There is an unusual presence of large, undersea predators in the fjord. Inexplicably Hans knows this for fact, despite the camouflage of dark waters. There has been the occasional fin visible from the surface - the movement suggests there is purpose here. Hans is unsure if anyone but him would notice such details - he knows these fjords like the back of his hand.

Such findings means that Fisk is watching the scene unfold, likely from very close by. It leaves Hans slightly en garde, questioning if his grandfather truly knows what he's doing. Something with that old sage he brought. Hans doesn't care for anyone toying with Elsa, nor being made into a liar - he assured her repeatedly she was safe. It also leaves him irritated with Elsa - for someone so obstinate about coming to the sea, she's presently far too close to the water for his comfort.

Anna has stopped not nearly as far from Elsa and the old sage as Hans suspects is appropriate to heed Elsa's command to talk privately, but he'll not argue. He is leery of putting any real distance between himself and her.

"As much as I have enjoyed making a lot of loud and agonised noise about you being thrust back into our lives," Anna starts out of nowhere in the silence that hangs painfully between her and Hans, "I have to admit: I am okay with the fact that you exist."

Wait. What?

It is with great effort Hans forces his attention away from Elsa, "Forgive my confusion, but you are going to have to elaborate for me to understand what you are getting at."

"That sounded really weird, I know." Anna cracks a small smile before her eyes dart to her hands "But I have to be honest, Hans. You have matched Elsa so well, and quickly became someone important to her. A friend. Someone other than me to confide in and she's needed that - I never realized that Elsa wasn't very happy."

"Really?" Hans questions with a wary sort of trust. Something strange twists in his chest.

Anna's hands nervously fling before her, towards Elsa and the waves, "Well, she was happy - but not like now. This seems more...genuine. I can't really explain it without actually wanting to punch you again. So all I am trying to say is that you've been good for her. Thank you for not being a total cabbage-head."

"I'm honored." Hans smiles at Anna, the pull of it genuine. Hans starts to say how grateful he's been for Anna's reluctant support - but is stunned into silence as Elsa tersely chides, "...that siren foolishly unleashed the bloody magic on one who cannot mate, as you put it."

Anna has heard her sister, too. The pair swivel in unison to now blatantly eavesdrop on the Queen's conversation.

Hans gives confused grunt - it escape from his chest without permission, as if the air has been knock from him.

"You didn't know, did you?" Anna whispers. He can sense Anna's eyes studying his profile with interest. "Elsa didn't tell you?"

"No."

Hans feels numb, if he had to put name to the emptiness that suddenly engulfs him. He is lost in what this means for Elsa, for them. (Because the old sage is right when she says she suspects Elsa's siren has already been successful - he somehow knows there is a babe, their babe - the dreams are almost nightly; a boy tiny and perfect with a shock of blonde atop a small round head, suckling at Elsa's breast.)

"No," Hans clears his throat.

Truthfully it would be an abysmal fate being denied the joy of knowing who would be their child. Not that he's ever given real thought to children (aside from avoiding any activities that would result in one), nor felt that it was hugely important to focus upon future heirs when he's chosen to pursue a woman (as the youngest of thirteen males, his line is in little danger of ending...). But Elsa is different. She's everything, having absurdly brought purpose and light into his rather dark existence. There has to have been an egregious error - certainly Elsa is wrong. She must be. She's been exceedingly wrong before.

(Not that he would call her out on it, but there was that little detail of stopping her winter and bringing back summer that she emphatically denied being capable of. When in fact she was.)

"Elsa said that she endured years of horrible examinations by various physicians as she came of age and they all said the same thing. She wouldn't ever have a child. Elsa and my Father agreed she'd abdicate the throne to me when I had a child, to maintain the direct line and claim to the crown." Anna snorts a rather dark laugh, lacking any humor. "Stupidity at it's finest. Let's let Anna, non-magical and flighty, rule the kingdom 'cause she has a babe. Ha."

Hans can only stare at where Elsa is knelt along the water, wondering how her late father could have failed so badly at supporting her properly. If things had been different, if she'd been nurtured allowed to flourish in her potential, who would Elsa be today? Certainly not cursed by a siren and knelt on the sands of a beach, arguing with an old mermaid regarding whether or not she is with child.

"I think Elsa finds that idea idiotic now, she's said she probably wouldn't do it." Anna sighs and snapping Hans' thoughts back, "But understand she's spent her life thinking she's less of a woman, unfit, because my Father, god rest his soul, put awful thoughts there and inadvertently nurtured them along for years."

And thus Hans' mind is lost and he is a hair late when it happens.

Hans sees Elsa place her hand in Anagrom's, watches the schadenfreude dance across the old sag's face, but his distracted mind misses the moment the threat truly presents, taking action.

