Alder had awoken early to the sound of rain outside his window. The sky above was black and whilst he had planned to go train today, he decided against it, opting to instead take an early breakfast and help out around the castle. He made his way downstairs into the main hall, where he saw the royal messenger walking through the doors, dripping wet. Greeting the young man with a smile, he offered to take the letters which were all to be delivered to Elsa. The man was thankful and handed them to him eagerly, bidding him thanks and farewell. As Alder continuing to the kitchens, Alder began to shuffle through the letters, testing his knowledge of the royal seals of the many kingdoms Arendelle had dealings with. Elsa had been making an effort to educate him on the diplomatic matters of Arendelle and became a valued source of advice for various matters concerning her court. He perused the letter mindlessly until he laid eyes on a seal that he needed no education on. His heart leapt into his throat and he felt a wave of sickness wash over him. As if to ensure the letter in his hands were real, he forced his fingers to trace the seal however there was no mistaking what it was. The seal of the Valadorian royal court was, for some unknown reason, the only constant in the ever changing monarchy. It had endured every coup and power play and was something none of the monarchs had thought about changing, mostly because they were busy trying to ward off further attempts on the throne.
Alder immediately forgot his hunger, racing instead to find Elsa. His mind ran through every possible reason as to why a kingdom as far south as Valador would want anything to do with a small northern kingdom like Arendelle. He found Elsa in her study, waving her hands to form a few snowflake shaped crystals and suddenly the answer hit him.
They want Elsa. Whoever is in charge wants to use her to secure the throne! Her magic would be powerful enough to ensure whoever had claimed it would hold it against any who try oppose them.
Elsa heard him stop at the door turning to face him with a smile.
"Oh Alder! Sorry I was just getting in a little early morning practice," she said gesturing to the crystals and blushing slightly.
She must have noticed the look on his face as her expression changed to one of worry.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked quietly, reaching out to him.
Alder couldn't move, choosing instead to thrust the letter into her hand. She looked surprised and slightly hurt but she took the letter. Studying it she was unsure what it was and upon opening it she began to read. He noticed her frown as she finished reading and she looked up at him.
"They want to send a delegation here for a treaty negotiation," she said slowly.
Alder looked up at her and she could see the hate and anger burning in his eyes.
"No," he said flatly. "Say no. Say you want nothing to do with them, say they are not welcome in Arendelle."
His fists began to shake as he clenched them tight and the temperature in the room began to rise. Elsa wanted nothing more than to fufil his request, but this was a matter that affected Arendelle and she couldn't allow her feelings to cloud her judgement.
"Alder you know I can't do that," she said calmly. "What if by denying them they take insult? Then they raise an army with whatever allies they may have and march on Arendelle? We would be faced with war. There are other ways to stop them from being associated with Arendelle but a flat out refusal to see them is not one of them."
He shot her an angry look before he quickly turned away.
"So after everything I told you about how treacherous and nefarious the bureaucrats and the monarchy of Valador are you are still going to invite them here with open arms? They are only trying to use you to secure their own power! I mean this is the first time Arendelle has ever had contact with Valador and don't you think it's a little coincidental that they have only taken an interest in you now? Now that the news of your coronation has spread?"
"I'm not asking you to do this for me. I'm asking you to do this for everyone here. No good will come of this I swear and if they take offence and for whatever unfounded reason decided to start a war, well then they will see the power of the Snow Queen," he pleaded.
"You know I won't use my powers to harm others," Elsa stated.
"And I am not asking you to... I am asking to listen to me when I say that there is no way this ends well... for you, for me, Anna, Kristoff and Arendelle. You let them in and they will take everything from you," he said, the desperation in his voice becoming clearly apparent.
"Alder I cannot do that. You know I cannot. I have explained to you the reasons why. I will take your advice and assure you that there will be no treaties made with them, but it still stands that I cannot refuse to see them. I know how much history there is between you and these people and I am not asking you to forgive them for the things that they have done. I ask you that you let me handle this in the appropriate matter and trust in my judgement to know that I will not make the wrong decision."
Alder could not contain himself any longer. He had tried to be reasonable with her, he had tried to make her understand all that he had suffered and all the bad things that anyone associated with the royal court of Valador was capable of. Frustrated be her insistence on doing "the right thing" he threw his hands up in the air.
"Fine but don't say I didn't warn you!" he shouted as he stormed out.
