Editor's note: Hope you enjoy the chapter. And please drop a review and let me know what you think.
Chapter 11: Bark: facing inside, or outside?
James was flying high into the sky when Arendelle finally came into sight. He landed at the Palace's courtyard. It was late. He found a guard and told him to alert him if there were any more signs of another monster, or a child wearing a white hood and robe entering the town. The guard hesitantly agreed only because he saw Elsa and him together before and was afraid of what would happen if he didn't listen to him. James entered the Palace and walked towards Elsa's study hoping she was still awake. James got to the study and knocked. No answer.
James sighed and decided just to go to bed; he'll alert Elsa of the danger tomorrow. James walked tiredly to his room, pretty much dragging his feet. James entered his room, went to the fire place and took a match and proceeded to light a fire. James got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Elsa woke up around 7 AM. She took a bath, brushed her hair, put on a new ice dress, and left her room to the dining room for breakfast. She was surprised to see Anna there already eating. "What are you doing up so early?" "Oh, have a date with Kristoff today so I don't wanna miss a second." Anna replied.
"Oh, well I'm sure you'll have a great time."
Just then the doors opened and James sat down at the table. A servant came up and asked him what he wanted. "Turkey omelet and coffee with cream and sugar please." The servant went off and told the cook what he wanted and brought back a cup of coffee. "Thank you." James smiled at the servant. The servant smiled back and went back to her duties.
"You're back I see." Elsa said startled by his sudden entrance. "Yup. Got back last night and went to your studies but you already went to sleep. We need to talk." James replied. "Yeah, yesterday was a day off for me so Anna and I had a busy day. And why not talk here?" Elsa said. "What we need to talk about is a bit…. sensitive." James said. Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Alright, meet me at noon at my studies." "You too Anna, I want you there as well." James said. "Oh I can't, I have a date with Kristoff." Anna said. "Not anymore. I met with Kristoff this morning and he's agreed to pick you up at 2'o'clock instead." James said matter-of-factly.
The servant came back and gave him his omelet. James grabbed a fork and took a bite. Anna scoffed and stormed out of the room. James looked to the door. "Well, now I know what makes her mad; disrupt her dates." "You say that like it's a good thing." Elsa said. "It is when you want to protect someone. People only go to places they feel safe when they are angry. Since you are here, she'll either go to Kristoff, or her room." James replied. Elsa looked down at her hands and sighed. "Please excuse me; I have a meeting about the wood keeping marketing." "That sounds like a ton of fun." James said not even trying to hide the sarcastic tone. "Tell me about it." Elsa said as she left. James finished his omelet and coffee and headed to the roof. He likes to think on roofs. He doesn't know why.
Anna was furious. HOW DARE JAMES MESS WITH HER ROMANTIC LIFE! She felt like she could punch a wall, only she didn't cause she found out that doesn't end well when she was young and got frustrated with Elsa for shutting her out. Anna made her way to Kristoff's room and knocked on the door. No answer. He must be out in the town with some friends. Anna stormed to her room and slammed the door and locked it. She jumped on her bed face down on a pillow screaming into it. She remained like that for about a half hour until she heard her door handle jingling and in walked Olaf with his nose in the key hole of her door. "Hi Anna, I heard your muffled screams and thought you could use a hug. Why are you upset?" asked the jolly snowman.
"James messed with my dating life." Anna replied. "So your date today was cancelled because of him?" Olaf asked. "No, just postponed until 2 but-" Anna started but Olaf interrupted her "If it's only postponed, why is it such a big deal." Anna's eyes widened and she said "I don't know, it just is. This means the time we have is cut by two hours." Olaf blinked and said "But isn't James working to figure out who tried to kill you and Elsa? Maybe he has something really important to say." Anna sighed and said "Yeah, you are probably right." Olaf smiled and hugged her, and then waddled out of the room.
"The bark should be facing out!" "No, the bark should be facing in!" Elsa's advisors were arguing the age old debate, trying to get Elsa to pick a side and make a law enforcing one side or the other. "The bark should be facing out so moisture doesn't affect the wood!" "The bark should be facing in as the bark acts as kindle for the fire." "ENOUGH!" Elsa burst out in annoyance "Everyone should have the freedom to follow their own procedures on doing something!" The council shrunk back as Elsa yelled, they knew she was determined, but they didn't know someone that young had so much audacity, they figured it would come at a later age. "Our apologies, Your Majesty." Said her commerce advisor. "Alright, now, is there any other matters that must be settled? I have a meeting in an hour about a delicate matter." Elsa said. "May we ask what about?" said her court advisor. "Yes, it's about the monster that attacked us last week." Elsa responded. "If you don't mind, I would like to be a part of that." Said her war advisor.
"At this time, my friend has asked only I meet him, if I find it necessary, I'll share with you what I heard at the next meeting. Elsa got up and left the council room. She went to the kitchen to get three cups of hot chocolate and she brought it to her study. When she entered James was already there sitting on a chair reading a book. "Hello Ja-" Elsa started but James interrupted "You know your war advisor is a traitor, correct?" "What?" asked Elsa surprised. "I did some checks on your council. Your war advisor has been embezzling money from the castle meant to go out and help people affected by your winter." As he spoke he brought out some documents containing witness statements from the few who saw it and discrepancies in the money log. "I shall have a talk with him. How did you know?" Elsa responded. "I get bored not having anything to do, and I like doing detective work, so I decided to investigate your council, all checked out except for your war advisor, so I dug further and found that." James said matter-of-factly. "He actually hid it quite well, most people wouldn't have spotted this, I was lucky to."
Anna walked to the study. She was nervous on what James had found. She wished she was allowed to bring Kristoff. Anna turned a corner. She started thinking about the monster. "Who on earth would create such a thing? Why would they create such a thing? And if Elsa and I were the target, why did it attack people in the villages?" all questions were running through her head. And she arrived at the study. She took a deep breath and entered.