Thawing Together Chapter 10
"It's because I'm in love with her."
Anna wasn't completely astonished to hear that answer from Anders. After what Kai had told her, she half-expected it. But actually hearing it left her speechless for a few seconds.
"You... love... my sister?" she finally managed to say.
Anders nodded mournfully. "I'd rather die than see her in another man's arms. It tears me up inside whenever I hear the words 'a husband for Elsa.' That's why I can't check out those potential husbands anymore. Either I'd be tempted to give a falsely bad report, or I'd overcompensate and give a falsely good report. Please don't ask me to do that."
Anna thought hard for a few seconds. "Does she know?"
"Probably not. Her people skills aren't the greatest, in case you hadn't noticed." Anna had to smile at that.
"So what are you going to do?" she asked him. "Are you going to tell her?"
"No!" he burst out. "That would ruin everything! She couldn't possibly have any interest in me – she's a drop-dead-gorgeous queen, pursued by handsome princes, and I'm just an unappealing fake baron! As soon as she knows, she'll feel uncomfortable around me; she won't want to talk to me; she'll find excuses to avoid me." Anna started to speak, but he cut her off. "Please don't say it won't happen, Your Excellency. That's how it always works with me and ladies! I don't want to make her uncomfortable or unhappy. It would probably be best if I stay away from the palace as much as I can."
"You're just going to walk away from true love?" Anna was actually shocked.
"It's not true love unless it's mutual," Anders said sadly.
"So what are you going to do – climb the North Mountain and make an ice palace, and live all by yourself?"
"No," he said, unwilling to make eye contact with her. "I'll go back to my barony, to live in a house that's too big for one person, and talk to people about cows and barley, and read a book, and... try to forget, I guess. What a waste of time that will be! Maybe I'll take up drinking, even though I hate the taste of the stuff. They say it's good if you want to forget."
"Are you suggesting that's a good way to live your life?" she demanded.
"I can't think of any other way," he said sadly.
"Well, I can," she began. "I thought I found true love once. I was wrong, and so was he, even though we both wanted it to be real. It turned out that true love was right under my nose, but I was looking too hard in the wrong direction. I got a second chance, and I've never been happier.
"The only other thing that could make me that happy is knowing that Elsa is loved and cared for. She's being bombarded with marriage offers from total strangers who have no feelings for her at all! They just want to wear a crown, and my sister is nothing but a rug for them to walk on as they ascend to the throne. They don't care about her, they don't know how to help her when she's stressed... maybe she could grow to love them, but it's more likely she'd get stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of her life. I don't want that for her, and I know she doesn't want it.
"Now I've found a good man who couldn't care less about her throne or her crown, who knows about her power and isn't afraid of it, and who really loves her, just for who she is. Do you think I'm going to let you just walk out of her life, because you're afraid of what might go wrong? I don't think so!"
Anders started to speak, but she held up a hand for silence. "I'm the princess here, so I make the rules. Here's the deal. I won't ask you to check out any more men for Elsa, if you promise you'll tell her how you feel about her."
Anders realized he was swiftly losing control of this situation. "And if I don't accept this deal...?"
Anna folded her arms. "Then you'll be on the next ship headed for Narvik, and I'll tell Elsa how you feel."
Anders started to protest, but stopped himself. He had no leverage at all. Anna was obviously determined to wreck his life, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it, except to choose the method. He slowly nodded. "I have to accept."
"Good," she said. "When?"
"When will I tell her? The next Council meeting is a little over two weeks away. I'll tell her after that."
"Anders, you're stalling. There's no reason to wait two weeks. Either you march out of here, find her in the palace, and tell her right now, or I will!"
He was trapped, and he knew it. Reluctantly, he nodded, and turned for the door. His hand was almost on the handle when it burst open, rapping his knuckles and nearly knocking him over. It was Gerda.
"Your Excellency... I mean Your Excellencies... I'm sorry to intrude, but no one knew where to find you. You're both wanted in the Council room! Queen's orders. She says it's very important." Anders stood aside for Princess Anna to precede him.
When they got to the Council chamber, they found Elsa, Kristoff, and Kai waiting for them. "Be seated," Elsa said. "I've got some alarming news." Anna sat on her right, with Kristoff next to her. Anders reluctantly took the seat on the Queen's left, where the Duke of Erl usually sat. He was the only Council nobleman here.
"Stavanger attacked Glauerhafen, just as we suspected," the Queen began. "Their two navies fought a sea battle with no winners, just a lot of losers. There's a badly-damaged ship from Stavanger that wants to enter the fjord. They have wounded men on board, and they're in danger of sinking."
"So... let them in!" Anna exclaimed. "We can't turn away wounded men on a sinking ship, can we?"
"The problem is, if we help Stavanger's men and let them fix their ship, Glauerhafen will think we're taking Stavanger's side," the Queen replied.
"And if we turn them away, Stavanger will think we're on Glauerhafen's side." Kristoff was quick to see the problem.
"It looks like a no-win situation," Elsa went on. "Someone will hate us, no matter what we do. We could get pulled into their war if we aren't very careful. What do you suggest?"
I could tell them a thing or two about no-win situations, Anders thought. Out loud, he said, "We have to aid the wounded; that's a law of humanity. And we can't refuse to aid a sinking ship; that's the law of the sea. But maybe we can arrange it so no one can accuse us of taking sides. Let me think for a second..."
"What if we kept the ship for ourselves?" Kristoff wondered. "That way, neither of the others gets a benefit."
"Stavanger will just say, 'That's our ship, give it back'," Elsa replied. "They'd probably say the same thing if we stripped it for the parts."
"We'll let them dock, and take all the men ashore," Anders thought out loud. "Then we'll examine the ship, we'll find out it's so badly damaged that our shipyard can't fix it, and we'll tow it out to sea and let it sink. We stay strictly neutral that way."
"What about the men?" Kristoff asked.
"We have to help the wounded," Anna replied. "No one can fault us for that."
"But as soon as they can walk, we'll send them all home with the clothes on their backs, food for the journey, and nothing else." That was Kristoff's idea.
"Glauerhafen still won't like it if we let Stavanger's sailors go home to fight another day," Elsa noted.
"We can't tow the men out to sea and let them sink," Anders replied, "and we don't have the resources to keep them all here until the war is over. If some of them volunteer to live in Arendelle, we'll let them stay. The others should go home with nothing, like Prince Kristoff said. It's either that or hand them over to Glauerhafen, and if we have to choose one of those realms to be mad at us, Stavanger would be the worse enemy of the two. We can probably smooth things over with Glauerhafen, but Stavanger is looking for a fight."
After a few seconds of silence, Elsa nodded. "It's decided, then. We'll aid the wounded, scuttle the ship, and repatriate all the sailors who don't choose to stay here. Thank you all for your advice." The meeting was adjourned. All of them were kept very busy for the rest of the day, dealing with various aspects of the crisis. Anders had no chance to tell Elsa anything personal. He was grateful for the distraction.