Week 1, Thursday afternoon...
"Your majesty! Please just listen..." Prime Minister George said, terrified at the Princess's rage.
"No! You listen here!" Anna shouted pointing a finger a George. "I am not leaving my sister behind on her own, not in the state she is in right now."
"But your majesty. I have already informed the King of Solaris that you will be attending." George said as he tried to calm the Princess down.
"And why did you not consult with me first? Isn't it my decision if I wish to join?" Anna asked sternly.
"Well yes you majesty but, I...I'm sorry your majesty but we really need you for this. I promise you that once this trip is over we will...I'll take over your duties so you can spend more time with Lord Kristoff and your sister. I promise." George said, feeling it was the only way that he could repay the princess for the torment that he must be causing her at a time like this. "The journey is merely a day, and we should only be there for around 2-3 days. So we will be back within 4 to 5 days. Then after that you can have all the time you need for whatever you do. I'll take over the council and all the agreements and meetings, unless it's absolutely necessary. Is that okay? Please just this trip. It would be dishonorable to arrive to the presence of the King of Solaris without a monarchical representative."
Anna sighed. She didn't want the council or the people of Arendelle to think of her as a lousy Queen. "Fine. But I wish you would have consented with me first before you make decisions for others. You better stay true to your word, or else..."
The Prime minister gulped. "Of course your majesty." He didn't know what Anna was capable of in terms of punishment and he sure as hell didn't want to find out.
Week 1, Thursday night...
"How long will you be gone for?" Kristoff asked in shock. He was definitely not expecting Anna, of all people, to leave Arendelle in times like this, especially not without the consent of her sister.
"5 days" She said as she poked her dinner around. She didn't really feel like eating. The stress of being Acting Queen was already getting the better of her, and the trip this Sunday only made it worse.
"You know you've got eat something. You skipped on breakfast since you woke up so late, you barely ate any lunch, you're thin enough as it is." Kristoff said concernedly. Anna just sighed as she started to eat her dinner to Kristoff's relief.
Week 1, Friday morning...
A sudden clap of thunder had woken Anna up out of her sleep causing her to jump in fright. She looked out of the window and was greeted by dark clouds and heavy rain. A mid summer thunderstorm, that's all it was. Then she remembered that her parents had died in a storm, but they weren't on a ship.
"Stop worrying." Anna muttered to herself as she got out of her bed, another clap of thunder causing her to jump in fright. Anna shook her head to clear her fears and walked over to the wardrobe. She had decided last night to sleep in her own room, mainly because she was too exhausted to think straight. She even considered sleeping in the study, but that was too Elsa-like. After she had changed into her appropriate attire she proceeded downstairs, wondering what possible duties she would have today.
"Your majesty" George said as he entered the castle, his hair soaking wet and plastered to his face. "Horrible weather we're having?"
"Yeah. If it wasn't for the thunder I would still be asleep. So what hellish duties do I have to do today?" Anna asked not sounding very lady-like.
"Not much your majesty. The port's have been closed for today because the storm surges on the coastline are making tit impossible to get any ships in or out of the fjord. The rains have also kept all the remaining dignitaries at bay, and the town is pretty much empty. Also this isn't a thunderstorm. According to our watchers, we are currently being hit by the edge of a hurricane. Heavy rain, but luckily no rain." George said as he dried himself.
"Soooo, no duties?" Anna asked hopefully.
George sighed as he looked at the princess. With a smile he said, "Yes. No duties. I don't think the council is going to arrive in this weather anyway."
"YES!" Anna shouted with a jump causing the prime minister to chuckle. Anna ran into the dining room to look for Kristoff but was dismayed to find he was not there.
"Morning your majesty." Gerda said as she entered the room. "What would you like for breakfast this fine...um morning?"
"Have you seen Kristoff?" Anna asked.
"Not today your majesty. You could check in the house that we gave him, though there is also a chance he might be with his pet reindeer." Gerda said as she started making the table.
"Sven is not his pet, more of a friend." Anna corrected.
"Of course your majesty. Sorry for my mistake."
"That's alright."
"So what would her majesty like for breakfast?" Gerda asked again.
"I think I'll skip breakfast. I've got to find Kristoff" This reply shocked Gerda partially. Anna wasn't the type of person that would skip eating, especially breakfast. Then again, being Queen probably made her change a bit. "I'm going to look for him." Anna said as she left the room.
"Your majesty. You'll get a terrible cold if you go out in this rain!" Gerda called after her.
"Thanks for your concern Gerda, but it's nothing I can't handle." Anna said as she donned on a coat and stepped outside. To her surprise the rain was actually quite cold, but having a sister who could bring winter at any time of the year kind of nullified the effects the rain had on Anna. She quickly made her way through the courtyard and started running towards the stables. By the time she got there she was completely drenched and shivering.
