didn't say she was defenseless. She commands quite the army, she just doesn't use it to attack others. She will defend her kingdom, however."
Elsa glanced over to where Anna was chatting with their aunt. "I hope we can convince her. I'm worried we won't have a kingdom to go back to."
"Your father had time to prepare. The Arendelle army isn't useless. I know you might not want to hear this, but you showing up to save the country from certain demise might work in your favor later on. If you want the people to accept your relationship with Anna, that is."
"Perhaps."
It took them two weeks to reach the border of the Highlands, and when they did they were met by a contingency of soldiers.
"Your majesty, Queen Violet is expecting you." One of the soldiers spoke up.
"Does this mean we are being granted an audience?" King Philip asked.
"It does. We are to escort you to the castle."
"That's a good sign." Philip said to Elsa. The princess just nodded.
It took another week to reach the castle. As they were led inside, Elsa realized she was nervous. If Queen Violet refused her request they would have to attack the Cannonvale army head on, a task that seemed almost impossible.
They were met by a middle aged man who introduced himself as Lord Hogan. "Allow me to show you to your rooms so that you may refresh yourself. We will have food brought to you as well. Since it is quite late in the afternoon Queen Violet would like to meet with you in the morning, after breakfast."
"That will be fine, Lord Hogan. We appreciate your hospitality. Please, show us to our chambers." King Philip spoke.
An hour later a servant was running a bath and Elsa was eyeing the tray of food that had been provided. "Your highness, which of you would like to go first?" The girl asked.
"Anna, go ahead if you want." Elsa said.
"Okay. I can't wait to wash this dirt off."
"Your highness, our offer of a second room still stands." the maid said.
"Thank you, but I prefer to keep my sister with me, for protection reasons." Elsa replied.
"Of course. Will you require anything else at this time?"
"We're fine, thank you."
"If you need anything else, just let me know." The young woman curtseyed and left the room.
"Finally." Elsa sighed. She made sure the door was locked, and entered the bathroom, smiling at her sister who was sunken into the tub. "Enjoying yourself?"
"Yes. Would be better if you were in here too, but I don't really want to share my hot water."
"How noble of you."
"At least I'll be clean."
"Hurry up, or I'll eat all the food."
Anna glared at her. "Fine."
Ten minutes later Elsa looked up to see a very naked princess dripping water onto the floor. "Your turn."
"But, the view is so much better out here."
"I can come keep you company. Or you can just hurry up, and get back in here." Anna was making herself a sandwich.
"I'll be right back. Stay just like that, okay?"
"Yes Elsa. I'll be right here, naked for you."
When Elsa emerged from the bath Anna was sprawled out on the bed, still naked as promised. "Anna, are you tired?"
"Of course. But, I'm not too tired. I haven't been able to touch you in weeks, come here to me."
"Yes, your majesty." Elsa smirked, starting to crawl across the bed.
"I like the sound of that."
"You will be my queen one day, love. I promise." Elsa kissed her on the mouth.
"Elsa, promise me that no matter what happens, you'll stay with me."
"Of course. You're my life Anna, I could never leave you."
"Even if Arendelle is lost? If we have no kingdom? No place in this world? What if we can't save everyone? Will you still think I'm worth it?"
"Of course. Anna, I love you so much. I don't feel like I'm a very good consolation prize for you, but everything I do in this world is for you. If in the end it's just us, that will be enough for me."
"Elsa, I love you. So, so, much. I've loved you my entire life, but as the days go by I love you more and more. I can't live without you. Tell me I won't have to."
"Anna, I'm right here, and I'll always be by your side." Elsa looked at her sister with a worried expression.
"I'm sorry. I kind of ruined the mood huh?" Anna said apologetically.
"No. But, can I hold you? For a little while at least?"
"Of course. You can hold me forever."
After breakfast the next morning the royal family met with Queen Violet, a handsome woman in her early thirties.
"Philip, Emily, it's nice to see you both again, although I assume this is not a social visit." Violet began.
"It is not, unfortunately. May I introduce my nieces, Princess Elsa, and Princess Anna of Arendelle."
"Pleased to meet you both. Well, I believe I have met you before, when you were much too young to remember. You're both beautiful young women now."
"Thank you your majesty." Elsa blushed. "Your kingdom is beautiful and I wish I was seeing it under more pleasant circumstances."