Instead he is forced to watch helplessly as Elsa is snatched and pulled back into the sea.

It all comes down to timing, Hans thinks as he launches into action, unsheathing his dagger and charging towards the tide. And this old hag timed it perfectly. Anna begins to shout, calling out for guards to take to boats, and Hans is in the drink as the fjord becomes pricked and barbed with ice and frozen blocks of sea. The freezing water folds over him with a harsh bite.

It is only later that Hans thinks that perhaps pausing to shed himself of his heavier garments, jacket and boots primarily, may have been a wiser decision. Hans finds himself struggling against the ice and slush caught-up in the waves, no doubt thanks to the woman he's after. Hans is weighted down and ineffective to offer any true support in an undersea fight, at least in his present state. But he is damn well going to try because ever fiber of his being demands he defend Elsa unto death.

That may not be that far off, truth be told. Hans is lightheaded and feeling as if he'll succumb from lack of oxygen and hypothermia. It is with immense relief that Fisk approaches, already drawing attention from King Triton to the fact Hans has entered the fray. The sea is dark with ink, clouding and obscuring his surroundings in a most unnatural and disorienting fashion.

"It's Morgana - back from the dead, working with Uma," Fisk pants. "And Uma somehow got magic like Elsa's but she can't control it. She struck back at Elsa with it."

"Where is she?" Hans demands. "Where is Elsa?"

The mounting rage within Hans has him unable to think clearly, unable to feel the bond possibly magnetizing him to her, and he fears the worst. That Elsa is already dead.

"I am unsure," Fisk says. "But the fjord is contained. Uma won't be leaving with her."

There is a bright blast of magic that Hans would recognize anywhere as his grandfather's triton, blinding him momentarily, just as he was getting his bearings. A heartbeat, and the anticipated relief that being granted his fin once more will bring washes over him, but the moment passes unbalanced as the blast of magic hasn't hit it's mark.

Hans is still human.

A second blast does meet his flesh, and as the magic transforms him back into a merman, beautiful and powerful and dangerous and able to draw the needed oxygen once more from the sea surrounding him, Hans finds that King Triton had not missed his mark with the first blast at all, but rather landed it soundly.

Elsa.

She's now the most exquisite mermaid Hans has ever seen, iced blue fin that glistens akin to her icy gown, and he's never noticed before how a mermaid's tale curves with precarious angles at her hips - but Elsa's certainly does, and it triggers hot blood, feral and rather barbaric, to chart anew in his body. Her fair complexion makes her look ethereal, her form now fully revealed and calling him to worship her if under different circumstances.

It takes only a second for Hans to realize with intense and fervent fondness that Elsa, despite now being in the form of a mermaid, still retains two qualities that are so essentially Elsa: She still has her iced magic, which she's unleashing without regard furiously in what Hans can only assume is the direction of the old hag or Uma, blue eyes stinging with malice and palpable, and she still can't swim. Elsa is unsteady and sinking like a stone into the darkness. Despite now being a mermaid.

Hans makes note that should they survive this situation, he is teaching the poor woman to swim irregardless of if she likes it or not. Because this has become quite ridiculous.

"Elsa, I'm coming." Hans calls as he approaches, wary of the icy magic surging forth and cutting angles in the water around them.

"Elsa - let me help you."

Her eyes are wild, almost feral with determination when they meet his. Hans has seen that look before. Elsa has been pushed to deadly force, and she intends to use it. He can't really fault her, he's at that point as well.

Dagger in one hand, Hans wraps his other around her waist, pulling her back flush to his front to stabilize her - stopping her continued descent. Elsa is trembling terribly, and he realizes her skin has gone cold. Like ice.

And she's not said a word. Not even to acknowledge him.

Hans hasn't the luxury to question her, raise his concerns regarding his observations. A jet of black glares past, Hans having only time enough to raise the blade of his dagger, poorly aimed, against the darkness as it rips Elsa from his arm and down into the abyss below. It's like a nightmare...Hans has never felt such anger and fear.

Uma.

A faint metallic scent mingles with the salt of the sea, Hans can almost taste it as he rockets after her. Something like rust. It will give the predators something to track, Hans thinks. Good. She's at least wounded.

Without awaiting escort he proceeds to block Uma's next move, he's certain he knows where she's heading, and intends to recapture his queen. There is a cavern with a system of tubes connecting out to the open sea that Hans would stake his life on, Uma is heading for. He's also fairly certain it is unguarded, as it is obscured in weeds and kelp. Hans is only aware of the cavern's existence after stumbling across it accidentally one summer during his patrols with Fisk in the fjords. It is only then he realizes he could use a little magic on his side.

Hans spares a glance behind, it would seem he is not unescorted -Triton and Fisk are following his lead. As is a small force of guards.

"I know where she's going." Hans growls, "I intend to end this, now."