"I t-think I m-may have underestimated the c-c-cold." Anna whispered to herself as she opened the stable door. Just as she expected, Kristoff was sitting next to Sven, playing a lute.
"Anna!" Kristoff cried in shock seeing the princess soaking wet and shaking. He quickly ran over to her with a towel. "What were you thinking?" Kristoff asked as Anna began to dry herself.
"I was looking for you." She replied.
"In this weather? You could get the flu or worse."
"Oh the cold never bothered me." Anna said with a smile. Kristoff just rolled his eyes.
"You are becoming too much like Elsa now. Next think you know, you'll have ice powers and be sitting in the study all day." Kristoff said with a laugh. Anna just nudged him with a playful smile. "C'mon, let's get you all warmed up." He said as he pulled Anna towards a small fire he had lit.
Week 1, Friday afternoon...
Anna had literally spent the whole day in the stables with Kristoff as the rain continued to pour down. It showed no signs of stopping and even now it was still relentlessly pouring.
"When is this ever going to stop?" Kristoff asked as Anna slowly stirred. She had fallen asleep about an hour ago after she and Kristoff, Anna having forced him of course, had taken a small stroll in the rain, something that both of them regretted doing mere minutes after starting.
"Hopefully after Sunday," Anna said as she opened her eyes and sat up. "Maybe it'll stop us from going on that trip."
"I don't think the rain would stop something like that. If there was wind...yes" Kristoff said. Suddenly there came a knock at the stable doors. "Who?" He muttered as he opened the doors. It was Kai.
"Your majesty." Kai said looking at the princess. "The Prime minister wishes to see you immediately. He says it's urgent."
"So much for a free day." Anna groaned as she grabbed her coat.
"Well, at least you got to spend some time out of the meeting room." Kristoff smiled. "Here, use this." He said giving Anna as small hood."
"It's not winter you know." She said as Kristoff put the hood on Anna's head.
"No but it'll keep your hair dry. 'less you want a bird's nest again tomorrow."
It took Anna mere minutes to run back to the castle with Kai. The cold didn't bother her, but being soaked to the bone did.
"Aah your majesty. Glad you could join us, it thought that you wouldn't come." George said as the princess entered the room, her hair dripping as she tried to dry it. "
"Did I have a choice?" Anna asked sarcastically.
"Anyway, we were just discussing a problematic situation." George said as Anna sat down in the chair that Elsa would usually sit in.
"Must be really problematic if only 4 people showed up," Anna said, sarcasm still present in her voice. And indeed only 4 people, excluding the Princess and the prime minister, had shown up.
"This doesn't concern the others. Everyone you see int his room your majesty, will be joining us on the trip to Solaris tomorrow." George said bracing for the princess's response. And indeed she screamed.
"TOMORROW?" Anna literally shrieked. "You said that it was this Sunday! Not tomorrow!"
"And that was the original plan, until we learned that 3 kingdoms have just severed their trade lines with us because of that incident at the ball. They said that since we didn't provide them with compensation for the loss of their monarch's, we must not care about them or feel sorry. We tried to explain the situation to them, especially the events that have been occurring for the last 2 weeks, but they didn't listen."We've just lost a lot of resources, but the other kingdoms can easily compensate for that. But the real reason I called you here, and the reason we are rescheduling this trip for tomorrow instead of Sunday, is because there are several resources that those kingdom's provided us with that the other kingdoms simply can't compensate for. Chocolate is one of them." George said as he took a deep breath. The mention of the lack of chocolate caught Anna by surprise, and George knew that Anna was now more willing to listen if one of the shortages was the sister's favorite foods. "Other resources include emeralds, bronze, clay's and silk. There are also several others but I think you already get the point. Most of these are vital for Arendelle's economy and we can't just let that get torn to the ground."
"No. We can't..." Anna admitted. She was finally thinking logically like her sister would have, George thought. "So the trip is still only 4 to 5 days long?"
"Of course your majesty. And I still stand by my word, that I will take over your responsibilities once we get back."
Anna just sighed at this point. There was no point in arguing. She couldn't just let Arendelle down, just because she was feeling a little stressed out. She knew her sister would have done the same, mainly because she already did once, but then again, Anna went with her at that time.
"Are you okay your majesty?" One of the advisers asked noticing the stressful look on Anna's face.
"I'm fine." Anna said. "So how is this king anyway? What do we know about him?"
"Well, his name is King William of Solaris. I believe his first name is Alec, but he likes to be called by his second name instead."
"What's his surname?"
"No one knows." George replied. "He never tells. Only the closest of his council members actually know, but they have never told anyone. He's one of those kings who like to maintain a lot of secrets."
"So why Solaris again?" Anna asked. "Why not a closer kingdom like Corona or some other place."