He heard her try to call after him but he ignored her. She had made her decision and nothing he said would change that. Lost in his frustration, he nearly ran into Gerda as he rounded the corner.
"Oh Master Alder! My apologies," she said as she stepped to the side.
"It's fine Gerda. If you could please inform her majesty that I will be assisting the Ice Master on his next ice harvest and will not be here to meet the delegation from Valador," he said sternly.
Taken aback by his tone and his formal nature of address, Gerda could only nod as he stormed away. Alder continued to shake his head as he exited the castle and upon seeing Kristoff getting ready to leave, broke into a run.
"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Alder shouted.
Kristoff looked at him curiously.
"I thought you said you wanted to spend some time with Elsa?" he said.
Alder shook his head and scowled.
"Her majesty and I have come to a disagreement regarding a certain matter. I think time apart is for the best," he replied.
Not wanting to push any further, for fear of enraging Alder anymore than he already seemed to be, Kristoff dropped the subject and waited whilst Alder threw his equipment into the back of the sled and without any words, flicked the reins and Sven began to pull the sled out of the castle grounds.
The ride up into the mountains was a quiet one, Kristoff trying to help Alder take his mind off whatever was bothering him and Alder shutting down his attempts with vague responses and grunts. In the end Kristoff gave up and they spent the majority of their trip in silence. They spent the first day setting up and on the second day they nearly filled the sled. Alder had thrown himself into his work and this only caused Kristoff's worry for his friend continued to grow. Deciding that enough was enough, Kristoff resolved himself to confront Alder about his mood that night at dinner. With the days work completed, Alder was about to skulk off to bed when Kristoff stopped him.
"Alder... wait," Kristoff said hesitantly. "You know you can talk to me right? That maybe I can help with whatever is bothering you?"
Alder had stopped dead. He knew Kristoff would eventually ask him what was wrong. He was a kind man and worried about the people he cared about and Alder knew there was no way to allay his concerns other than to come clean.
"Elsa recieved a letter from the royal court of Valador," he said, unable to hide the hint of anger in his voice. "They are sending a delegation for a treaty negotiation."
Kristoff now understood why Alder was so furious and why he had been hesitant to discuss it with him.
"So when are they coming?" Kristoff said, trying to continue the conversation.
"They are due to arrive today. I warned her Kristoff... I told her that they only want to use her and she wouldn't listen," he replied.
Kristoff sat silent, contemplating his response.
"So shouldn't you be there with them? You know these people better than everyone else down in Arendelle. Wouldn't you be the most qualified to stop anything untoward from happening?"
Alder flinched and clenched his fists. He had been thinking the exact same thing. He knew that no one in Arendelle would understand the lengths that Valadorian royalty would go to to secure their power. He had found a place amongst the people of Arendelle and more importantly a place with Elsa. He cared about her deeply and knew that his world would cease to have meaning if he lost her along with all the other people he had ever cared about. Finding that he now regretted his decision to leave before the arrival of the delegation, he turned back to Kristoff.
"You have an uncanny ability of getting me to see sense you know that?" he said with a small smile.
Kristoff returned his smile.
"I guess that's why Anna keeps me around. Besides sometimes all it takes is someone telling you exactly how it is for you to realise the right choice."
Alder walked slowly back to the campfire.
"You are right... I need to be there and I swear that I will stop anything that any one of those treacherous cretins thinks to try."
"How angry would you be if I asked that we cut this short and head back tonight? I think I have some more apologising to do."
Kristoff laughed.
"We'll we have nearly filled the sled to full so heading back a little bit early won't be such a bad thing. I'll start getting packed up."
Alder gave him a grateful smile and proceeded to help his friend pack.
A/N: So... Things are looking up... Maybe? I hope you enjoyed this and apologies for the shortness of the chapter... This is the lead up and we are just getting started so please bear with me for the next couple of chapters! To answer a few questions from reviews:
DoctorWhoXX: It was loosely based around that although I tried to make it more "Earthly".
TheRiddler: The answer is - He was walking.
Thank you all once again for your kind reviews and for the favourites and follows. If you could all try to review this chapter I would appreciate it as this took a bit to write and I'm curious if I went ok. Also if you have any questions regarding anything feel free to PM me. I also have a tumblr which I use to blog various things but mostly Frozen material so if you are into that you can PM me for my URL.
Until next time!