"Perhaps one day. Now, I suppose you have something you wish to ask of me?"
"Yes your majesty. Arendelle is under attack, which I'm sure you are aware of. I will be leading the Corona army into battle and desperately need an alternative route into the country. If you would allow us passage through the HIghlands, we could climb the northern mountains from your side, thus remaining undetected."
"That is all? You just want to travel through?"
"Yes your majesty. I am aware that you dislike war and violence, but I must stop Cannonvale from destroying my people."
"And you think the Corona army is enough to defeat Cannonvale and the Southern Isles?"
"With my help, yes."
"Exactly how powerful are you, princess Elsa?" Violet asked with a frown.
"I would be happy to give you a demonstration if you would like."
"Yes, perhaps once we are done with this chat. Now, what exactly caused Cannonvale to attack your country? The last I had heard Princess Anna was engaged to Prince Oris."
"That was true. Prince Oris is dead. I killed him. Cannonvale asked for my surrender and when they didn't get it they attacked."
"And you were not willing to surrender yourself to save your people from war? After all, you admit to being guilty of the crime."
"No. I forbade it." Anna snapped.
"Anna, it's okay." Elsa said gently.
"It's not okay. She doesn't know what it was like. She doesn't understand."
Queen Violet smiled. "Philip, Emily, perhaps you could leave us for a time? I would like to talk with your nieces alone."
Philip glanced to Elsa who nodded. "Very well. A stroll in your gardens would be lovely." He and his wife left the room.
"Princess Anna, I did not mean to offend you. In most circumstances the murder of a prince would be an unthinkable crime. However, I very much wish to know the details of what happened."
Elsa told the story quickly, of her parents dragging her to Anna on the wedding night, of what Oris did to her, and what happened next. "I didn't even mean to kill him. Well, not consciously at least."
"And afterwards, you fled."
"I did. I just wanted to get Anna to safety. I no longer trusted my father to make the right decisions concerning her well being. I wrote to my uncle who granted us both asylum and a trusted friend was able to get us to Corona."
"I find it odd that your father made such a match for you Anna. The Agnar I have known for many years would never have done such a thing." Violet said.
"He was afraid of Cannonvale. Afraid they would attack us at some point and so he was eager to make an alliance with them." Anna said.
"A weak argument. Yes, Cannonvale is notoriously violent and hungry for war, but they would have been aware that Corona would come to Arendelle's defense. Seems unlikely they would have attacked for no reason. Perhaps your father had another reason?"
Elsa sighed. "Trolls."
"I'm sorry, you said trolls?" Violet asked.
"Yes. I'm sure you are aware of the events that transpired last summer surrounding my birthday celebration?"
"Yes. And I must say, I'm very sorry I missed it. I had planned to attend but alas, I sprained my ankle rather badly just before."
"So you know that Anna was frozen and yet, survived."
"Clearly."
"Well, wanting to understand more about the curse, and what had broken it, my father spoke with the trolls who live in Arendelle. He was not pleased with what they told him, and decided to marry one of us off quickly."
"What on earth could the trolls have told him that was so bad he needed to marry one of you to Prince Oris? Even if the man was a perfect gentleman he's much older than either of you." Neither Elsa nor Anna answered her for several moments. "Oh, I see. True love." Violet nodded to herself.
"Yes. So, naturally father thought the best solution was to send Anna far away, before something happened."
"Naturally. So, let me get this straight. Agnar's youngest daughter was saved from certain death by an act of true love. Instead of being grateful for this, he became terrified that his daughters would embrace this love they had for each other. His solution was to give his youngest child away to a monster, and when things went awry on the wedding night, sent the very sister he feared harbored an unnatural love for her sibling to fix things? And he expected what?"
"He knew if I told her to do it she would." Elsa said.
"It's not unnatural." Anna blurted out at the same time.
Violet smiled. "Is that so? You know, before I make my final decision I would very much like that demonstration Elsa. Would you kindly find your Aunt and Uncle and meet us in the courtyard? I'd like a word alone with Anna."
"I don't leave Anna unprotected." Elsa responded.
"Elsa, it's okay." Anna said. Elsa thought about it and with a flick of her wrist created a creature made of ice which sat at Anna's feet and stared at Violet.
"Is that a lynx?" Violet asked. "It's beautiful."