"Actually, Solaris is even closer to us than Corona. It takes three days to reach Corona, it takes barely a day to reach Solaris. Also, Corona doesn't have half of these things, and they themselves are struggling at the moment in their own economy. Solaris is the best choice we have at the moment. Unless you wish to reestablish trade with Weselton?"
"That's never going to happen in a million years." Anna replied, angry that the prime minister would even suggest such a thing. Didn't he know about the events of her sister's coronation?
"Of course your majesty, that's why it's important that we successfully establish trade with Solaris, otherwise Arendelle will have some serious economic problems in due time. And I don't think anyone here want's that. So w leave at first light tomorrow. Is that alright?" George asked.
"No. But then again, it's pretty much required. So, is that all?" She asked with a yawn.
"One more thing your majesty." George said noticing the Princess's irritability. "The kingdom of Praeton is constantly demanding compensation, even more so than the other kingdom's. They said that their King and Queen were killed in the explosion, yet we have yet to find record that their monarch's even visited Arendelle on the night of the disaster. According to eyewitnesses, the dignitaries they sent were the prime minister and a few councilmen. No record of their monarch's at all. They are starting to threaten us, saying that this was all a plan by our government to take control of their kingdom."
"They actually have the audacity to say that to us after all the chaos and problems that we are experiencing at the moment. Clearly they are a bunch of selfish morons who deserve no interaction with us or our allies. But at the moment we are not ready for war, so my advice is simply to just ignore them. Because they know better than to threaten an ally of the Coronian empire." Gordon said as he leaned back in his chair. "Honestly, I think they are just trying to mess with us. Make us feel scared. Obviously they have no idea what Arendelle is capable of especially with our Queen."
Noticing what Gordon meant by that, Anna added, "My sister is not a weapon. She doesn't use her powers to kill people or hurt them. That's the reason she isolated herself for 13 years, because she didn't want to hurt anyone before." She said, glaring at the new military adviser. He clearly didn't know much about the Queen or Princess, so it's a wonder he even got elected.
"I know...but in emergencies..." Gordon started only to be interrupted by Anna.
"There are no buts! I know my sister better than you, and I know that she would never hurt anyone on purpose unless it's absolutely necessary like if I was in danger or if the kingdom was in danger." Anna said, her temper rising at Gordon's persistence that her sister was some kind of Weapon of Mass destruction.
"Exactly." Gordon said. Clearly he didn't understand Anna at all, and to Anna's relief the other councilmen and the prime minister were looking at him with the same disbelieving look that Anna was giving. "If Arendelle is in danger. So in the event of a war, Arendelle with at least have a way of attacking the enemy."
The temptation to march over there and knock the military adviser's teeth out were becoming unbearable. "What I meant was..." Anna said through gritted teeth, "...if an enemy comes knocking at our doorstep and starts to invade Arendelle, as in actually step foot in Arendelle, then that is when my sister would probably try to defend. She will not start traveling to other kingdom's to attack them. In a way that you will understand Gordon, My sister will defend Arendelle from an enemy that arrives here, not go to an enemy and attack them. That's your job, not hers. Regardless of her powers, it is not her job to act as a weapon. But if we had the choice, we wouldn't even go to war. Would we?" Those last two words came out in a growl which caused the military adviser to tense up a little.
"Of course not your majesty. It was just a suggestion." Gordon said.
"An unnecessary one!" George added. "We are not here to start wars. We are here to make peace, and as Anna said, what the Queen decides to do is her own choice. Not yours. So if you are just going to act like a menace and start suggesting senseless things, I recommend you resign now so we can start looking for a proper military adviser! Understood?"
"Yes sir." Gordon said as he broke eye contact with the prime minister.
"Good. That will be all in this meeting. Dismissed."
Week 1, Friday night...
The minute Anna got back to her room, she started packing her clothes and other items. She had yet to tell Kristoff of the sudden change of plans. She would tell him tomorrow before they left. She wondered what the King of Solaris would look like, what his personality would be like. She obviously wouldn't like it if he was mean or bad tempered. She tended to stay away from those type of people, but in the event he was, she would have to get used to it for the next few days as trade with Solaris was virtually Arendelle's last hope. The minute she had finished packing, she deposited her bags at the doorstep and proceeded to Elsa's room. Already dressed in her nightgown she just opened the door and sat down on the bed next to her sister. She was still as pale as the last time Anna had seen her.
"Elsa?" Anna called out as she laid next to her sister. She hoped that Elsa would answer, but to her dismay, she didn't.
"So umm." Anna said in an attempt to keep herself busied and take her mind of things. "I'll be going to Solaris for the next few days to do some um, important stuff, you know the stuff you normally do." Elsa did not respond. Anna just continued to stare at her sister searching for any sign that she could be listening.
"I'll be back in around 4 or 5 days. That's what the new prime minister said. The military adviser isn't very kind though. He thought of you as some sort of weapon. I said that you weren't..." Anna continued to ramble on about the various things she did for the last 2 days and by the time she finished it was already 11 at night.
"G'night Elsa." Anna said as she gave a small yawn before laying down next to her sister.
Week 1, Saturday morning...
Knock knock...
"Huh?" Anna asked sleepily. "What is it?"
"Your majesty, it's 6 in the morning. You will be leaving at 8. George advised me to remind you." Kai said through the door. Anna just groaned in response.
"Your majesty?"
"Coming..." Anna said as she slipped of the bed and shuffled towards the wardrobe. She looked out of the window and saw it was still dark, light barely visible beyond the fjord. "Tell them I'll be down in a minute. Have you already gotten my bags?"
"Yes your majesty." Kai said.
"Kai, please just call me princess. Your majesty is a term reserved for my sister." Anna said as she pulled out an orange dress and tried to put it on.
"But Princess, you are currently..."
"I know what I am, but I would rather not be the Queen if I had the choice. Please just call me princess." Anna said as she started brushing her hair.
"Of course...princess." Kai said. Anna could here him walking down the hallway, no doubt shocked at Anna's request.
The sun still wasn't up by the time Anna made her way to the docks, where she was greeted by the Prime minister and several councilmen, including the military adviser. To her shock, Kristoff was also there.
"Kristoff! What are you doing here?" Anna asked surprised.
"No. The question is what are you doing here?" Kristoff responded. "You told me you weren't leaving till tomorrow."
"I know. But they said it was urgent."
"But your the Acting Queen. You tell them what to do." Kristoff said as he approached Anna. "It's not up to them to tell you to go with them. You tell them!"
"Kristoff. I really wish I could, but I can't. Arendelle has some serious problems, and this may be the only way to fix it, and I need to be present there when it happens. I don't really have a choice. If there's anything that Elsa taught me, it's that the people come first, well obviously family comes first, but at this moment where no one really is in danger...Oh what am I saying...I'm rambling on again arent I?" Anna asked. Kristoff just smiled in response.
"That's what I love about you. You're always so selfless, not that your sister isn't selfless, I just mean that both of you care a lot about the others." Kristoff said, slightly embarrassed at his mix up. Anna quickly leaned over and kissed him.
"Take care of my sister while I'm gone." Anna said as she began to board the ship.
"Wait what? I though..." Kristoff started but was interrupted by a smiling Anna.
"You didn't think that you would really be coming, did you?" Anna said slightly intrigued.
"N-No." Kristoff denied, though deep inside that was his initial plan. "Of course not. Look Anna, just take care. I don't think me or Elsa would ever be the same without you. Actually I don't think Elsa would want to live without you anyway. Neither would I as a matter of fact."
Anna just continued to smile as she stepped on to the ship. "Take of Elsa alright?"
"Of course Anna."
"And in the event that she wakes up, she'll probably freak out that I am not here. If she does, try to calm her down."
"How would I do that?" Kristoff asked hoping that he would never have to confront a fearful, anxious Elsa. It would probably be the end of him.
"I don't know." Anna said with a laugh. "Find a way."
Kristoff just sighed. "Take care Anna. Tell the captain not to run into any freak storms alright? And try not to mess this up if this deal is really this important! I know what you're like in new places."
"Hey. I least I don't stare at Elsa's ice magic like it was hypnotizing me!" Anna smirked.
"That's not fair! I told you ice is my life! Well you are too now." Before Kristoff knew it Anna had run down the gangplank and launched herself into his arms and kissed him. Several of the guards on the ship were watching with interest till the captain told them to shove off and mind their own business.
"Don't go anywhere okay?" Anna said as they pulled apart. "And look after Elsa alright?"
"That's like the third time you've told me that!" Kristoff said as he kissed Anna's forehead. "You take care yourself. Don't stray into places you don't know and behave."
Anna looked at Kristoff in disbelief before saying, "I'm not 5 years old. I know my limits." Kristoff simply shrugged. "Not all the time..." he muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"I didn't say anything..." Anna began to board the ship a second time as Kristoff started to wave goodbye.
"I'll be back in 5 days. Don't worry."
"As long as you're away, I'll always be worrying." Kristoff said which caused several of the citizens surrounding him to aww... Anna couldn't help but laugh as Kristoff looked around, his face blushing.
Anna could still see Kristoff on the docks watching the ship leave, even thought hey were already nearing the mouth of the fjord.
"Don't worry Kristoff. I'll be back..." Anna said as she let a tear drop. "Take care of Elsa..."
Long story short, this chapter would have come out too long, so i decided to break it up.
Thanks again to all those who have reviewed, followed or Favorited. It has provided me with the motivation and energy to do this story.
-TacticX