"And deadly." Elsa warned. "I'll see you both outside."
"Now, Anna, I wanted to start by telling you how sorry I am that you had to endure such abuse from Prince Oris. Did you know that he was engaged once before?"
"Yes. Someone told Elsa that on our journey to Corona."
"He was a brute then, and he never changed. And your father knew that. My family made no secret as to why we ended the engagement, everyone was aware. It is why he never married."
"It was you. You were engaged to Oris."
"I was. I was fortunate that my father was appalled by his behavior and broke things off. I can't say that I'm sorry he's dead."
"Neither can I. But the people of Arendelle might not agree, they are the ones who will suffer."
"It's always the innocent ones who suffer the most. There is one more thing I want to know. Is Elsa your lover?"
Anna met her eyes. "Yes. She's everything to me."
"She is a very powerful woman. Heir to a nation, commands powerful magic, beautiful beyond compare. She could have anything she wanted. Is this what you want Anna? I don't believe that any woman should ever be forced into a relationship, marriage, or bed, that she doesn't want. If this isn't what you want tell me now and I will help you."
"Queen Violet, I trust that you mean well, and you speak from the heart. Please, believe me when I say that I am the one that had to convince her. She would stop at nothing to protect me, even from herself. But I love her more than anything. Even Arendelle."
"I do believe you. That makes you a very powerful woman as well. Let's join the others." Violet rose.
"Your majesty, is there a reason you have never married? Did Oris do something terrible to you?"
"Oh, no. Let's just say that I'm no stranger to unconventional relationships, myself. Not as unusual as yours I'm afraid." They approached the others in the courtyard. "Here you are Elsa, I've brought her back safe and sound."
Elsa smiled and glanced at her ice lynx which was still following Anna.
"Elsa, can I keep him? Please, he's so cute."
"He's supposed to be menacing."
"But he's just a big pussy cat." Anna rubbed the lynx on the head.
"Fine Anna. Your majesty, Captain Farid suggests we go to a particular clearing near the lake?"
"If that is what he thinks is best."
Anna stared at the officer, he had dark black skin, something she had never seen before.
"Anna." Elsa nudged her sister. "Stop."
"I'm sorry." Anna blushed.
"Quite alright. I know I'm an anomaly in this part of the world."
Once they reached the location Farid had spoken of, Elsa turned to Violet. "What would you like to see?"
"Something that will convince me that you have a chance of winning this war."
Elsa turned to face the empty space. With barely a move of her hand she created a tornado made of ice and snow. It spun in place, gathering speed and power before moving laterally, destroying rocks with ease. Elsa lifted her hand and the funnel rose into the air and then burst into millions of shards of ice which were flung in every direction. When the ice finished falling an army of ice creatures stood in place of the tornado. Giant bears reared up on their hind legs and roared before charging at the group. When they were mere feet away Elsa diminished them.
"Show off" Anna grumbled.
"Queen Violet? What do you think?" Philip asked.
Violet looked to Farid, who nodded. "Impressive. Princess Elsa, you have my support."
"Thank you, your majesty. Perhaps you have someone who would know the best place to climb the mountain? We will try to move quickly, I don't wish to infringe on your hospitality longer than necessary."
"I'm sorry Elsa, I didn't make myself clear. The Highland army will be joining you."
"You...you're going to war? But, I thought you hate war."
"I do. I've been Queen for ten years now, and this is the first time I have encountered a war worth fighting. Cannonvale must be stopped. Captain Farid, how many soldiers can we send?"
"Nine thousand your majesty. I must leave behind enough men to hold the castle while we are gone."
"Along with Corona's ten thousand, you have an army nearly the size of Cannonvale and the Southern Isles. You can defeat them Elsa." Philip said.
"We must return to Corona at once then."
"There is no need for you to go back. Emily and I will return and send Pike north at once with the army. I'm afraid I am too old for battle, but Eugene will come in my place."
"No, Rapunzel will never forgive us if something happens to him."
"As King of Corona I cannot ask my men to fight for me if I am unwilling to send a representative with them. Don't worry, Prince Eugene will be fine. Work with Captain Farid to ready the Highland army. They are more acclimated to winter weather, but need to understand how your powers work."
"Elsa, stay in touch. Use the falcon, like you did before." Emily said. "And take care of Anna. She's going to try to fight, and we both know what a disaster that would be."